To What Kind of Prayer Does God Answer Yes?
Daniel 9: In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, from the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the number of the years concerning which the word of [a]Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. 3 So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to Yahweh my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity and acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and judgments. 6 Moreover, we have not listened to Your slaves the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.
18 O my God, incline Your ear and listen! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not [k]presenting our supplications before You on account of any righteousness of our own, but on account of Your abundant compassion. 19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
21 and while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision [m]previously, [n]touched me [o]in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.
To What Kind of Prayer Does God Answer Yes?
I read an illustration about notes some children had written to their pastor about their prayers.
Dear Pastor, I know God loves me but I wish He would give me an "A" on my report card so I could be sure. Love, Theresa. (Age 8, Milwaukee)
Dear Pastor, Could you say a special blessing for my Aunt Beatrice? She has been looking for a husband for 12 years and still hasn't found one. Yours sincerely, Debbie. (Age 9, Duluth)
Dear
Pastor, Do I have to say grace before every meal? Even when I am only having a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich?
Wesley. (Age 9, Baltimore)
Dear Pastor, Please pray for all the airline pilots. I am flying to California tomorrow. Laurie. (Age 10, New York City)
Dear Pastor, We say grace every night before we eat dinner even when we have leftovers from the night before. Yours truly, Jacki. (Age 9, Chicago)
Dear Pastor, I say my prayer before I eat my supper but my mother still makes me finish my spinach and drink my milk. Julie. (Age 9, Buffalo)
Dear Pastor, 1980 by Bill Adler Books, Inc.
Children in their innocence will often pray for things that will not receive the answer “yes.” And we do as well. Bill Hybels wrote in his book “Too Busy to Pray,”
If
the request is wrong, God says, "No."
If the timing is wrong, God says, "Slow."
If you are wrong, God says, "Grow."
But if the request is right, the timing is right and you are right, God says,
"Go!"
Bill Hybels, Too Busy Not To Pray, IVP, p. 74.
So, we began two weeks ago a series of sermons on prayer. And I chose to go this direction because we find ourselves at Parkview in need of answers. And more than answers, we find ourselves in the middle of circumstances where, the only way we will survive and thrive as a church, is if God intervenes.
So, we go to God in prayer for our church. But the question is “What are we to pray for?” It is not enough to say, “pray for Parkview.” We need to know what to pray for, and how to pray for Parkview.
That is why we are spending this time in the Word, searching for instruction concerning answered prayer.
To What Kind of Prayer Does God Answer Yes? When we have the answer to that question, then that is the kind of prayer that we should pray regarding our church. I told you last time about five kinds of prayers that the Lord answers yes. These are the ingredients to answered prayer. Since last time I have added a sixth ingredient.
The Humble/Repentant have answered prayer. The Scriptural have answered prayer. The Righteous have answered prayer. The Fervent have answered prayer. The Selfless have answered prayer. The God exalting have answered prayer.
We covered the first one last week.
I. The Humble/Repentant have answered prayer.
Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.
And I told you the steps you should take in order to pray a humble/repentant prayer; go to God first, search your heart for unrepentant sin, make your request to God, trust the results to Him.
Now before we move on from this point, I want us to pray together a humble/repentant prayer concerning Parkview. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, as we look out over our congregation this morning, we are reminded of how much we need you. We are few, and we are weak. By the world’s standards we don’t have long before our church comes to an end. And we don’t have the answers or skills that the experts have said are necessary to “revitalize” our church. But Lord, no church has the answers and skills and tools needed to revive any church Spiritually. That is Your work. So, forgive us Lord for searching for answers everywhere but with you. Forgive us for failing to be a people of prayer. Forgive us for making our plans first, and then bringing them to you for Your blessing. Forgive us for not making Your directions our first priority.
If we had sought You first, we would have asked you to search us for sin. We have a 65-year history as a church. And we have not completed the task you gave us in those 65 years. We have not been people who loved and obeyed your Word, we have not been a praying people, we have not been loving toward our brothers and sisters. We have not obeyed the Great Commission to reach our community. Our homes have not been what you desire Lord. Forgive us Lord for our individual sins and failures over the last 65 years.
We know Lord that it is only if You build this church, we are laboring in vain in trying to build it on our own. And we should have been making correct prayer our first priority for those 65 years. We haven’t prayed for the lost as we should have. We haven’t prayed for our own children and grandchildren and families the way we should have. Forgive us Lord.
We now come to You with a desire to do it right. We know that we don’t know Your Will. But we desire to see You at work here at Parkview. We desire to see this place become what a church is supposed to be; a witness to Your Glory and Power. We want to see this place be a place where Your Word is loved and taught, where sacrificial prayers are offered continuously, where its people are characterized by righteousness and forgiveness, where people experience life-changing salvation. That is our desire, Lord. We want to see this place live on to see its best days. We pray Lord that this place become a testimony, not of our cleverness or innovation, but of Your power.
But we know Lord, that You are Lord. You make plans, and You know the future. We know that this building is just wood, metal, glass, and concrete. We know that we are just flesh and blood. We know that You can be glorified if Your work continues at this location. We know that You can be glorified if this place shuts its doors. We can be obedient here, or in another church. Whatever You choose to do Lord, strengthen each of us in our faithfulness, wherever we go. We pray for this place to thrive, but “not our will, but Yours be done.”
And we pray all this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
II. The Scriptural have answered prayer.
I chose the passage of Scripture out of Daniel to share with you today because it is one of the best examples of praying that is based in Scripture. I want to share with you what steps you should take in order to pray in agreement with Scripture. 5 points
Pray for what God has already ordained. Search the Scripture. Pray as you read. Don’t take Scripture out of context. Be specific.
