Aug 28, 2022 |Still

Of Prayers and Prophecies

08.28.22 | Still

Of Prayers and Prophecies

Noel Heikkinen

Daniel 9:1-10:19

In prayer, we often jump first into what we want, rather than looking to God for who He is. What do your prayers look like? Pastor Noel Jesse Heikkinen points to Daniel in giving a great model for prayer; read your bible, see what God says He’s going to do, and then ask Him to do that. In your prayers, you can find rest in acknowledging God for who He is, and confessing to Him your sins.

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I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was greatly disturbed by the vision and could not understand it.

Daniel 8:27
 

In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the Chaldean kingdom 

Daniel 9:1
 

In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy. So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

Daniel 9:2-3
 

I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: Ah, Lord — the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands  

Daniel 9:4
 

we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, ancestors, and all the people of the land. Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but this day public shame belongs to us: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel — those who are near and those who are far, in all the countries where you have banished them because of the disloyalty they have shown toward you. LORD, public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you.

Daniel 9:5-8
 

Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the LORD our God by following his instructions that he set before us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him.

Daniel 9:9-11
 

He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven. Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth. So the LORD kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all he has done. But we have not obeyed him.

Daniel 9:12-14
 

Now, Lord our God — who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made your name renowned as it is this day — we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, may your anger and wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of ridicule to all those around us. Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of your servant. Make your face shine on your desolate sanctuary for the Lord’s sake.

Daniel 9:15-17
 

Listen closely, my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts, but based on your abundant compassion. Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for your own sake, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name.

Daniel 9:18-19
 

While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the LORD my God concerning the holy mountain of my God —  while I was praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the first vision, reached me in my extreme weariness, about the time of the evening offering.

Daniel 9:20-21
 

He gave me this explanation: “Daniel, I’ve come now to give you understanding. At the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and I have come to give it, for you are treasured by God. So consider the message and understand the vision

Daniel 9:22-23
 

Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city — to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an Anointed One, the ruler, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times. After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed. He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”

Daniel 9:24-27
 

This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. “So when you see the abomination of desolation , spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand), “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. A man on the housetop must not come down to get things out of his house, and a man in the field must not go back to get his coat.

Matthew 24:14-18
 

Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Matthew 24:29-30
 

In the third year of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. The message was true and was about a great conflict. He understood the message and had understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks. I didn’t eat any rich food, no meat or wine entered my mouth, and I didn’t put any oil on my body until the three weeks were over.

Daniel 10:1-3
 

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up, and there was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.

Daniel 10:4-6
 

and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. The hair of his head was white as wool — white as snow  — and his eyes like a fiery flame. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters. He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.

Revelation 1:13-16
 

Only I, Daniel, saw the vision. The men who were with me did not see it, but a great terror fell on them, and they ran and hid. I was left alone, looking at this great vision. No strength was left in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless. I heard the words he said, and when I heard them I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground.

Daniel 10:7-9
 

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30
 

Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees. He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling.

Daniel 10:10-11
 

“Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers.

Daniel 10:12
 

1. How would you describe your life of prayer? What part of your prayer life is meaningful? What part would you like to change?
2. Read Daniel 9:2-3. In this section, Daniel reads from God’s Word (from the prophet Jeremiah), believes God’s Word, and is motivated to pray according to what God had promised. Have you ever had an experience like this, where the truth of God’s Word moved you to action? What are some specific ways you can follow God’s example?
3. Read Daniel 9:4-8. What stands out to you about Daniel’s prayer? Notice how Daniel a) acknowledges and describes the perfect character and nature of God, b) acknowledges and describes the sinful character and nature of man, and then c) asks God to intervene in His grace and power. Take a few minutes to pray this way, first honoring God, then second lamenting your sins and the sins of your community, and finally asking God for His grace, mercy, and forgiveness
4. Do you believe prayer makes a difference? How? Read Daniel 9:22-23. In this section, the moment Daniel prayed it says, “an answer went out.” Consider praying this week with a mindset of expectation that God WILL respond, that prayer DOES make a difference.

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