INTRODUCTION
• We are in the 7th part of series on the life of Daniel.
• The first six chapters are historical stories (10 pictures of Daniel), but the last six are prophecy.
• Daniel is the book of Revelation of the Old Testament.
• In fact the only way to understand both books is to use them to clarify each other, though they were written 600 years apart.
• Chapter 9 is certainly a prophecy but it is also a prayer.
• Daniel chapter 9 is 2 parts…
o Vss. 1-19 - Daniel’s prayer,
o Vss. 20-27 - God’s answer, prophecy
I. PARTNERING WITH GOD
• Many of us believe that life just happens, but the Bible teaches exactly the opposite.
• Others believe God is in control and there’s no changing it.
• That isn’t in the Bible either.
• What the Bible teaches is that God moves with destiny hand in hand with people who chase after Him.
• When we meet Jesus and His blood heals our brokenness something else takes place.
• We are invited into destiny.
• Into prayer that changes things. Into lives that impact others.
• Daniel chased after God and became part of that destiny.
Daniel 9:1-6
During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
“O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands. But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land.”
• This prayer goes on for 19 verses where Daniel prays three things primarily:
• He worships God for His faithfulness, he confesses sin, and he acknowledges God is just.
• He’s been in Babylon for his whole life. He was carried off at the beginning of the end for Jerusalem. Something Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah.
Vss. 1-2 – It is clear Daniel read his Bible and knew God’s promises.
Something you must do if you want to touch others, know His promises and live out of them.
• He’s in his 80’s and he knows the 70 years spoken of by Jeremiah are almost up.
Jeremiah 25:11–12, “This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.’”
• This was written in 605 BC, likely the year Daniel was carried into Babylon as a teenager.
• Cyrus issued the decree releasing the captives in late 538/537 BC and the exiles returned shortly thereafter and Ezra and Nehemiah were written about that journey back.
It is both historical and spiritually very important. God keeps His word and His promises. Many of you know this prophecy from a much more famous text - Jeremiah 29:11, “’For I know the plans that I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’”
II. GOD’S DEEP DESIRE TO LOVE PEOPLE
• Daniel understood that God loved His people and that He had destiny for them.
• But he also got this one thing so many of us miss, it isn’t just going to fall out of heaven for us.
• It is a battle we are to partner in and believe for.
• Not just surrender to the circumstances in life.
• He delights in people who trust in Him and put our hope in Him.
Jeremiah 29:10 -14
“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12‘Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13‘You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. 14‘I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”
• This all drives Daniel to prayer. He knew he could make a difference in his people if he partnered with God.
• He also knew there would be a spiritual battle for their lives and prayer was his weapon to defeat hell and set people free.
• We all know people who don’t live for God and you care for them, that was Daniel.
• But he understood that God all through the Bible is looking for intercessors, people who will pray for other people.
Isaiah 62:6-7
“O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls;
They will pray day and night, continually.
Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.
7Give the Lord no rest until He completes His work,
Until He makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.”
Isaiah 59:16
“And he saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him.”
Ezekiel 22:30
“I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”
III. HE SET HIMSELF TO BELIEVE FOR OTHERS
• He began with confession, so should we.
• You want to help others start with confession.
Daniel 9:18-19
“O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair…we make this plea not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear your name.”
• There is something about confession that just changes everything.
• It rights wrongs and makes straight, crooked living. It opens the doors for His kingdom to come and for His will to be done.
• Confession allows God to correct us and to renew us. Confession allows Him to build a strong foundation under our shifting lives.
• Vss. 5,10 as Daniel said, “We have sinned,” all of us. The sooner we get comfortable with confession the happier we will all be because confession admits the truth and admitting the truth aligns us with Jesus who is the truth. It positions us to receive new life, eternal life and it allows us to continue receiving His life in this life.
• But without confession we begin to withdraw into our reality, sin. We pull back and we often grow proud and even more self-willed. Our hearts begin to grow hard and our lives begin to dry up.
• We feel like we are eating sand for lunch because we are. We have bought the lie, the mirage that life is better on our own terms than it is on Jesus’ terms.
After confession, Daniel worships.
Vss. 4,7,9,15 - “You are awesome, you keep your word.”
Then he speaks God’s goodness - Vss. 4,9,16
• We are there today. We need to pray. We need intercessors who believe they can make a difference in destinies, in countries.
• Quit lamenting the state of things and start praying. Read the word and pray the promises.
I Timothy 2:1-4
“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by Godliness and dignity. 3This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.”
CLOSE
Daniel 9:21-23 – The answer, a breakthrough was happening!
Answer to Daniel’s prayer. Four books were written because of Daniel’s prayer: Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah, but it took time. It always takes time to get breakthrough.
Daniel 10:12-14 - The battle to answer the prayer.
Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. 14Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.”
Psalm 126 was written by those who returned to Jerusalem as a result of Daniel’s prayer.
“When the Lord brought back His exiles to Jerusalem,
It was like a dream!
2We were filled with laughter,
And we sang for joy.
And the other nations said,
‘What amazing things the Lord has done for them.’
3Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!
What joy!
4Restore our fortunes, Lord,
As streams renew the desert.
5Those who plant in tears
Will harvest with shouts of joy.
6They weep as they go to plant their seed,
But they sing as they return with the harvest.”
Your prayers make a difference in other’s journeys, believe it!
