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SERIES: HAVING A PRAYER LIFE
Part One: “Gather Together”
Daniel 2:17-18
When I was attending Seminary in Philadelphia in the 80’s, I had a part-time job at a gas station in Exton, PA. Many times I had to work the night shift and would get off at 11:30 p.m. and have to drive over 30 miles to get home. One night it started snowing and as I was traveling up Rt. 100 up this huge hill, my car just stopped running. It was snowing like cats and dogs and so I got out and lifted the hood to see if I could see what was wrong. I wiggled the wires and did a couple of other things and nothing worked.
Each time I got back in the car and turned the key it wouldn’t start. Cars were just passing me by and here in the middle of nowhere near midnight, I thought how am I going to get home? No cell phones back then for me. Finally after the fifth try, I just decided that maybe I should pray. Isn’t it funny that we do everything else first, and then decide to pray. So, I got out of the car and I laid my hands on the car and prayed, “In the name of Jesus, I command this car to start. Please God.” Got back in the car, turned the key and wham….it started. True story.
You see, I’m concerned that sometimes we appear that we are people of prayer, but are we? Are we a people of prayer? We can look good, look like we have it all together as a church family, but it can be appearance. Did you know, that when a church interviews for a new pastor, what the most common trait that a church looks for? They want a pastor who prays. Do you know what every pastor really wants? He wants a church that prays!. He wants a church that prays because the pastor knows that a church will do nothing but maintain itself if there is insufficient prayer.
That’s why I decided in the next four weeks to do this series, “Having A Prayer Life.” Most of us admit and agree that prayer is essential to our lives and to the church, and yet it is something that seems to frustrate us all to one degree or another. Prayer is something we realize ought to be a fundamental priority, and yet, at best, more often than not, it becomes an afterthought. Through this series I want to encourage all of us to make prayer more of a priority in our individual lives and in the church as a whole. There is no one…..no one…..other than God whom we can be dependent upon. And in order to maintain our relationship with Him, we have to pray. We have to live a life of prayer every day. There’s an example in the Scriptures that demonstrates how to have a prayer life and his name was Daniel.
In Daniel 2 we find that Daniel had reason to pray. The chapter opens up with Nebuchadnezzar having some troublesome dreams. They had been so troubling that he lost sleep over them. So, Nebuchadnezzar wants to know what the dreamse mean and he calls in his wise men to give the interpretation. There is one problem. He won’t say what the dream is. Now we don’t know why exactly. Perhaps, he doesn’t remember himself or he decides to test the wise men. Naturally, the wise men want to hear the dream first and then give their interpretation. But Nebuchadnezzar will have none of that and he threatens them to come up with the “whole meaning” or it’s “curtains” for the whole lot of them. Their response is that no one can do that! It’s impossible.
So Nebuchadnezzar sentenced all the wise men to death. Though Daniel had not been a part of these proceeding, he was, nevertheless, included. So, in Daniel 2:13 it says, “So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them.” Now if you were Daniel, this would not be the news you would be looking for. He didn’t want to be clumped in with all these other wise men who appeal to idols, and yet, condemned with them you are. You have to appreciate Daniel’s response because he deals with it intelligently and with his faith in gear. The thing we see though is praying about it wasn’t the first thing he did. It says in Daniel 2:17-18, “Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.”
Daniel called for a prayer meeting. Why would he do that? It is probably because Daniel thought it would be better if they were all gathered together to pray. So the four of them sought God’s mercy, for they understood this……when you do not seek God’s mercy, you are left to the mercy of man! So, by their successful example, they teach us this…..that God’s people need to gather together to pray. Here in Daniel 2 we find three reason’s why God’s people need to gather together to pray?
First Reason To Gather Together To Pray Is The Assault
Remember last week I shared a Scripture with you from Ephesians 6:10-12? It said, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Don’t ever forget to realize that we are in a spiritual struggle. Satan has declared war on you! He is an unseen enemy with many strategies and schemes. He has tricks up His sleeve to trip you up, knock you down, and destroy you. That is what the Bible says he is to do to you. But…..we have a divine weapon that defeats him……………..it is prayer!
E. M Bounds, a 19th Century pastor known for his writings on prayer said, “Prayer is our most formidable weapon, but the one in which we are least skilled and the most adverse to using.” Note this……the devil is not terribly frightened about our human effort and credentials. In fact, we’ll get along fine with him if we depend on ourselves and flash our accomplishments about for others to see. We can do that all we want if we are pleased to do so. But what he doesn’t want us doing is praying. He doesn’t want us depending on God. He doesn’t want us seeking God’s mercy, like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Prayer moves God, and satan would rather have his evil way.
