MESSAGE
FROM THE
WORD
DEVELOPING A POWERFUL PRAYER LIFE
Daniel 9:1-23
SERIES: Daniel Message # 12
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The Bible is filled with examples and admonitions to the people of God to take the ministry of prayer seriously. Let me just look at a few of these instances. We are to pray so that things go well. We read II Chronicles This sounds like a strange passage under this title because it sounds like God is calling for His people to pray so that God will turn things around. However, if you look at the passage just before verse 14, you will notice that Solomon is in the process of dedicating the
We are to pray when trials come our way. We read II Chronicles 20:2-7 In this instance, the nation was under attack. Jehoshaphat came to God and sought His favor. We are in the midst of a religious war today. We are not fighting it as that, but the Islamic terrorists are. Because of that, we need to be on our knees and seeking God’s favor on our nation.
James 5 tells us to pray when we are sick. Paul asked for people to pray for his ministry in Colossians 4. Jesus taught His disciples to pray for God’s name to be honored in Matthew 6. John concluded the book of Revelation by praying for the return of Christ. Nothing is beyond the scope of prayer. In Philippians 4 we are told to “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”. In other words, pray about everything. This is why Paul told us to “Pray without ceasing”.
Jesus put this at the center of both His teaching and His life. As He came to the Temple, Matthew writes Matthew 21:12, 13 You will then remember that He spent a considerable time during His last night praying in the upper room and at the garden. That was not unusual for Him. We read Mark The life of Jesus was pretty simple. He prayed, He taught about God, He performed some miracles and then He rested. The pattern is repeated pretty often. This was the power source of our Lord.
His disciples learned the same lesson. After the church came into existence on the Day of Pentecost, they got their marching orders and began to put the church in order. We read ACTS It was a natural step for the church to do this, because they had seen Jesus do it so often.
There is another Bible character who teaches us a great deal about prayer. It could be Paul, Peter, Moses, or David. However, the greatest example of prayer in the Bible outside of our Lord is Daniel. We have already witnessed his commitment to prayer as he was willing to be thrown into the lion’s den rather than turn his back on praying to God. We are told nothing about the prayer of Daniel, only that he prayed and gave thanks to God.
As we come to Daniel 9, we see a different vantage point on prayer. In this chapter, Daniel simply prayed. This is not a theological understanding on how to develop a powerful prayer life. This is an example of what a powerful prayer warrior prays like. There is not a “How to…” manual in this passage. There is simply Daniel getting down on his knees and praying. We are sneaking into a spiritual giant’s bedroom and eves dropping on his conversation with God.
Because this is such a critical issue in the church today, we are going to plant ourselves in these verses and suck every morsel out of what God wants us to know. God wants us to study His word so that we will have answers to those who disagree. God wants us to share our faith so that people will hear the gospel and turn their life over to Him. God wants us to maintain nice facilities so that people driving by will see God’s work in a positive manner. However, God mostly wants us to pray. When we do all of those other things, we do them. When we pray, God does His work. This morning begins a long journey into the power source of the
Why don’t believers pray more? There are many reasons, but let me begin by sharing with you the progression of the normal believer’s prayer life.
First, we see the deficiency stage. We come to Christ, are excited about Him, hear we should pray but don’t have a clue as to how we go about it. We pray around the Milky Way and for everything we want, but don’t seem to see anything taking place. It’s not that we don’t want to; it’s just that our knowledge is limited.
Second, we see the disillusioned stage. How many believers have tried to pray and gotten discouraged. We think God wants us to do something great, but don’t know what or how. We reach the end of the line and begin to give up. We have reached the most important fork in our Christian road.
Third, we see the desirous stage. We attend a conference, hear something in church, have a recommitment experience or some other event and our desire to communicate with God is rekindled. The difference between this stage and the first stage is our desire. Before, we knew we should pray, but didn’t really understand why or how. In this stage, our heart’s desire is to find the answer.
