Prayers That Move God

I don't remember where it was. I remember when people made a comment. Sometimes people make a comment. You don't know what their framework is, or what they missed, or somebody has done that. But somebody said they just had not heard a message on prayer for some time. Maybe somebody just gave one last week or the week before. Don't take that personally or whatever. But it really struck a chord with Susan and I regarding the need to talk about prayer and to understand prayer more in our lives. Remember how a couple of weeks ago when I was chair, I said that as we're beginning a new calendar year, that we need to answer some questions that will come up again and again in our life. But also, there are some questions that we do not have the answers yet in our life. And or just as those that are going to be baptized today are not going to have all the questions yet. And so we need to keep on talking to our Heavenly Father above and to implore Him and to talk with Him in prayer. So I feel motivated right now, just so you'll know where we're going to be going for the next couple, two or three times a year for me, we're going to go through a series on prayer. And it's probably going to be different than any other series of prayer that you've ever heard. I think it's going to say it's better or anything like that. It's just going to be different because it hasn't all come to me yet as to how we'll proceed.

But we're going to proceed with where I think God has led us to this point today and to begin to discuss the subject of prayer with all of you. I'm excited about it. I know that I need to develop and grow in my prayer life. And so when I'm talking to you today, I'm not talking at you.

I'm not talking down to you. I'm talking as a Christian. And I'm talking as one that needs to develop my prayer life. And I want to invite all of you to come into, then, what I've been thinking in my heart and in my mind so that I can more than ever worship, glorify God, and also be a blessing to others. Join me, if you would, to begin this message. Let's go over to the book of Luke, the Gospel thereof—the Gospel of Luke. And take a note to develop some foundational thoughts here.

In Luke, and picking up in chapter 11, Luke 11, in Luke 11, it says, Now it came to pass as he, speaking of Jesus, was praying in a certain place. When he ceased, that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. So here were the 12 followers of Jesus, and they asked him, as the Jewish people would at that time, and as disciples, following a rabbi, would, that he might share with them a creed and or a prayer or a way of praying. This was not unusual in the Jewish community. This was a practice that was shared by many. In fact, when you look at it, it says, As John also taught his disciples. Now let's notice the next verse as we begin to lay the foundation of this series on prayer. And so he, that's Jesus, said to them, When you pray, say.

So this very verse is one of the outstanding cardinal verses when it comes to prayer, that it says, When you pray, Jesus Christ had every expectation that his disciples then, as well as now, would pray. Right? It's an expectation. Then he follows through with what we commonly call the Lord's Prayer. Now, this is a different version than what we find in Matthew. This one is a little bit shorter. Let's just read through it for a moment. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, or give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

So here we have what we might call a model, and many of you have heard many sermons dealing with the model, and we may get there in the course of this message, but just in case you're wondering where this is going, we're not going to be dealing with the model today. We're going to be dealing with something completely different, because I remember growing up and taught, like a lot of you were taught, that words can be cheap. And what I want to do, and laying a foundation of where this series is going today, is not dealing with words, and not dealing with models, because the mouth can be moving, and just because your mouth is moving, and there's motion up here, does not mean that there's motion in our heart. And what's more important than anything is what is happening in our heart and not on our lips, because if these two do not match the heart and the lips, this muscle here and these muscles up here, then it is for naught. And so we want to talk about that today, because there's a difference between motion and motives, and that's what I want to address today. Join me if you would, the foundational scripture that we're going to be building everything else upon during this series is found over in Isaiah 66. Join me if you would there.

In Isaiah 66, thus says the Eternal, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool.

Where is the house that you will build for me? And where is the place of my rest? For all of those things my hand is made, and all of those things exist, says the Eternal, but on this one will I look. On him who is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. In other words, where God wants to have his abode, is an individual that is humble. Humble. What is humility?

Humility is having a proper understanding of who you are, and who God is, and the difference.

It is a proper estimation of the human condition apart from God.

Why is that so important? Why is humility so important?

Pride comes naturally to everyone, men and women, just in different ways.

The problem with pride is simply this. No matter how much or how great pride is, God can't use it. He can't use it at all. He can't multiply it. He doesn't want to multiply pride.

Conversely, humility is having a proper estimation of ourselves in relationship to God, and who he is, and what he is.