D.L. Moody, the founder of Moody Bible Institute once entered a tavern in order to ask the bartender if his two little girls might attend his Sunday School. He was told that an atheist club met there every Thursday night and the owner of the bar was in o mood to offend them. Moody looked into the face of this man and pleaded with him on behalf of his girls. Finally, the man’s heart was touched and he said, “Preacher, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you’ll come down here Thursday night and meet with the boyes in a joint discussion, and win, you shall have the children. But if not, it’s all off!”
Moody agreed and immediately went out and looked up a newspaper boy who really knew how to pray and said to him, “Tommy, I need you next Thursday night!” When the hour of the meeting arrived, Tommy and the evangelist entered the tavern. It was full of men sitting on whiskey barrels, beer kegs, and even on the bar, eargerly awaiting the coming debate. Moody began by saying, “Gentlemen, it’s our custom to open our meeting with a prayer. Tommy, jump up on that barrel and lead us in prayer.”
Tommy began to beseech the Lord for the souls of all present. As the tears rolled down the little fellow’s cheeks, the more tenderhearted of the men beat a retreat. Finally, even the hardest men present began to leave until there was no one left except the bartender, Moody and the praying boy. Moody turned to the father and said, “I claim your girls for my Sunday School!” The bartender answered, “All right, you win. But it’s a strange way to fight!” And Moody answered, “It’s the way I win many a battle.” Friends, we need to have that kind of boldness.
It’s what Acts 4:29 tells us, “And now, Lord, look upon their hearts and grant to Your servants to continue to speak Your word with all boldness…..” They knew they existed in the midst of spiritual conflict. And they did not pray that the conflict would go away. Instead they prayed that they would have the courage to continue to speak the truth. Why did they pray that way? Because……………..
The Second Reason To Gather Together To Pray Is Advancement
The purpose of prayer is not to get what we want. It is not to make our lives easier and better. It’s not about us. We pray because we are to move forward with kingdom concerns. It’s what Jesus taught His disciples to do in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10. He said, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We pray, not for the advancement of our kingdoms, but of God’s. What God wants is what we are to pray for. So we pray for God to act on His own behalf, because we want His concerns to be our concerns. That is so true of the church. We often get distracted by picnics, sprots and entertainment, and though I am always up for a party, the church is not to be about those things. Our primary goal is to make disciples.
Remember Jesus’ final command in Matthew 28:19-20? “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” I believe that God wants to bless this command. When it is on our hearts to win people for Him, He will hear us and give us souls to disciple. It is the prayer He loves to answer. Listen………….this is so important…..GOD CALLS US TO PRAY TOGETHER. Daniel’s example continues to ring true here. Daniel sought mercy for himself, his friends and the other wise men as well. In the same way, we are to seek God’s mercy on the behalf of others that do not know God. When we do this, we fulfill, “Your kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Third Reason To Gather Together To Pray Is Affectionn
We are to be a people of passion, which is identified in two different ways. First, we are to have a passion for God. Do you? You see, we demonstrate our affection and our love for Him when we come to Him in prayer. We identify the privilege that we have to be in a relationship with the Lord God Almighty when we go to Him in prayer.
Second, we are to have a passion for each other. When we come together in prayer, we are, in reality, bearing each other’s burdens. We are holding each other up. God uses this wonderful gift of prayer to sensitize us to the needs of others and it draws us closer and knits us together. It knits us together when we do this and is important because God blesses us when we are united together.
In Acts 4:32-33 we can see the change in the early church. It says, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.”
Note this………when the church is in complete unity, the world believes the message. The testimony of the resurrection makes sense when we truly love one another. The Gospel does not make any sense when we do not care for one another. If we don’t gather together to pray how can we see the results that God has for us. We need to love one another in prayer and watch the spirit of generosity pour out of us. We need to love God and love one another in prayer, and watch God bless us and favor us with His great grace.
In Conclusion
In a Peanuts Cartoon, Lucy demands that Linus change the TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they’re nothing, but when I curl them togher like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.” “What channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”
So, let me ask us that same question? Why can’t we get organized like that? That is why I’m doing this series. We need to gather together in prayer. Praying alone is important too, but praying alone is not going to do it. God wants more out of us as His people. He not only wants to see if we have a passion for Him individually, but He wants to see it corporately as well. That is why we have our church prayer meeting. That’s why I belive that God has been telling me for many months to do more for prayer in our church.
You know, our Christians culture constantly complains about returning prayer to our public schools. Frankly, it embarrasses me, because we don’t have that kind of prayer in our church. How dare we expect it there when we don’t do it here! As I prayed over the last number of months God has been revealing to me that He wants us to be a HOUSE OF PRAYER. I believe He is testing us right now.
We will never get past the status quo unless we become a praying church. And so, over the coming months you will see some things that I hope that you will join me in. I believe our best days are ahead of us. But we are not going to get there doing it the way we have been doing it up till now.
