INTERCESSORY PRAYER

 

I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:  “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

 

Daniel is now getting down to business.  First he prays to the Lord his God.  Daniel had a personal relationship with God.  He knew God.  He communed with God.  Doing God’s will was his highest goal and aim.  No one else matter as much as God.  In this moment Daniel is doing something he is confessing his sin and the people’s sin.  Now Daniel is only one of three men that nothing evil or sinful is ever mentioned.  He is on the upper eschalon of bible heroes.  Yet he is identifying with the sins of the people.  A true intercessor identifies with those he is praying for.  This is deep intercessory prayer.   Now Daniel reveals five things reveals about God in this portion.  First he is Lord, YHWH, the name Yahweh or Jehovah comes from this. 

 

1.      He is the great I am, the self- existent one, the all knowing, all powerful, pure, holy, righteous, loving God.

2.      He is awesome, in some translation he is known as the dreadful God.  The God of judgment, Jonathon Edwards called Him the angry God.  The God who must judge sin.  His holiness demands it.  No words can describe God adequately.  How does one describe the creator and sustainer of all things.

3.      He keeps His covenant of love.  Love is the nature, character and essence of God.  1 John 4:8., states that God is love.  He extends and makes a covenant of love with those who will receive it.  When God makes an agreement he honors and keeps it.  He will never back out or renege on it.

4.      This agreement of love is given to those to reciprocate it.  You return this love.  You make a commitment to love.  Did you know love is a commitment?   It is a decision.  It is not all touchy feelings.  It is a decision.  It is more than endorphins.    Jesus told us in Matt 22:37-40 that our love must be with every fiber of our being and when we do that we truly love other.  

5.      We must keep his commands.  It is our obligation, duty, desire, compulsion.  God gives it to us to use for His glory.  Love not kept is like sands between the fingers wasted.  Love is to be used to touch others.  We must do our part.  When we do we are a blessing to God and others.

 

5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.

 

Daniel reveals five sins that he and the people have done wrong.  Again I want to stipulate Daniel personally had not done these but he is identifying with the people.

1.      We have sinned.  There ways have been wicked.  In the Bible is means missing the mark.  The primary list of missing the mark is the ten commandments.  They have broken the laws and precepts of God.  Daniel was truthful, honest and humble before God.  If you confess his sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.  To be forgiven you must acknowledge your wrong.

2.      We have done wrong.  All of us as a nation.  We freely admit that we are in this together.  The nation as a whole.  We knew what to do but we chose not to.  That is worst than ignorance.  You know what to do and do not James says is sin.  The Jews knew what they were to do but did not. 

3.      They have been wicked.  Remember sin will take you places you never thought you would go.  Make you do things you never thought you would do and become something you never thought you would be.  They did unspeakable things.  Their wickedness was so bad only judgment could correct it.  Canada is here now.  If God does not judge us for what is going on in Canada than he is going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. 

4.      They had rebelled.  They chose and wanted to rebel.  Righteousness is not as much fun as wickedness if your heart and mind are in the wrong place.  I want to tell you something there is nothing as sweet as peace, love, joy, harmony, unity , mercy and freedom unless you want evil or think you are missing something.  The devil is good at making people feel they are missing something.  Sin appeals to us because of hearts without redemption head there.  If you chose sin over righteousness when you are saved this is rebellion and Samuel said in1 Sam 13, that sin is like the sin of witchcraft.  If you rebel you are not better than a witch or warlock.

5.      They turned away from His commands and laws.  The laws and commandments were boundaries of protection.  They kept people from hurt, bitterness, pain regret and sorrow.  Break them and arrows of sin pierce your heart.  In time sin becomes fatal.  The problem people have the wrong concept of law and commandments.  They are set out by God because he loves and wants to protect us.  They are not shackles but boundaries of freedom.  There is nothing like being righteous.  Going to bed with peace in your heart.

 

6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

 

This last verse is the saddest.  They did not listen to the servants and prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.  They did not listen.  The closed their ears.  They chose to ignore.  They willfully made a choice.  They did not listen to Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Joel, Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakuk, Micaiah and Ezekiel.  They were warned.  These men pleaded with them for 400 years.  Generation after generation went by and the people block up their ears.  Even worst they maligned, persecuted and killed the prophets.   They spoke to kings, princes, ancestors and all the people of the land.   No one was ignorant of what God was saying.  It is one thing to not know what is going on or being ignorant but they knew what was going on.  They chose their fate.  They paddle their own canoe to destruction.  They in the end suffered terrible things.  Sin is a hard taskmaster especially when you chose to ignore the signs.  Talk about the rich man and Lazarus.  The people had stopped up the ears.  Like the people did with Stephen.  Our nation is right here.  We are on the cliff of judgment.  That is why we must pray now.  That is why I feel like an Old Testament prophet.  I am warning my world, telling us to pray, repent and seek God.  There is still time but not much.  The scary part is that Jesus could come back at any time.  You will not have to breath, say a word or utter a thought.  Please join with me in these days to pray, repent, humble ourselves and seek God.