STANDING IN THE GAP
STANDING IN THE GAP And Other Devotional Addresses to Encourage and Motivate You to Pray to the God of the Bible
THE PRAYING THROUGH THE BIBLE SERIES Volume 8
DANIEL WHYTE III
Standing in the Gap: And Other Devotional Addresses to Encourage and Motivate You to Pray to the God of the Bible (The Praying Through the Bible Series: Volume 8) by Daniel Whyte III Cover Design by Atinad Designs. Š Copyright 2015 TORCH LEGACY PUBLICATIONS First Printing, 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner, except for brief quotations included in a review of the book. ________________________________________________________________________ All Bible quotations in this volume are from the King James Version of the Bible. The name TORCH LEGACY PUBLICATIONS and its logo are registered as a trademark in the U.S. patent office. Printed in the U.S.A.
Acknowledgements For the Glory of God, and to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who taught us how to pray; And to the memory of E.M. Bounds who God used to motivate me to pray. To my favorite prayer partners: my wife, Meriqua, and my children: Danni, Daniel IV, Danita, Danae, Daniqua, Danyel Ezekiel, and Danyelle Elizabeth; And especially to my oldest son, Daniel Whyte IV, whom I have had the privilege of training in the ministry ever since he was a little boy when he said he wanted to be a preacher. He assisted me by doing most of the research for the messages included in this book. And to all people around the world who want to be encouraged to pray more effectively and see God answer their prayers and bless their lives for His glory. —Daniel Whyte III
Contents Introduction 1. A Warning Against Insincere Prayers (Part 1) 2. A Warning Against Insincere Prayers (Part 2) 3. Things to Remember When You are Experiencing the Chastisement of God (Part 1) 4. Things to Remember When You are Experiencing the Chastisement of God (Part 2) 5. Things to Remember When You are Experiencing the Chastisement of God (Part 3) 6. Things to Remember When You are Experiencing the Chastisement of God (Part 4) 7. Will You Be Found Praying? 8. Standing in the Gap (Part 1) 9. Standing in the Gap (Part 2) 10. Standing in the Gap (Part 3) 11. Standing in the Gap (Part 4) 12. Standing in the Gap (Part 5)
Introduction “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” —Luke 18:1 “All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.” —Martin Luther I am convinced that most people do not need to learn how to pray; they need to Just Pray! Prayer is like any other important discipline in the Christian life. If you don’t do it, you won’t reap the benefits and blessings that God wants you to have. If you want to reap the benefits and blessings of prayer, then you need to simply Just Pray! This is what The Praying Through the Bible Series of devotional messages is all about: exploring each of the over 500 verses and passages in Scripture concerning prayer, from Genesis to Revelation, so that you can be encouraged and motivated to pray to the God of the Bible.
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The Praying Through the Bible Series began after the Lord led me to put together a little devotional book titled, The Prayer Motivator, which was followed later by the Prayer Motivator Devotional Bible. The Lord leading me to do The Prayer Motivator Devotional Bible was a complete surprise because I had never dreamed of doing a themed Bible in my life. In this Bible, we highlighted each of the over 500 verses and passages on prayer in the Bible. Following the publication of that project, the Lord led me to begin preaching a series of messages on each of those passages on prayer. To my knowledge, preaching solely on every passage concerning prayer in the Bible had not been done before. By the grace of God, this series of messages— each of which was preached on a Wednesday night to a live audience—has been a blessing to thousands as I have shared brief, devotional principles from God’s Word concerning the matter of prayer. (In most cases, the preached version of each of these messages is quite different from what is given in this series of books — and probably better. If you want to listen to any of the messages in this series, you can do so online at www.prayingthroughthebible.com.) This is a series that every Christian can read and benefit from. This series will inspire, encourage, and motivate you to pray daily and throughout the day so that you can receive the benefits and blessings of a prayerful life. Prayer to God has been the center and highlight of my life ever since God used a series of books by E.M. Bounds to open my eyes to the importance and power of prayer. In spite of myself, God has been very good to me and to my family in many ways, but the
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thing that stands out the most to me are the thousands of answers to prayer over the past thirty years of full-time ministry and twenty-seven years of marriage with a family of nine. I want you to experience the same benefits and blessings of a prayerful life. If you are a pastor, please feel free to use these short, devotional messages in your mid-week prayer services. You do not need to contact us to ask for permission; that is what these messages are for. We know of pastors who have taken these messages and adapted them for their congregation, so please feel free to add to and take away from them as God leads you for the needs of your people, and I am sure that you will do a better job than I have done. These messages are not deep, theological expositions; other men of God who are scholars of the Word have already done that. These are simple, devotional messages that are designed to actually get people to just pray to the God of the Bible in faith believing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord led me to put them together with the assistance of my son who is an undergraduate student and still in training. Most pastors can take the little effort that we have put forth here and make these messages far better. Additionally, if you are a pastor, I want to encourage you to consider the following things: 1. If you have a weekly prayer meeting at your church, actually make it about prayer—pray and preach a short message on prayer to encourage the people to pray for
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you, for the church, for themselves, and for souls to be saved. This series can provide the basis for those short messages. 2. If you do not have a mid-week prayer meeting at your church, I encourage you to start one. In my humble opinion, it is a shame that most churches do not take the mid-week prayer meeting seriously anymore. Some churches have abandoned the prayer meeting altogether. Christianity Today told the story of East Indian evangelist K. P. Yohannan who visited America and attended a well-known megachurch one Sunday morning. Over 3,000 people were at the church services that morning, where it was announced that the mid-week prayer meeting would be held in a chapel on the church campus. Yohannan was fired up by what he had experienced, and determined to attend the prayer meeting as well. However, when he arrived for the prayer meeting a few days later, he was shocked to find that the chapel—which had a capacity of 500—was entirely empty. He sat down and waited for a few minutes and eventually seven people arrived. They sat down and made small talk. About forty-five minutes later, one of the leaders of the church walked in, prayed, and gave a brief Bible study. The article goes on to say: "In all his travels here, Yohannan saw the same pattern repeated over and over again in hundreds of midweek prayer meetings. Almost
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anything happens but prayer. There are announcements, singing, homilies, and a few prayers offered, but usually only by the leader—and that's in the churches that actually have prayer meetings in their schedules. Many more make no pretense even to have a church prayer meeting. There seems to be time for everything else— to study, to fellowship, to preach, but not to pray." It appears that many pastors and churches have forgotten that the church was born at a prayer meeting in an “upper room.” Pastor, make sure that your church makes time to pray. 3. Consider establishing daily prayer meeting times at your church and throughout your congregation around the city. For example, put someone in charge of holding a prayer meeting at five or six in the morning, twelve o' clock noon, and seven in the evening. Encourage your people to come to the church to pray together as much as possible. I know of a church that has a beautiful prayer room where the door faces a side street. The church members have a key so they can go in to pray at any time. You might recall that Jesus Christ said, "My house shall be called a house of prayer." 4. Encourage your church members to pray without ceasing whether they feel like it or not. One way they can do this is by whispering a prayer for themselves, praying for someone else, and quoting a verse from Scripture at the top of every hour. If you pray a short prayer (based on the model prayer of our Lord in
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Scripture), this will only take about one minute every hour. Down through the years, as I have preached in prayer meetings and revival meetings across the U.S. and around the world, I have had pastors to admit to me privately that they are not as strong in prayer as they would like to be and as they should be. The truth of the matter is, we all have our different gifts and callings, and just because a pastor does not emphasize prayer does not mean that he is not spiritual. Pastors are the general practitioners of the church. They are multi-gifted individuals and have the ability to manage and oversee many different ministries and outreaches at the same time, whereas an evangelist is focused on two to three things: evangelism, prayer, and revival. His job is to encourage pastors and the saints to do the work of an evangelist and to evangelize, to pray, to confess and repent of sins so that they can be used by God to see souls saved and brought into the Kingdom. The pastor is not more spiritual than the evangelist; the evangelist is not more spiritual than the pastor. We just have different callings, gifts, and purposes as it pertains to the church. The evangelist needs the pastor and the pastor needs the evangelist. Even though my calling is to be an evangelist, the truth of the matter is, without my pastor and my pastor friends counseling, advising, and fellowshipping with me on a regular basis, there is no way I would be where I am in my ministry. I thank God for my pastor friends. When there is a family crisis, nobody can outdo a great pastor as far as ministering to that situation. On the other hand, when it comes to taking more territory for God's kingdom through evangelism, and the spiritual warfare involved in doing that,
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no one can do it better than a godly evangelist. So, we need one another in the body of Christ, and we need to get back to recognizing that. We are not enemies, we are brothers serving the same Lord and King. It is my prayer that this series will inspire all of God's people to pray daily and throughout each day so that you can receive the benefits and blessings of a prayerful life. This series was put together to inspire action on your part. It is designed to motivate you to pray based upon the Word of God by faith in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I can just encourage you to pray in faith believing, I believe all sorts of wonderful things will begin to happen to you, in you, and for you, your family, and whatever God has called you to do. The simple purpose of this series is to encourage and motivate you to get off the ball regarding prayer, and take the little faith you may have and Just Pray to the God of the Bible in the name of Jesus Christ! The Praying Through the Bible Series is designed to help you get over spiritual inertia, your sinful flesh, the devil and his demons, doubt and unbelief, your busy life and the world, so that you can hit “pray dirt” and God will do the rest. Just open your mouth and start praying to the God of the Bible. JUST PRAY! and watch God do things beyond your wildest imaginations. —Daniel Whyte III Dallas, Texas
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1 A Warning Against Insincere Prayers (Part 1) TEXT: Jeremiah 42:1-7 1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, 2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) 3 That the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do. 4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you. 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.