AC Dixon said, “When we rely on organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely on education, we get what education can do; when we rely on eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. But when we rely on prayer, we get what God can do!” Which would you rather have? It’s time to get together to pray. It’s time for this church, “to live the prayer life” together. And IF YOU ARE TOO BUSY TO PRAY, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE TO BUSY.
Let’s follow the example of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and get together. Just as he called them to pray…………………God calls us to gather together to pray.
SERIES: HAVING A PRAYER LIFE
Part Two: “Keep Praying”
Daniel 6:1-10
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if God were like an answering machine? It might sound like this……If you would like to speak with Gabriel, press 1. For Michael, press 2. For any other angel, press 3. If you want King David to sing you a psalm, press 4. To find out if a relative or friend is here, enter his or her date of death and listen for the list that follows. For reservations at the Father’s House, simply press the letters J-O-H-N- on the key pad, followed by the number 3-1-6. For answers to nagging questions about dinosaurs, the age of the earth and where Noah’s ark is …you have to wait until you get here.
The truth is, is that God is always available and we never get a busy signal. We can always come to Him freely, if we wish. In this series ‘having a prayer life’ is one of the most important things that we can do as a Christian. Last week we looked at Daniel as an example of a ‘man of prayer.’ In Daniel 2 we saw that when Nebuchadnezzar was having trouble with understanding his dreams, he decides to kill all the wise men for not knowing the dream or its meaning. Daniel was included in this list. So he called a prayer meeting. He knew there was strength in numbers when it came to prayer. He knew it was time to get together and God answered them. God gave Daniel knowledge of the dream and its meaning.
Today, I’d like to take a look at Daniel 6:1-10…..It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”
Then these presidents and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction. When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
Here, Daniel is an old man. He’s managed to make a positive impression on succeeding
Empires in Babylon, which included the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus and Darius. He was a man of influence. Under Darius, he has been a top official that has grown in his influence. Now, even in his old age, he is up for a promotion, for the king has in mind to make him number two in the kingdom. He was an influential man because he was an honest man.
Daniel was not like the man who sent this letter to the IRS…..“Dear Sirs, last year when I filed my income tax return, I deliberately misrepresented my income. Now I cannot sleep. Enclosed is a check for $150 for taxes. If I still can’t sleep, I will send the rest.” Well, Daniel could sleep at night because; he lived a life of integrity. The text tells us that he was excellent in spirit. He was a man of integrity because honoring God was his priority. He had a heart for God. But with success came trouble. For the king’s desire to make him number two was not making everyone happy! This was a cutthroat business, for some of the “homegrown” Babylonians are not too happy with the success of this Hebrew transplant. So they decided to “get some dirt” on Daniel.
The text shows us that Daniel was set up. Getting some dirt was more than a difficult task for these jealous types. Dirt is hard to find when you are dealing with a man of impeccable integrity like Daniel. Since there was no dirt to be had, they schemed to trip him up on his faith. They counted on the fact that Daniel would not give up on his prayer time. And they were right. So, when Daniel finds out that it is illegal to pray to anyone except Darius, what does Daniel do? He opens up the window, just like he always has, and prays. Why didn’t Daniel just close the window? What would be wrong with being a bit more discreet? Go ahead and pray, but don’t make a big deal about it.
But to Daniel, it mattered. If he was accused before the king, he was going to answer truthfully. So if the king was going to find out anyway, why change? Why compromise? Be bold about what you believe. So, the text tells us, he opens the window to pray, to demonstrate an open and humble heart before God. He demonstrates a desire to honor an infinite God over honoring finite men. Daniel gives us the example that God’s people keep praying no matter what. No matter what the circumstances are, or how impossible it seems, God’s people keep praying. Since Daniel had a determination to pray no matter what, we should think the same way. There are three reasons why God’s people need to keep praying.
First Reason To Keep Praying Is COMPLIANCE
In the book of I Samuel 12:23 it says, “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and right way,” Samuel believes it is a sin to not pray. It is such an absolute essential to our lives, to not do it is a sin. Jesus also set for us the ultimate example of prayer. He had a regular pattern of withdrawal from the tasks of the day. And he would go off to pray. Sometimes it was early in the morning and other times it was at night or during the day. If we follow Jesus from one place of prayer to the other we find that we are to never stop praying. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 Paul says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Those are all encompassing commands, aren’t they? I mean, can we really obey them all the time? I believe these commands speak to the state of our mind. We need to possess an attitude that acknowledges dependence on God. We need to constantly realize and desire God’s presence. When we do this, we will never stop praying. There is good reason to never stop praying. There is good reason to never stop praying. The old Puritan, john Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress said; “Prayer will make a man cease from sin, as sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.”