That humility, no matter how small, he can use it and do great things.

Understanding that and understanding the connection of humility with prayer is essential to the title of my message. I'd like to give it to you right now. The title of my message is simply this. Prayers that move God. Prayers that move God. I'm sure at one time or another, all of us have wanted to, literally, move God with or what we are going through at the time. So much so that we hope that our prayers are moving above the ceiling and above the rafters and out the roof, and are petitioned right before the throne of God. I'm right there with you. This is something that I have to grow in, and that's why I'm talking about it. I'm not talking at you. I'm not talking down to you. We're having a discussion together as we allow God's Spirit to guide us. Perhaps there's no better way of understanding humility in prayer and our need for God and to throw pride away than dealing with an individual and how he prayed. It's an individual that we all know.

It was one of the greatest men in all of the Bible. Ezekiel speaks to his righteousness.

You and I know him as one of the wise men of Babylon. You and I know him as the gentleman that was thrown into the lion's den. You and I know him as the gentleman that would pray three times a day out his window as he looked at Jerusalem. One of the great men of the Bible.

And what is interesting sometimes with some of these men and or women that are set before us, they seem out of reach. They seem almost untouchable. They seem like they were already there before God even began to deal with them. They seem so spiritually clean and so spiritually neat. And as Paul and Sylvanas said, though, these were men of like passion.

They were human beings. They took the pinch test. They were real. They were before God. They had real challenges, real problems, real people. But it's what they did.

The reason why I'd like you to turn over to Daniel 9 is for a specific reason. It's one thing to say we all need to pray. It's one thing to see a model prayer set apart by Christ. And we make it there, ultimately, in this series. And I'd love to do that. But all of that is of no value unless we understand our relationship before God, whether we are on bended knee, on floor or earth, or whether or not our hearts are bending at any one time as to looking at God as sovereign as to what we will do. And that's going to be the importance of this message.

Let's go to Daniel 9. And what we're going to do is this is simply going to be an expository message. We're going to expose the Scripture to the light of God's Spirit, to the light of our hearts, and take a good look at you and me in regards to this relationship. Now, one thing that's very interesting about Daniel. When you say the book of Daniel, what's the first word that comes to your mind when you say Daniel?

Daniel is a what? He's a prophet. There's a lot of prophecy in Daniel, isn't there? And this prayer is actually in relationship to a prophecy. But I will share this. You and I can understand and come to grips and grasp the example of Daniel and understand it thoroughly and take it away and put it in the bank or put it in our hearts much more than the prophecy. Because that prophecy is going to continue to unfold, we will come to understand it more, especially as it comes to past.

But what we can understand is the spiritual DNA that God put into Daniel for you and for me to understand. And understand that with Daniel, what we're looking at is why God could use him and why God did reveal prophecy to him. Not because of his intellect, but because of him understanding who and what he was apart from God. So are you ready to go? We're going to go right through Daniel 9.

All prepared? Let's take a look at it. In chapter 9, verse 1, in the first year of Darius, the son of Asarius, of the lineage of the Medes. So we're talking about a ruler of Persia. Persia and the Medes were combined. This is after the time of Nebuchadnezzar. This is well after the time of the fall of Jerusalem. And it says, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.

And in the first year of his reign, notice, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolation of Jerusalem. Now, for those of you that are new to the Word or don't quite know where this is happening in Scripture, what is happening is to remember we've got to go back.

We've got to go back about the beginning of the sixth century. And the Chaldeans were slowly taking out the Jews from Judah. It was not just in one period. There were actually three different periods of taking the Jews out of Judea. So often, in our mind, we think 586 BC, the fall of Jerusalem, it all happened then. It did not. It actually occurred over about 25 years, actually starting around 604 or somewhere in there. Don't hold me to the date right now. And actually Daniel and Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, which you know as Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, they actually most likely came out of the second invasion.

And they were these young Jewish wise men that were then drafted into the Babylonian court. Well, Daniel began looking at Jeremiah, and he began to... you know, he could begin to count. He was beginning to think, oh, you know, I think this thing is over that Jeremiah was talking about. And he was looking forward to God restoring his people, God being true to his promises. And so he was praying to him.

