SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
11/20/2013 9:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intercession:
Praying for God’s Mercy PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel 9:3
Message of the
verses: We begin the second main
point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline on the 9th chapter of Daniel and we
will look at just the first sub-point in today’s SD.
I want to first of all talk about something personal that
has to do with the introduction to this second main point. It was in January of 1974 that I took a
vacation to Florida to get away from the cold of Ohio, and to relax with my
high school friend who lived there. I
surely had different ideas on how this trip was going to turn out, but while
there I began to listen to a series of tapes by Hal Lindsey in which he spoke
of what the Bible has to say about the end of the world. It was at that time that the Lord saved me
from my sins and my life would never be the same again. I got so wrapped up in the prophetic Word of
God that I had little time for anything else in the Bible, so I can say that my
Bible learning was out of balance. This
is not the case with Daniel, and is not the case with me for many years either,
for after Daniel learned of what the Lord was going to do and he began to
pray. Acts 6:4 reads as follows, “"But
we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’” The “we” in this case was the 12 Apostles,
and as far as Daniel is concerned we know that this also was part of his balanced
life, and should be a part of every believer’s life too.
Preparing for prayer (Daniel 9:3): “3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to
seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.”
Let us first of all review what we know about Daniel’s
prayer habits. “16 So Daniel went in and
requested of the king that he would give him time, in order that he might
declare the interpretation to the king. 17 Then Daniel went to his house and
informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, 18 so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning
this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the
rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night
vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; 20 Daniel said, "Let
the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to
Him. 21 “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and
establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of
understanding. 22 “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He
knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him. 23 "To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise,
For You have given me wisdom and power; Even now You have made known to me what
we requested of You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.’” This week’s Sunday School class is on prayer
and the author of the book that we are using said that prayer is not completed
until it is answered. We see in this
section of Daniel chapter two that Daniel saw the problem and then went to his
friends to pray about it. Next we see
the answer come to him from the Lord, and then we see that Daniel praises the
Lord for giving him the answer, so perhaps we should include praise into what
the author writes.
“10 Now when
Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof
chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his
knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had
been doing previously. 11 Then these men
came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his
God.” This section is from Daniel
chapter six and we can see that Daniel, even in the face of death if he prayed
to the Lord did not change his beautiful habit of prayer, for it was his habit
to pray three times a day facing Jerusalem and he continued to do so.
Dr. Wiersbe completes this sub-point with the following: “Daniel prepared himself to pray, because he
knew that his prayer would affect the future of the Jewish nation and the lives
of Jewish captives in Babylon. It would
be his holy task to confess the sins of the Jewish nation, asking God to
forgive His people and receive them back again.
He humbled himself in sackcloth and ashes; he fasted; and he directed
his heart and mind to the Lord.
Preparation for prayer and worship is as important as prayer itself, for
without a heart that is right with God, our prayers are just so many pious
words. Daniel met the conditions for
answered prayer set forth in Leviticus 26:40-45 and 2 Chronicles 7:14.”
Leviticus 26:40-45 “40 ’If they confess their iniquity
and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they
committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me-
41 I also was acting with hostility
against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies-or if their
uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their
iniquity, 42 then I will remember My
covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My
covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. 43 ’For the land
will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its Sabbaths while it is made
desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their
iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My
statutes. 44 ’Yet in spite of this, when
they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so
abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the
LORD their God. 45 ’But I will remember
for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of
Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the
LORD.’"
“14 If my people,
which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my
face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will
forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
(KJV)
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have to admit
that my prayer life is not at all what is should be and it seems to me that the
Lord is answering my prayer to make it better with instructions from the Sunday
School material along with the study of the 9th chapter of Daniel
and for that I too praise His name for his answers.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to learn more about an effective
prayer life.
Memory verses for the
week: 1 John 5:13a & Titus 3:5a
These things I have written
so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Paul” (Romans 14:3).
Today’s Bible
Question: “Where did the woman live
whose son Elisha raised from the dead?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/20/2013 10:02 AM
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