Another way of saying this is….it’s hard to stumble when you’re down on your knees. When we are not praying, in effect, we leave the door open for all other sins. This is something, I believe, that Daniel understood. He needed this order in his life, so when he was called to compromise his faith. He chose the discipline of prayer. He demonstrates that it is better to honor God than to honor man.
Second Reason To Keep Praying Is CAMARADERIE
When we are in love with someone, we desire his or her companionship. We are willing to spend hours with them without interruption. We just like being in their presence. In the same way, God needs to be first in our lives. If we truly love God, we will desire that intimate, personal communication that is available to us. We will enjoy talking to Him, and perhaps even more, we will enjoy listening.
Consider marriage. It is a lifetime commitment. We made vows that obligate us to persevere. If God didn’t design it that way, we would be unlikely to stick it out, to weather the storms and persevere through the pain. But when you do persevere, you learn to forgive, repent, serve instead of being served, and learn to bear one another’s weakness. You go through painful things to get the good stuff. Relationships that persevere experience the really good stuff. Is it easy? No. Is it worth it? Absolutely! And this is why we persevere in prayer. So we can experience the really good stuff. This is exactly what Daniel did. Daniel chose love over life. He chose his love for God over his own life. And you know what happened?
Daniel 6:13-23, “Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Then they answered and said before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.” Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel.
And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.” Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish.
The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
The Lions were shut out! And Daniel experienced the really good stuff. He experienced firsthand God’s power and God’s grace. He experienced the stuff that is worth waiting for!
Third Reason To Keep Praying Is CARE
Because we sometimes need to settle down and stop our moving in order to pray, we might perceive that prayer is a passive activity. But that is a misperception, because…
Prayer is activity, not inactivity. In fact, prayer is an aggressive, active ministry. It is not something we do when there is nothing else to do. No, it is our first line of attack, not our last. It is an aggressive statement of our faith and dependence. Not only that…
Prayer is a demonstration of love. Philippians 1:3-5 & 9 says, “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you. I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now. And this is my prayer: what your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”
If I love someone, the best thing I can do for them is pray. It’s something that Pau demonstrates consistently in his letters. He keeps praying for the churches. At the Wednesday night church service coincided with the last day of hunting season. So the pastor asked who had bagged a deer. No one raised a hand. Puzzled, the pastor said, "I don’t get it. Last Sunday many of you said you would be missing because of hunting season. I had the whole congregation pray for your deer." One hunter groaned, "Well, it worked. They’re all safe." Maybe that isn’t the best example of what I mean! But you know, there are some of you in this congregation that are going through difficult times. In fact, many of you have problems and pain that is so personal and so distressing that sometimes you refuse to even ask for prayer. And that is sad friends. It’s what we as the church is suppose to be. Sometimes we can’t do much but we can pray. That’s the important thing to pray persistently. I’ll keep praying because I know that God’s people keep praying, no matter what. So let me encourage you with this simple exhortation…
1. Talk to God. Sometimes, we think prayer is only for the “holy” people. Do you know what I mean? It seems it is for those that lower their voices and talk in beautiful and poetic phrases. But I don’t want you to worry about that. Set aside the formalities, and just talk to God. It is meant to be that simple. It is meant to be that simple, so you can keep praying no matter what. So keep praying when you are devastated and discouraged. Keep praying when it seems that your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling and God isn’t listening. Keep praying when you feel your faith is weak. Keep praying when you want toss it all in and give up. Keep praying when it seems that it is hopeless.
Don’t stop! Don’t stop and push!
2. P.U.S.H. Push means “Pray Until Something Happens.” The book and the movie “Out of Africa” features the true story of a Danish noblewoman named Baroness Karen Blixen. She lived in Kenya as an owner of a large coffee plantation. There was a tribe known as Kikuyu that Blixen had grown to love. And some of the tribe lived on a part of her plantation. As a result of financial obstacles that followed World War I, Blixen lost the plantation including the part where the tribe lived. The new landowner demonstrated no concern for the tribe, only the land. This lack of concern meant that the tribe would be a tribe without a home.
Blixen lacked the money to buy back the land she had lost. So she tried to take her cause before the government agencies, but they demonstrated the same lack of concern for the tribe as the new landowner. Blixen did not give up though. At a reception for the new governor of Kenya, she disregarded protocol by bypassing others in the crowd and going straight to the governor himself. Shamelessly, she fell to her knees, grabbing the governor’s hand and pleaded for the tribe. Many around her were embarrassed by her actions and tried to get her up, but she just kept persisting that the governor look into the matter. Persistently, she pleaded that he give her his word. It was then that the governor’s wife stood, and said, “You have mine.” And because Blixen was persistent, she succeeded. So I encourage you today…
3. Don’t give up, no matter what….Luke 18:1 says, “Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”
Jesus told his disciples that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. So we keep praying…Not because God is hard of hearing. Not because God needs to be pestered into answering our request. Not because God doesn’t want to answer us. We keep praying because God loves to hear from His children. We keep praying because God wants to know if we really mean it. We keep pushing in prayer because our prayers carry weight before God. He desires to be moved by them!