And it says that here in verse 3 now, then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. This morning when I was talking to the other congregation, this impacted me. I have not really gone this far. I'm not necessarily asking you to go this far in this day and age and this culture, but to notice the immense depth that he took this by prayer. Prayer is petitioning to God, just talking to God, by supplications. Supplications, when you see that word, supplications means where you keep on going back and knocking on God's door for a particular item. Just as Jesus spoke about that widow that would come in before the the judge and the judge would say, who will deliver me from this widow? In other words, there is that persistence in prayer life, that there is something so important that you want to gain God's number one attention and number two, his answer, even though it may not be the answer that we are looking for down here below. And it says, and I pray to the Lord my God, and I made confessions and said, oh Lord, great and awesome God who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments.

Now let's take these scriptures and bring them to light for a moment and add some framework and some context, because I think it's important. He says, then I set my face toward the Lord God.

This speaks to Daniel and his faith in God. We know that through scripture, if you'll join me over in Daniel 6 and verse 10, just a few pages over, let's go over there to Daniel 6 and verse 10, and we'll make it relevant to today. Daniel 6 verse 10.

This is the famous story where he is punished for praying to the God of Israel. And we notice in Daniel 6 and verse 10, now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, a writing that, if he disobeyed it, could mean his life. He went home and in his upper room with his windows open towards Jerusalem. He knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom, since he was just a young man. Now let's understand what's going on here. Are you with me, please?

We recognize that when Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were taken out of Judah and sent to the Babylonian court, things happened to them. They were immersed into a culture that was not the culture of God, was not the culture of their people. We know the story in Daniel that they were given new names. Actually, Baal is in Daniel's Babylonian name. They were given different clothing. They had to learn a different language. They tried to even change the diet of those individuals, which is a very famous story, right, in Daniel 1, the story of the vittles. And so they moved from the culture of God into a foreign and a pagan culture. And that's why it was very important, very important for Daniel to open up those windows and face the west, because he faced Jerusalem.

He was a Jew that was from Jerusalem, and that is where the temple had been, now destroyed. That is where the Shekinah experience had been, the cloud of God, the presence of God amongst the people. He clung to that and held onto that to remind him that the culture that he was around was not the culture of God. And that's why he did that. It was so important to keep that tie in. And that's why today, friends, it is so important that we pray to God. Now, today, we do not open up windows. We do not look to the west. We don't look to the east. We look up. Join me, if you would, for a moment, if you could, and join me, if you could, in John 11. The gospel, thereof. And we're going to break into the story for a moment to extract a principle regarding Jesus Christ. We might say that, greater Daniel. In John 11, it's the story of Lazarus, the resurrection thereof. And he's about to resurrect Lazarus from the tomb. And notice what it says in verse 41, then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And now notice, Jesus, who had come from above and now below to share the culture of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. And notice what it says, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me, and I know that you will always hear me.

There was a confidence. There was, are you with me? A knowing. Now, you and I have that same opportunity today, brother, and we no longer, as Daniel would in his day and age, in his culture, to tap into God and look to Jerusalem. You and I look up to the heavenly Jerusalem.

It's interesting, in Galatians 5 to verse 26, it says, Jerusalem, which is above, Jerusalem, which is above, not down here below now and in the organization, but that which is above, is what we tap into that heavenly Jerusalem to gain a framework, to gain an exposure, to gain answers, and remind us as Christians, Christians are non-conformist in the age around us. We are not to conform to this world. You know, it's kind of interesting. Well, you know, that guy over there. Just look. I think he's a non-conformist.

Christianity from the beginning has been about non-conformity.

It's about following the example that God the Father sent us, Jesus Christ, not man, not woman, nothing flesh and blood, but to follow the culture of the kingdom of God. Let's continue now. So what we see, beginning in verse 3, is a knowing and a determination, and practicing what Jesus himself would do, moving outside of the moment and looking for God.

And it says, and I pray to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, Oh Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments. It's very interesting, and you can study further in this, that this is actually shadowing the third commandment, where we don't take the name of the Lord our God in vain, but that his mercy and his judgments are down to the second to third generation of those that love him. But I want to share a thought with you. Look at verse 4, because this is what we're going to really build upon now. And I made confession. Wow, are we in the right church? I know there's another church that has confessionals.

