AN ANSWER WAS
GIVEN
Back in March when our nation went to war against Iraq, we invited the church to a special night of prayer. The response was tremendous as the worship center filled up that Sunday evening with folks who poured out their hearts to the Lord in prayer for the nation, for the safety of the troops, for the families here at Providence impacted directly. If we are not careful, we can take for granted that our God heard our prayers and forget to give thanks for God’s goodness. Today as part of our worship time, we want to express our gratitude to the Lord.
Once a year, the nation sets aside a day
for prayer. The National Day of Prayer,
held this past Thursday, May 1, provides a time for us to pause from the
routines and pray for the needs of our world and specifically our own
nation. We have so much for which to
give thanks…thanksgiving that begins by noting what God has done.
Daniel models the kind of praying we
should do when he approached the Lord on behalf of his people. Far from an appeal to return to a time of
national prosperity and ease, Daniel shows us the heart of one whose heart
belonged first and foremost to the Lord.
One of the best lessons from this prayer
of Daniel is that we can pray with an expectation that an answer is on the
way. Many times we pray out of a sense
of duty or because it comes as part of the package of becoming a disciple.
THESIS:
If we believe that prayer makes a difference, then we will be more watchful and
expectant in looking forward to watching God answer our prayers.
Unfortunately, for many of us, we are not
sure that praying actually makes any difference. What we do in our times of prayer is not so much an appeal for
the Lord to hear us, an effort to communicate personally and intimately with
the Lord God Almighty, but instead we repeat words, recite formulas, rehearse
our lines—but we have little confidence that what we are doing makes any
difference.
I. FOCUSED, RIVETED ATTENTION on HIS PRAYERS
--When
Daniel came to the Lord in prayer, his need was obvious and his approach was
direct.
Daniel
9:3 3So I gave my
attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with
fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
--Many of our times of prayer appear to be tacked on
to other agendas, appendices to things we consider more important or more
effective.
--Even
in our own personal times with the Lord, we often find it hard to balance the
time we spend in the Word and the time we spend praying.
A. HIS ATTENTION WAS GIVEN TO GOD
--Prayer
that makes a difference begins with giving our attention to the Lord, setting
our minds on Christ and allowing our focus to be on Him and nothing else.
Psalm
73:25-26 25Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides
Thee, I desire nothing on earth. 26
My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my
portion forever.
--How
much time do we waste in prayer because we cannot pay attention, our minds
wander, our connection to the things of this world being so strong that we have
great difficulty entering into the eternal realm to give all our attention to
seeking the Lord?
B. HIS ACTIONS WERE GROUNDED IN HUMILITY
--Daniel
had obviously found that before praying, he needed to ground himself, to humble
himself before the Lord, and prepare to approach Him with seriousness and
sincerity.
--The
outward means he chose were fasting, sackcloth and ashes, physical methods that
served to remind him of the spiritual realm of humility needed to come before
God.
--Over
the next several months, we are going to invite you as a congregation to join
us in setting aside special times in your schedule for periods of prayer and
fasting.
Although there are many here who regularly spend time fasting and
praying, I know that I do not do so as often as I would like, nor nearly as
often as I need to. We want to ask the
church to embrace a call to prayer in a special way as we move forward into new
areas of ministry which will make it absolutely necessary to proceed with
intense periods of prayer and complete reliance on the Lord.
The pastors prayer team will be
invited to take at least a day a month to fast, the pastors and elders and
deacons will be encouraged to consider a commitment of that nature as well. In fact, I invite each of you to look at the
next several months as time to seek some new initiatives in prayer in your own
prayer lives.
C. HIS APPEALS WERE GUIDED BY PASSION
--As
Daniel began in prayer, we find that he has a passion often missing in our own
praying.
Years ago when Providence was just
starting, I met every few weeks with a couple of other pastors for prayer and
encouragement. We were all in new
churches and enjoyed the fellowship time but especially the times of
prayer. Warren Thuston from Calvary
Presbyterian and Dan Boone from N. Raleigh Nazarene taught me so much about
prayer as we knelt together and I listened to their impassioned pleas for the
lost, for their congregations, for the world around us, for their own
faithfulness to pure lives and powerful preaching.
Seldom did we get up from our knees
without seeing the evidence of their tears anointing the chairs where they
knelt. I was convicted early on that
much of my praying can become passionless, dry-eyed praying if I do not allow the
Lord to grip my mind and stir my heart.
1. Passion for the Character of God
--In
the words of his prayer, Daniel allows us to get a glimpse of his view of God:
·
Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and
lovingkindess…9:5
§
Righteousness belongs to Thee, O Lord…9:7
§
To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness…9:9
§
The Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds
which He has done…9:14
--Knowing
what he knew about God, Daniel framed the rest of his prayer, remembering the
One to whom He spoke about the concerns of his heart.