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6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God. 7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah. Has someone ever asked you for something, and even though they said all the right words and had the right expression on their face, you detected insincerity in their request? Unfortunately, we can offer insincere prayers to God as well. Our prayers can sometimes lack transparency. To put it bluntly, we can try to fool God with our prayers forgetting that He already knows our hearts before we even open our mouths. We see an example of insincerity in prayer in the passage above. As you know, the Babylonians conquered the nation of Judah and took many of the inhabitants of that land in chains to Babylon. Only a small remnant was left behind under the leadership of a governor appointed by the king of Babylon. After the Babylonians left Judah, this governor was assassinated by a Jewish army officer. Shortly thereafter, another army officer named Johanan deposed the murderer and was appointed the leader of the Jewish remnant. Johanan intended to lead the remnant out of the desolate land of Judah down to Egypt to escape any further Babylonian wrath. Our passage tells us that he and the other leaders of the remnant go to Jeremiah and ask him to pray to God for them in order to get God’s perspective on what they should do. However, we quickly find out that something is not quite
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right about this prayer request.
We have a case of false humility and insincerity. Verse 2 tells us that Johanon “said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) That the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.” On the surface, it sounds like the Israelites are on the right track. It appears as though they have humbled themselves and are willing to listen to God and God’s prophet on this matter. The land of Judah had been ravaged by war, and to escape the uncertain future of their own homeland, they are planning to go down to Egypt. But, they come to Jeremiah seeking the Lord’s advice first. However, as we will see from later verses, their actions and words are only a show of piousness and humility. Notice what Johanon tells Jeremiah. He says, ‘Go and pray to YOUR God so YOUR God will tell us which way to go.’ His words communicate a sense of distance from God. The people do not claim God as their own. They do not call Him their Lord. They are not truly ready to submit to Him. Notice, now, how Jeremiah responds. He says, “I will pray to the Lord YOUR God according to YOUR request, and whatever the Lord answers YOU I will tell you...” Jeremiah wants the people to understand that if they are truly seeking 21
God’s direction, they must be willing to respond in submission to the Lord. He refuses to be a middle man between them and God, and even though he is going to go to God in prayer for them, God’s answer will be one that they have to respond to. How many of us are good at carrying ourselves in a manner that makes us appear humble? We know how to act as though we are in tune with God when in reality we are distant from Him. Part of real humility is truly desiring what God wants and being willing to give up what we want. Andrew Murray said, “God often cannot hear the prayers on our lips because the desires of our heart after the world cry out to Him much more strongly and loudly than our desires for Him.” What does God hear when you pray to Him? When we look at Johanon’s words, it seems as though the children of Israel are taking a positive step toward true humility after all that they had been through. But Jeremiah detects the insincerity of their request. They are not as close to God as they try to appear. Their words do not line up with what is in their hearts. When we pray, we must choose to humble ourselves, let go of what we want, and be open to what God wants. We must refuse the temptation to couch our prayers in spiritual terms that we think are pleasing to God. We cannot want God to say “yes” to us alone; we must be humble enough to be willing to say “yes” to Him.
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2 A Warning Against Insincere Prayers (Part 2) TEXT: Jeremiah 42:1-7 We saw from the insincere prayer of Johanan and the people of Israel that the children of Israel were not truly humble before God. They were still determined to have their own way. They were only pretending to want God’s direction for their situation, and if God’s answer to their prayer did not line up with what they wanted to do, they had already decided that they were going to ignore what God said. How many of us are like that when we pray? We only want God to hear us and give us what we want, but we don’t truly care for what God wants? And, I can tell you that what God wants for us is far better than what we could ever want for ourselves. In fact, we sometimes desire things that are not good for us at all — and God has to say “no” for our own good. As C.S. Lewis said, “If an infinitely wise Being listens to the requests of finite and foolish creatures, of course He will sometimes grant and sometimes refuse them.”
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It is best, then, to be sincere in our prayers from the start and to truly humble ourselves before God, seeking His will and not our own.
In the sad case of Johanon and the remnant of Israel, we have a case of determined willfulness. Now, Johanon and his people already had their minds made up that they were going to go down to Egypt. But in verse 5, they said to Jeremiah, “The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.” We will see that these are simply pious words from people who still have sinful hearts. The children of Israel do not really desire the Lord’s guidance on this matter. In fact, they already know what God is going to say about it because God’s prophets, including Jeremiah, had warned Israel and Judah against turning to Egypt for help numerous times. What they are really doing here is asking God to condone what they have already planned to do. Warren Wiersbe said, “Sometimes God’s people take this false approach in discerning the will of God. Instead of honestly seeking God’s will, they go from counselor to counselor, asking for advice and hoping they’ll find somebody who will agree with their hidden agenda.” Have you ever done this in your prayer life? Have you ever gone to God in prayer but you really have no intention on listening to God because you have already made up your
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mind about what you are going to do? We lie when we go to our prayer closets and say, ‘Thy will be done’, knowing all the while that it is OUR will that we are going to pursue. Our prayers simply become attempts to find a scriptural way to disobey God. We want God to rubber-stamp our action that may not be His will. As the events which followed will show, Johanon’s words sounded good, but the hearts of the children of Israel were in the wrong place. They wanted to follow their fleshly desires instead of following the spirit of God. The flesh can be extremely religious. It loves to sing in the choir, to usher, even to preach and to pray — as long as it can have an evil heart of pride and willfulness — as long as it can do what it wants to do. That is what the Jews were doing. Despite their pious words to Jeremiah, they were determined to have their own way. In other words, the Jews were asking, but they were asking “amiss.” The Bible says in James 4:2, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” The word “amiss” means “improperly or wrongly.” It is not enough to ask, but we must ask with the right motives, with a sincere heart, and with a humble attitude. The children of Israel were insincere in their prayer request because they lacked true humility and they were not willing to follow the will of God.
We have a case of final disobedience. The Bible says in verse 7, “And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah.” God responds to Jeremiah’s prayer request after a period of ten days. Why did God wait so long to answer? The Bible 25
doesn’t tell us. Perhaps God was giving the Jews a chance to get their hearts right with Him and to come to Him in honesty and sincerity. But, they don’t take that chance. Listen to God’s response to their prayer request: “If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land. But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God, Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.” In His answer, God expresses His knowledge of their hearts. He knew that they were thinking that if they could get down to Egypt, they would not have anymore trouble. They would not suffer through famine or war. In Egypt, they could rebuild their lives that had been destroyed by their own sin and the punishment that God had sent through the Babylonians. However, God warns His people against going down to Egypt. He tells them that if they put their trust in Egypt instead of in Him, all of the calamities that they are trying
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to escape in Judah will happen to them in Egypt instead. However, if they trust God and remain in the land, God will bless them and provide for all of their needs. If Johanon and the Jews were truly sincere in their prayer request, now would have been the time to show it by submitting to God’s will and remaining in the land of Judah. But, the people did not listen to God. They wanted to do things their way. Ray Stedman said, “What were they running from down to Egypt? The sword, famine, and pestilence. What did God say they would find when they got to Egypt? The sword, famine, and pestilence. You see, you cannot run away from God. You bring your troubles with you. You cannot run to some other place and escape. Some change of scenery is not going to relieve you, because the problem is within.” Despite the chastisement that they had experienced, the Jews were not ready to humble themselves and submit to the will of God. If we turn over to the next chapter, Jeremiah 43, we will see that after Jeremiah delivered God’s response, Johanon and the other leaders of the people accused Jeremiah of lying to them about what God had said. They refused to listen to God and went down to Egypt anyway, forcing Jeremiah to go with them. Sadly, the Bible reports, “So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to dwell in the land of Judah.” Sometimes, when we ask God to show us His will, we think we want to do it, but deep in our hearts we know that we may not do it at all if we don’t like what He tells us to do. When we pray, we must be truly humble in our hearts
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and be ready to obey God’s will so that our prayers will be sincere in God’s sight, and so that He will be inclined to hear us and answer us.