What does this mean? You know, it's very interesting, as we have the baptisms today. You know, in Redlands, we're all just big families, so we're all together at the baptisms. That's how it's always been. But what you're doing at baptism is simply this.

You are making, in a sense, a confession. Yes, I have sinned, and I have repented of all of my sins, and not only repented of my sins, but what I am apart from God. So what you're really doing, in a sense, is you are making a confession of that profession, which is already occurring inside of you, as it says, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, the same are the sons of God. But what I share with you is simply this confession. I'm not talking about public confession or going into a booth. I think you understand what I'm saying. But confession is an ongoing experience of the Christian life. It's not just simply a one-time statement. It's a matter of spiritual awareness, as we're going to see through the prayer of Daniel. Now, let's go to verse 5.

And this is going to be very important. Notice, we have sinned and committed iniquity.

We have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and your judgments. Now, I want to share a thought with you, and I don't know when's the last time you looked through the book of Daniel chapter 9. It is imperative. And I'm going to give you your homework right up front right now, this week. I want to show you what I did when I doodle, but for a purpose.

These are my notes today, right here. And for those of you that are close, like Isis and her grandma, you see all sorts of circles? This is religion, so.

All sorts of circles. What I've circled here are the pronouns.

Pronouns tell God a lot about what's in our heart. Not words like anti-disestablisharianism. Not long words, but words like we. Words like me. Words like all. Words like our.

And this is the beauty of this prayer of Daniel and what we need to incorporate in our life, is to recognize that Daniel was not so much concerned about the others. He recognized that he was a part of this. Let me take you further now, okay? Let's take a look at this. And think of pronouns. Are you ready? This is not going to be hard. You think of the pronouns.

We have sinned and committed iniquity. Here was one of the men that was spoken about in Ezekiel about his righteousness. But he said, we have sinned. We have done wickedly and rebelled, even departing from your precepts and your judgments. Neither have noticed we heeded your servants to prophets who spoke in your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. It speaks right here that Daniel goes on notice, saying, you sent a message through the prophets. They were knocking on the door of our hearts.

They were sharing with us an inconvenient truth, and we put them on ignore. We pushed the ignore button. Think about this truth for a moment. Are you with me? Please look up. This is the PowerPoint living before you. It wasn't like Daniel's over here and saying, God, it's all of those people. Those people right there. God, there. God, right there. It's all of them. No, let's notice something. Are you with me? Daniel put himself right in the midst in his confession.

He knew he had issues that he also, righteous Daniel, also had issues that he had to deal with.

How often have we prayed about something? You know, the Bible says, pray about our, you know, pray for our enemies, pray about our enemies, pray for those that do adversely against you. And we can pray up a storm about other people and their problems.

But we've also got to be a part of that storm. Rather than worrying so much about them, we need to ask God, God, reveal yourself to us. Allow me to confess and allow me to see myself apart from you. Allow me to see my part in this situation. Remembering what Jesus himself said in Matthew about, you know, before you go working on the other guy and trying to take this gigantic thing out of his eye, you better take a look of what's in your eyeballs and start picking them out. This is the beauty of Daniel 9. Notice what it says here. It says, there is such a collectivism here of our kings and our princes. He doesn't go eeny, meeny, miny, mo, and this is the one that I liked. You know, it's kind of very interesting these days, you know, depending on which party is in the White House or which party is controlling the media, sometimes Americans will say, well, that's your president, or that's your president, depending upon which party is in, like you're putting, you know, every four years on ignore or every eight years on ignore. Daniel doesn't do that. You know, in America, it's, well, if my guy was in. When the prophecies themselves say that the entire body is sick from head to toe, and yet we want to kind of figure out what is more healthy when God's already said, because people have rejected him, rejected him, that somehow, well, my guy is better than your guy, or in this day and age, my lady is better than your lady, or my lady's better than your guy, etc., etc. Daniel, friends, embraces it all and says, I'm a part of this equation.