Let me explain it this way. We wake up in the morning, hop on the scale and discover we have gained 50 pounds. We think we should do something, but our motivation is really out of duty, not out of a real desire to do something. Generally we lose about three pounds, get discouraged and give up.
However, something happens and everything changes. Someone offers you a trip to
Fourth, we see the devotion stage. We saw this in Acts 2 as the church was “Devoted to prayer…” Here you lay out not just your plans to accomplish your goal, but your means to accomplish those goals. If your goal is to lose weight, it might be to cleanse your house of all junk food, write out a weekly menu filled with high fiber and low fat meals, or to join a weight loss organization. The difference between stage three and four is follow through. You don’t want to menu plan, you menu plan. You don’t want to join a group, you join a group.
Prayer is no different. In this stage, you don’t want to pray, you pray. Harry Ironside was one of the first professors at
Fifth, we see the dynamic stage. This is where we see incredible things take place. We see God answer prayer and we see lives changed because of our prayer life. We find ourselves not worrying so much because we are in the presence of God and know He is in control. This is where we want to live our life. This is where Daniel lived. We read Daniel 10:10-12 don’t’ you want to live there? Our desire is to move into that stage.
As we make our way through Daniel 9 we are going to get out our microscope and examine at least a dozen principles on how to deepen our prayer life. This is the power generator for the church. I hope you will take this series very seriously.
FIRST, PRAYER IS NOT LIMITED BY CIRCUMSTANCES. If we had a choice between prosperity and trials, most of us would choose prosperity. However, most of us live our lives going from one problem to the next. We read Daniel 9:1 You will remember that Daniel was not written in chronological sequence. Daniel writes that this is the first year of the reign of Darius. The Medes and the Persians came into
Many people were concerned when Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992. The opposite group was concerned when George Bush was elected president in 2000. While emotions ran high during both of those elections, neither had an impact on whether the people of God could pray or how God responded to those prayers.
The Apostles preached the gospel and were often hassled or oppressed by the political or religious powers that existed. One of those times was in Acts 4. After being threatened, the Apostles were released. Luke writes Acts 4:23-31 The power of God was released, not because the right group was in political power, but because the people of God were seeking God’s favor.
You may be concerned about what is taking place in our culture. You should be concerned. Rather than panic, your concern should cause you to pray for and with your family. This is how we change our nation.
SECOND, PRAYER REQUIRES KNOWING GOD’S WORD. If you get nothing out of this message other than this point, it will revolutionize your life. Prayer is not just talking to God. Prayer is not just letting God know what’s on our heart. Prayer is discovering His will and falling in line with it. Prayer is usually instinctive for most believers. It is like the birth of a baby. They are born and soon after begin to talk. After that, it’s difficult to keep them quite. When a believer comes to Christ, it is an instinctive response to think about talking to God. The issue is how we learn to pray.
Let’s see how this works out in Daniel. We read Daniel 9:2 Even though Daniel was one of the godliest individuals in the Bible; he found a need and a place to spend time in God’s word. On this day, he was reading from the scroll of Jeremiah. We read Jeremiah 25:8-11 He was reading how the Babylonian Captivity was an act of God to turn His people back to Him. Its purpose was not to destroy the Jews, but to turn their hearts back to Him. This is why there was a time table. As Daniel was reading through Jeremiah, he was reminded that the captivity was to last 70 years. As he checked his sun dial, he realized that 70 years had almost past. In other words, the Babylonian Captivity was going to come to an end. Once God’s will was discerned from God’s word, Daniel’s next action was to begin to pray for God’s word to become a reality.