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3 Things to Remember When You are Experiencing the Chastisement of God (Part 1) TEXT: Lamentations 3 1 I Am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. 3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. 4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. 5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. 6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. 7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. 8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. Jeremiah, a prophet of God, predicted that God’s judgment would come down on the nation of Judah
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because of their continued sins. Jeremiah was faithful in his task of warning the people of Judah, but they didn’t listen, and God’s judgment came. After Jerusalem fell, Jeremiah composed a new series of messages, and that is what we are learning from today — the book of Lamentations. Whereas Jeremiah is a book of “warning,” Lamentations is a book of “mourning.” Lamentations shows us Jeremiah’s words after the punishment that God had promised finally came. One writer said after reading Lamentations that “One would think that every letter was written with a tear; every word, the sound of a breaking heart: that the author was full of sorrows; disciplined to grieve from his infancy; one who never breathed but in sighs, nor spoke but in a groan.” If you are a child of God, it is likely that you will find yourself in the same situation as the children of Israel at least once or twice in your life, for the Bible says, ‘whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, even as a son in whom his father delighteth.’ The question we want to address is: how should we pray when we are being chastised by God. We will be spending the next few weeks in Lamentations chapter 3 because this passage of mourning gives us 12 specific insights into how we should respond when we are being chastised by God. During chastisement, you may experience some of the feelings described by Jeremiah in this passage. Jeremiah says that he had seen affliction by the rod of God’s wrath. The children of Israel felt that God had surely turned against them. When they cried and shouted, they felt like God was shutting out their prayers. Have you ever been
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there? They felt like God had placed a bull’s eye on them and they were being made target practice for the arrows of divine judgement. Jeremiah metaphorically describes God as a lion and a bear lying in wait to pounce on His people. Today, we would say that it seems like someone just has it out for us. Have you ever experienced these feelings toward God? Have you ever been on the receiving end of divine wrath? Perhaps you are experiencing it right now. If so, allow me to show you from this passage how to respond. If not, still listen closely, because you might need this advice one day in the future.
Pray with the understanding that God is still in control. Notice the use of the pronoun “he” in this passage. Jeremiah says, “He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.” Thirty times in this passage, Jeremiah uses the pronoun “he” in the active tense. Who is this “he” referring to? It refers to God himself. John Calvin notes that Jeremiah “does not mention the name of God in this passage, but speaks of him as of one well known... At the very beginning, he acknowledges that whatever he suffered had been inflicted by God’s hand.” God is the one who carries out the punishment of the children of Israel. When you are being chastised by God, it may feel like God does not want to have anything to do with you, it may 31
feel like God has abandoned you, it may feel like God has turned his back on you. When you pray, it may feel like your words are not getting past the ceiling. But, please understand that God is still in control. Just as you give Him the credit and glory for the blessings you receive, keep in mind that your chastisement also comes from Him. It is good to know that God is still in charge during these times. God does not change. God is still faithful. As the song says, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.� Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
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You may be in your predicament because you were not faithful to God, but God is always, always, always faithful to us. You do not have to feel like everything is out of control or that your enemies have been given the advantage over you. Just as He did with the children of Israel for 70 years, God may just be using them to chastise you. God is still on His throne, and He knows what He is doing. He still has all power in His hands.
Remember that, in God, you have strength and hope. In the midst of this period of chastisement, Jeremiah says, “My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance.” When you are being chastised by God, it is easy to forget the times of blessing and prosperity. In fact, in verse 17, Jeremiah says, “I forgat prosperity.” At these times, we tend to focus on the pain and misery that we are going through. We don’t think about the times when we were walking in the favor of God and were the recipients of His mercy and grace. But, if we remember our past experiences with God, we will realize that everything is not as dark as it seems. In Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian and his companion Hopeful disobeyed the commands to stay on the straight and narrow path and decided to walk in the fields of the Giant Despair. As a result, Giant Despair captured them both and threw them into his dungeon at Doubting Castle. 33
For many days, Christian and Hopeful languished in captivity. But Paul Bunyan writes that one day Memory came to Christian while he was in prison and spoke to him and told him how to get free. The same Memory that tormented him with the recollection of his foolish ways also gave him hope as he remembered how much better life had been when he was walking on the straight and narrow path to the Celestial City. Christian and Hopeful receive joy, courage, and strength from Memory and were soon delivered from Doubting Castle and Giant Despair. Charles Spurgeon said, “If we would exercise our memories a little more, we might, in our very deepest and darkest distress, strike a match which would instantaneously kindle the lamp of comfort. There is no need for God to create a new thing, in order to restore Believers to joy. If they would prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light for the present.” When you are suffering the chastisement of God, first remember that God is still in control; and, second, remember all that He has done for you in the past and gain strength and hope from memory.
Realize that if you are still alive, God is showing you mercy. In verse 22, Jeremiah says, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” The truth is, if we were to receive the real amount of justice that is due us for our sins, you and I would be dead right now because the Bible says, “the wages of sin is
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death.” Even the slightest infraction against God’s holiness demands death as punishment. But, God in His mercy and grace — as Jeremiah says, because of His “compassion” — does not destroy us. He is not eager that any should perish. He instead chooses to chastise us in hopes that we would correct our ways and turn back to Him. If you are alive, no matter how painful the chastisement may be, you have something to be thankful for. You have something to be glad about. Verse 39 says, “Wherefore doth a living man complain for the punishment of his sins?” Albert Barnes writes, “Instead of complaining because God sends him sorrow, let a man rather mourn over the sins which have made punishment necessary.” If you are being chastised by God, at least you know that God loves you enough to try to keep you back from doing evil which will only bring further pain to your own life. Sometimes, we experience pain in our relationship with God because we are trying to go the wrong way, while God is trying to steer us in the right direction. If you are driving down the road and you come to a railroad crossing and the red and white barrier is down, you need to stop if you want to be safe. If you try to drive through that barrier, you risk getting hit by a train. Often, the reason why we experience God’s chastisement is because we are trying to drive through God’s red and white barriers when He is telling us to stop. Hebrews 12:11 says, “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward
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it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” God’s chastisement means that He is giving you another chance to get things right. The discomfort, the uneasiness, the distance you feel from God should serve as motivating factors that will encourage you to get right with God. Don’t be discouraged by the chastisement you experience from God. Don’t let these experiences cause you to stop praying. God is still in control. God is still the source of your hope and strength. And because you are alive, you know that God is still showing you mercy.
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4 Things to Remember When You are Experiencing the Chastisement of God (Part 2) TEXT: Lamentations 3 We should determine to remember the experience of chastisement. Verse 19 says, “Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.” One of the key things that God told the children of Israel to do throughout their history is to be sure to remember Him and His commandments. As long as they remembered God and the law of God, they would be obedient, and God would bless them. However, if they forgot the commandments of God and turned from following God, God would give them something else to learn from and remember. That “something else” is God’s chastisement. Perhaps someone has told you before that you can learn things in life the easy way or the hard way. Maybe you have heard someone say that they graduated from the school of hard knocks. In many cases, what they mean is 37
that they had to go through some pain, some difficulty, and even some chastisement from God in order to get to where they are today. Too often, when we are delivered from God’s chastening hand, we are so glad that it is over that we forget the lessons that we were supposed to learn. Our passage says that we should remember our affliction and misery. Why? Not to cause ourselves to be depressed and downcast over it, but as a reminder of the consequences of disobedience. If we remember the experience of chastisement, we are less likely to commit the same sin again.
