The Daniel Prayer Session 6 - Pleading With Confession

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. 

The Daniel Prayer was a plea for God . . .
     
      To plow up the fallow ground.
     
      To forgive his people their sins.
     
      To release his people from judgment.
     
      To “heal the land” and bring life back to Jerusalem.
     

To put God back at the center of their national life by reviving authentic worship and restoring the temple.
     
Bottom line, the Daniel Prayer was a plea for God to be glorified once again through their personal and national lives. It was a prayer for national restoration and revival.

To me this is a lot like Jesus request in His model prayer when He asked God to “hallow” or make His name holy then cause His Kingdom to come on earth as in heaven. 

Matthew 6:9 (NIV) This, then, is how you should pray:  “ ‘Our Father in heaven,  hallowed be your name,

to act, but for the sake of my holy name. (Ezek. 36:22)

Jesus is asking God to somove and act in the world that people value his glory, esteem his holiness, and treasure his character above all else. Jesus’ first request is not that that God’s glory and holiness be known and loved as it deserves.

The second petition, “your kingdom come,” builds on the first by showing us how God’s name is hallowed in the world. God reveals his character and reputation as his kingdom spread to every corner of the earth and as citizens of that kingdom do God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.

Ann makes a good point in that with all these Christians praying  2 Chronicles 7:14 invoked on behalf of our nation: “If my people, who are called by my name, will 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.” why do things keep getting worse and as she says it seems that our nation seem to be collapsing until we are morally and spiritually bankrupt? Why are we witnessing a hell-bent charge into the miry pits of sin and secularism? Why, instead of being healed, have we seemed to become more polarized than ever? 

Could we be missing the fact that we are contributing to the sinfulness of the nation.  Maybe we should start by asking that God start the revival with us. 

Lyrics:
Send a revival O Christ my Lord
Let it go over the land and sea
Send it according to Thy dear Word
And let it begin in me

Chorus:
Lord send a revival
Lord send a revival
Lord send a revival
And let it begin in me

Send a revival among Thine own
Help us to turn from our sins away
Let us get nearer the Father's throne
Revive us again we pray - Chorus

Send a revival to those in sin
Help them O Jesus to turn to Thee
Let them the new life in Thee begin
Oh give them the victory - Chorus

Send a revival in every heart
Draw the world nearer O Lord to Thee
Let the salvation true joy impart
And let it begin in me - chorus

CONFESSION OF PERSONAL SIN

To experience revival, we must look to our own hearts and the spiritual ground that had perhaps become hardened over time.  We may need to address our sins one by one which probably means we need to ask God to bring them to mind.

She gives us a list of sins we can start with to ask forgiveness for. Of the list which ones jump out as your sin?

Ingratitude. List all the favors God has bestowed, before and after salvation. Which ones had forgotten to thank Him for?
     
Losing Love for God. Consider how devastated I would be if my husband or children not only were lessened their love for me, but increasingly loved someone or something else more. Was  I was lessening in my love for Him?
     
Neglect of Bible Reading. Double-check to see if daily Bible reading had been pushed aside by an over-full schedule, or if, as I read my Bible, I was constantly preoccupied with other things. How long had it been since reading my Bible was a delight? Do I read it so casually that I don’t even remember what it said when I finish? (Sometimes)
     

Unbelief. Refusing to believe or to expect that He will give me what He has promised is to accuse Him of lying. What promise do I think He will not give me? What prayer do Ithink He will not answer?
     

Neglect of Prayer. I will put this one in my own words. Prayers are not spiritual chatter, offered me , focused faith. Have I substituted wishing, daydreaming, or fantasizing for real prayer?

Lack of Concern for the Souls of Others. Standing by and watching friends, neighbors, coworkers, and even family members on their way to hell, yet not caring enough to warn them or pray for them or evening admit that's where they will end up if they don’t put their faith in Jesus. Have I become so politically correct that I don’t apply the Gospel to those I know and love?
     
Neglect of Family. Putting myself and my needs before them. What effort am I making, what habit have I established, for my family’s spiritual good when it requires personal sacrifice?

