STUDY THEME: PRAYER; APPROACHING THE THRONE OF GOD. 3-16-03

"PRAYING THAT FOCUSES ON GOD". DANIEL 9:1-10, 15-19.

DANIEL 9:1-2, 3-4, 5-10, 15-16, 17-19

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO DANIEL 9.

There is no accomplishing the work of Christ without the prayer help of the Holy Spirit.

There are some things for which we should not pray. James 4: 1-3 makes it clear that we are not to ask any thing in order to spend it solely on our own pleasures. We are to pray for the will of God and the coming of His Kingdom. Does God answer all prayers: God deals with each of His children in the loving way that is best for their individual needs. The best we can do is to pray in trust and confidence in the integrity of God. What if your prayers are not answered? You have two main choices you may make---desist or persist.

Have you ever wondered why more people don’t pray. Many people do not pray because they do not understand God or His nature. Some struggle with believing that God is interested in or attentive to their individual circumstances. To them this seems too incredible to be possible. Others think that God is powerless to act in their circumstances or that He is apathetic to events in the world that He created; therefore, for them prayer is pointless. The Bible teaches the reality of prayer. Believers can approach God in prayer, not because of their own goodness, but because of God’s character.

Just as Jabez earlier had asked God to be with him, and just as Paul later asked God to be with him in prison, so we hear Daniel in a time of need focusing upon prayer. But Daniel’s payer was not simply a selfish concern about his needs. He prayed on behalf of exiled Israel because he knew the power and presence of God could sustain them in their time of crisis.

The Theme of this lesson is that God’s power and presence are part of His character. As we agree with God in prayer, we recognize His power and presence in the world.

The Life Question this lesson seeks to address is, What kind of God do we pray to?

The Biblical Truth is that God’s character is the basis of prayer.

The Life Impact is to help us focus our prayers on God.

As believers we can approach God, not because of our goodness but because of God’s character as He has revealed Himself to us.

Daniel is one of the most extraordinary people of the Bible. He was a man of strong convictions who boldly stood for those convictions. As a young man and an exile in a foreign land, he refused to eat the meat and drink the wine from the king’s table. Daniel was able to serve God faithfully in a pagan land and even rise to high government office in that land. He was a man of prayer whose commitment to his payer routine resulted in his being thrown into the den of lions, from which God delivered him.

He was given the gift of interpreting dreams, signs, and visions. He was taken to Babylon as a young man in 605 BC and was still living in today’s lesson in 535 BC at the age of 70. The final verse in the Book of Daniel reads (Amplified Version) "But you, Daniel (who was now over 90 years of age), go your way until the end, for you shall rest, and shall stand (forth) in your allotted place at the end of the days."

DANIEL IS A BRIEF BOOK OF ONLY 12 CHAPTERS. I HOPE YOU WILL FIND TIME TO READ THE ENTIRE BOOK THIS WEEK.

Daniel was a blue-blood, one of the outstanding youths of Judah in the time of King Jehoiekim. Daniel as a teen-ager, with the cream of the nation’s leadership, was carried off to Babylon as a captive of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel and his companions withstood the Babylonian’s intense efforts to indoctrinate them as members of the Babylonian court. Nebuchadnezzar even gave Daniel and his three companions Babylonian names, and trained them to serve the royal throne.

As a teenager Daniel took a stand not to eat the food of the king, because some of the food violated the law of God. God blessed him for taking a stand, and gave him more wisdom and knowledge exceeding those of all the other students. Later Daniel was able to interpret the king’s dream and was exalted to a high place in the government. By chapter six the Babylonian government was overthrown and Darius the Mede took over the country from the Babylonians.

Since Daniel was a young man in 605 BC, he was an old man of about 67 in the first year of Darius, which was 538 BC. But he was still a vigorous man of faith. His discipline of praying three times a day was so sure that his enemies, in Daniel 6, used his faithfulness to accuse him before the king.

God’s greatness is seen in several ways in Vs. 1-4. First it is seen in the way He moved in the affairs of nations to bring in His kingdom. This is implied by the words, which was made. These words show that Darius did not come to the throne by chance but by divine appointment. God’s sovereign rule and active involvement in history is seen in Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the image made of various substances in Daniel 2. This idea of the providence of God in human history is found throughout the Bible.