Here is the point. You cannot have an effective prayer life if you are ignorant of God’s word. This is why we spend so much time in our service and Bible classes teaching you God’s word. This is why we put a method in the bulletin each week to help you read through the Bible every year. The more you know your Bible, the more effective your prayer life can be. I want you to see this illustrated in the life of the early church. After the ascension of Jesus, the believers were told to return to Jerusalem and wait for God to move. We are told by Luke Acts 1:14-22 It was in a prayer meeting that Peter realized that God’s word has spoken on what they needed to do. The Bible spoke to a need and they filled that need. As the believers continued to pray, the Day of Pentecost arrived. Luke again writes what took place. We read Acts 2:12-16 Peter used nearly 20 verses and Biblical illusions to preach the gospel. It all began with those words, “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel…” His prayer time illumined his understanding of God’s word and empowered him to preach with boldness.
Let me show you how it works out in your life. We read Matthew 9:35-10:1 What did we read? The Bible tells us that God wants us to pray for God to send workers out into the world so that they can harvest those who want to come to Him. Having read that passage, how should we pray? Do you think it is just possible that God wants us to pray for workers? This is how we go about it. We pray to God for Him to give us insight into His word. As we read His word, we look for commands and principles to follow. When we see those, they tell us God’s will and we can then pray for all of them to be fulfilled.
Do you want a prayer life that sees God doing powerful works? Begin by seeking to develop an understanding of His word.
THIRD, PRAYER REQUIRES FOCUS. One of the realities of the current younger generation is their inability to concentrate for any particular length of time. Some church growth experts are recommending that sermons be no longer than 15 minutes, because that is the time between commercials on many television programs. Video games and I-pods have caused young people to be unable to be still or quite for any length of time. We even have a name for this; Attention Deficit Disorder. As I began to look at this passage, I noticed a little phrase in verse 3, “So I gave my attention to the Lord God…” Prayer is not just saying words to God. It is not counting beads or repeating verses. Prayer is focusing on God. That is not always easy to do, because our culture teaches us to focus on ourselves. You will remember that Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life opens up with the statement, “It is not about you”. Our world tells us that the only one who matters is me. That idea is very destructive. When our focus is on ourselves, we lose the ability to think clearly and we lose the ability to serve others. That short circuits the blessings of God.
Tragically, this attitude has crept into the church. An entire movement in the church today tells us that the church needs to cater to the needs of people. The church needs to meet the needs of people, but the needs of people and the desires of people are often very different. When an individual falls into a sinful lifestyle, they generally do not want anyone to come and confront their sinful actions. They do not feel the need to be confronted. However, that is the task God has given the church. The balance in this is that we are to do it in gentleness and we are to do it offering forgiveness.
The whole self image movement has been a disaster in this area. Not because we shouldn’t help people have good self images, but because the movement’s means of acquiring a good self image is to be absorbed in self. The message of the church is not “Give attention to myself”, but “Give attention to the Lord God”. Let me give you an example. We read Isaiah 6:1-7 Notice the response of Isaiah. Down on his knees he went and “I’m sinful” were his words. The angel came to him and said, “Isaiah, you talk like that and you are going to develop a poor self image”. That isn’t what took place. The angel came to Isaiah and agreed with him that he was sinful. Then he took the next step and helped Isaiah deal with his sin. Did you hear that message? It is the greatest sermon ever preached and it consists of ten words. The angel says, “Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven”. Isaiah was not told to forget about it because he was a good man. Isaiah was told that his understanding of his sinfulness was correct, but he also needed to remember God’s mercy and forgiveness. It is understanding that God loves us and has dealt with our sin that creates a good self image.
The focus of prayer is not our needs and desires, but on the Lord God. I want us look at the Lord’s Prayer and see this concept from the words of our Lord. We read Matt. 6:9-13 Did you notice the first aspect of our focus. We are to pray for God’s name to be honored, His kingdom to be expanded and His will to be accomplished. Only then do we pray for our physical and emotional needs to be met.
That is an important distinction we need to make. We are not saying that we cannot pray for ourselves. We are saying that we pray for ourselves after praying for God’s plans to be fulfilled. The psalmist understood this concept. We read Psalm 115:1 What was David’s focus? It was on God and His glory.
