“In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
“Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, ‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore, the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
“‘O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.’” [1]
Children are sometimes taught, and many adults continue to hold a fascinating idea that God always answers prayer. We learned in Sunday School, “Sometimes God says ‘Yes.’ Sometimes God says ‘No.’ And sometimes God says ‘Wait.’” We do children no favours when we teach this. This is wrong primarily because it is necessary to apply a measure of sophistry to arrive at this conclusion. We need to approach this business of prayer with a sense of reality. Is there a prayer that God does answer, a prayer that we can be confident will result in divine answer? There will be time in other studies to ponder the matter of prayer and the answers that the Lord gives to His people, but in this message, I want to encourage us to know that there is a prayer that the Living God has promised will always be answered.
I don’t want to leave the impression that there is some specific request that God must answer. God is God—He is sovereign, and He will always do what is best. God will not dishonour His character; He will not deny His Word. The Living God will always do what exalts His glory and what is good for His child. Our good and God’s glory will be preserved—always.
We struggle with seeking our good. I am well aware that we imagine that we know what we need. Paul was correct when he wrote, “We do not know what to pray for as we ought” [ROMANS 8:26b]. Our urgency does not always coincide with God’s glory. Therefore, we are taught by Christ’s example to pray, “Not my will, but yours be done” [LUKE 22:42b]. Let’s admit a very difficult truth—it is almost impossible for us to depend on the unseen God. In the best of circumstances, we struggle when called to rest in Him. When the urgent need of the moment presses upon our mind, we are almost paralysed by the thought that we would allow His will to be accomplished in our life. Therefore, praying, “Not my will, but yours be done” requires courage, courage that we don’t normally possess. Praying, “Not my will, but yours be done” requires discipline, divine discipline to dare believe that God is directing us as we pray.
We need to know that we are heard, and that the Living God is in control of our life. Christ has given us this very confidence in the promise that His Apostle wrote to the Romans. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” [ROMANS 8:26-39].
The Spirit of God living within the follower of Christ directs us as we pray. When we are submitted to the will of the God who hears and answers prayer, the Spirit guides us even in what we ask. Then, before the Father, we are told that “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous” [1 JOHN 2:1]. This revelation is an iteration of what is written in the Letter to Hebrew Christians, when we are told that, “[Our Lord] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” [HEBREWS 7:25]. We are confident that Christ Jesus is the “one mediator between God and men” [1 TIMOTHY 2:5].
DANIEL APPROACHED GOD HUMBLY — The passage is extended, but as I read what is written, pay especial attention to Daniel’s approach to God. Note the humility God’s servant displayed. “I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, ‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore, the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly’” [DANIEL 9:4-15].
I understand that we are encouraged to come before the Lord with confidence. We read, “Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness” [HEBREWS 4:16a CSB]. Coming before the Lord with boldness doesn’t imply coming before Him with brashness. We have confidence to come into the Lord’s presence because we are coming to the Son of God. He sympathizes with our weakness because He was tempted just as we are tempted, and yet He did not sin. Therefore, knowing the One before whom we will present our requests, we have confidence. We know that He will hear us. We know that He will understand our struggles. We know that He will intervene on our behalf. Thus, we are confident in Him. That doesn’t mean we are arrogant.
We have no basis for demanding anything of God. We are encouraged to request the things we desire, and we are taught to condition our requests on our desire to see Him glorified. Isn’t this what Jesus teaches when we read of His prayer as He prepared to face His passion? The writer of the Letter to Hebrew Christians informs us of the Master’s attitude as He prayed. We read, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” [HEBREWS 5:7]. Even the Son of God maintained reverence as He petitioned the Father! Surely, this must mean that we must be reverential when we ask anything of the Father!
Reverence? Jesus was heard “because of His reverence?” Even a casual reading of what is written in the Letter to Hebrew Christians leads to the conclusion that reverence is essential if I want my prayer to be answered. How do I show reverence to the Father when I pray? Thus, the question that must be answered is this: when I come before the Lord, how do I show reverence? Is reverence seen in my physical appearance? Is it dependent upon whether I bow my head, lift my hands, kneel? What position must I assume to show reverence? Is reverence revealed through the words I use; must I say “Thee” and “Thou?” Am I required to speak in stilted language if I want to be heard? Can I only pray in a church building? Will that building have to have a spire? Or stained-glass windows?