2. Passion for the Covenant of God
--Daniel
was concerned to see the name and honor of God lifted high, both before the
Chaldeans and then the Persians as well as the chosen people of God held by
them in captivity.
--He
studied the word of God throught the prophet Jeremiah, trusted His word and
prayed accordingly.
Daniel 9:2 2in
the first year of his reign I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the
years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for
the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
--The
lesson for us is simple, but important—when God speaks, we can count on what He
says.
--Note: Daniel has always been faithful in prayer, even
when it might have cost him his life, as when he refused to obey the edict by
King Darius to pray to no one other then the king. David persisted in prayer, not secretly, but as was his
established habit:
Daniel
6:10 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.
--No
one doubted that Daniel was a man of faithful prayer, but in the circumstance
before us in Daniel 9, the prophecy of Jeremiah had shown him that the promise
of God was ready to be fulfilled.
--He
therefore entered into a time of special prayer in addition to his daily
fellowship with the Father.
Calvin wrote:– “When Daniel perceived the period of deliverance at hand, he
not only prayed as usual, but left all his other occupations for the purpose of
being quite at ease and at leisure, and thus he applied his mind exclusively to
prayer, and made use of other aids to devotion.”
Are there not times for us to
choose to go beyond the ordinary? When
we find ourselves in crisis, we naturally do not need prompting to pray more! In times of exceptional opportunity should
we not do the same? As the church looks for land ways to provide more room for
the growing numbers of people, plants new congregations, increases its outreach
locally and abroad, embraces new challenges in training and sending out
faithful, equipped leaders—these are times for extraordinary prayer to enjoy
the extraordinary favor of God!
II. FAITHFULLY, DILIGENTLY WAITING FOR GOD’S
ANSWERS
--Daniel
prayed with a certain expectation that the Lord would hear his prayers and
answer them.
--However,
I would suspect that he himself was surprised with the swift answer and
immediate response he received from God’s messenger, Gabriel.
Daniel
9:20-21, 23 While I was still
speaking and praying and confessing my sin…presenting my supplication…while I
was still speaking in prayer…’At the beginning of your supplication the command
was issued’
--Sometimes
God answers our prayers—and we miss the answer because we honestly did not
expect Him to bother!!
A. SPEAK OUR PRAYERS BEING CONFIDENT THAT HE HEARS
--If
we are confident that He hears, that He loves us, that He is good, that we are
welcome to pray in Jesus’ name, why would we not be confident that He would not
hear and respond?
Psalm 66:18-19 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord
will not hear; 19But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the
voice of my prayer.
--God
does hear our prayers when we come to Him as those who are cleansed of
unrighteousness, forgiven for our sins, prepared for His presence…all which has
been done for us through our relationship with Jesus Christ.
B. SEEK GOD’S PEACE BEING CONTENT THAT HE ANSWERS
--But
there is more to it than just being confident that He hears—we must also grow
to understand that He hears and answers—both of which together significantly
change the way we pray!
--If
praying is nothing more than just our expressions of our best wishes of the way
we would like things to be—hopeful
thinking expressed in the formulas of prayer—we will never come to see
prayer as God wants it to be.
Hear
the words of some who were content that God would always answer and waited
around to see how!
Mic. 7:7 But as
for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me.
Psa. 85:8 I
will hear what God the LORD will say; For He will speak peace to His people, to
His godly ones; But let them not turn back to folly.
Hab. 2:1 I will
stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch
to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved.
--After
you have prayed, do you wait on the Lord and watch for the answers?
--Praying
without expecting the response of God cannot qualify as much by way of the
biblical pattern of praying!
Next week we are going to explore this more fully . We’ll see what we are actually saying to the Lord when we walk
away from prayer and forget that we have asked and what we have said when we
did speak.
CONCLUSION: When we prayed the evening of March 23 for
the Lord to intervene with our nations war with Iraq, did you expect Him to
bring the hostilities to an end quickly and decisively? Did you expect to have Him protect the
troops, minimize the devastation on the Iraqi people, and accomplish so much in
so little time?
If we think now that the credit is due to
military might and strategic brilliance, we may be right in part—but both of
those things are due to no merit in us as a nation, but to the goodness and
grace of God!
Psalm 115:1 Not to
us, O LORD, not to us, But to Thy name
give glory Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth.
Our reliance must be
on the Lord and our prayers to Him must be followed up by two things:
1. Confident Expectation That He Will Answer
2. Grateful Expressions of Thankful Hearts
Daniel prayed expectantly, fervently,
passionately, persistently—do any of these words describe our prayer
lives? God wants us to grow up to
maturity in our praying and to become men and women who approach Him with hope
and confidence that He wants to
answer our prayers. When that happens,
we will no longer be content to pray and forget, but we will pray and wait with
eager anticipation to see what the mighty hand of God will do!
May 4, 2003
© David Horner 2003
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