FOURTH, PRAYER HAS AN OBJECTIVE. Most of us would understand that prayer has an objective; that is to get an answer. However, the objective of prayer is not an answer. Daniel wrote, “So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplication…” Did you notice what Daniel was seeking? He was praying for a personal relationship with God. You may have children or grandchildren who call you on the phone only when they want something from you. That is the idea in this passage. Daniel was praying, not to get something from God, but to develop a more intimate relationship with Him. The primary purpose of prayer is not an answer, but a relationship.
In a narcissistic culture, this is not an easy principle to grab on to. The primary question we ask is “What do I get out of it”? The answer to that question is that when you pray properly, you develop an intimate relationship with the God of the universe. James tells us, James 4:3 We are to ask in prayer, but our requests are secondary to our relationship with God. Paul understood this, which is why he wrote in Philippians 3, “That I might know Him…” All of us realize that the Apostle Paul saw answered prayer throughout his ministry. However, his highest priority was to have an intimate relationship with the Lord of the universe.
It is often thought that the Old Testament is more formal and ritualistic than the New Testament. Jeremiah wrote Jeremiah 9:23, 24 That is hardly a verse promoting a ritual relationship with God. God’s desire was to have an intimate walk with His people. That is the heart of prayer. Prayer is not two people shouting at each other with neither listening to the other. Prayer is communication between two people so that intimacy is created. Daniel had an intimate walk with God and in the middle of a crisis, he sought that intimate fellowship.
What is it that keeps us from an intimate walk with God? There are many things, but let me just list a few. One would be ignorance. We don’t know that this is even a possibility, or how to accomplish this task. Distractions have a way of interfering in intimacy. Laziness is another problem.
FIFTH, PRAYER DEMANDS HUMILITY. It is very important that we come to God understanding that He is our God. Daniel understood this concept. As he went before the Lord in prayer, we read, “…To seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes”. Like Isaiah, Daniel came into the presence of God and understood his unworthiness of being with God. His response was to practice acts of humility. Because we have a relationship with God that seeks to develop intimacy, it is easy to have an attitude of presumption. We come to prayer and tell Him what we need to have Him do. There is a movement in the church today know as “Word of Faith”. It’s based on the statement made by Jesus Matthew 17:20 In that passage there is no “If it be thy will…” The assumption then is that if we have sufficient faith we can simply tell God to “Move that mountain”. That interpretation leaves out almost every other verse on prayer in the Bible. It also miss-defines faith. Faith is not defined as believing something so much that you can make it happen. That is a pagan view of faith. It is the faith of the Prophets of Baal when they cut themselves in their battle with Elijah. True Biblical faith is discovering what God’s will is and then going that direction.
The biggest problem with the Word of Faith movement is that it tends to develop a lack of humility. If all I need to do is believe something enough, I can then tell God to do it. There is a great presumption in that attitude. Look at Daniel’s attitude after discovering what God’s will was. Verse 3 tells us Daniel sought God, “…by prayer and supplications, fasting, sackcloth and ashes”. These are all signs of humility and contrition on the part of truly repentant people. Whether it is through acts of contrition or words, the Christian needs to come into the presence of God in humility and not in pride and arrogance.
The people of God are to come to God and let our needs and requests be verbalized. We are to enter His presence remembering that we are able to stand in His presence only because of His grace and mercy. Our first task in prayer is to humble our hearts at His feet. James wrote James 4:6 This is not just a New Testament concept. Micah wrote Micah 4:6 The result of walking humbly before God is seen in Hebrews. We read Hebrews 4:14-16 The humble believer can stand in the presence of God. What an incredible thought that is.
What happens to our prayer life if we do not have a humble heart? Jesus told us a story about this and its theme was prayer. We read Luke 18:9-14 Pride not only keeps us away from God, it stifles our prayer life.
