Praying People

In a recent morning devotional, I read Daniel 9 and focused on his prayer for my prayer in verses 1-19. He read Jeremiah’s prediction of the seventy-year captivity and calculated that the time was near for the Jews to return home. He prayed earnestly with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. Let’s make some observations from these verses.

First, in Daniel 9:4-6, (NKJV) he confesses his and the nation’s sins.

4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.

Second, in Daniel 9:7 (NKJV), the prophet honored God and said:

7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

Third, in Daniel 9:13 (NKJV), he points to the Law of Moses and affirms its blessings for faithfulness and cursing for disobedience as in Deuteronomy 28. He mentions their failure to pray regarding the promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14. Here he says:

13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.

Fourth, although he is not a priest, he acts as one and intercedes for the nation. He declares in Daniel 9:16 and 19 (NKJV):

16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.

19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

I hope you actively oppose the evils in our land but do not forget to pray. America is at an all-time spiritual low. Our population is immoral and irreligious. Our churches imitate the lukewarm Laodicea church and have become ineffective for the cause of Christ and Liberty. If Christianity dies, so will the nation.

Leonard Ravenhill once stated, “An experience of God that costs nothing, does nothing, is worth nothing.” He was right! Our actions and our prayers connect us to God in a supernatural manner. Prayer is even more powerful when we attach it to meaningful action.

The Moravians in Germany started a prayer meeting on August 13, 1727, that lasted over 100 years. They prayed daily around the clock for over a century. How does that compare to our prayer focus?

We know action is essential, but so is prayer. They are the two wings of the airplane. You can’t fly without both wings, and neither can we fulfill our responsibilities before God with only one. We often say prayers by rote, but do we pray? Maybe we need to pray as the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” We are aware that the nation needs the intervention of God that comes with a commitment to prayer.

Our forefathers and mothers were steeped in scripture. Prayer was embedded in the Biblical text and took root in them. American Colonial, State, and Federal governments issued over 1400 official calls to prayer between 1620 and 1815.

Today is the anniversary of one such call to prayer. On October 16, 1746, the Massachusetts governor, William Shirley, called for prayer in light of the French fleet’s threat to destroy the colonies from Boston to Georgia. Pastor Thomas Prince prayed in the Old South Meeting House in Boston on behalf of the impending calamity. In part, he prayed, “Send Thy tempest, Lord, upon the water … scatter the ships of our tormentors!”

Eyewitnesses reported that when he finished praying, the providence of God went into action. The sky darkened, winds shrieked, and church bells rang a ‘wild, uneven sound … though no man was in the steeple.’ A hurricane subsequently sank and scattered the French fleet, eliminating the threat.

Christians are God’s priesthood of believers today according to 1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV), “9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” As His priests, we represent God to men and men to God.