The Church of Divine Guidance Sunday Morning Adult Bible Study Group studying the book The Daniel Prayer: Prayer That Moves Heaven And Changes Nations By Anne Graham-Lotz.
James 5:16 (NLT2) 16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
The Daniel Prayer is born deep within your soul, erupts through your heart, and pours out on your lips, words created by and infused with the Spirit of God quivering with spiritual electricity. It’s really not an everyday type of prayer. It’s a prayer birthed under pressure. Heartache. Grief. Desperation. It can be triggered by a sudden revelation of hope. An answer to prayer, a promise freshly received, a miracle that lies just over the horizon.
Study along with us by getting a copy of the book by clicking this LINK or the image of the book in the study notes.
After listing out Israel’s national sins as
his own sins, Daniel does not fear God’s abandonment. Instead he takes hold of
God’s mercy. It is difficult, in the face of our personal sin, to trust in
God’s mercy. It is even more challenging for us, taking responsibility for the
sins of our nation and our past descendants, to believe God’s mercy holds
strong. Yet, Daniel is unfazed. Under the weight of so much evil (personal and
corporate) he is confident that the steadfast love of God will not break. It
will not even bend. What sin do you find yourself to ashamed to confess? For
what evils in our collective past or present do we deny responsibility? God’s
mercy to us in Jesus frees us to confess radically. Moreover, just as Daniel’s
confession leads to the end of Israel’s exile, we may hope that our own
confessions today lead to healing and restoration in our world.
Daniel
9:18-19 NIV Give ear, our God, and hear; open your
eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make
requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.
Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not
delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
COMMITTED TO PRAY
Paul Told the Thessalonian followers of Jesus
when he instructed them to “pray without ceasing.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks
in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
The Daniel Prayer. It’s a commitment to pray until
the prayer is answered. It’s not easy.
It requires time. Energy. Sacrifice. It involves reading and pleading God's
promises. It’s motivated by a wholehearted love that’s willing to suffer, to
repent, to sacrifice—to do whatever it takes to get an answer. But whatever you
have to sacrifice or invest to make the commitment, the Daniel Prayer will be
worth it one hundred times over when Heaven is moved and this nation is
changed.
One thing he teaches us is that his commitment
to pray required preparation. Just as an athlete can’t expect to win by showing
up at game time without having practiced, the commitment to pray doesn't just
happen. It requires preparation.
1 Corinthians 9:24-26 NIV Do you not know that in a race all the runners
run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get
a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a
boxer beating the air.
A PREPARED PLACE FOR PRAYER
Daniel had a specific place that he designated
for prayer, which was an upstairs room in his home to which he withdrew three
times every day. We don’t know anything
else about this room except that it had windows facing west.
Daniel 6:10 NIV Now when Daniel learned that the decree had
been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened
toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving
thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Like the lady's closet in the movie “War
Room”. In Prayer Does It Make Any Difference Philip Yancey talked about a “God
Space”. We all need this kind of sacred space set aside for special time alone
with God.
While God meets us wherever and whenever we
call out to him, a Daniel-like commitment requires deliberation and preparation
in order to maximize the impact of our prayers.
Your God space should be unique to you. A
comfortable place with everything you need to spend some alone time with God.
It can be at home or work or even outside. I could do it on my walks.
Do you have perhaps one or two friends who
could be your prayer partners?
A PREPARED TIME FOR PRAYER
Do you not only have a set-aside place for
prayer, but a set-aside time to meet with God in prayer? When do you pray?
I pray in bed. I pray after waking up in the
morning.
Interesting rational for praying in the
morning.
“The woman who taught me how to study and
teach the Bible, Miss A. Wetherell Johnson, commented that when our prayer time
is at night, it’s like tuning our violin when the symphony is over. Because, of
course, the violin needs to be tuned before the symphony so that its sound is
pure. Why would we tune our instrument after it’s been played? With the same
reasoning, we need to begin our day with prayer to ensure we live in sync with
God. Why would we spend time only in evening prayer after we have already
stumbled through the day? While it’s wonderful to end our day in prayer, she
urged me to pray in the morning when the day before me was a clean slate—a
blank page that had yet to be lived out.”
Just in the Psalms alone there are repeated
references to seeking God in the morning:
“. . .
In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests
before you and wait in expectation.” Psalm 5:3;
“. . .
I will sing of your strength; in the morning I will sing of your love . .
.” 59:16;
“. . . I cry to you for help, O LORD; in the
morning my prayer comes before you 88:13;
“. . . I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.” 119:147;
“. . . Let the morning bring me word of your
unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.” 143:8..”
There’s an example of Jesus prayed early in
the morning in Mark:
Mark 1:35, 37 NIV Very early in the morning, while it was still
dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he
prayed. and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
But there is nothing super-spiritual about an
early morning time of prayer. While every aspect of our prayer doesn’t
necessarily need to be uttered in one place at one time, I believe the Daniel
Prayer requires a set-aside place at a dedicated time to truly be effective.
You can decide the place and time that’s most
helpful to you for focusing on prayer.
The important thing is that you follow through with a consistent
commitment.
A PREPARED ATMOSPHERE FOR PRAYER
There are a variety of ways to prepare the
atmosphere for your prayer time. You can
play praise-and-worship music to create an atmosphere that helps you transition
from your daily routine into God’s presence. You can even use aspects of color
and décor to set the mood in the space you’ve set aside. Just Consider what
will help you focus on God.
A PREPARED ATTITUDE FOR PRAYER
Daniel’s body language helped him remember as
he prayed that he, Daniel, a slave inexile, had an audience with the One who is
the living God, All Glorious,
When was the last time you prayed on your
knees? Have you ever prayed on your knees?
Try it. The difference your outward position makes in your inner
attitude as you pray may surprise you.
Daniel not only prayed from a kneeling
position, but he made a habit of giving thanks to God. He cultivated an
“attitude of gratitude”—of thanksgiving despite circumstances that were less
than ideal.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks
in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
- What about you?
- When life throws you a curveball, are you thankful?
- When your expectations, goals, and dreams have not been realized, and never will be, are you thankful?
- When your life’s circumstances go from bad to worse, are you thankful?
- When your critics are watching every move you make, anxious to catch you in something they can use to discredit you, are you thankful?
- When you are enslaved by a body of pain, or an abusive spouse, or a demanding employer, or an uncaring parent, are you thankful?
How can anyone be thankful in those
circumstances?
The key to thankfulness is not to view God
through the lens of our circumstances, but to view our circumstances through
the lens of God’s love and sovereign purpose.
Change the perspective from ours to God's.
God had called Daniel not to a life of comfort
and ease, but to a life of greatness. And so Daniel could thank God for
everything in his life. He knew, as he entered hiswinter years, that all things
had worked together for his good to enable him to fulfill God's purpose.
Romans 8:28 NIV And we know that in all things God works for
the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
No comments:
Post a Comment