When you pray

Daniel 9:1-19

“But dad, you said” is a powerful word from a child to a father. God loves to answer our prayers and the most powerful way we can pray as Christians is to remind Him of what He has said.

In 1 John 5:14-15 we are told to have confidence in our prayers and to ask in align with God’s will.

Amongst many things Daniel was a man of prayer. Daniel teaches us to take prayer seriously. People who pray change the world. E. M. Bounds said, “God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil”.

1. Praying God’s word (vs1,3) – Israel was destroyed and the people had been taken into exile. The Medes had now taken over Babylon. Daniel was an old man, but he did not slow down. He pressed in on God. He remembered something God had promised previously in Jeremiah 24-25, 29:10-14. Rather than complaining Daniel read God’s word and received comfort and confirmation in God’s word. God promised to hear Daniel in Jeremiah 29:12-14. How often do we listen to God by reading His word? We need to be a people of the Word. The less,we read the harder it becomes to read it. Daniel had confidence to pray the promises of God because he knew them by reading them. Pray is the right response to what we hear God saying in His Word.
2. Praying God’s way – Daniel did not pray half heartedly, he prayed fervently and wholeheartedly. He did not let go of God until God answered him. His prayer was saturated in God’s word.  In verse 15 Daniel reminds God of what He has promised. Daniel also reminded God of what He had done in the past and asked God to do it again. Daniel reminded God that He had a reputation to uphold to be faithful to His word.Daniel prayed in praise, concession and intercession:
   1. 1. Praise – Daniel looked up. We need to look up to God. Daniel prayed to his personal God (vs 4)
      2. Confession – Daniel confessed the sin of the people. He listed six different ways they had sinned. 1 John 1:9.
      3. Intercession – Daniel prayed in plural pronouns. He pleaded for ‘we’ and ‘us’. He prayed for and alongside others. Interceding means praying for other people’s burdens as if they were our own. Jesus interceded for us when He carried our burdens on the cross.
3. Receiving God’s answer (vs 20-23) – Daniel received answers to his prayers. He received a fresh touch of God’s presence and power and a greater revelation of God. We need to have faith that God will answer our prayers.