We should get humble and stay humble. Jeremiah shows us that the experience of chastisement should lead us to humble ourselves before God. Verse 20 says, “My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.” The word “humbled” means to bow down as one would before a king. People who bow up in pride — like Pharaoh did against God — will keep on getting what they have been getting and worse. The wise Christian who has sinned will be quick to humble himself, acknowledge his failure, and submit to God’s chastisement. James 4:6 says, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” If God sees that you are not choosing to humble yourself, if you grit your teeth against God’s chastisement instead of submitting to it, the chastisement will only get worse. God is not limited by time or resources. He does not have 38
to hurry up and deal with you so He can move on to someone else. If you don’t get the message in short order, God will keep His hand of chastisement on your life for as long as is necessary until you humble yourself down and submit to Him. Just ask the children of Israel. God took them from their homeland and sentenced them to 70 years of exile in foreign lands under the rule of heathen kings. It would have been better for them if they had humbled themselves at the warning of God’s prophet Jeremiah, and it is better for us if we get humble and stay humble. So, first, we choose to remember the experience of chastisement from God, and, second, we choose to humble ourselves under the chastisement of God.
We should never stop trusting God throughout the period of chastisement. Verse 23 says, “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.” In the midst of their desperate circumstances, Jeremiah writes that the children of Israel are to continue to put their faith, trust, and hope in God. We must remember that every good thing comes from God. He is our portion and the source of all our blessings. We must not make the mistake of turning away from God in the midst of chastisement. Right after the chastisement, God may have blessings in store for us if we show that we have learned the lesson He wants us to learn. Imagine if Job, who experienced extreme affliction (not as punishment, but extreme affliction, nonetheless), had turned his back on God; and had done as his wife told him to do — to curse God and die. He would have missed 39
out on all of the blessings that God had in store for him — having money, livestock, material possessions, wealth, and children restored to him in greater measure than he had before. If we want blessings and good things in life, we must get them from the Source of all that is good. Don’t try to get around God and get blessings from another source. Don’t turn your trust away from God. Keep trusting in Him. Keep hoping in Him. God often has a way of bring us through dark and barren places in order to get us to places of light and blessing.
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5 Things to Remember When You are Experiencing the Chastisement of God (Part 3) TEXT: Lamentations 3 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever: 32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. 33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
We must remember that it is good to sometimes experience silence. Verse 26 says, “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.� Peace and quiet is perhaps one of the most underrated qualities of our day and time. Everywhere we go, there is noise, there is action, there is movement. People are talking on cell
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phones, watching TV, listening to music, texting someone, or going somewhere. Very few people realize the value of peace and quiet, and probably fewer take the time to just sit in silence. The Bible, however, has much to say about silence. In Scripture, we read of men such as David who went into the Tabernacle and just sat in silence before God. We read of Job, who was tormented by grief and misery, and he cried out for answers, and all he got for a long time was silence from God. We read also of the Israelites who returned from exile, and faced four hundred years of silence from Heaven — no divine revelation, prophetic word, just silence. Sometimes, when we are being chastised by God, we will experience His silence as well. In this very passage, Lamentations 3, Jeremiah says to God, “Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.” He says, “When I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.” Has it ever occurred to you that God may be putting us through a period of silence as a means of teaching us the lessons that He wants us to learn. In Fast Company magazine, chess master and mentor, Bruce Pandolfini, described how he worked with his students. He said, “My lessons consist of a lot of silence….I let my students think. If I do ask a question and I don’t get the right answer, I’ll rephrase the question – and wait. I never give the answer. Most of us really don’t appreciate the power of silence. Some of the most effective
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communication – between student and teacher, between master players – takes place during silent periods.” When we sit in silence before God, we have an opportunity to ponder our lives and our actions, to meditate on God’s Word, and to make inner changes that will bring about God’s blessings in the future.
We must remember that it is good to suffer now in order to prosper later. Verse 27 says, “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” In the Bible, the yoke is a symbol of heavy burdens. In Jeremiah 28:2, the prophet refers to the “yoke of the king of Babylon” which God would place on His people as punishment for their idolatry. This verse in Lamentations 3 tells us that it is good for a man to bear the yoke — to bear the heavy burden of chastisement — in his youth. Why? Because when a person is young, they are pliable, they are moldable, they are able to learn, adapt, and change their ways. It is better that we learn from our mistakes while we are young so that we will not make those same mistakes when we are older. When we are young in our natural life or young in our walk with the Lord, it is much easier to respond to God’s chastisement and correct our ways so that we will not have to undergo that chastisement in the future. Instead of feeling like God’s chastisement is the end of the road for us, we should choose to see it as a means by which God is preparing us, molding us, and shaping us for success in the future. Just as parents aim to teach 43
their children while they are young in order for them to have a smooth and productive adulthood, God wants us to learn from the chastisement we experience as babes in Christ so that we can be productive members of the body of Christ in the future.
We must remember that it is God’s will to restore us to fellowship with Him. Verses 31-33 read, “For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” Many people, when they are in the heat of chastisement from God, throw up their hands and begin to think and act as though all is lost, as though God is through with them, when that is not the case at all. The Bible tells us that God is “slow” to chastise His children because He is longsuffering and merciful. Even though His chastisement causes us pain, His ultimate goal is to draw us back to Him. Author and apologist, Lee Strobel, said, “God can use our suffering to draw us to Himself, to mold and sharpen our character, to influence others for Him – He can draw something good from our pain in a myriad of ways if we trust and follow Him.” When you are being chastised by God, don’t allow the devil to discourage you to the point where you stop believing that God loves you, that He cares about you, that He is merciful, and that He wants to restore your fellowship with Him. God’s chastises us in order that we may see the error of our ways and realize that His way is the best way. 44
6 Things to Remember When You are Experiencing the Chastisement of God (Part 4) TEXT: Lamentations 3 40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. 41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. 42 We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. 55 I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. 56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. 57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
We should search and try our ways. In verse 40, Jeremiah says to the children of Israel, “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.� In other words, let us look at and examine our ways. As the
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Apostle Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” The words “search and “try” bear the meaning of carrying out an investigation or searching for the truth. Charles J. Ellicott said, “Suffering calls a man to selfscrutiny.” Why does God want us to examine ourselves when we are being chastised by Him? One reason why is because God wants us to begin to see ourselves and our sins as He sees them. We as human beings have a tendency to sugarcoat that which is wrong or sinful in our lives. We say to ourselves that what we have done “is not that bad” or “is not as bad” as what someone else has done. But, when we begin to see our sins — even the “smallest” of them — as an offense against God, we begin to see things from God’s perspective. It is easy to try to place the focus on others when we are being chastised by God — especially if God is chastising an entire community or country as He was in the case of the children of Israel. Joseph Benson said, “We are apt, in times of public calamity, to reflect upon other people’s ways, and lay blame upon them, whereas our business is to search and try our own ways: we have work enough to do at home; we must each of us say, What have I done? What have I contributed to the public distress?” Instead of pointing the finger at others or trying to shift blame, we ought to place the microscope on our lives and see what we have done that is displeasing to God. Searching and trying our ways also forces us to see ourselves as God sees us — as depraved and ungodly sinners deserving of His righteous judgment. We do not
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like to think of ourselves in Biblical terms — as people whose hearts are “deceitful and desperately wicked” so much so that “our righteousnesses (our good works) are as filthy rags” in God’s sight. In order to truly benefit from the experience of chastisement, we must come to an understanding and acceptance of our sin and the fact that we deserve the chastisement, and we can only do that if we choose to search and try ourselves.
We should admit our faults and failures to God. Verses 41-42 of this passage read, “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.” The imagery of verse 41 is very unique. Almost all of the commentaries agree that this verse is depicting a prayer made in complete and utter sincerity — our hands, or our outward expression, lifting up our hearts and reflecting honest supplication with God. In prayer, we must admit our faults to God in order to begin the healing and restoration of our fellowship with Him, just as we have to go to someone whom we have offended and apologize if we want to repair and continue our relationship with them. Bruce Lee said, “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” We do ourselves no favors by refusing to admit our sins and failures. Worst of all, we will never experience the forgiveness of our sins, for as the Bible says, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confession and admittance comes before forgiveness.
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We will never truly learn from our faults and failures unless we face up to them and admit to God and to ourselves that that is what they are. John Maxwell said, “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” The order of this passage shows us that if we truly search and try ourselves, we will realize where we have gone wrong, and we will then be equipped to admit our failure and ask for God’s forgiveness from an honest heart.