Like Daniel, until we can embrace it all and see ourselves in a situation, whatever your situation is in life and confess yourself, your rule, your part, your pride, your lack of humility, part of that equation is missing. And that's very hard for human beings, because all of us, we have pride. And so we always think that we've got the best math. We can say, well, two plus two equals four. But oftentimes, really what's happening, we're saying two plus two equals five, two plus two equals three, because with our pride, with our pride, we're not using God's math. We're using our math. And until we put ourselves into that equation, like Daniel, things are not going to happen for us. Oh Lord, verse seven, Oh Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us shame a face as it is this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far, those that are in the diaspora, those that have been dispersed into all the countries, which you have driven them because of their unfaithfulness, which they have noticed committed against you. God had a role in this. Blessings and cursings. Life and death, as we're going to see in a moment. Oh Lord, verse eight, to us belong shame of face to our kings and our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against you. It's not just that we've sinned against a wife or a husband or children or our community, but much like the words of David out of Psalms 51, against you only, only you have I send to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him. You notice where beginning here that from verse four forward he speaks about, oh Lord, great and awesome, and then here we see that to you belong mercy and forgiveness. Praise. Beginning with praise is a very important part of prayer. It is our anchor.

It is our starting point, and it is our ending point when it comes to prayer. If we just give God our laundry list, have you ever done that? Given God our laundry list? Okay, let's see what some time... Okay, and God... Yes, the lotto is up to 900 million right now.

Well, so I don't ask for anything like that. I'm just asking God to help me with my marriage. I'm just asking God to help me get by paycheck to paycheck. We need to see ourselves for what we are so that God can take our little and make it great to glorify him. Not just words, but looking at who and what we are. Let's continue the story. Yes, all Israel has transgressed your law and has departed so as not to obey your voice. Therefore, the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because notice... And this isn't just throwing one up for the gipper. He comes back again because we have sinned against him. And he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our judges who judged us by bringing upon us a great disaster for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

In 586 BC, the Chaldean war machine did come up against Jerusalem and it was very bloody.

Thousands and thousands and thousands of people died in Jerusalem. The rest were carted off. They were taken away by the Chaldeans. Jerusalem. Jerusalem which was set apart to be the holy place of God. Jerusalem the place that was united all the tribes in oneness before their God and their King which was God Almighty now laid to waste. As he has confirmed his words... Okay, I mentioned that.

As he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our judges who judged us by bringing upon us a great disaster for under the whole heaven... I mentioned that. Okay, verse 13. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us. Notice, yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind and brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which he does through we though we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord, verse 15, our God who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made your self a name as it is this day. We have sinned. We have done wickedly.

Now there's a couple things that we need to understand in this course of verse. Some of you might be seeing, well, wow, this is getting kind of morose, isn't it? No, this is not morose. This is taking a proper estimation of ourselves apart from God. And it's very interesting that what is alluded to here is God through his judges taught us. And what is being discussed here is Deuteronomy 28, 29, and 30. They're about to go over into the land. They are no longer a wandering people wandering for 40 years. They are about to become a nation amongst the cultures of this world. And so God says, look, I'm going to set before you blessings and cursings. You know the verse, Deuteronomy 30, 19, blessings and cursings, life and death. Therefore, make a choice. Make a choice. Now in all of this, it's very, very important to understand something. Stay with me.

Sometimes, you know, we love the blessings. Everybody like blessings in here? Am I talking to the right crowd? I love blessings. Okay, let's have a show of hands. Keep you awake. Blessings. We like blessings. Cursings. Okay, we're out of here.

Blessings remind us of God. And even when cursings come upon us, not by God's desire, but by our choices, whether we be a people, whether we be a family, or whether we be a nation, even the cursings are always designed and meant to move us back to God, to show us our need for God. God's desire is always to be open to His special creation, called humanity. And He will do it one way or the other. When we obey Him, there are blessings. When we disobey Him, there are cursings, but it is always with the intent of return, always with the intent of return. Let's pick up the thought now in verse 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 for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers. Jerusalem and your people are a reproach to all of those around us.

Now, notice now the pronoun switching to your people. It's a little bit like what what Moses did with God when God was saying, you know, I'm tired of these people. And he reminded, and Moses reminded him, they're your people. And if you do not live to your promise, what will the nations around say about what you've done with your people? So you see a lot of that coming forward in this. Now, therefore, our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake, not me, not what I'm going to get into it, or for it, but for the Lord's sake, allow your face to shine on your sanctuary, which is desolate.

