We can learn alot from Daniels prayer in the book of Daniel (chapter 9)
because it speaks to the situation of Christianity today. We too have been in a
captivity to Babylon and the time is now for us to come out of her and build
God's House...But how? Daniel's prayer gives us clues.
Revelation 18
1. And after these things I saw another
angel come down from heaven, having great power and the earth was lightened with
his glory.
2. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon
the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the
hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and
the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her
delicacies.
4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive
not of her plagues
Haggai 1:2. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts,
saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house
should be built.
3. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the
prophet, saying,
4. Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled
houses, and this house lie waste?
5. Now therefore thus saith the Lord
of hosts Consider your ways.
Daniel faced the situation of his time
when he was very old. He read in books about how he and the others had come to
be in captivity to Babylon (Jeremiah). it was for seventy years and this was
near the time for it to end. Seven is a time set aside as a complete work, and
this work of God was about to be concluded. In this we have our first clue. We
need as Christians (God's people) to realise where we are and why . I believe
the Holy Spirit is showing us that very thing. we have been in captivity for our
own 70 years . Not literal years , but a time set aside by God for him to purify
us. We too can see as Daniel did that we are near the completion of that time.
The spirit revealed it to Daniel in the scriptures , and so too with us.
Daniel 9: 2. In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books
the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the
prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
So when we as a body start to see this truth..what then? We do what
daniel did from the heart.
Daniel 9:3. And I set my face unto
the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth,
and ashes:
4. And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession,
and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to
them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments
5. We have
sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled,
even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6. Neither
have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our
kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion
of faces, as at this day to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all
the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they
have trespassed against thee.
8. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of
face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned
against thee.
9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses,
though we have rebelled against him
10. Neither have we obeyed the voice
of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants
the prophets.
11. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by
departing, that they might not obey thy voice therefore the curse is poured upon
us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because
we have sinned against him.
12. And he hath confirmed
his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by
bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as
hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13. As it is written in
the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer
before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand
thy truth.
14. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the
evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works
which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
15. And now, O
Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a
mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day we have sinned, we have
done wickedly.
16. O Lord, according to all thy
righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from
thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the
iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all
that are about us.
17. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy
servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary
that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
18. O my God, incline thine ear,
and hear open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is
called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our
righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
19. O Lord, hear O Lord,
forgive O Lord, hearken and do defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy
city and thy people are called by thy name.
20. And whiles
I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people
Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy
mountain of my God
Daniel dropped down to pray and seek God's face for his people. First and
formost. he did it clothed in sackcloth and ashes this shows us we must approach
God with humilty
Then he owned up to the sin of him and his people. Daniel was a dedicated
man of God, and we do not see him as one of the bible's great sinners, but he
realised the knowledge and the gifts he was given were not so he could have a
blessed life alone. He did what all men of God are called to do He layed down
his life for the body and stood in the gap, numbering himself among the sinners.
Even as we see Jesus did by becomeing a man and suffering as we do.Jesus came to
be a sacrifice for sinners and was numbered among us. Even as Moses chose to
suffer with the people of God and not live as a prince of Egypt.
Daniel confessed for the people and acknowledged all the ways they had
departed from him and his precepts.
Daniel brought out the truth that God had delivered the people with a mighty
hand from Egypt, acknowledging to God he was our savior and that we cannot save
ourselves. We too as Christians were brought up out of Egypt ( the world)
through that passover (the Lamb of God , Jesus) and as Daniel confessed it , we
all had done wickedly even after that. We must go back to that first love..we
must remember our savior!
Daniel reminded God that we are saved not be cause of our selves, but for
his names sake, his righteousnees sake, He pleaded that God not leave his people
in captivity for his glory's sake, for we are the people of his name and created
to glorify him. This is a zealousness for God's reputation that the Church to
day lacks as demonstrated in the scandel and reproach we have brought to the
name of Christ in the world's eyes. Daniel did not remind God of this just to
manipulate God to act..but rather he was sincerely concerned with God's glory
from the heart..as we need to be. We should all realize this as those whom God
has bought with a precious price...Jesus.
The above five points
are clearly demonstrated in Daniel chapter nine. It was then , after Daniel set
his heart in humility toward God that there was an immediate answer. Gabriel was
sent swiftly with an answer, and told Daniel when he first started to pray an
answer was given. Do you want the answer for our generation? Can you do from the
heart what Daniel and so many others have done? Can you fall on your face and
seek God for the people? Can we as Christians finally do this...together? look
around...this is the time. Come out of her my people!
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