We should pray to God and praise His name. Verse 56 reads, “I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.” As this passage draws to a close, Jeremiah returns to one of the themes with which he began. He started out by lamenting the fact that God was not hearing his prayers or the prayers of the children of Israel. Because of their sins, they began to feel as though God had cut them off during their time of chastisement. Now, however, they turn back to God in prayer and praise. Even though they are still being chastised by God, they are able to see the situation from a new perspective. They are not angry over what has happened to them. They are not depressed and downcast. They have realized instead that God’s chastisement is the just reward for their sinfulness. Getting to this point is a huge step to restoring broken fellowship with God. Matthew Henry said, “Prayer is the breath of the new man, drawing in the air of mercy in petitions, and returning it in praises.” We can begin to 48
praise God in the midst of chastisement for His love, His mercy, His chastisement, and for the fact that He still considers us His children and has not forgotten about us. Notice God’s response to prayer now. Verse 57 says, “Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee.� Because they have admitted their sins before God and have chosen to turn back to Him, God draws near to them once again. He hears their cries for forgiveness and He listens to their prayer. When we sin, we should be quick to get things right with God, even if He chooses to chastise us, so that our fellowship with Him will not remain broken and so that we can get on praying ground, stay on praying ground, and be in a position for God to answer our prayers.
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7 Will You Be Found Praying? TEXT: Daniel 6:1-11 1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; 2 And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. 3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. 4 Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. 5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. 6 Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever. 7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, 51
and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. 9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree. 10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. 11 Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. You and I are very familiar with the story of Daniel in the lions’ den. Daniel was taken from his homeland as a captive to the land of Babylon. He was trained by Babylonian teachers, and early on, he exhibited a desire to trust God, obey God, and be faithful to God even in a foreign land. Because of his dedication to God, he is one of the most well-known heroes of the Old Testament. Daniel was also a dedicated prayer warrior. John Piper said Daniel lived “a life of daring, defiant, disciplined prayer. Daniel was more immersed in secular life than most of us and he lived by prayer. What God thought and what God did mattered most. So Daniel lived by consulting God and by asking God to act.�
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Let’s look at an example of Daniel’s prayer-filled lifestyle — a time in his life when he was “found praying.” Based on this passage, I want to ask you three questions that will challenge you to be faithful in prayer just as Daniel was.
Will you be found praying in times of abundant blessings? Our passage states, “It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.” Darius was the king of the Persian empire. His kingdom was so vast — it stretched from India to the Mediterranean — that he had to set up 120 governors to rule different provinces. And over those governors, he set up three presidents who reported directly to him. Daniel was chosen as one of the three presidents, and the Bible tells us that he was “the first” among the three. The Bible goes on to tell us that “Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.” Things were going quite well for Daniel. The king of Persia thought very highly of him. Daniel found favor in the sight of this heathen king so much so that Darius was thinking of making Daniel a ruler over the whole empire. No doubt, Daniel had a great salary, lived in a fine house, dressed in the best clothes, ate what he wanted to eat, and could have married any woman he wanted to marry (although there is no record of him ever marrying). Daniel was living 53
the blessed life. He had everything he could ever need or want. This passage informs us that in the midst of all of his blessings, Daniel was faithful in prayer. Verse 10 says, “he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” Much of his prayer time was likely given over to him praising God for the blessings that he had received. Spurgeon said, “Prayer and praise should always go up to heaven arm in arm, like twin angels walking up Jacob’s ladder, or like kindred aspirations soaring up to the Most High.” The question for you and I today is, Will we be found praying in times of great blessing? Praying often seems hardest to do when we have everything we could even wish for or desire. If we see prayer as simply a way to ask God for the things that we want, then we will have nothing to say to Him when we actually have everything that we want. We ought to treat prayer as we treat talking to a good friend. We don’t just talk to them in order to get something from them, but because we have a relationship with them, we enjoy their company, and we feel enriched just by being in their presence. It should be the same way with God. We should enjoy talking to Him and being in His presence. Don’t let your blessings get in the way of your communication with the Blessor. Be faithful in praying in times of great blessing.
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Will you be found praying in times of adversity? This passage tells us that the other two presidents of the Persian empire and some other leaders in the kingdom were jealous of Daniel and his favor with the king. So, they got together in order to come up with a way to get Daniel in trouble. And the only thing that they could devise was an attack on Daniel’s faithfulness in prayer. These jealous leaders go to the king and say, “All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.” This plan appears to be failsafe. These jealous men are so assured of Daniel’s faithfulness in prayer and dedication to his God that they know he will not take heed to this decree. They know that they will find him praying just as he always does. Verse 10 says, “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed.” Just as he had prayed regularly when the blessings were abundant, he prayed regularly when he was met with adversity in the form of jealousy from others. Daniel could have kept on praying to God without putting himself at risk. He could have gone underground for thirty days. He 55
could have closed the windows when he prayed for thirty days. He could have altered his prayer times so that he prayed when he was sure no one would see him. But he did not. He was faithful in regular prayer to God. The question for you and I today is, Will we be found praying in times of adversity? Will we allow issues in our lives to drive out our prayer time with God. I can tell you that the only way you will be able to get through many of the difficult periods of life is by having a dedicated time of communication between you and God. When pastor and professor Arthur Paul Boers was in college, his 17-year-old sister (and only sibling) died of leukemia. Boers was devastated. He said, “This was particularly frightening — I found myself unable to pray and wondered whether I was losing my faith. At times I had nothing to say to God or did not know how to voice my prayers. Then a friend showed me a prayer book, which gave me words to pray. It helped me voice laments and encouraged me to put my situation in a wider context. Slowly I learned to pray again.” Today, Arthur Boers encourages others who feel cut off from God during depression or hard times. He says that he recommends that they try fixed-hour prayer because it is based on the “’fixed language’ of Scripture,” through which God has spoken for years and continues to speak. He has published his own book titled, The Rhythm of God’s Grace: Uncovering Morning and Evening Hours of Prayer. Don’t let adversity and difficulty keep you from praying. Have an appointment with God like Daniel did and keep it.
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I ask you today: Will you be found praying in times of blessing? Will you be found praying in times of adversity?
Will you be found praying when it seems like you are abandoned and alone? Daniel was not only faithful in times of abundance and in times of adversity, but Daniel was faithful in praying in times when it seemed like he was alone. When Daniel’s enemies found him praying, they immediately ran to the king to report that Daniel had broken the law. The Bible tells us that the king who loved Daniel “was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.” But the king could not think of a way to keep Daniel from being thrown into the lions’ den because, according to the laws of the Persian empire, when a king signed a decree, he could not reverse it or retract it. Daniel 6:16 says, “Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions.” There’s Daniel — his colleagues have betrayed him, the king had no choice but to abandon him, and God has not intervened in this situation. It looks like Daniel is all alone, and he is locked in a den with a bunch of hungry lions. What do you think Daniel did? Did he sulk and whine and give himself up to despair? We might say that he had every right to considering how faithful he had been to God. But he did not. The Bible does not tell us what Daniel did when he was thrown into the lions’ den. But, I think it is pretty safe to say that Daniel spent some time praying to 57
God. Yes, even though Daniel may have felt all alone in the world (as though God, the king, and everyone he knew had forsaken him), I believe that when God looked down from Heaven, he found Daniel praying in that lion den. The question we must ask ourselves, today, is, Will we be found praying when it seems like we are alone? When God commands us to pray, He does not give us contingencies. He does not say, ‘Pray if you feel My presence.’ He does not say, ‘Pray if your last prayer was answered.’ He does not say, ‘Pray when you feel like praying.’ No, He tells us to pray regardless of whatever else is going on. Even if we feel as though our friends have betrayed us and others have abandoned us, we are still commanded to pray. Daniel continued in prayer even though he knew he could be thrown into the lions’ den. John Walvoord said. “This was not the act of a person courting martyrdom but the continuation of a faithful ministry in prayer which had characterized his long life.” Daniel saw his daily prayer time with God as more valuable than his own life. Not praying to God was a worse prospect to him than being eaten by lions. So, when he was all alone in the darkness of a pit, he continued in his habit of prayer. Daniel’s story shows us that God rewards faithful, consistent prayer to Him. You know how Daniel’s story ends. Because of Daniel’s faithfulness, God delivered Him from the lions’ den. When the king came to check on Daniel the next morning, Daniel said, “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and
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also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.” The Bible says, “So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.” Do you believe God enough to be found praying in times of abundance? Do you believe God enough to be found praying in times of adversity? Do you believe God enough to be found praying when you feel like you are abandoned and alone? The question for us today is, no matter the circumstances, will we be found praying?