In Vs. 2 Daniel had probably been reading Jeremiah 25: 11-12, which promises the defeat of the Babylonians after 70 years, and Jeremiah 29: 10, which promised the exiles in Babylon that God would deliver them after 70 years. Daniel understood these words of the scroll to be the Word of God to His people.

If the 70 years was the period of years from 686 BC, when Jerusalem was destroyed to 516 when the temple was restored under Zerubbabel, this would suggest that Daniel recognized the end of the 70 years was imminent.

When examining Daniel’s life, you’ll quickly discover that his fame did not happen by chance. Instead you will find that his rise to power can be traced to three important decisions. First, Daniel chose character over comfort. In a short period of time, Daniel developed a reputation. He was known to be honorable and ethical. His closet was clean…There were no skeletons waiting to haunt him. Even Daniel’s enemies found him to be trustworthy.

Secondly, Daniel excelled because he chose discipline over disorder. Among other things, Daniel had a disciplined prayer life. The reason why some people succeed while others fail has little to do with abilities. Most of our failures can be traced to an absence of discipline.

Finally, Daniel excelled because he chose love over life. I’m convinced that Daniel wasn’t really interested in becoming Sunday’s brunch for the lion’s club. But when faced with a decision, he chose love over life. Daniel’s first allegiance was to God. Is God more important to us than the acceptance of our peers? Is Christ more worthy than the pursuit of power or possessions? We sing the chorus that says:

"Lord, You are more precious than silver. Lord, you are more costly than gold. Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds. Nothing I desire compares with you." Is that your testimony this morning? Are we guilty of making Christianity a religion of convenience? Have we replaced self-denial with self-service? Daniel was determined to serve God regardless of the consequences,

Bible study and prayer go together. When Daniel read the Word of God from the prophet Jeremiah, he was moved to pray. Vs. 3 is a statement of his commitment to pray. This points to a third way in which God’s greatness is seen in these verses. God hears and answers prayer. Only the great One-and-Only God actually hears and answers prayer.

Vs. 3 shows the intensity of the prayer that Daniel was about to make. In Vs. 4 Daniel used both the general and personal names of God to depict His greatness. Daniel’s prayer was done with fasting, showing his total concentration on the Lord. When you stop and think about the miracle of prayer, you cannot fail to recognize that only a great God can be approached in this way and respond as He does.

In Vs. 4 God is called the great and awesome God. The word for great is combined with a word that denotes fear and trembling. When we pray we come into the presence of the Creator and Judge of the earth. We should come with awe and reverential fear. This great God is so great that our minds cannot fully comprehend Him: Rom. 11:33 says, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and his ways past finding out!"

But the paradox is that although our minds cannot fathom God and His ways, we can truly know Him and trust Him. Thus Daniel called this awesome God, my God. Our relationship with God is not a buddy-buddy relationship, but it is personal and real. Through Jesus Christ, we are invited to come boldly to His throne of grace.

The last part of Vs. 4 is the opening of Daniel’s prayer. His words point to another aspect of God’s greatness—His faithfulness. God made a covenant with the Israelites, and He had been faithful to His part of the covenant. Mercy is the word that refers to faithfulness to the covenant. I like the song, "Great is thy faithfulness."

We now come to Daniel’s prayer. He had prepared to pray in Vs. 3 by fasting and putting on sackcloth and ashes. In this humble spirit he confessed his sins and worshipped almighty God.

Daniel now becomes the intercessor for the people of Judah, Jerusalem, and all Israel "both near and far." He is careful to include himself in the prayer as if he were personally responsible for the sin of the people. Four times Daniel acknowledged that his people had sinned in (Dan. 9: 5,8,11,15). In Vs. 6 Daniel confessed for his nation that they had not listened to God’s prophets who spoke on God’s behalf. Kings and people alike stood covered with shame; guilty before God. God was righteous but His people were wicked. In Vs. 9 God was merciful and forgiving.

Daniel’s prayer is basically a confession of the sins of Israel, sins that were so serious and persistent that the Israelites were defeated and carried into exile. Vs. 5 lists these sins. Sinned is a general word that means "to miss the mark" or "to fall short of the standard." Iniquity is a word that refers to something that is twisted; and perverted. Done wickedly, refers to gross sins against other humans beings and against God. Rebelled was their basic sin. They rebelled by departing from God and His commandments.