Powerful thought here. When we pray to God, do we confess our sins? Do we praise God? Do we just keep him to what he has not yet done for us? Or do we, like Daniel, remind him of what he has done for us in the past, as much as he reminded God of his rescue and his deliverance of Israel from Egypt? Is our God, your God, my God, all of our God, only as good as what he does around the next bend, or the bend behind us, or to remember how he has delivered us again and again and again. Some of you that are going to be baptized today are going to be going through this. I know all of you are excited about being baptized today. What a wonderful day for each and every one of you. But remember something. This is not the end. This is just the beginning of the rest of the journey. And that journey is going to start over again and again and again, but with the same Savior again and again and again. But these are the things that we need to be mindful of.

To maintain these principles out of the prayer of Daniel, let's take it a step further. That your face might shine on your sanctuary. What is Daniel alluding to here? That Jerusalem might be blessed once again and have your light and your face, your blessing, your smile be upon it. Join me if you would for a moment over in the book of Numbers. Let's see where he draws us from. Number six. In number six, it's how God instructed Aaron to bless the people.

In number six, and let's pick up the thought if we could here.

Deuteronomy Numbers 6.26.

Actually, verse 23, speak to Aaron and his son, saying, this is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you, and the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you, and the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Let's see how this blessing is going to come about in just a few short verses away.

Notice in what it says here. Verse 19. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive.

O Lord, listen and act. I have a question for you, please. May I? How often have we responded that way on our knees, on a floor, on the earth, or as we bow the knees of our heart when an emergency comes upon us and we can't be like Clark Kent and find a place to go?

So we do it behind the wheel, or we do it in the emergency room, or we do it when we don't know what else to do but to say, Father, above, help. I'm your child. I need your help. How often have we said, O Lord, hear. I want to—Father, are you there? I really mean for this prayer to go above the ceiling. I don't want it to bounce back like the radar of a bat and bounce me in the head. I need to connect. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. Prayer is always about forgiveness. We even see that in the model prayer. Forgive us our deaths, thank you, as we forgive our debtors.

But as human beings, when we're praying about the community around us, whether it be our family, our church, our work, etc., it's always— What am I to do? Just look at them. This is what you have put into my life. Are you kidding me?

Are you for me or again me? No. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Do we understand that outside of God, we would be stuck in the human condition?

Now, while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin, and the sins of my people, Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my God, being Mount Zion, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I have seen in the vision of the beginning, began, caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. Notice.

And he informed me and talked with me and said, oh Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. That's kind of what the prayer was. Remember Daniel was going 70, 69, 68, 66.

God, I think something's about to happen based upon the prophecy of Jeremiah that you gave them, and I would kind of really like to understand where this is. The understanding came, verse 23, at the beginning of your supplications, the command went out. And I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, consider the matter and understand the vision.

Let's begin to conclude with just a few more verses to put a book into on this. Join me if you would in Psalm 17. In Psalm 17. What's happening here? In Psalm 17, and let's pick up the thought if we could in verse 6. Psalm 17.

I have called upon you, for you will hear me, O God. David had the confidence that Jesus Christ had.

Jesus had said, I hear you, Father, and I know that you always hear me.

Incline your ear to me and hear my speech. Daniel 9 18. O my God, incline your ear and notice and open your eyes. Same thing. Show your marvelous love and kindness by your right hand.

O you who save those who trust in you. For those who rise up against them. Notice verse 8 now.

And I speak to each and every one of you. Those that will be baptized today, those that are baptized and will yet be baptized. Keep me as the apple of your eye and hide me under the shadow of your wings. That's how God looks at us. He wants to bless us. He wants to bless us and give us everything that he has. Let's conclude by going to James 5. James 5. I'm going to take a principle out of this. This is a verse that we often use when it comes to physical healing.

But today we're talking about spiritual healing.

In James 5, it speaks about calling for the elder, anointing him with oil in verse 14. Now let's go to verse 15. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.