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8 Standing in the Gap (Part 1) TEXT: Daniel 9:1-8 1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; 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. 3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: 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; 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: 6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto
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us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. 8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. A few months ago, I had the privilege of driving with my family from Texas to Virginia for the graduation of my oldest daughter at Liberty University. As we traveled there, we had to drive across numerous bridges over bodies of water — some big bridges, some small bridges — but we had to cross the bridges in order to get to our destination. The purpose of a bridge is to close a gap between one point and another. If you have ever crossed a bridge before, then you already know what it means to “stand in the gap,” you already know what it means to be an intercessor. You see, a bridge is used to get people from where they are to where they want to be or ought to be. The bridge closes the gap between where you are now and where you need to be. In a spiritual sense, that is the job of an intercessor. An intercessor stands in the gap for those who are separated from God either because of their sins or because of the fact that they do not know God. Through prayer, an intercessor brings the lives, the needs, and the desires of people to God. An intercessor provide a direct link to God for those who are unable or unwilling to stand on their own. In this passage, we see Daniel as an intercessor for his
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people, Israel. Daniel, along with his people, is in exile in Babylon. It has been almost 70 years since the exile begun and Daniel is moved to prayer after he reads Jeremiah’s prophecies which indicate that the exile is nearing its end. Even though Daniel was a righteous man himself and had a good relationship with God, he takes it upon himself to stand in the gap and to bridge the space between God and his people as he lifts up his nation in prayer. I want us to notice three things about Daniel’s prayer because now, more than ever, our nation is in need of intercessors — people of God — who will stand in the gap like Daniel did and lift up our people in prayer.
Daniel took time to prepare to pray. Verse 3 reads, “I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” Before he interceded for his people, Daniel went through a process of spiritual preparation. He fasted, mourned, put on sackcloth (a sign of mourning), and read and studied God’s Word. How often do we rush into prayer without any preparation? We are hurrying to go here and there or do this and that, and we pray with no thought and no preparation of the heart. This doesn’t happen with Daniel. He prepares himself to enter the presence of God in prayer. His preparation shows his reverence for prayer and his respect for his relationship with God. He has a deep understanding of what he is about to do and he does not take his task lightly.
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You would not go into a job interview unprepared. You would not go on a date unprepared. You would not go to take a test unprepared. How much more appropriate is it that we make sure we are prepared before we attempt to speak to the God of the universe. John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress wrote, “To make thy preparation [for prayer] complete, consider that thou art but dust and ashes, and he the great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that clothes himself with light as with a garment; that thou art a vile sinner, he a holy God; that thou art but a poor crawling worm, he the omnipotent Creator.” That is what Daniel does in this passage. He prepared his heart by studying the Word of God and by observing his people so that he can pray for them intelligently. We must prepare our hearts for intercession in the same way – with the Word of God which tells us how to pray and by spending time observing the people for whom we will pray for so that we will know what to pray. If we are going to be effective intercessors, we must take time to prepare to pray.
Daniel kept in mind God’s awesomeness and faithfulness. Verse 4 shows us that Daniel begins his prayer by focusing on the majesty and sovereignty of God. He says, “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.” Daniel draws near to God but is mindful of whose presence he is entering. He calls God,
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“the great and dreadful God.” Daniel shows respect, reverence, and fear. As someone once said, “Although prayer speaks of intimacy with God it does not, nor should it ever, speak of familiarity with God.” Daniel also did not forget God’s faithfulness to him or to his people. In verse 4, Daniel says that God has ‘kept the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments...’ Because he and his countrymen were in exile in a foreign land, it would have been easy for Daniel to express dissatisfaction with God. Some of the exiled Jews were probably angry at God for taking them out of the Promised Land and making them subservient to a heathen nation. Yet, Daniel reminds himself that God kept his end of the deal with Israel — He was faithful to the children of Israel. He was faithful in blessing them when they were obedient, and He was faithful in keeping His promise to punish them when they persisted in disobedience. As we do the work of intercession for our nation, we must remember that we cannot blame God for the problems we face. We brought our problems on ourselves. God is faithful and righteous, and He gives out blessing and judgment fairly. Some people may choose to turn their backs on God when God stops blessing them. An intercessor, however, though he or she is praying for the people, must pray with the understanding that God is righteous and faithful and that He never fails to do right by His creation.
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Oswald Chambers said, “People describe intercession by saying, ‘It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.’ That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.” So, first, we must prepare to pray. And, second, we must keep in mind God’s faithfulness and righteousness as we pray.
Daniel openly confessed that his people had sinned. Verse 5 reads, “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments...” We live in a society where shifting the blame has become the norm. People do not want to take responsibility for their own actions. We like to place the blame on parents, teachers, spouses, the government, the church, or other people. No one wants to stand up and say, ‘I have sinned’, not even to God. But, as we read Daniel’s prayer, and as we study it over the next few weeks, we will see that Daniel is honest with God. He calls it as it was then, and is now. By reminding himself of the righteousness of God, Daniel brings the conviction of sin to bear on his life and on the life of the people. He does not make excuses or try to pass the blame. In verses 5- he says,: “We have sinned... Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.” 66
Daniel says, “WE have sinned.” Daniel was not sinless, but he was a faithful man of God. Yet, he humbly identifies himself with his people. And then he gives an allencompassing definition of what their sin is. Their sins are against God and each other. Not only did they not listen to God, but they did not listen to the prophets, kings, and elders who God sent to teach them and warn them. In the words of Judges 17:6, the people ‘did what seemed right in their own eyes.’ These first few verses of Daniel’s prayer draw a sharp contrast between God and the people: God is righteous. The people are unrighteous. God is faithful. The people are unfaithful. God is awesome. And the people are humbled. These verses acknowledge that God is right and just in what He has done to His people because of their sin. As we pray for our churches, our communities, our families, and our nation, we would be wise to take the same approach as Daniel did. We must first prepare our hearts by fasting, studying God’s Word, and observing the condition of those for whom we pray. Then, we should keep in mind that God is awesome, faithful, and righteous and we should approach Him as such. Then we can move into a period of open, honest confession, identifying ourselves with the people, and admitting our sinfulness before God. Today, our society which has turned far away from God needs people who will stand in the gap. The question is, are you willing to do what it takes to stand in the gap?
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9 Standing in the Gap (Part 2) TEXT: Daniel 9:1-8 We are continuing our look at the prayer that Daniel prayed for the nation of Israel as they were on the cusp of being delivered from their time of exile. Daniel chose to be an intercessor for his people. Many of them had probably lost faith in God and were discouraged about their present situation. Many of them probably thought that God had forgotten them and that they would remain scattered in foreign lands. However, because Daniel was close to God, he took it upon himself to bring his nation before God in prayer. He took it upon himself to stand in the gap for his people. Right now, we are going to zero in on verses two and three of our text and look at three key points that made Daniel’s prayer so powerful and that made Daniel a very effective intercessor for his people.
Daniel’s prayer was based on the Word of God. In verse two, Daniel says, “I understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came
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to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” Daniel’s basis for praying for the deliverance of his people was the “word of the Lord” that had been given to Jeremiah. Daniel was probably reading what we know today as Jeremiah 29:10-12, which says, “For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.” This passage provides the promise that is the basis of Daniel’s prayer — that the children of Israel would be delivered from captivity after seventy years. We also see that this passage prompts Daniel to begin praying. He is given a promise in verse twelve when God says, “Call upon me and I will hearken unto you.” How often do you or I actually start praying strictly based on a specific promise of God given in His word? Daniel and the children of Israel were in a seemingly hopeless situation. There was no humanly possible way for them to be removed from captivity in Persia and transported back to the land of their fathers. But Daniel did not look at the hopelessness of the situation. He based his prayer on God’s word. As we look at our country today, we may be tempted to shake our heads or throw up our hands in despair. We
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may be tempted to pine for Heaven while the world goes to Hell in a handbasket. But, if we look in God’s Word and claim the promises of God through prayer, we will have a much more positive outlook. And we will be inspired to intercede for our nation. Charles Spurgeon said, “Oh, that you studied your Bibles more! Oh, that we all did! How we could plead the promises! How often we should prevail with God when we could hold Him to his word. It is grand praying when our mouth is full of God’s word, for there is no word that can prevail with Him like His own.” If you want to stand in the gap and be an effective intercessor, make sure that you pray based on God’s Word like Daniel did.
