There are a few things I would like to cover in
this post:
1.
The “WORD” of
GOD, spoken or written can be TRUSTED for correction, inspiration, prophecy,
and instruction.
2.
That when a TRUE PROPHET
of the LORD when speaking TRUTH or JUDGMENT, it is FULFILLED for the NAME SAKE OF THE LORD.
IE: It is THE LORD’S NAME that is on the line in a decree or judgment,
therefore IT SHALL BE DONE. Sometimes it
is delayed due to repentance on the part of the
party, but it always “ENDS’ in the exact way it was prophesied, IF IT IS FROM THE LORD.
Examples: NINEVEH, AHAB, HEZEKIAH Is 38:1-5
Also we will not change the outcome of "The BOOK of REVELATION" because it is DECREED to HAPPEN exactly as the LORD JESUS SAID IT WOULD. Otherwise it would make HIM a LIAR.
3.
That “RIGHTEOUS
PRAYERS” are according the LORD’S WILL and DESIRE, not according to our
personal lust and gains.
DANIEL 9: 1-18 THE REVELATION/KNOWLEDGE of DANIEL and DANIELS PRAYER;
DANIEL was INSPIRED BY “A
REVELATION” of GOD’s DECREE through JEREMIAH, and was lead to TRAVAIL
(sackcloth and ashes), with CONFESSION of his sin and the sin of the people.
Daniels prayer is considered one
of the GREATEST PRAYERS in the OLD TESTAMENT:
IN DAN 9: 2 Daniel most likely through his daily
devotion or prayer came to the revelation and knowledge that the PROPHECIES of
JEREMIAH were being fulfilled in his lifetime.
JEREMIAH 25: 11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, [and] an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
AT that time, obviously he did not have the NEW TESTAMENT writings,
but apparently he was very familiar with JEREMIAH, who preached REPENTANCE
before Babylon had captured and destroyed JERUSALEM
The revelation of Jeremiah’s
prophecy brought great travail and HUMILITY to Daniel before GOD. Most of DAN 9
is studied because of the REVELATION of END-TIMES, but it truly was the “RIGHTEOUS
PRAYERS” of Daniel that he was ultimately BLESSED with KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM Of END-TIMES.
I think we could LEARN a GREAT DEAL about our HEARTS just from DANIELS PRAYER:
DAN 9: 2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel
understood by books the "number" of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem
Notice that Daniel not only understood Jeremiah's prophesy, but NOW he also understood the "NUMBER' of the YEARS in which this DECREE was going to go forth.
Daniel didn't TALK to JEREMIAH, he "READ" it in the "BOOKS", and he BELIEVED it was so.
***THE “WORD OF GOD” spoken or written will never lead you away from or against the “WILL OF GOD”
IMPORTANT POINT
THE prophecy, the DECREES of GOD have the ULTIMATE
DESIRE to bring about PURE BRIDE a HOLY/SET APART PEOPLE.
That is the GOODNESS OF GOD.
They are not meant to be PRAYED against, but prayed
into HIS DESIRE for repentance, correction, transformation and conformation
into HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.
We would do WELL to ACKNOWLEDGE:
That HIS “WORD” is TRUTH, and
that according to HIS SOVEREIGNTY, for HIS NAME SAKE,
short of repentance NOTHING
will prevent them from being CONFIRMED or MANIFESTED upon this EARTH.
___________________________________________________________
A STUDY OF THE “RIGHTEOUS PRAYERS” OF
DANIEL:
Daniel seems a bit “awe struck”
over this KNOWLEDGE/UNDERSTANDING of the REVELATION of Jeremiah’s prophecy.
Daniel was certainly a man of
GOD, and HE believed God, and he understood with complete clarity, at
that moment that 70 years of desolation was DECREED/DETERMINED for Jerusalem
When something is “DECREED/DETERMINED
it WILL HAPPEN exactly as the LORD says it will happen. SOMETIMES it is delayed according to the REPENTANCE of the PEOPLE,
but the DETAILS of the DECREE always happens.
A.