So let us not discount their importance! For prayer has divided seas. It has rolled up flowing rivers. It has made rocks gush into fountains. It has quenched flames of fire.
It has disarmed vipers. It has stopped the course of the moon and arrested the sun in its race. It has burst open iron gates. It has conquered the strongest devils and commanded legions of angels down from heaven. It has bridled the raging passions of men and destroyed vast armies. And it has muzzled starving lions! People of God! Keep praying…no matter what
SERIES: HAVING A PRAYER LIFE
Part Three: “Pray With Passion”
Daniel 9:1-3
There was a Scottish tradesman, a painter called Jack, who was very interested in making a pound where he could. So he often would thin down his paint to make it go a wee bit further. As it happened, he got away with this for some time. Eventually the Presbyterian Church decided to do a big restoration job on one of their biggest churches. Jack put in a painting bid and because his price was so competitive, he got the job. And so he set to, with a right good will, erecting the trestles and putting up the planks, and buying the paint and...yes, I am sorry to say, thinning it down with the turpentine.
Well, Jack was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly done, when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder. The sky opened and the rain poured down, washing the thin paint from all over the church, knocking Jack right off the scaffold, causing him to land on the lawn. Now, Jack was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty, so he fell on his knees and cried, "Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?" And from the thunder, a mighty Voice spoke, "Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more!"
Have you ever needed to get back on the right track? Although, we might not like to admit it, from time to time, we all need to get back on the right track. But we are not alone in this. The Bible is full of stories of those that needed to get back on the right track. For example…Abraham feared for his life because Sarah was so beautiful, so he called her his sister instead of his wife. Samson, though he possessed supernatural strength, he kept finding his sexual passions getting in the way from doing the Lord’s work. David, though he was known for having a heart for God, found his heart wandering so badly that he committed adultery, attempted a cover-up, then a murder and tried to pretend that none of it happened.
Demas, who had accompanied Paul on his journeys, witnessing the power of the Holy Spirit, one day turned his back on Paul and betrayed the work of Christ Even the church of Ephesus, who had counted among its pastors Paul, Timothy and John, was charged by Jesus of leaving its first love We’ve been looking at Having A Prayer Life for the last two weeks. Does prayer characterize your life? If it doesn’t, I want to encourage you today to get back on the right track! Praying without ceasing and giving thanks in every circumstance are exhortations that are to characterize our lives as Christians.
We often define prayer as communicating with God. The idea of talking to God is a definition that I have often used. It is perhaps the simplest way to define it. But there is something more to prayer that is absolutely essential. We must not miss it. It is this…Prayer is communion with God. Prayer is more than talking. Prayer is relationship. Jesus expressed this well when he said in John 15:7, ““If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Prayer is remaining in relationship with the Lord. Prayer is letting His words rest in us. Prayer is communion with God. In our study today we will find three phases that demonstrate what happens when we are in communion with God.
In Daniel 9:1-3 it says, “In the first year of Darius, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” Before we cover these three phases, let’s consider the historical background of this passage. In 605 B. C., Nebuchadnezzar, who would soon become the Babylonian king, led a great army against the Egyptians in a crisis battle of history fought along the Euphrates River. There the Egyptians were toppled from their place as one of the greatest military powers of the day. Nebuchadnezzar then preceded south and went on to capture Jerusalem in that same year, taking captive certain royal princes of the house of Israel which included Daniel among them. As we come to Daniel 9, it is around 537 B. C., almost 70 years later.
The First Phase Is We READ
We need to be people of the Word who listen. This is the example of Daniel. He was pouring over Scripture, the writings of his contemporary, Jeremiah, whom he obviously recognized as God’s prophet. We know that Daniel was a man that was molded by the revelation of God. We see that in Daniel 1 when he insists on keeping the dietary laws from Moses, even though the finest foods of Babylon are offered to him. The written Word was precious to Him because it was there one discovered God’s purposes and received guidance from the Lord. So here is what he reads from Jeremiah 29:10-11, “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Daniel is doing the math. It has been sixty-eight years since he was deported from Jerusalem. Was the time of fulfillment at hand? God had promised that they would be able to go back to their homeland. But were they ready? He looked around at the people of Judah, and he saw they had become comfortable in Babylon. They had no desire to return. Spiritually, they had lost their bearings. They needed to get back on the right track. They needed to get back to God’s Word, because it would be there that they would find their way home, both physically and spiritually.