Daniel prayed with great determination. The Bible says that he “set” his face unto the Lord God. This term shows that Daniel was serious about what he was doing. It implies determination in prayer. Matthew Henry writes that it “denotes the fixedness of his thoughts, the firmness of his faith, and the fervour of his devout affections.” Another commentator said, “Daniel had a goal to reach through prayer, and he approached God as a man who would not be denied.” So often, when we pray, we are just saying words with our mouths. Or we are praying but our thoughts are a thousand miles away. We are not serious about what we are doing, and we are not really intent on getting a hold of God. Daniel shows us how to be determined in prayer. He not only puts his mouth into his prayer, but he puts his heart, his mind, and his soul into it. 71
Daniel’s prayer was filled with urgency and fervency. Ten times in this passage he says something like “O Lord” or “O my God.” The word which appears as “O” in our English Bibles is actually an untranslatable term that represents a groan. Romans 8:26 says that sometimes the Spirit “maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Interceding for others requires serious, determined, fervent prayer. It may require shutting ourselves off from the world for a while in order to get a hold of God. We must be willing to do whatever it takes, because, for a successful intercessor, passionless praying will not do. If we are to stand in the gap and be effective intercessors like Daniel was, we must pray based on God’s Word and be determined in our prayers.
Daniel’s prayer was offered in humility. Daniel says, “I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” Remember, Daniel was a prominent leader in the Persian empire. Yet, when he goes before the Lord, he takes off his beautiful oriental robes and jewelry and dresses himself in sackcloth. Sackcloth, a material like rough burlap, which scholars tell us was made of black goat’s hair, was used in Bible times as a symbol of deep grief and mourning. But that is not all Daniel did. He spread ashes on his head which was a statement of guilt and deep repentance. When you’re covered with ashes, you feel dirty because ashes represent something that is burned or lost. Penitent 72
people often covered their entire body with filthy ashes. When you put on sackcloth and ashes, you aren’t comfortable and you aren’t pleasant to look at. This outward appearance was meant to be a reflection of inner pain and agony. Daniel says that he also fasted. Fasting is another act of humility that often accompanies prayer. You fast because you are so serious about prayer that you are willing to put off eating in order to get a hold of God. Dan Allender wrote, “Fasting from any nourishment, activity, involvement or pursuit — for any season — sets the stage for God to appear.” Fasting, sackcloth, and ashes are emblems of humiliation and mourning. Now, Daniel did not do any of this as a public display of spirituality but as a private expression of his sincerity and humility. He was not trying to be seen or heard by man, but by God. First Peter 5:5 commands us to “be clothed with humility: for God? resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” When we approach God on behalf of others, we must approach Him in humility because we desperately need His grace. Standing in the gap for our churches, our communities, our families, and our nation is serious business. It is a task ordained by God and necessary for man. The question is, are we willing to do it? Are we willing to do what it takes to be successful intercessors? Are we willing to stand in the gap? If so, we must do as Daniel did: pray based on the word of God, be determined in our prayers, and offer up our prayers in humility. 73
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10 Standing in the Gap (Part 3) TEXT: Daniel 9:1-8
Daniel, who had always been a faithful prayer warrior, now in his old age, intercedes for his people. He didn’t have to. He wasn’t required to. But, I believe God called him to the task and he obeyed. Let’s look at the three main parts of Daniel’s prayer.
First, we notice the complete and specific confession of sin. In verses 5 and 6 Daniel prays, “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.” Daniel admits that the nation of Israel had gotten what it deserved. He does not blame anyone else for their misery. 75
In verse 13, Daniel says, “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.” Even while the Israelites were suffering because of their sins, they did not turn to God in prayer and turn from their sins. How like many people today — disaster and trouble come at us on every side, and many refuse to turn to God. In the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln saw the same thing in the America of his day. In a National Day of Prayer proclamation in 1863, he wrote, “We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” Lincoln’s words remind us of the spirit of Daniel’s prayer — admitting our wrongdoing and acknowledging that God is in the right. We should spend time regularly confessing our sins to God. When we specifically confess our sins, we are not informing God about our sins, we are agreeing with God that the things that we have thought, done, and said are wrong. This is what Daniel does in his prayer for Israel.
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Second, we notice that Daniel is focused on God’s glory in his prayer. In verse 17 He prayed: “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.” Daniel offers his requests for “the Lord’s sake” or for God’s glory. In this prayer, Daniel makes reference to God 19 times, while making reference to man only 11 times. His prayer is God-focused and not manfocused. Daniel’s prayer was for the return and rebuilding of his nation. As far as we know, He died before these events occurred. He was not praying for himself, but for God’s glory. Daniel wanted God’s name to be lifted up as it once was during the days of David and Solomon when the glory of the Lord resided with His people and all the nations surrounding Israel knew that the Lord was with them. I have told my family and others that part of the reason I oppose the evil that is going on in our society — such as homosexuality — is because I have selfish motives. For example, I like being able to leave my house and not worry about someone trying to rob me while I am gone. I like living within a few minutes of four grocery stores that have an abundance of food. I like being able to operate in a free country without the government harassing me: I am able to start businesses, travel back and forth across this nation, send my children to any college I want to; write and distribute books and articles as the Lord leads me to, and a host of other benefits that I know will be curtailed or in jeopardy if this nation does not repent and turn back 77
to the Lord. Now, I am just being honest with you. I like the many benefits we have in this nation. However, the main reason why I ought to pray for our nation and you ought to pray for our nation is for God’s glory. We ought to desire that America become once again a shining city on a hill that gives light to all the world, not because of its wealth or military power or success, but because of its spiritual dedication to God and commitment to Biblical principles. Could it be that one of the reasons some of our prayers are ineffective is because we are not praying with God’s glory in mind? Not only should we confess our sins in prayer so that God will bless us, but we should repent of our sins so that we will be representatives of God’s glory in the earth.
Third, we notice that Daniel appeals to God’s righteousness and mercy. In verse 18, Daniel prays, “...for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.” Daniel did not try to give God any reasons why He should restore the nation of Israel. He knew that the Israelites had no “righteousness” to speak of. The Bible says in Isaiah 64:6: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” The little good that we do is still nothing for us to stand on in the presence of God. Knowing this, Daniel asks only 78
for God’s “great mercies.” That is what we must do for our nation. We hear a lot about financial bankruptcy in this nation, but it is moral and spiritual bankruptcy that we really need to be concerned about. We have nothing to offer God in terms of righteousness or goodness. Our only hope is to fall under God’s mercy and grace. Psalm 86:5 gives us this assurance: “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” God is ready to forgive and grant mercy to all those who call upon Him in prayer. Many people today may be discouraged in prayer, or they may not feel like praying because they don’t think God will hear and answer them as a result of their sins. But, as those who feel an urgency to stand in the gap for our families, churches, communities, and nation, we can cling to this promise — that God is ready to forgive and show mercy to us if we will only call on Him. If you watch any amount of TV, you will often hear the words, “call now.” If you want to get some product, you are urged to “call now.” If you want to take advantage of a free trial, what do they tell you to do? Call now. Sometimes they say, ‘this offer is not available in stores, so you have to call now.’ God is saying the same thing to us today — “call now.” If you want forgiveness, call now. If you want mercy, call now. If you want revival, call now. If you want My blessings to return to you, call now. This is not offered in the worlds store. Call now. If you need some help, call on me now. Dear friend, will you stand in the gap? Will you call on God right now? 79
11 Standing in the Gap (Part 4) TEXT: Daniel 9:9-13; 21-23 21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. 23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Let’s look at three things we must do as we seek to stand in the gap as intercessors.
We must pray with an understanding of who God is. In verse nine, Daniel prays: “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him...” We ought to appeal to God’s mercy when
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we intercede for others. The reason why Daniel did this for the children of Israel is because he had an understanding of the nature of God. Although God had allowed His people to be taken into captivity because of their sins, Daniel knew that that was not God’s original plan for them. Even though God had promised that they would suffer in captivity for 70 years, Daniel knew that that was not God’s original plan for them. God had very different plans for the children of Israel — plans that included numerous blessings and benefits — but because they persisted in their sin and idolatry, He could not bring those plans to pass. Not only do we need to confess the truth about our sins and the sins of those for whom we are interceding, but we must confess the truth about God’s nature through prayer as Daniel does here. He does not only say, “we have rebelled”; he also says “to the Lord belong mercies and forgivenesses.” One commentary points out that “Daniel did not specify what God should do; he only asked that God ‘look’ on the sanctuary and ‘see’ the desolation of His people.” Daniel invites God into the situation, and we must do the same as well. By reading the Bible, we know what God is like. We know that He desires to forgive us and restore us to Himself. Exodus 34:6-7 says, “The Lord God is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin...” We must believe these truths about God’s nature, and we must openly ask for God to look down on those for whom we are praying. Often, when
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we sin, we may feel like we are the lowest person in the world — that we have messed up so badly to a point of no recovery. Actually, that is a trick of the devil to get us to close our hearts to the healing grace that God provides. The devil wants people to stay depressed and defeated because of sin and to never recover. We must remind ourselves of the truths found in God’s Word about God’s nature, and we must pray accordingly.