Love of the World and Material Things. Assess what I own. Do I think my possessions are mine? That my money is mine? ThatI can spend it or dispose of it as I choose?
     
Pride. Vanity about my appearance. More time spent in getting ready for church than preparing my heart and mind to worship when I get there. Am I offended, or even slightly irritated, if others don’t notice my appearance?
     

Envy. Jealousy of those who seem more fruitful or gifted or recognizable than I am. DoI struggle with hearing others praised?
     
 A Critical Spirit. God has given me a spirit of discernment. But do I use it to find fault with others who don’t measure up to my standards?
     
Slander. Telling the truth with the intention of causing people to think less of a person. Whose faults, real or imagined, have I discussed behind their backs? Why have I?
     
Lack of Seriousness toward God. Showing disrespect for God by the way I sleep through my prayer time or show up late for church as though He doesn’t really matter. Do I give Him the leftovers of my emotions, time, thoughts, money?
     
Lying. Designed deception. Anything that is contrary to the unvarnished truth. What have I said that was designed to impress someone, but it wasn’t the whole truth? Or was an exaggeration of the truth?
     
Cheating. Treating others in a way I wouldn’t want to be treated myself. Have I stopped short of treating others the way I would want to be treated?
     
Hypocrisy. Pretending to be something that I am not. Am I pretending to be anything I am not?
     
 Robbing God. Wasting my time on things that have no eternal value. Exercising my God-given gifts and talents for a fee. What am I not doing for God that I am willing to do for others—fora price?
     
Temper. Losing patience with a child, coworker, friend, spouse, or staff member. What crosswords have I spoken lately?
     
Bad Temper. Losing control of my emotions, thoughts, and words so that I abuse someone else verbally.  Have I lost my temper?
     

Hindering Others. Taking someone else’s time needlessly. Destroying someone’s confidence because I hold them to an unreasonably high standard.

Arrogance. Accepting God’s forgiveness while refusing to forgive myself or someone else.

It takes courage to look deep within to see what God sees. It’s painful to acknowledge that we’re not as good, righteous, pure, or holy as we thought we were.

Remember; 1 John 1:8-10 NIV  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

It’s important to remember that genuine repentance of sin that is the key to revival is a gift from God. If we ask God He or better yet the Holy Spirit will convict you and lead you e through the steps of confession and cleansing. 
Once our hearts are broken for our own sin, then we are ready to intercede with God for the sins of others.
     

 CONFESSION OF NATIONAL SIN

While Anne points to the Supreme Court decisions to ban prayer and Bible reading as pivotal points in the country’s moral decline as many people do, she also says that it may have been started long before that. She uses

 Romans 1:18-32 NIV The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.  Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.  Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

to argue her point.  Starting with denying that there was an intelligent designer of creation. In other words evolution over creation. Sayings in effect there is no God who created man for a relationship with Him.  When you deny the existence of God then everything goes downhill from there because there is really no final standard for morality.  It's whatever feels right.

Judges 21:25 NIV In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

When a nation or a person constantly denies or disobeys God like with the nation of Judah we or any nation will pay the price.  With Judah it was near annihilation and exile with us it is God’s gradual removal of His favor of  the United States.    Anne believes that the first signs of God removing His presence is an increase in immorality. 

 Romans 1:24-27 NIV Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.  Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

This includes pregnancies by unwed mother's, homosexuality, pronography,   The next sign she identifies of God removing Himself from our national life is when we disintegrate morally and spiritually. And we are. Our nation is unraveling into a tangled maze of idiocy. Craziness. Children killing their parents, husbands killing their wives, husbands beating their wives, mothers killing their children, active shooters killing anyone, terrorists killing Jews, movies portraying abuse of women's romance, parents selling their children, corporations betraying generations of trust, politicians lying for votes, preoccupation with sex, pedophiles preying on our children, men becoming women, women kept as sex slaves in a basement prison, obsession with entertainers, students bullying students who kill themselves to escape the emotional pain, social media destroying reputations, cyber thefts of identity, teachers seducing their students, babies aborted as a means of birth control . . . aborted baby parts sold to the highest bidder . . . we “have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. [We] are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. [We] are gossips, slanderers, God-haters,
 insolent, arrogant and boastful; [we] invent ways of doing evil; [we] disobey [our] parents; [we] are senseless, faithless, heartless . . .”13 All of the above are signs that our beloved nation is under the judgment of a holy, righteous
God. She says it's time to repent.