Well, how did Jesus pray? We have a record of His praying in Matthew’s Gospel. There, we read, “Jesus went with [His disciples] to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here, while I go over there and pray.’ And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’ And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’ And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done’” [MATTHEW 26:36-42]. We know from what is written in Luke’s Gospel, that Jesus agonised in prayer at that time. Luke writes, “Being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” [LUKE 22:44].
From these brief glimpses of Jesus in prayer, I would conclude that reverence entails earnestness. Focused on what was being sought meant that no stray thoughts were entertained. Few things are more irritating to us than to be speaking with someone who isn’t serious about speaking with us. Their eyes keep darting beyond you, looking at their watch or observing who is coming and going when you are trying to converse with them. That must be something like many of our prayers when we come before the Lord. We begin a prayer before drifting off to sleep, and as we lay in bed praying, our mind keeps drifting to what we must do on the following day, or we keep replaying what happened during the present day. Consequently, we don’t really pray, we make a feint at prayer. There is no reverence in such pretension. In fact, what we are doing dishonours the One we call “Father.”
John Wesley told the story of a man who boasted of his prowess in prayer. On one occasion Wesley met this man, and as seems to have often been the case, the conversation turned to the man’s commitment to prayer. Wesley, tiring of the man’s boasting, said, “If you can pray for five minutes without stopping, I’ll give you my horse.” The man immediately dropped to his knees and began to plead with the Lord. After a couple of minutes, that man looked up at Wesley and asked, “Does that include the saddle?”
Not only was Jesus focused, but He was deferential. He made no demand of the Father; rather, He makes it clear that He is prepared to receive whatever the Father deems best. To be certain, Jesus did ask that the cup might pass, permitting Him to avoid drinking the bitter draught. However, His request was not presented as a demand; rather, He makes it clear that He trust the Father to do what is best. He will ask, but He will not demand. The individual who prays with power is one who is convinced that God will always give what is best. God seeks our good and His glory. We don’t know what we should ask, but we know that the Father will give what is best. God has given us His Spirit, and the Spirit of God will guide us even in our prayer. We read in Scripture, “We do not know what to pray for as we ought.” That is discouraging, without a doubt. However, the Apostle quickly notes, “But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us” [ROMANS 8:26]. When I am submitted to the Lord’s glory, His Spirit will ensure that my requests glorify His Name. Though I may act foolishly, God’s Spirit will work to ensure that my pleas are not foolish. Rather, He is working to ensure that I ask precisely what is needed.
Thus, my prayer moves along this line. “Father, this is the challenge I’m facing. I don’t know how to respond, but I look to You. I trust you to do what is best. Give me grace to receive what You do and courage to fulfil Your will so that You receive the honour and the glory. Amen.”
DANIEL APPEALED TO GOD’S OWN PROMISE — “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years” [DANIEL 9:1-3].
Nothing can give us confidence like a prophecy recorded in the Word of the Living God. If we read it in Scripture, we are certain that God will accomplish what He has foretold, and He will fulfil His promises! I admit that I’m naïve when it comes to spiritual matters, especially when those spiritual matters impinge on the promises of God. When I see a promise in Scripture, I happily seize it as my own. My Father is gracious, and He knows my delight to ask for what He has promised. When I ask, appealing to His promise, He delights to show me His goodness. One of the great deficits in the prayers of God’s people is that we are unaware of what God has promised, and we thus flail about without asking for anything of eternal significance. We appear to imagine that we can accomplish whatever we have set our minds to, forgetting that Jesus has warned, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” [JOHN 15:5b].
I understand that some promises are restricted to God’s ancient people. And some of the promises of God are directed toward those living in the days of the Great Tribulation. Nevertheless, so many promises available to be claimed remain unclaimed among the professed people of God because we are not even aware that God has made those promises. I confess that I am rather simple in my approach to the promises of God. If I am reading in the Word and I come across a promise that God has made, I gleefully appropriate that promise for myself.