A person’s prayer life, or lack of such a life, is a sign of his or her spiritual health or disease. A Godless man was caught in storm at sea. He feared that he would be killed. His shipmates urged him to join them in praying for deliverance. Finally he yielded to their plea. He prayed: "O Lord. I have not asked you for anything for 15 years and if you deliver me out of this storm and bring us safe to land again, I promise I will not bother you again for another 15 years."

In Vs. 16b Daniel knew that the sins of the Hebrew people had not only dishonored God but had also make Him an object of scorn even to the heathen.

In Vs. 17 Daniel was coming to the conclusion of his passionate prayer. He had focused on God’s righteous character and contrasted it with the wayward attitude His people displayed. Now he asked God to hear the prayers and petitions he offered, and answer them favorably.

In Jerusalem one pile of rubble marked the site where the temple once stood. God had chosen that location as the place where Israel must worship Him. His name, and hence His reputation, were intimately connected with that location. Daniel asked God to look with favor on the ruins of the temple. It suggests that the abandoned site should once more become the spot where God would reveal His presence to His people.

Daniel’s prayer is a model for prayer. He began with reverent praise for the great and awesome God. Then he confessed Israel’s sins. Finally he asked God to show His mercy by forgiving His people. Thus the stages of prayer are adoration, confession, and petition and intercession.

In Vs. 18 again Daniel emphasized, we do not make request of you because we are righteous. Daniel already had outlined the people’s sin generation after generation. Even now, they remained a sinful people desperately in need of God’s grace. They had not come to a point where they deserved God’s forgiveness: rather, Daniel appealed to God’s great mercy. Daniel knew that God heard and answered prayer not because His people were righteous but because He is merciful. Mercy is the withholding of the just punishment we deserve from God. Grace is giving us what we don’t deserve; Mercy is not giving us what we do deserve.

Many people pray today as if God owes them answer to prayer, but He does not. God answers His people’s prayers on the basis of His righteous character and because He is merciful to His sinful people.

Today, God by His grace has bound Himself to His church as well. The writer of Hebrews tells us in Heb. 4: 16 we can "approach the throne of grace with confidence", not because of our righteousness, but because of Christ’s righteous act on our behalf. As we come before our Lord, we must remember who He is and who we are. He is our sovereign Lord, who embodies holiness and righteousness. We are people created in His image, but who have sinned against Him in thought, word, and deed. Nonetheless, God invites us to pray. As we do, we need to focus on Him. He has the power and the willingness to forgive us, to restore us to fellowship, and to guide our lives as we surrender to His sovereign purpose for us and for His church.

The lesson outline identifies three aspects of God’s being that define the God to whom we pray. In general, each of these fits the main theme of verses to which it is referenced. However, none of these can be isolated from the others. God is great, but His greatness includes His righteousness and His mercy. God is righteous, but His righteousness is great and merciful. God is merciful, and his mercy is part of what makes Him great and of what constitutes his righteousness.

When Jesus called us to follow Him, Jesus didn’t promise "a bed of roses." He didn’t promise a "life free of problems." He didn’t promise "everything will turn out okay." He did promise us "the truth." The truth is, all of us are sinners who have broken the law of God and headed for hell and eternal punishment. But God loved us all so much, He’s made it possible for us to have life forever in Jesus Christ. We’re not going to be able to take the kind of stands that Daniel took by ourselves.

We need God’s Spirit to dwell inside of us. We also need to agree with God, there is no temptation, which comes our way, that God won’t provide a way for us to escape, if we want to escape it. Now Jesus did not die for us to become part time Christians. Jesus said, first sit down and count the cost, to see if you’re going to be willing to stand for Me when times get hard. If you’re not going to stand, you cannot be My disciple. But if you intend to give it your best shot, and you’re willing to get up and try again when you fall, I’ll always be there for you. Together we can stand, and after its over, we’ll keep on standing.

NEXT SUNDAY FROM PSALM 91: 1-16 AND THE PRAYER OF JABEZ, WE WILL LOOK AT " PRAYING FOR PROTECTION." REAL SECURITY COMES FROM TRUSTING GOD. A.V. DAUGHERTY 3-16-03.