Second Phase Is We RESPOND
When we discover something is wrong, we know where to turn. During a Sunday service, the pastor asked the congregation for their prayer requests. There were the usual requests to pray for sick people and acknowledgments for those who helped when a parishioner died. It was a somber mood, but it was broken when the last request was heard. A woman stood up and said, "My grand-daughter just received her driver’s license. Let us pray for us all." Well…when there is trouble, there is only one place to turn. It is to the Lord God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. It is to our Father. Note again what Daniel was reading in Jeremiah 29:12, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.”
It was time to pray. It was time to respond to God’s promise. Yet, this is what kind of got to Daniel. The deliverance of God’s people and their promised restoration to their own land seemed as remote as ever. This was a people that seemed unresponsive to the wonderful promise. And Daniel knew they had to get this right. There was a lot of heart work left, for the people’s hearts were hardened and in rebellion against God. We will see this in the following prayer that we will study next week. So Daniel realizes he needs to do more than read and respond…
Third Phase Is We REPENT
We can be nothing less than passionate about our relationship with our Father. Daniel does more than turn to the Father in prayer. He pleads for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. This is a prayer of earnest, not some off-the-cuff response. This was no time to be casual. This was a time to repent! Again, note what Daniel had been reading from Jeremiah 29:13-14,“You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”
Willfully, emotionally, and intellectually, Daniel gave his full attention to seeking God.
You see, it is the nature of repentance to be single-minded. We want to get right. We want to get back on the right track. It seems like Daniel wants to make sure that he has God’s attention. But I don’t think that’s the real point. What is important to God is that He has our attention. And this is true of Daniel. God has his attention. For Daniel understands the gravity of the situation. It is time to get serious!
When Michigan played Wisconsin in basketball early in the season in 1989, Michigan’s Rumeal Robinson stepped to the foul line for two shots late in the fourth quarter. His team trailed by one point, so Rumeal could regain the lead for Michigan. He missed both shots, allowing Wisconsin to upset favored Michigan. Rumeal felt awful about costing his team the game, but his sorrow didn’t stop at the emotional level. After each practice for the rest of the season, Rumeal shot one hundred extra foul shots.
Thus, Rumeal was ready when he stepped to the foul line to shoot two shots with three seconds left in overtime in the national championship game. Swish went the first shot, and swish the second. Those shots won Michigan the national championship. Rumeal’s repentance had been genuine, and sorrow motivated him to work so that he would never make that mistake again. As Paul wrote in II Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow leads to repentance” True repentance means we do something about it. We get ourselves on the right track.
In Conclusion
One of the things we have to get right on track is about prayer. There are some things you need to know.
First: There Is No Category Of A “Prayerless Christian”
There isn’t. Christians pray, period. For prayerlessness is the mark of a hypocrite, not a genuine believer. Too many of us treat it as an optional activity. We won’t say it out loud, but we will say it with our actual behavior. We too often see prayer as something beneficial, but not absolutely necessary. And if you fall into that category, this must change! Because the people of God pray! The people of God pray together! The people of God pray with perseverance!
Second: The People Of God Pray With Passion
Remember I said that prayer is more than communication…….it is communion. Prayer does not represent the love relationship between us. It is the relationship. Thus, if there is very little prayer, then at best, there is very little relationship. And if there is no prayer, there is no relationship. So you see, if we have no passion, no desire for the relationship, we have nothing to offer the world.
Third: Prayer Is The Language Of A Love Affair
Prayer is the language of the love affair between the God and His beloved He has created. Note His words to us from the prophet Jeremiah 31:3,“…I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” And also note our proper response…Mark 12:30, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” We are to love God with all that we are. We are to be madly in love with God. You know, lovers enjoy each other’s presence. Lovers do not need the experts to tell them to spend time with each other to talk. And when lovers have been with each other for years, and they are able to anticipate what will be said, thought or felt, they don’t stop talking. No, a shared life prompts more communion.
The people of God pray with passion. We are in communion with Him. So we pray; He responds. We ask; He answers. Our trust is built. Our faith deepens. And as the process continues, we begin to grasp His love for us. We understand that He wants to bless us. We experience the fact that He takes pleasure in doing good on our behalf.
You see…He wants our hearts! Perhaps, though, you don’t even know how to pray.
You don’t know how to pray because you don’t have a relationship with God. But know this…God wants that relationship with you. He wants to give you a new heart.
Fourth: Do You Need A New Heart?
Note God’s promise to each one of us in Ezekiel 36:26-27, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” You can have a new heart today, simply by asking for it. Some of you today have that new heart, but you do not have passion for the Lover of your soul. The love has grown cold. So, let me ask it this way…
Fifth: Do You Have A Circulation Problem?
