Abundance Prayer - The Prayer of Daniel

Hear oh God my prayers,

Look in favor at my pain.

Hear and act. 

Don't delay for I bear your name.



Today when you get an opportunity, turn your attention to a prayer of Daniel - a hero of the Old Testament. If your life was severely disrupted when you were a child, you can sympathize with Daniel. 

His young life turned lousy when he was taken into captivity by the Babylonians and dragged away from his homeland. Although he was a captive, through his faithfulness to God, he rose to become the highest-level government official. 

Daniel had such a great reputation that he remained in power even when his captors were defeated and the government changed. 


Daniel never forgot about wanting to go home. He ultimate manifested (with God) everything he believed God for.

  1. The Prophecy

    1. Read Daniel 9:1-2. Let's figure a minute here. If Daniel was taken captive by the Babylonians and he is looking at a 70 year prophecy, about how old is he? (Our lesson says Daniel is in his eighties.)


      1. How young was he when he was taken captive?  You know many of us are so concerned with "when" and "I am too old" or "I am too young".  There was a time I didn't give thought to these things.  However, now for some reason, it seems I have the thought of "time" being an issue to what I am desiring.  Of course we know it shouldn't be but honestly it is for some of us. 



      2. How would you like to be a captive all your adult life? What if you became a captive because of the sins of someone else - how would you feel?  I think this question is one that many are able to answer.  Although many of us have not had the fate of experiencing captivity...physical captivity.  Yet, we've all have probably felt captive by something unseen one or twice in our lives.  So, captivity is an awful feeling.  To be captive by something that was/is not yours by any means is even worse.  Regardless of the situation though, we know a higher power who is there even when it seems we'll never be free.



    2. Put yourself in Daniel's place. What do you think went through his head about returning to Jerusalem when the Medes defeated the Babylonians - the people who had taken him into captivity 70 years before? (Note that the prophecy ( Jeremiah 29:10) keys the captivity to Babylon (70 years "are completed for Babylon"). Daniel no doubt thought that the change in power might give his people the opportunity to be free and return home in accord with the prophecy.)


      1. Now, a year after the Medes have taken power, you are still in captivity. What is going through your mind if you are Daniel? (You are wondering why you are not home.)


        1. Would you doubt God's word?  


      2. Look again at Jeremiah 29:12-13. Is this just a time prophecy? (No! God says that when 70 years are up the people will seek Him with all their heart. When they find Him, He will take them home.)


        1. Is the prophecy conditional upon seeking God?


          1. How about God's promises to you? Are they conditional upon seeking Him?


  2. The Prayer

    1. Read Daniel 9:4. What do you think about the way Daniel started out his prayer? (Do I ask this every week or what?!! Every week we see that this is the way these great prayers start: praise to God for who He is and not because of what He has done to answer our prayers.) 

    2. Read Daniel 9:17-18. What did we learn two weeks ago with Elijah - is our God sometimes preoccupied so that He does not hear us? (No!)


  1. The Answer

    1. Read Daniel 9:20-21. It would be easy for Daniel to feel that God did not care, that He was not paying attention to His promise to His people. What does this verse show about God's care when we turn to Him? (God sends Gabriel to give Daniel a personal answer!)


    2. Read Daniel 9:22-23. How quickly does God hear the kind of prayer that Daniel made?

      1. Does God want us to understand our difficulties? Does He want our problems to "make sense?" (He wants us to trust Him (remember our study of the prayers of Job), but He also wants us to understand.)

    3. Perhaps you are discouraged. Your life has not been going well. Daniel's prayer shows us the importance of changing our thinking and turning to God with our problems. 

    4. Believe and Receive. (http://www.gobible.org/study/123.php)



Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 26, 2019 at 1:20 PM

    Wow! This was a great one believe and receive.
    We have to change our thinking and give it God.

    ReplyDelete

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