SIXTH, PRAYER NEEDS A CLEAR CONSCIENCE. Humility always leads to confession of sin, and that always results in a clear conscience. That is exactly what we saw in the life of Isaiah. Once he saw his sinfulness, it was automatic for him to throw himself at the mercy of God and confess his sins. That is why the Pharisee had such a difficult issue in Luke 18. His pride led him to conclude that he was better than the publican and therefore not in need of forgiveness.
Because Daniel was a godly man he was totally aware of his sinful condition. That attitude led him to a very interesting conclusion. We read, “I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed…” When there is unconfessed sin in our heart our prayer life is stifled. Isaiah Isaiah 59:1, 2 God allows us to confess our sin so that we can be right with Him, not so that we can go out and sin more. Confession is what leads to a clean heart. We read 1 John 1:9 God gave us the antidote to sin. It began with Jesus dying on the cross and it ends with us personally confessing our sin so that the forgiveness purchased by the Lord can take effect. When we confess our sin, the power of God can be released.
SEVENTH, PRAYER IDENTIFIES WITH THE SINS OF OTHERS. Have you ever prayed like that Pharisee we looked at earlier in Luke 18? Have you ever gone to the Lord in prayer and said or thought, “I am so glad that I am not as bad as so & so…”? The reason we think that is because we have a ranking of what bad sins are and what not so bad sins are. Of course, our sins are the “not so bad” sins. The Bible does not make that distinction. We stand before God either sinful or righteous.
As Daniel began to realize that the judgment of God involving the Babylonian Captivity was coming to an end, he was overwhelmed with the cause of God’s judgment which was the sins of the people. This caused him to do a very interesting thing. He began to confess the sins of the people as one of the sinners. He did not pray, “God forgive those wicked sinners and help me to do my best to not become one of them”. Rather, Daniel prayed as one of the wicked sinners. We read Daniel 9:4-14 As you read through these verses, you will notice several correct aspects of true confession. Every once in a while I do something wrong and my wife calls me on it. I tend to try to get away with generalized confessions. “I’m Sorry”, “Please for give me”, and “I’ll never do it again” get me started but then she puts the knife in my heart. She says, “What are you sorry for”. Sometimes I don’t have a clue and sometimes I don’t want to admit to my sin. Daniel didn’t play that game. Notice his actions.
1. He removed the responsibility for the problem off of God.
2. He reiterated God’s love and greatness
3. He accepted responsibility for sinning.
4. He stated the specific offense
5. He confirmed the solution to the problem
All of these are critical for us to understand. When we sin and get into trouble, the non-believing world looks at the believer and thinks that God can’t help us. They wonder why anyone would want God in their life when so many trials and problems come our way. When we confess our sins, we tell the world that our conflicts are self inflicted. Let me also add that not all of our conflicts are because of sin. This is why it is so important for us to have a clear conscience as we examine our hearts, and a spiritually in tune friend who can speak the truth to us.
Notice also that Daniel acknowledged the solution. When a trial comes as a test, we seek God’s grace and persevere under the pressure. Job was an example of this. When problems come because of our sin, the solution is found in verse 13. Confession and repentance is the solution. Confession means that we agree with God that our behavior is wrong. Repentance calls for us to turn from our sin and begin doing things God’s way.
Repentance is a lost doctrine in the church today. That is because our culture doesn’t like being told what to do. However, it is one of the two primary tasks of the church. The preaching of repentance is not optional in the
The task of the Church is first of all to call our culture to repent. Can you see why the church scandals have been so disastrous for our nation? When God’s people are living in sinful relationships, it loses its platform to call people to repent. The second calling for the church is to offer God’s forgiveness to those in sin. This is the balance. This was the power of Peter’s message in Acts 2:38. He connected “Repent…for the forgiveness…” We confront sin and we offer forgiveness to sinners. We must confront sin in a gentle spirit and offer forgiveness in the power of the spirit.
If you want to see God work in your life and in the life of others, begin to identify with the sins of others. This is why Rick Warren opened his book by stating, “It’s not about you”. If all we pray for is ourselves and our own needs, we become very narcissistic. It is identifying with the sins of others that we develop compassion and mercy.