Occasionally, I will have someone remonstrate with me when I’m telling of how I laid claim to a particular promise. “That’s not for you,” they’ll say, “that is for Israel!” I’m so pleased to know that my Father is gracious. He delights to give me what I ask. If I’ve asked for something that wasn’t promised for me, the Father often gives it because He loves me. I joyfully go on my way, delighted in God’s goodness. If He chooses not to give it to me, I’m just as happy because I know my Father will give me what is good, what is best. God will never give me anything that would injure me; He will always do what brings glory to His Name.
Whenever I read a promise Christ has given, I’m encouraged to lay claim to what He has promised. Jesus encourages His followers, thus teaching us, “Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” [MATTHEW 21:22]. Well, that is a great reason to pray! Perhaps the reason we don’t pray is that we don’t have faith! In that case, we need to be encouraged to ask the Master for faith. Perhaps we will be encouraged to pray, as did the father of a child tormented by a demon, “Help my unbelief” [MARK 9:24b]! Perhaps we will learn to pray, as did the Apostles, “Increase our faith” [LUKE 17:5b]! Surely this serves as encouragement to embrace Jesus’ words, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” [LUKE 11:9-10].
Elsewhere in the Gospels we witness the Master promising His disciples, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” [MARK 11:24]. Well, that surely doesn’t mean that I can ask for a new Lexus each year, and if I believe hard enough I’ll get it. It does mean that when the Spirit of God prompts me to ask, my Father delights to give good gifts. And if I need that, He will give it because it was born of the Spirit prompting me to ask. Reasonable people understand what is promised is not a code for getting rich!
Witness another instance as Jesus promises to bless His people by giving what they ask. The Master has promised, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” [JOHN 14:13]. If I seek the Father’s glory through the Son of God, we are promised that will be done. This is not a promise to exalt me; it is a promise to exalt God, to glorify His Name, through the Risen Son of God.
The Word of God is not finished with Christ’s promises to hear and to answer His people. Perhaps you will recall that Jesus promised His disciples, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” [JOHN 15:7]. When we are abiding in Christ, we are seeking His glory. And seeking His glory, we will ask for those things that honour Him. When we do this, He is pledged on His sacred honour to do what we ask. Our problem is that we don’t walk with Him and yet we expect that He will humour us by giving us everything we request.
You see, the problem is that God does give us good gifts, even when we are not walking with Him. And we therefore expect that we should have everything our hearts desire, even though the desires of our heart focus on our desires! We are masters of taking care of number one! God is gracious, just as Jesus reminded those who heard Him speak when He was seated on the side of a mountain one day long ago. Jesus said, “[Your Father] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” [MATTHEW 5:45b].
You may be certain that God knows how to give good gifts to His child. Do you not remember when Jesus said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him” [MATTHEW 7:11]!
Let’s get back on track. To those whom He has chosen, the Master has promised, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another” [JOHN 15:16-17]. Apparently, loving one another as brothers and sisters is tied to the Master’s promise to give what we seek. Apparently, bearing fruit is important if we expect to see answers to our requests. Growing in grace, cultivating the fruits of the Spirit, maturing in Christ, and maintaining the unity of the Spirit serve to undergird the receipt of rich gifts from the hand of the Master.
Far too often, our requests of God are denied because we fall under the censure trumpeted by the brother of our Lord. You will no doubt recall that James challenges Christian readers, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” [JAMES 4:1-4].
Asking God for anything that will be consumed on fulfilling one’s personal desires is a de facto identification with the world for the individual making such request. We need not be to be theologians to realize that identification as belonging to the world dishonours Him Whom we call “Master.” Asking the Father for that which divides the fellowship of believers exposes my friendship with the world—friendship that I obviously esteem as greater than friendship with the Living God. Again, one need not be a biblical scholar to understand that acting in this manner cannot glorify the Lord God. Asking the Master for anything that exalts my own position at the expense of fellow saints reveals that my heart is not right with God. When I am thus exposed, I must not anticipate that God will bless me by answering my requests. Our problem originates in the fact that we are fallen creatures, and we don’t permit the Spirit of our Saviour to direct us. Each of us struggles with this failing, and we need to hear the Word of God given for our benefit so that we can confront our own desires.