WHAT
is DANIEL’S FIRST RESPONSE to this KNOWLEDGE?
THE RIGHTEOUS
PRAYERS OF DANIEL:
This was a HOLY SPIRIT MOMENT FOR DANIEL
SOVEREIGN, one who has supreme authority:
This was definitely a
PROFOUND MOMENT in DANIEL’S LIFE, THE REALITY of GOD’S SOVEREIGN HAND at work in
this captivity, brought great REVERENCE and ANGUISH in DANIEL'S SPIRIT.
HE cry's out to the LORD, He
TRAVAILED (with sackcloth and ashes, and fasting) HE confessed his sins and the
sins of the people.
DANIEL 9: 3 And I set my face
unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications,
with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
DANIEL 9: 4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great
and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to
them that keep his commandments;
Daniels love for GOD’S people
and for Jerusalem
B. HOWEVER DANIEL
prayed INTO the “WILL and DESIRE” of the LORD. HE never PRAYED “AGAINST”
the WILL of GOD.
THE DESIRE Of the
LORD is to have a Set apart people, a
pure bride, a people after HIS own heart. That HIS PEOPLE would LIVE according
to HIS PRECEPTS and PRINCIPLES, keeping HIS JUDGMENTS and PROFESSING HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS and HOLINESS.
FOR HE IS “JEALOUS” of HIS
OWN NATURE.
ULTIMATELY; A PEOPLE that willing submit
to HIS transformation and conformation into the IMAGE OF JESUS CHRIST.
DANIEL 9: 9-19 WHAT HAPPENS at a TRUE REVELATION OF GOD and HIS SOVEREIGNTY?
We recognize our OWN wretchedness.
C. IT begins
with a CONFESSION of SIN
DANIEL 9: 5 We have sinned, and have committed
iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy
precepts and from thy judgments:
D. Daniel’s
Prayers included an ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF “GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS” and the need for HIS PEOPLE TO OBEY HIS VOICE.
DAN 9: 7 O Lord,
righteousness [belongeth] unto thee
DAN 9: 14… for the
LORD our God [is] righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not
his voice.
GOD is GOOD, and there is NO
GOOD without GOD.
HE is Righteous in ALL OF His works,.
NOT WILLING TO leave us
in our wretched position, of wickedness and sin, seeking to TRANSFORM HIS PEOPLE that they be left
with nothing undone, LIVING IN THE PROMISES OF JESUS CHRIST, Blessed on earth and in heaven.
HE chastises HIS PEOPLE, for
our good, for our transformation, for our correction that we can LIVE in the
PROMISES of JESUS CHRIST.
Daniel’s Prayers included an
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT that “ALL” mercy and forgiveness belong to the LORD. Without
HIS MERCY and FORGIVENESS there would be NO GOOD in this world.
E. WITHOUT HIS
MERCY and GRACE, and without OBEDIENCE and REVERENCE towards HIM, we are SUBJECT
to the CURSE, and the worlds vengeance.
DAN 9: 8 To the
Lord our God [belong] mercies and forgivenesses,
Dan 9: 10 Neither
have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set
before us by his servants the prophets.
Dan 9: 11 Yea, all
Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey
thy voice; therefore the curse
is poured upon us, and the
oath that [is] written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
THE “DESOLATION” had come to God’s PEOPLE, because of their SIN, and disobedience.. "does that sound familiar"
DANIEL PLEADS for GOD to
HARKEN and DO, DEFER NOT.
HAVE MERCY oh LORD, FORGIVE US, we did not present our SUPPLICATIONS before you. OUR only hope is your FORGIVENESS and YOUR MERCY.
NOTE this was in the FIRST YEAR Of DARIUS the king of the Medes. Later we find DANIEL in the lions den for his prayers at the window. It was after this that Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and Cyrus the Persian. Dan 6: 28. Daniel's prayer was not answered immediately, for the time of chastisement had not come to completion. So perhaps DANIEL'S PRAYER didn't change the circumstances of a NATION, but it did make a difference in his own life.. The hedge of the LORD was over Daniel while he was held captive in Babylon etc.