Do you have poor circulation? Is sin clogging your arteries? Because when sin gets in the way, we lose our passion. Instead of vital communion, we are like the church in Ephesus in Revelation when Jesus says in Revelation 2:4, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” We don’t have to lose the wonder! James tells us in James 4:8, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. “ Yes, it is meant to be that simple. “Does prayer really work?” Many of you believe it does, don’t you? I do too. But…It is the wrong question! Prayer is not a utilitarian practice aimed at achieving some accomplishment. Prayer is communion with God. The value of prayer is prayer! There’s not greater opportunity that we have other than to acknowledge Jesus and to know Him and love Him. Is that the true prayer of your heart today. My prayer is that God will encourage your hearts with a passion to pray
SERIES: HAVING A PRAYER LIFE
Part Four: “Pray With Perspective”
Daniel 9:4-19
A sloth is out for a walk when he’s mugged by four snails. After recovering his wits, he goes to make a police report. "Can you describe the snails?" asks the officer. "I don’t know," replies the sloth. "It all happened so fast." Well, that’s a different perspective, isn’t it? You know…we all have a viewpoint on things. Each one of us, because of our individual characteristics or the variety of our backgrounds, thinks about things differently. Sometimes our perspective can be helpful and encouraging. And sometimes, it can be just the opposite.
Take for example……Amy and Jamie, who are old friends. They have both been married to their husbands for a long time. Amy is upset because she thinks her husband doesn’t find her attractive anymore. "As I get older he doesn’t bother to look at me!" Amy cries. "I’m so sorry for you, as I get older my husband says I get more beautiful every day." replies Jamie. "Yes, but your husband’s an antique dealer!"
As helpful as perspectives can be at times, we must realize that the challenge for the Christian is to have God’s perspective. This is the aim of today’s study. This is the last in our series about Having A Prayer Life. The goal of this series has been to get us to realize that as a church family, as an individual, that prayer is an essential. It’s a spiritual discipline that we must do, but at the same time, I want you to realize that prayer is much more than a task. It is a joy. We’ve been using Daniel as the example. He was a man of prayer.
We studied in Daniel 2 about Gathering Together to pray. In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had decided to kill all his wise men because they could not tell him what his dream was, thus they were not able to tell its meaning. When Nebuchadnezzar made this decision, it unfortunately included Daniel as well, though he had not been a participant in the proceedings up to that point. We learned that Daniel went to his house and he and the companions had a prayer meeting. They were told to seek mercy from God of heaven, so that they might not be destroyed. Daniel knew that it was essential that they pray together. It was not optional. It was essential. And as a result, God gave him the knowledge of what Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was, and its meaning.
Next we learned from Daniel in Chapter 6 that we need to pray with perseverance. Much later in his life, Daniel was a very high official for a king named Darius. But there were many of Darius’ officials that were jealous of Daniel and deceived Darius into signing a law that people could only pray to him, and no other god. They did this knowing that Daniel would be unlikely to compromise on such an issue. Daniel’s response…he knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. Their anticipation of Daniel’s reaction was right on. He would continue praying. Of course, the officials reported it, and so for Daniel’s insubordination, he was thrown into a hungry lions’ den, as the law was written, much to the dismay of Darius. But because Daniel was man of integrity and a man of prayer, God saved him.
Last week, we saw the heart of Daniel 9, for…he prayer with passion. Daniel had been studying the Word of God, spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, and noted that the people of God were going to shortly return to Jerusalem. But as he looked around, no one was ready to go. No one wanted to go. And this grieved Daniel. He knew it wasn’t right, because God was not done with His people. Yet, he was afraid that further disobedience might jeopardize God’s promise. So Daniel prayed with a passion. He turned to the Lord God, with please for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. This was not a ritual. He came before the Lord because he was in a relationship with Him. Today we are going to take a look at the kind of prayer he prayed. It shows us that the people of God pray with perspective.
But how do we do that? How do we get the right perspective? Using Daniel’s prayer as an example, we will find three directions to take enabling us to pray with perspective. Listen to how powerful this prayer is from Daniel 9:4-19, “I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.
To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.
As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.
Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
The First Direction We Must Take Is ADORATION
Daniel begins this prayer in the spirit of worship. He is aware of the Presence of God, so he rightly does not begin with his problems. Instead, he focuses on the nature and character of God. We must acknowledge the majesty of God. Daniel is confronted rightly with an awesome God. Not in the way we use “awesome,” but in its truest sense. For when we are faced with the reality of God, we are filled with fear and awe. We see that He is great and terrible. He is absolutely holy, unstained by anything that is wrong or wicked. Not only that, He is sovereign. Nothing is beyond His reach or knowledge. But Daniel knows that this is not the end of the story when it comes to God, for…we are to celebrate the compassion of God.
He is not so beyond us that He is not near us. No, God reaches down to us, understanding our frailty, extending His gracious compassion. For just as God’s power brings us to our knees, so should His love. We cannot take it for granted as if it were something we deserved. For that is the point, we don’t deserve it. So Daniel sees God rightly as he prays. God is both a Being of awesome majesty, and a Being of infinite, tender love and compassion. He is worthy to be adored.