Joel 2:13-14 NIV  Which is why it’s time to pray the Daniel Prayer with sincere, heartfelt confession. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.  Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

Repent now.  Not only for our sin, but for our shame.

CONFESSION OF NATIONAL SHAME

Anne likens the moral decay of the US to that of Israel who knew the h history of the Nations relationship to God. Beginning with the promise to Abraham, through their deliverance from Egypt, their time in the wilderness, all the years in Canaan when they were warned by prophets and they ignored them. Now they were in Babylon in exile.   Now Daniel was, on behalf of the nation confessing their national shame.

Daniel 9:6-8 NIV We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.  “Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord , because we have sinned against you.

Here is how Anne describes or national moral condition.

Today in our nation, people are trying to turn off the light by removing the name of God from the Pledge of Allegiance, changing the name of Christmas to Winter Holiday, blurring the distinction of who God is by insisting we all worship the same god, refusing to allow military chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus, ridiculing anyone who takes the Bible literally . . . or believes that in the beginning God created everything . . . or says Jesus is the only way to Heaven . . . and on and on.

CONFESSION OF SHAME FOR THE CHURCH

 Even within churches, we can see a moral “twilight” and encroaching darkness. Entire denominations have turned off the light by denying that Jesus is the only way to God

 . . . that the Bible is God’s infallible, inerrant, inspired Word . . . that there's a hell and there is a Heaven . . . and the list could go on. Sin is either rationalized, denied, or covered up.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 NIV For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

She then lists some things.

When did pastors stop being shepherds and become CEOs? When did ministry leaders become celebrities? When did gifted ministries become big business that charge fees for their services? When did Christian speakers start manipulating the emotions of their audiences to attract people to themselves instead of pointing them to Jesus? When was the Gospel Message of sin, salvation, and the Savior replaced with a message of health, wealth, and prosperity?

If a church leader is exposed as a pedophile, the denomination quietly moves him to another location. If he is exposed as an adulterer, he may be removed, but then his behavior is excused as an addiction, and he gains acceptance with another congregation. If an individual believer is wealthy and powerful, his sin is quickly rationalized and the person is catered to because of his philanthropy. If the sin is accepted and legalized by society, then the sinner may be ordained and even given a church pulpit. Couples living in sin are given the blessing of the church.

Many in the church today are overlooking the moral failures of our government leadership.

The church in many real ways is intended to be the spiritual lighthouse of a nation,but our lights are very dim or out altogether.

Then she starts to talk about what we as individuals can do. In addition to all the resources of Bibles, commentaries, books, the Internet, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Because of the actions of well known Christian leaders and some of the rest of us the Church doesn't look any different than the world.  You remember our study Christian Atheist?  We say we believe that God exist but act as if He doesn't. That's what the world sees.
       

So Anne asks us to ask ourselves some questions:

Who has rejected God because of my behavior or conversation?
     
Am I driving people away from Him or drawing them to Him by my behavior and attitude?
        
Does the Light in my life shine so that others look at my character and my conductand give genuine praise and thanks to the One who lives within me . . Or is the Light so dim that they don’t even notice any difference between myself and them?
     
If all the churches in this nation were like me, would they be strong, vibrant Lighthouses pointing people to safety . . . Or would they be to blame for the spiritual and moral darkness that has swept across our land?

Here's how she ends this chapter.

If you and I want to ignite a raging fire of revival in our nation—if we want to unleash an outpouring of God’s Spirit in a Third Great Awakening—then the Daniel Prayer—and the example of its author—makes it clear we must begin with wet eyes, bent knees, and a broken heart . . . for our own sin.

Bible Studio Audio