Dan 9: 18 for we do not present our supplications before thee for our
righteousnesses, but for thy GREAT MERCY.
DAN 9: 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my
God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
DANIEL, ACKNOWLEDGED that “GOD
is a JEALOUS GOD”, partial to HIS OWN HOLINESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS etc.
He APPEALS to GOD to “FORGIVE” HIS people that are called by
HIS NAME..
F. THE LORD “CONFIRMS”
HIS WORDS, CONFIRMS HIS DECREES.
DAN 9: 12 And he
hath confirmed his words
DAN 9: 13 As [it
is] written in the law of Moses,
all this evil is come upon us: yet
made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and
understand thy truth.
CONCLUSION:
WHAT can we learn
from DANIEL’S PRAYER:
DO we ACKNOWLEDGE GOD in HIS HOLINESS?
DO we ACKNOWLEDGE that GOD is SOVEREIGN /SUPREME in HIS DECREES, JUDGMENTS etc?
DO we ACKNOWLEDGE, with
gratitude, that HIS MERCY and GRACE has gone forth upon us, even though we have been an UNDESERVING PEOPLE. That WITHOUT HIS MERCY and GRACE we would lost and a
desolate people?
Do we REVERENCE HIM as the
SOVEREIGN GOD THAT HE IS, HIS MAJESTY, AUTHORITY, HIS WORD, HIS DECREES
ARE our PRAYERS in
VAIN?
IE; Asking for things that
are “CONSUMING UPON OUR OWN LUST”
Do we PRAYER against the “WILL” of the LORD?
Do we PRAY into the desire of
GOD’S HEART, WHAT HE DESIRES?
IE: that A lost world to come
to know HIM, a reconciled people, a PEOPLE that are devoted to HIM, a
TRANSFORMED and CONFORMED PEOPLE into HIS CHARACTER, in the IMAGE OF HIS SON.
AND LAST BUT NOT
LEAST: THY WORD IS TRUTH, spoken or written:
DANIEL came to the reality/understanding/knowledge
that JEREMIAH had prophesied about the desolation of JERUSALEM
THAT the “WORD” of the LORD
spoken by JEREMIAH was a SOVEREIGN DECREE from the LORD, and was going to occur in
the TIMELY MANNER in which it was PROPHESIED.
DANIEL understood that it was DUE
to SIN and WICKEDNESS that this DECREE had come to them.
Daniel LOVED Jerusalem
Daniel, was humbled by this
revelation, and YET he did not ASK for further revelations on the matter. The angel appeared to him to give him FUTURE REVELATION.
HIS IMMEDIATE reaction was to HUMBLE HIMSELF BEFORE GOD GIVE REVERENCE to GOD, and asked for FORGIVENESS for himself and for his
people.
HIS HEART BELONGED
TO GOD, and He understood the NEED for this chastisement, for the purifying of
GOD’S PEOPLE.
He was not angry
with GOD over this chastisement, nor did He PRAY "AGAINST" the WORD of the LORD. He hoped and prayed for a better future for JERUSALEM
He was considered, greatly
beloved of GOD.
DAN 9: 23 for thou [art]
greatly beloved
DANIEL “DESIRED” what the
FATHER “DESIRED”. And HE HAD GREAT
RESPECT and REVERENCE for GOD, and FOR HIS PRECEPTS and PRINCIPLES.
HE “PRAYED INTO THE DESIRE OF
GOD’S HEART:
HE KNEW that HIS PEOPLE and
HIS BELOVED CITY, were ABSOLUTELY subject to the MERCIFUL HAND of a SOVEREIGN GOD.
He was
a vessel of GOD’S USE.
“Through their SUFFERING their BLESSING CAME”
By the time JERUSALEM was rebuild, the people’s heart were changed, and “WORD” of GOD was then “restored” in their lives through future priest and prophets.
"THROUGH OUR TRUE REPENTANCE, God will share with us HIS Mercy and grace.
MY THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER:
WHICH DO WE PREFER???
HIS GRACE and MERCY or HIS CHASTISEMENT???
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