You are driving down the street; someone drives past you going about 50 miles over the speed limit, and cuts you off. You think all sorts of curses on them and then pray God’s judgment over the driver’s life. About five miles down the road, you pass a hospital and there is the car that had cut you off. The paramedics are pulling the driver’s child out of the back seat because he had been shot by a gang banger. Would that change your prayers? Most people who are in sinful and disobedient lifestyles know that God is not pleased with them. When you come along and pray curses over their life, they already know where they stand. They don’t need a prosecuting attorney. They need an advocate. God wants that to be you. God does not need you to come to Him and snitch on others. He already knows their condition. He wants you to come and be their advocate. We read Luke 23:33-38 Do you think that Jesus could have given the Father an ear full of complaints? How many angels had their swords drawn ready for the mere mention of a word and they would have taken out the entire Roman army, religious contingencies and all those who mocked their master. In a second, everything would have been taken down and Jesus would have been escorted back into Heaven on the angel’s back to a hero’s parade. We would have still been left in our sin. Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t pray for Himself? Aren’t you glad that Jesus decided to identify with the sins of the people? Have you ever gone to prayer and wondered what to pray for? If you decide to pray for those caught in sin you will never run out of things to pray for.
The question we need to address at this point is why we should identify with the sins of others? If we are walking with the Lord and others are living lives of debauchery and sin, why not pray God’s judgment on them? The answer is pretty simple. We identify with their sin and don’t pray God’s judgment on those in sin because God’s will is that those in sin come to Christ. The history of the church is that God has taken those in sin and transformed them into useful objects for His use and pleasure.
You may have never thought about this in this context, but the only people God ever uses are those who have sinful pasts. There was a time when someone came before God and prayed for you that God would not hold your sins against you. God takes those who are useless and changing them into useful vessels.
Recently, scientists have discovered a new form of microscopic organisms which they have given the name “Extremophiles”. These organisms were first discovered in the geysers at
A unique use for these organisms has recently been discovered. At the ocean floor, hydrothermal vents release various forms of minerals into the ocean. Because these minerals are in liquid form, they have nor useful purpose and no value. One of those minerals released into the ocean in liquefied gold. These extremophiles have the ability to inhale the liquid gold and exhale microscopic amounts of actual “
This organism takes that which is considered useless and turns it into the most valuable mineral in the world. That is exactly what God does. He takes what is considered useless (sinners) and turns them into the most valuable of all people, saints.
Rahab
Jacob
Peter
The Woman at the Well
Mary Magdalene
The list also includes you, the members of your congregation and the people who support you in pray. Isn’t it just like God to take a spiritual reality and create some organism to show how it works?
EIGHTH, PRAYER IS BASED ON GOD’S POWER TO ANSWER. Maybe you have just assumed this without ever thinking it through, but the primary reason we pray is because we believe God can do something about our situation. We do not pray, “God I know you can’t do anything about my problems, but I just want to get some things off my chest”. We pray because we believe that God is able to solve our problems, or change us. We read Daniel 9:15 Whenever the Jews wanted to remember the power of God; they always went back to the Exodus. There was no greater illustration of the power of God than crossing the Red Sea. In the New Testament, the greatest illustration of God’s power is the resurrection. This is why you see so many statements such as “God, who raised Jesus Christ from the dead…”
One of the reasons our prayer life is often weak is because we do not believe that God is all powerful. We might believe that just maybe God might possibly do something for us, but it is probably just luck that it happens. We are told that the most important aspect of prayer is sincerity. If all gods were the same, that may be true. However, if we are sincerely wrong we are still wrong. Elijah found this to be true. We read 1 Kings 18:20-39 These prophets of Baal were truly sincere, but they were praying to a rock. The reason culture is condemned in Romans 1 is because they all worshipped the creation and not the Creator. We pray to God because He is the true God and the Lord of the Universe.