We must pray with the determination to live righteously before God. Daniel sought to live out Godly principles in his life and we see this desire in his prayer. In verse 13 he prays, “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.” We must begin the process of change and restoration by turning from our sins and by embracing God’s truth. Often, when we sin, we go into hiding like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. We try to avoid God and the responsibility that we bear for our actions. That is not what we should do. If we truly want God’s blessings to be restored to us, we must begin to act in expectation of that becoming a reality by turning from our sin. In his prayer, Daniel laments the fact that his people did not come to God sooner in prayer and did not turn away from their sins. Since we know that God is merciful, forgiving, and longsuffering, we cannot just pray for God’s 83
mercy; we must begin living as though we have experienced God’s mercy and forgiveness and urge others to do the same. In other words, we must stop sinning and begin doing that which is right. Our prayer for forgiveness and mercy should bring about repentance and change in our lives. If we want God to hear and answer our prayers as intercessors, we must pray with an understanding of who God is and pray with the determination to live righteously before God.
We must be ready to receive God’s answer to our prayer. In verses 21-23, Daniel writes: “whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” We see in this passage that God began to act the moment Daniel began to pray. Sometimes, we pray not really believing that God will answer our prayers. We are just going through the motions of prayer. We must understand, however, that although we may not receive our answer immediately, God is behind-the-scenes already working out His will in response to our request. 84
E.M. Bounds said, “God has of his own motion placed himself under the law of prayer, and has obligated himself to answer the prayers of men. He has ordained prayer as a means whereby he will do things through men as they pray, which he would not otherwise do. If prayer puts God to work on earth, then, by the same token, prayerlessness rules God out of the world’s affairs, and prevents him from working. The driving power, the conquering force in God’s cause is God himself. ‘Call on me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not,’ is God’s challenge to prayer.” God did not give Daniel an immediate answer to his prayer. When Gabriel came to Daniel, he gave him a long-term vision of what would happen to his people which began with them returning to Jerusalem and rebuilding the city, and culminated in the coming of the Messiah and the eventual destruction of Jerusalem. This was a truth that Daniel had to accept and understand even though his prayer was still not fully answered. He had received a word from God and he continued praying and believing God for the good of his people. We may not receive the answer that we want when we pray, but we must be ready and willing to receive any answer that God provides. Just as He did with Daniel, God honors those who take it upon themselves to bring the needs of others before His throne. The devil will do all he can to discourage us and to cause us to grow weary in well doing. However, we have numerous promises from God that tell us that God hears and answers our prayers, and we can hold on to those promises as we stand in the gap.
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12 Standing in the Gap (Part 5) TEXT: Daniel 9:1-8 Let’s look at the matter of repentance as a special people set apart for God. Much of what Daniel addresses in his prayer regarding the children of Israel can be seen in the history of the church. Just as in the Old Testament era, God chose the Jews to be His representatives on Earth, in the New Testament era, God has called out the church to be His representatives on earth. And, just as the children of Israel often failed in that duty, we have failed in our fulfillment of that duty as well. Many Christians and even some preachers are afraid to stand up and speak out for what the Bible teaches because they don’t want to offend certain people or because they are trying to protect their image or their assets. We live in a dying and lost world, but sadly, many believers are afraid to go and share the life-giving and soul-saving message that the world needs. Our prayer is that the church would repent of its own sins, would rise to the occasion, and would faithfully fulfill its purpose of being God’s representative in our culture and society. Let’s look at Daniel’s prayer as a guide for how we should pray for the church.
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Get back to the Word of God. Daniel 9:2 says, “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.” We begin to pray for a church that has wandered away from God by going back to the Bible. George Mueller once said that for years he tried to pray without starting in the Bible in the morning. And inevitably his mind just wandered. Then he started reading the Bible before he prayed, and began turning the words of the Bible into prayers, and for forty years he was able to stay focused and powerful in prayer. Without the Bible in our prayers, our prayers will be just as worldly as the church which we are trying to free from worldliness. Daniel’s prayer not only begins with the Bible, but it is saturated with words from the Bible. Daniel’s view of the situation that his people are in is informed and driven by God’s view which is given in the Bible. In John 15:7, Jesus Christ said, “If ye abide in me, and MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” When Christ speaks of His Words abiding in us, He means that His words should fill our minds, shape our thinking, and come readily to our mouths. When we pray according to God’s Word, we will be able to stand in the gap and intercede for the church.
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Confess our sins. It is easy for the church to point to the sins of the world and call for repentance, but we must, as God’s people, confess our own sins first. Israel could not be a good representative for God if she was in rebellion to God. And the church cannot be a good representative for God if many people in the church have unconfessed and unrepented sin in their lives. About twelve of the verses in Daniel’s prayer are nothing but confession of sin. He says, “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.” Confession of sin means recognizing sin as sin; seeing it as God sees it. It means recognizing God as a righteous and holy judge who justly sends punishment on the disobedient. It means feeling broken and guilty before God because of our sins. And it means changing our ways so that we will live in obedience to God’s commands. There is a difference between feeling miserable because sin has made our life miserable and feeling broken because our sin has offended God. Daniel’s confession of sin is God-centered. The issue is not admitting that what we have done is wrong and hurtful to us. The issue is admitting that what we have done has offended God and His glory. The church has been ineffective in its witness today because, despite the words we say, we act as if we have no reverence or respect for God and His word. Until true, biblical confession takes place in the church, we will never be effective in winning the world to Christ. Confession of sin should be part of our agenda as we 89
stand in the gap and intercede for the church.
Appeal to God’s zeal for his own glory. Look at how Daniel’s prayer comes to its climax in verses 18-19: “We do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. 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.” Just as the children of Israel were known by God’s name, the church today is known by His name. And God is very concerned about how His name is held up in the world. He has an infinite zeal for His own glory. In Isaiah 42:8 God says, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.” God will not allow the church to cause His name to be reproached indefinitely. We should align ourselves with God’s concern for His name and His glory and that should be the bottom line of our prayers. John Piper points out “that God chose us, His people, for His glory: He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” On top of that, the Bible tells us that we should do everything that we do for the glory of God. When we pray we should be saying, “Lord, We are called by your name. We live by your name. Not for us, O Lord, but for your name’s sake revive the church. For your name’s sake purify, heal, and empower your church.” That is how Daniel prays for the children of Israel, and that is 90
how we can stand in the gap and intercede effectively for the church. Now is the time for the church — God’s people to be humble, to return to God’s Word, to confess our sins, and to live in such a way that everything we do brings glory to God.
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The Sinner’s Prayer If you are reading this book and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your first prayer needs to be what we call the Sinner’s Prayer. Please understand that you are a sinner and that you have broken God’s laws just as I have. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Please understand that because of our sins, we deserve eternal punishment in hell. Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death...” This includes both physical death and spiritual death in hell. That is the bad news. The good news is found in John 3:16 which says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your salvation today, please pray this simple prayer and mean it from your heart:
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Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen. If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! Congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to www.GospelLightSociety.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door.” Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” May God bless you as you begin your new life with Him.
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You can listen to Daniel Whyte III preaching any of the messages in this book online at www.PrayingThroughtheBible.com.
Tune in to The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast/Podcast www.PrayerMotivatorDevotional.com and
The Prayer Motivator Minute www.PrayerMotivatorMinute.com These broadcasts/podcasts will inspire, encourage, and motivate you to pray every day so you can live your best life now. Based on The Prayer Motivator book by Daniel Whyte III. Both of these broadcasts are available on: iTunes Google Play (Android) Stitcher Radio BCNN Radio 7 Live365 Radio Gospel Light World Radio BlogTalkRadio.com Buzzsprout.com FeedBurner BlackBerry Podcasts and many other podcast outlets