Second Direction We Must Take Is ADMISSION
Daniel communicates throughout this prayer his deep awareness of shame. He admits it belongs to them as God’s people. And this is a reminder to us that some words really stick in our throat, like “I have sinned.” But the truth is…We need to confess our wrongdoing. Daniel vigorously scours the whole vocabulary of sin. He doesn’t hold anything back. He says, “We have sinned.” “We have done wrong.” “We have been wicked.” “We have rebelled.” “We have turned away from your commands and laws.” “We have not listened to your servants and prophets.” “We have been unfaithful.” “We have not prayed.” “We have not repented.” Daniel does not want there to be any misunderstanding about where he stands in this, even to the point of including himself. He is a part of this community. And as far as he was concerned, they were all in trouble when their sin was compared to the holiness of God.
There were two brothers that were notoriously immoral. They were synonymous with the vice that had overtaken their city. When one of them suddenly died, the surviving brother asked the local pastor to perform the funeral service. He offered him an enormous sum of money if, in his eulogy, he would refer to his deceased brother as a saint. This pastor was a man of integrity. He knew he had to tell the truth, but after much pondering, the pastor agreed. As the service came to an end, the pastor said, “The man we have come to bury was a thief. In fact, he deserves every vile description the mind can muster. He was depraved, immoral, lewd, hateful, and the scum of the earth. But compared to his brother, he was a saint!”
The truth is, though, no matter what standard we might use, we are in trouble. It does not matter if we do look better than someone else. Daniel shows us by example that each one of us needs to admit that, when compared to God, we are mess. Now, God does not ask us to confess our sins because he is trying to humiliate us. That’s not it at all. Instead, it is because we kid ourselves. We are dishonest about ourselves. Our perspective is wrong. We are unrealistic about the righteousness of our own person. But God is the ultimate realist, for He knows exactly the way things really are. We must recognize that God is right. Daniel acknowledges that the people of God deserved what they got.
This dreadful exile in Babylon had been more than fair. God was perfectly right to deal with them this way.
We need to come to the same conclusion. When we are tempted to shift blame for the things that are wrong in our lives, or even the church, we must stop ourselves. We have no one to blame but ourselves. You see, we need to see sin as it really is. We need to acknowledge that our behavior is reprehensible. We must give up our cover-up. And again, we must see God as He really is…that God cannot be unrighteous. He cannot lie. He cannot cheat us. He cannot be unfair to us. He cannot be unloving. He is right. He is always right! This leads us to……….
Third Direction We Must Take Is APPLICATION
Daniel now makes his appeal to the Lord. And it is here we learn that…we must concede our dependence on the Lord. We are dependent. This is why we pray.
So, Daniel does make his plea before the Lord. “Lord, hear!” “Lord, forgive!” “Lord, listen and act!” Let us note that there is a difference in tone at this point in the prayer.
It is at this point, Daniel addresses God differently. It is not “our God.” It is “my God.”
Daniel says this because he is in relationship with God. There is a nearness and similarity that God loves. There is a faith that Daniel demonstrates and that God loves to honor. And so it is here we see that…we are to get in line with God’s kingdom priorities. Daniel appeals to the honor and reputation of God’s name. You see, because Daniel was close to God, he was able to pray according to God’s purposes.
He knew his God was a God with a reputation, that these people bore His name.
God’s honor was at stake as the ruins in Jerusalem continued. Because Daniel believes in what God has said, he prays according to God’s promises and purposes. In the same way, we too are to line ourselves up with God’s promises and purposes. We do not look to the restoration of Jerusalem as Daniel did, but we do pray…“Your kingdom come; “our will be done; On earth as it is in heaven.”
In Conclusion
I believe that it is time for us as individuals and as a church to change when it comes to prayer. We talk about prayer, the importance of it, but then never commit to doing it. We must put into practice what we know about prayer. In my small group that meets each month, we’ve been studying how to pray for one hour through the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus’ disciples asked him, Lord, teach us to pray.” And he then taught them the Lord’s Prayer. As we have been studying this we’ve seen how praying can move from a duty to a delight.
We know that we are to pray with people. That is why we have our monthly prayer meeting and have now been meeting weekly on Thursday mornings in our sanctuary for prayer. You are all invited to join us each Thursday at 10 a.m., as we seek the Lord. Come out and gather together with us as we pray with perseverance, and pray passionately, and pray with God’s perspective.
Pick up the Lord’s Prayer Guide on our table in the foyer. Be challenged to use is as a guide in your prayer life to line up with God’s purposes and desires for your life. Commit yourself to having a prayer life. If we are to get beyond the status quo as a church, this place must become a house of prayer.