Paul wrote Ephesians 3:20, 21 The reason our prayers are often not answered is because we are praying in the dark. Not knowing what God’s will is, we just send up requests and hope something sticks. This gets us back to what we mentioned earlier, we need to be students of the word so that we are praying within the context of God’s will.
Why did Jesus see so many miracles in His life? It is because He understood the power that was available to those who simply tapped into the power source. Our first task is to discern God’s will. Our second task is to pray knowing that God has all the power necessary to accomplish the task.
NINTH, PRAYER REQUIRES SPECIFIC REQUESTS. When we don’t know, generalizations are acceptable. However, as we grow in our faith, we should be able to be more specific. It is not enough to just pray for all the missionaries, the sick, our nation. We need to take those generalizations and add flesh to the bones. We read Daniel 9:16, 17 After confessing his sin and the sin of the people, Daniel was now ready to pray for the people. As he pleaded for the people, Daniel had three specific requests.
1. He prayed for God’s wrath to be stayed.
2. He prayed for God to hear the prayers of His people.
3. He prayed for God’s favor to return to His people.
There is a logical progression to His prayers. He understood that the Jews were in bondage because of their sin, which lead to God’s wrath being manifested. Because of their sin, God had brought on the 70 year Babylonian Captivity. Until that time line had been completed, He would not listen to the cries of His people. Now that the 70 year period was up, Daniel began to pray that God’s wrath would be set aside and His blessings would return.
The 70 year captivity sounds pretty severe. Why would God be so mean to the people? It is important to remember that God blesses obedience and has to discipline disobedience. After Joshua led the people into the Promised Land, God told them to harvest the crops for six years and then allow the fields to rest on the seventh year. This is called a “Sabbath Year”. As the people began to distance themselves from obedience to God, they decided to plant and harvest on those Sabbath Years. For 490 years the people refused to trust God to provide their needs and refused to give God His Sabbath Year. Finally, God said “Enough”. Because the people had refused to give God His year, over the 490 period they had stolen 70 years from Him. By sending the people into captivity for 70 years, God was reminding the people that when we refuse to give God what is rightfully His, He will eventually take it Himself.
You might be in financial difficulties now. Your tendency might be to cut back on your giving to God’s work. I understand why this is a temptation. However, let me remind you that God is your source. When you became a Christian, you became a slave to Jesus Christ. Everything you own belongs to God. In essence, your paycheck is God’s, not yours. When you get paid, you sit down and ask God what you should do with the finances He has given you. We read Proverbs 3:9, 10 When you give to God first, you trust Him to provide all of your other needs. You are like a farmer who plants his seed and then trusts God to bring out the crop. If the farmer says “Things are tight, I’m only going to buy half the seed corn I usually buy and use the rest of my money on other things”, he is going to have a small crop. If you are experiencing tight finances, you need to give to God first, cut back on other areas and watch God to something miraculous. We see this explained in Malachi. We read Malachi 3:8-11 That is He will continue to meet your needs and provide for your daily bread. When you obey God’s word, even when you don’t know how it is all going to work out, you are telling God you expect Him to manifest His power to provide in your life. That is called faith based on obedience, not blind faith.
TENTH, PRAYER IS A RESULT OF GOD’S COMPASSION. Remember that great scene from The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and her friends all came into the great hall where the wizard had smoke and fire breathing out of his likeness? The purpose was to create fear in the hearts of all who entered so they would not ask for anything. I think many believers treat God like He is the Wizard of Oz. “How dare you ask Me anything” seems to be the feeling. We read Daniel 9:18 Did you notice Daniel’s appeal to God for an answer? He did not appeal to the righteousness of the people, for there was none. Daniel appealed to God’s compassion. We read Lamentations 3:22, 23 God’s compassion is new every morning. Have you ever had a family member or a friend who held grudges for a long time? You might have said or done something ten years ago and they still bring it up. I am so grateful that God’s mercy and compassion are new every morning. We read Psalm 103:8-12 I am so thankful for that passage. If God dealt with us according to our sins, we would all be in major trouble.