Nevertheless, it remains true that when a follower of the Master does find a divine promise written in the Word of God, that Christ-follower is encouraged to ask because the saved individual can be confident that he or she will receive what the Lord has promised—the Risen Saviour will fulfil His Word! Perhaps the reason so many of us don’t ask is that we are ignorant of what is written. Have you actually read the Bible? Do you make it your practise to read the Bible daily? Systematically? As you read, do you mark your Bible, noting the promises God has recorded in His Word? When you read the Bible, do you journal? Do you write down your thoughts, your questions, your observations, taking special note of the promises God has given and the conditions He has appended to those promises?
I urge you to adopt as a model for discovering the mind of the Master the response of an ancient group of people when they were confronted with the message of life. Paul and Silas had been threatened in Thessalonica, necessitating their removal from that region. We read of their flight and the impact they had in the next city to which they had fled in Doctor Luke’s account of the early saints. He writes, “The brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea at once, during the night. When they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue. These Jews were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they eagerly received the message, examining the scriptures carefully every day to see if these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men” [ACTS 17:10-12 NET BIBLE].
These Bereans were Jews; yet, they hadn’t heard that Messiah had come. However, when the message of life was proclaimed in their synagogue, they didn’t merely dismiss out of hand what they heard, neither did they accept what was proclaimed without giving serious thought to the matter. They turned to the Scriptures they had to examine what was written. They tested the message they received to ascertain whether it was reasonable and rational. In this, they showed more wisdom than many congregations filled with professing Christians in this day. They tested the message against the Word they had received. This is an excellent model for each professing child of God as they hear the message delivered from the pulpit today!
I suspect that we are more likely to craft our own novel interpretation of what may, or may not, be written in the Word. We tend to be more driven by fanciful personal desire than we are impelled by seizing divine promises. And the reason we are driven by our own desires is that we are functionally ignorant of what God has promised. If we were to consult what is written, much of what we imagine God must do would be revealed to be folly-wide-the-mark! I’m challenging you who hear me to determine to read the Word. Read with a pen in hand, marking the promises God makes as you encounter them in your reading. Study those promises, determining the conditions God has placed on what He has caused to be written. Note who is the recipient of the promise and the reason God has delivered the promise. Then, if it is apparent that the promise is meant for you, seize it. Boldly claim what God has given. This is precisely the encouragement given when Scripture encourages Christians, “Let us keep on coming boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” [HEBREWS 4:16 ISV].
DANIEL UNDERSTOOD THAT HE WAS UNITING WITH OTHERS IN THIS PRAYER — “O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act” [DANIEL 9:17-19a].
This point is more important than we might imagine. To be sure, we are encouraged to pray in secret. However, we are also encouraged to share our burdens with one another. In other words, we are to be marked as praying people because we are dependent upon the Lord. However, we are to share one another’s burdens, implying that we know the needs of others—needs they have expressed. And we share in those needs through remembering one another in prayer. We are to unite in prayer, collectively calling out to the Lord God. As a follower of the Risen Son of God, I am honoured when a fellow believer asks me to join in prayer—and you should count it an honour to be asked to pray with your fellow believers for God’s intervention.
Our united prayer is not somehow stronger, as though through uniting we could compel God to answer. However, when we unite in prayer we do mutually encourage one another. Because we encourage one another, we also strengthen each other, and we comfort one another. And this fulfils the purpose of coming together as a congregation. Recall Paul’s instruction concerning the gifts exercised among the faithful. He writes, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up” [1 CORINTHIANS 14:1-5].
The people of God join in assembly, exercising the gifts entrusted to each one specifically so they can build up, encourage, and console their fellow saints. Our shared prayers permit practical application of this purpose as we build up one another, as we encourage one another, and as we console one another. The one sharing a request knows she is no longer alone, and the one sharing the request becomes an answer to the prayer of the saint in need of being strengthened. Share your burdens with one another, and share your prayers with one another.
