A Mother's Prayer For Restoration Series

Happy Mother’s Day to you. We are grateful you are worshipping with our church family today.

Being a mother means being patient. Your work is measured in years, not in minutes. Surely a mother’s minutes can delight and can scare her at times. But a mother’s job is to build godly children and this takes years.

A little more than three years ago today, a devastating fire ripped through the Notre Dame Cathedral. Approximately twelve million people visit Notre Dame annually, making it the most visited monument in Paris. The original structure took 100 years to complete and it’s seen numerous modifications through the years. The cathedral suffered major damage on April 15, 2019, as much of the world watched in horror as a blaze engulfed the Gothic landmark in Paris, France. The fire caused the church’s central frame to collapse, destroying its famous clock and sending its spire crashing down. France’s President confirmed on April 15 that the government of France would have the cathedral restored by April 2023 in time for the Summer Olympics in France.

Parenting children is like building a cathedral. It takes a generation or more to see the work completed. Often there are setbacks, even tremendous setbacks. Just as with Notre Dame’s cathedral, a mother witnesses a tremendous amount of destruction in the life of her children. I want to remind all you mothers of Paul’s encouraging words: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

Find Daniel 9 with me if you will. Daniel prays this magnificent prayer in Daniel 9:3-19, which is really a model prayer when God’s people sin. Daniel is reading the Bible and sees a prediction that God will begin to restore His people after seventy years away. So Daniel is motivated to pray. Daniel prays that God’s people would pick up the spiritual momentum going again. He prays that God’s people would have a zeal for God, an enthusiasm for worship, and a heart for obedience. Now, Daniel has all of God’s people in mind as he prays.

Now, Daniel’s prayer is like a lot of Christian mothers’ prayers over their respective children. Many of your children are broken by this world through sinful addictions. Your child may be intoxicated by what this world offers – it’s greed and lust for things of this world. So many of your children had a spiritual interest in the early parts of their life, but that has given way to spiritual apathy and spiritual indifference.

Mothers, I want to present Daniel’s prayer as a model for your children. Fathers, I want to present Daniel’s prayer as a model for your children. All of God’s people can make Daniel’s prayer a model for our backslidden friends. What is backslidden? It’s an old term that simply means you’ve slidden backward spiritually. This is a revival prayer, an awakening prayer. Remarkably, the angel Gabriel rushes to answer Daniel’s prayer and the angel immediately responds to the prophet.

I invite you to read God’s Word with me this morning.

Today’s Scripture

“While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, 21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator” (Daniel 9:20-27).