“Then I [Daniel] turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” – Daniel 9:3
Here in Daniel chapter 9, we look back once again to the first year of King Darius’ rule. If we remember back just three chapters earlier, King Darius is the one who threw Daniel into the lion’s den. At this point in the story, the Israelites are getting ready to pack up and head back home so they can worship in the Temple to prepare for the coming of Jesus. God’s going to not only address their outer life but their inner life because you can change your exterior, but if you don’t change your interior, nothing changes.
We find Daniel doing a Bible study in Jeremiah. He reads that they’ll be away from home for 70 years and realizes it’s almost time for them to go home. However, they’re not ready, so Daniel is praying for God’s people. He’s getting new revelation from a book he’s probably read before because the Word of God is living and active, and he reads the Word and then prays like he’s having a conversation with God.
These are lessons we can put into practice ourselves; if you don’t know how to pray, just read the Bible, then stop to ask God questions or talk to Him about things, including things you don’t understand as you are reading the Bible.
He’s also writing his prayers down so he can remember them and see God answer them and so we can be encouraged by them thousands of years later. When we moved to Arizona several years ago, we made a prayer jar. I recently found that jar and it was so encouraging to see all the prayers we had placed in there that God had answered. If you pray specifically and record these prayers and the answers to them, I promise it will build your faith, as it did Daniel’s and has done for my family.
Tomorrow we will look at several important aspects of Daniel’s character.
How do you feel about prayer? Is it a burden or a blessing?
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