And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

You and I as human beings, and it just comes with the territory, are very, very concerned about ourselves, and about our bodies, and about our lives. And yet Jesus himself in his word says, you know, don't worry about saving the body, but rather think about your soul. Think about your spirit. Notice what it says here. Verse 16, confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another. But you notice that confessing our own trespasses come first. Putting ourselves in the equation just as righteous Daniel did, of all people, with everything that he did right in the book of Daniel, nonetheless he saw him no more or no less one of his people. It was not about his works. It was not about his intelligentsia. It was not about what he had done. And see, that is the opposite. You know, so often, have you ever run into somebody, and you have a conversation with them which really turns not into a conversation, it's not even a dialogue, it's a monologue, you're bumped into one like that? I've done this, I've done that, I'm going here, I'm doing this, I just made this, I just did this, I just did this, did you know I have 15 letters behind my name and how professional I am, and I went to all these schools? And you're, oh really? You know, and you know, because you can't get in the word edgewise, and it goes on and on and on and on and on. That's pride. Pure and simple. It's pride. You know, it's interesting what Paul said.

Paul said, I was this, I was a Hebrew, the Hebrews, I did this, I did this, I did this, and I did that.

And then at the end, you know what he said? He said, but until I came to understand Christ, I was nothing. What he was really saying was, so often in our life, and we've, we're all been guilty of that. Remember I'm talking to myself? We've all been guilty of that. Look at me. Look at me. No, this is my selfie. Really, what we're doing is we're, remember what Paul said? It's like filthy rags?

Hello out there. I want to find that. And what we're really doing is we're boasting of our zeroness. Big zero. Hello? Zero, compared to what God has done. And Paul said, I was nothing before that, but now that I am in the fellowship of his life and of his death and of his suffering, I can be something. Even in that, in Philippians 3, it's about confession. Notice what it says here.

Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

Not just physically, spiritually. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. And what we've done this afternoon for about a while is to take a part of that model, which is simply words. Move it beyond theory, put it into practicality of a real life, of a real man who had real challenges, hopes and dreams like you and I did, and we've seen God's Spirit work in him, even as a human being. What did we learn today? If I want to jot this down, if you have not taken a note yet, number one, no matter what the situation, no matter where we are, begin by praising God. Praising God and thanksgiving. Number two, to confess our sins, to confess our pride, to confess at times when God has been knocking on our door but we have turned a deaf ear to him. Remind number four, three, thank you, interactive sermon. Number three is to remember what God has done for us already, and if he's done that for us before, he will do it again.

Number five, to remember whether it be blessing or cursing, both are tools, both are tools to move us back into the loving embrace of our Heavenly Father. Both are tools. And number five, remember that you are the apple of God's eye. He can't take his eyes off of you.

He wants you to be a part of his family. And number six, here's the homework.

You want your life to change? Is this hour that I, not hour, but about 50 minutes that I've spoken to you? Is this going to make an impact on you? Or are you just going to say, okay, church is over.

If you want to take the test, if you want to take the dare, go home, duplicate Daniel 9. Just duplicate it on a duplicator. That's how you duplicate things on a duplicator.

Or a printer. Take it, then take three colored pencils, just three, with one pencil, circle all of the wheeze that are in Daniel 9 of how inclusive he was, seeing his need to confess, seeing his need to praise, seeing his need to be with his brethren.

One pencil. There are 12 wheeze, 12 wheeze in Daniel 9. Take another pencil, take another pencil, take another pencil, and circle all of the us's. All of the us's.

Us's are just wheeze in a different form. He never broke from his God, and he never turned his back on his people. If we're going to pray for people, and if we're going to have effective intercessory prayer, we first have to confess ourselves before we can share them with God. Just like the high priest at Atonement, where the high priest would first go in in Leviticus 16, and what he he would sacrifice for himself before he dealt with the people. Thus, we have to, if we're going to help those that we have ought against or ought against us, or to pray for this world and say, oh God, where's this world going to? We have to analyze, look at our world. I'm going to look forward. I'm going to be back. Susie and I will be back. The pronoun, we will be back on January 30th. I hope that you will come up. And, Sabrina, you can be involved in this, too, okay? Good homework assignment. And show me your paper. I would love to see it, what you will do with it, as we look at seeing the kind of pronoun personality that we have. That is more than just about a we and an us or them. It's an x-ray of our heart as to how we are to pray to God.

And that's the foundation of the series on prayer. Look forward to bringing you something else on January 30th.