Look carefully at what is written in the text. Take note of the pronouns Daniel employed. “We do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness.” When Daniel used the second person plural pronouns as he petitioned the LORD, he was giving voice to his understanding that he was not alone in pleading with God—he was uniting with others in presenting the pleas for divine mercy. Daniel has identified with the people for whom he prayed. It is as though Daniel, though praying in the privacy of his own room, realizes that he is united in praying with all Israel. Perhaps, in reality, all Israel wasn’t praying. Perhaps only a few from within Israel were praying. However, the hearts of those who knew God and the hearts of those who loved God were focused on seeking divine blessing for the people. When you pray, your heart is being knit with the hearts of those among God’s people who seek His glory. You do not actually pray alone, but you are joined with God’s people.
When we share our prayers during the worship services, or when we receive a note listing the prayers mentioned during the week, we know that others are uniting in presenting these requests before the Living God. I do urge private prayer—the practise is prominent in Scripture. However, when we analyze the prayers recorded that have been offered in private, notice how they are always inclusive. God’s people are not a group of individuals who just happen to come together on occasion—they are family, they are united, they are collectively and always the Body of Christ. Therefore, when we plead with God, we do so as those who are united in love. Ever and always we are identified as the Body of Christ. This is true for every New Testament congregation—collectively, we are recognized as the Body of Christ.
I am compelled to ask us to think about our requests inviting others to join us in our petitions before the Lord. There is almost inevitably an undercurrent of expectation that when we get more people praying, the request has greater impact. To think in this way is a grave error. Your prayers, the petitions you offer as one who is twice-born, have great power with God. Don’t ever depreciate your requests that you present before the Throne of Grace. Your prayers have great power, not because you have greater efficacy than others, but your prayers have great power because they are presented before the Great God. Because you are a child of the Living God, your requests of Him are powerful.
And yet, we do invite others to join us in our prayers. The reason we invite others to join in our prayers is that we are tacitly acknowledging our unity in the Faith of Christ the Lord. United in prayer, we are confessing that we share this life. And it is this sharing of our lives that comforts and encourages us as the Spirit of God works among us. Note a statement made in Paul’s First Letter to the Church of God in Corinth. Paul writes, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” [1 CORINTHIANS 3:16-17]. The pronoun in VERSE SIXTEEN is plural. In other words, Paul is addressing the congregation and not individuals. His statement is that the congregation collectively constitutes the Temple of God.
Contrast that statement with what is written later in that same missive. Urging readers to glorify God in our individual lives, Paul writes, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” [1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20]. Here the Apostle is addressing individuals.
This is the sum of what is written in the Word—your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. However, when we unite as a congregation of the Living God, the congregation is seen as God’s Temple. As individuals, live a holy life because the Spirit of God resides in you. Then, when we are united as a congregation of the Lord, the Holy Spirit is revealed through us.
The key word in what I have just stated is the word “united.” This is the reason we see the repeated emphasis on unity, on harmony as an assembly. For this reason, agreement is vital in the healthy congregation. Where there is no harmony, no unity, the prayers of the people are insipid, worthless, and they will go unanswered. Writing the Congregation in Rome, Paul admonishes the saints, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” [ROMANS 12:16].
He will close that missive with a prayer for the people to live in harmony. Here is his prayer. “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” [ROMANS 15:5-6].
Here is the Apostle’s overriding appeal to the Corinthians, presented early in the first letter to that congregation. “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” [1 CORINTHIANS 1:10].
After providing specific and pointed instruction on the way Christians are to live, Paul urges the Church in Colossae to seek harmony. Listen to the entire passage to catch the import of what is said. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” [COLOSSIANS 3:5-17].
There is power in our unity in Christ, and that power is revealed as we join our hearts in prayer, seeking God’s glory to be revealed through Christ the Lord. “Lord, our Saviour, unite our hearts for Your eternal glory.” Amen; Amen indeed.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