Bringing that into the New Testament, Jesus manifested the same mercy and compassion as did Jehovah in the Old Testament. We read John 8:3-11 Could He have been her judge? The answer is yes. He chose rather to be her advocate. There is only one place in the New Testament where Jesus describes Himself. We read Matthew 11:28-30 That is the compassionate Jesus. There will come a day when Jesus will be Gen. Sherman marching to
ELEVENTH, PRAYER BRINGS GLORY TO GOD. The greatest theme in the world is the glory of God. This is the purpose of Heaven. Mitch Album wrote a best seller several years ago entitled, The Five People you Meet in Heaven. It is a novel which tells how five people influenced a man so he could go to heaven. The story focuses on a repairman who fixes all of the rides at an amusement park. However, he never has any time to ride the rides. When he dies, he and his wife get to ride the Ferris wheel forever without it ever breaking down. In other words, Heaven is whatever you want it to be. That’s a nice novel, but terrible theology. Heaven is not what we want it to be. Remember, “It is not about you”. It is all about God we read Revelation 5:11-14 When we arrive in Heaven, we will not be asked, “What have you always wanted to do, but never had the time”? You will be asked, “How would you like to worship God forever”? I do not have the foggiest idea what that entails. To do anything for a really long time tends to become boring after a while. However, for the one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and who no longer has a sin nature, worshipping God will not be a problem.
How does prayer bring glory to God? We read Philippians 4:6, 7 When we face a situation in which we know the solution, we deal with the issue and move on with life. If the car payment is due on Tuesday and we get paid the day before, there is little anxiety about the car payment because we know the answer to the question. However, when a problem arises and we don’t know what to do, our tendency is to worry, or be anxious. We just deposited our pay check, barely had enough to pay the bills, and the water heater goes down. How do we react? We usually worry. What if you deposited your pay check, were just barely able to pay the bills, received a letter saying a bonus check would be arriving tomorrow for $1500 and then the water heater went out? We would not worry at all, because we have the resources to meet the need. We worry about the situations over which we can’t control.
That is why Paul tells us to pray and don’t be anxious. Those issues over which we have no control are specialty cases for God. He specializes in the issues our society says are impossible. Just in the book we have been studying, we have seen the furnace and the lion’s den conquered by prayer. One of my favorite stories deals with Jehoshaphat. We read II Chronicles 20:1-15 Not knowing what to do, Jehoshaphat prayed. He was a wise man. The result was that God turned his anxiety into an opportunity to glorify God. We usually stop at that point with the bad guys dead. However, the story does not end there. We read II Chronicles 20:24-29 The people faced a crisis, they prayed to God, God delivered them, the people were blessed, and God was praised. When we face a crisis, pray, and watch as God delivers us, we don’t respond by telling everyone how great we are. We turn around, fall on our knees and praise God for His greatness and power. Our society is looking for power. It is the church which has the power source. All we need to do is release it. That comes about when we pray.
TWELVETH, PRAYER IS HARD WORK. We live in a society in which things are supposed to be easy. We bring this into the world of religion and we have entire movements seeking to make “Spirituality” easy. Wear a crystal, say a mantra, count beads, or go to some spiritual retreat. Discipline and hard work are not required, just do some simple action or think some simple idea. That was not Daniel’s prayer life. We read Daniel , 21 Did you notice Daniel’s condition? He was weary and exhausted. Paul wrote the same thing. We read Colossians 1:25-29 The Christian life is pictured in II Timothy 2 by a soldier, an athlete and a farmer. The characteristic they all have in common is hard work. If you want to do something significant for God, it will require hard work. If you are willing to pray the price, God will use you to change the world.
This message is from the teaching ministry of Glen Jackson, pastor of Faith Christian Church in