It describes a time when Daniel opened up the Scripture to the prophet Jeremiah, saw what God said He would do, and then prayed for God to do what He said He would do. If you want to see the display of God’s power. If you want to see God move mountains. If you want to see God answer “yes” to your prayers. First step, pray in agreement with
A. Pray for what God has already ordained
Let’s read again from Daniel 9.
Daniel 9: In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, from the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the number of the years concerning which the word of [a]Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. 3 So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
So, let’s first lay out some background here. 597 B.C.
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Babylonian_Exile
According to the Book of Jeremiah (52:28-30), 3,023 Jews were deported in the first wave, 832 in the second, and 745 in the third, making 4,600 in all. However, it is likely that only the men were counted. Including women and children it is estimated that 14,000 to 18,000 people would be the full number.
Daniel, a member of the upper class in Israel, was taken in the first deportation. And you might remember that the first deportation included
“a high percentage of court officials, the priesthood, skilled craftsmen, and other wealthy citizens, the exiles constituted the majority of the cultural elite of nation.”
And you might remember that this first group was taken to Babylon to train and educate them in order to use them as managers and rulers over their own people. And Daniel excelled in his training and rose through the ranks of his brethren to serve closely to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. Remember that he ended up interpreting the king’s dream about the future kingdoms which would follow his in history. He interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream prophesying that the king would have a mental breakdown that would cause him to act like a wild animal for seven years.
Remember, as well, that Daniel outlived Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. As an old man he served under Belshazzar when Belshazzar saw the supernatural handwriting on the wall with a message Belshazzar couldn’t interpret. Daniel was given the interpretation by God.
Remember that Daniel stayed as one of the wisemen who gave counsel to the king, even when the kingdom of Babylon was overthrown by the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. It was in that time, as an old man, that he defied the edict of king Darius regarding prayer and was thrown in a den of lions. God saved him from the lions which elevated him even further in the kings’ eyes.
After that, Daniel is given further visions about the future, even unto the end-times.
But in chapter nine, Daniel is an old man. We know he is an old man because chapter nine tells us we are in the first year of the reign of Darius. Darius began his reign over Babylon in 523 B.C.. Daniel was taken in the first deportation, as a young man, in 597 B.C.. So, Daniel had to be over 80 years of age. He is searching the Scripture.
B. Search the Scripture
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the number of the years concerning which the word of [a]Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
In order for you to pray in agreement with Scripture, you have to study the Scripture. And I’m not talking about finding one verse that you like and claiming it as your verse. If you are going to take one verse as a promise from God, you had better know the context of the verse. When did God make that promise and to whom?
But Daniel was studying the Scripture. He was studying the prophecy of Jeremiah. Now this is amazing to me because Jeremiah began prophesying in Israel in 627 B.C.. That’s only 30 years before Daniel was deported to Babylon. When Daniel is reading Jeremiah’s prophecy here, it is only about 100 years since it was first given. But yet it is already regarded as Scripture; the Word of God. So, Daniel has access to some scroll with Jeremiah’s prophecy about the exile of Israel into Babylon. When Jeremiah began to prophecy, he told how God was going to judge Judah for their sin and idolatry. He prophesied that a kingdom would come from the north, and conquer Judah.
Jeremiah 1: 13 The word of Yahweh came to me a second time saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” 14 Then Yahweh said to me, “From the north the evil [e]will break open on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” declares Yahweh; “and they will come, and each one of them will put his throne at the opening of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah.
And it happened even as he said it would. He lived to see it. Babylon conquered Judah and began deporting part of its people out of the country. The whole book of Jeremiah is a message, over and over again to Judah, that this conquest is coming. It does come, and then God tells Jeremiah to tell the people how to respond to their captivity. By the way, Jeremiah’s message wasn’t a very popular one. But, despite all the bad news that he has to deliver, he does get to give some good news; the captivity will only be for 70 years.
Jeremiah 25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
So, in the first year, when the first deportation took place under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the year that Daniel was deported to Babylon. Jeremiah says this,
Jeremiah 25:11-12 This whole land will be a waste place and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ‘Then it will be when seventy years are fulfilled, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for their iniquity, even the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.
Jeremiah says that after 70 years of captivity, Babylon will be punished. Daniel must have read that with some awe. Because he had seen it. Babylon was overthrown by the Medes and the Persians in his sight. He saw the change of kings. He served under both kingdoms. Now, in chapter 25, Daniel got the sense that 70 years would bring a major change. But chapter 29 really heightens his enthusiasm.
Verse 1: Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
Jeremiah was still in Judah prophesying. Many of Judah’s citizens have been deported. So, he sends a letter to those who have been deported.
saying, 4 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 5 ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and [a]become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. 7 Seek the peace of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to Yahweh on its behalf; for in its peace you will have peace.’
He tells them, get comfortable, you are going to be in Babylon a while. Build houses, plant gardens, plan weddings, become involved in the prosperity of the place of your deportation. You are going to be there a while. And then he tells them how long.
Jeremiah 29:10 “For thus says Yahweh, ‘When seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and establish My good word to you, to return you to this place.
Now here’s the good news Jeremiah was allowed to deliver. Not only will Babylon be overthrown during your 70 years away, but after 70 years, you will be allowed to return to Judah, to your homeland.
So, Daniel is reading this prophecy. And he is doing the math. Depending on what you consider the beginning of the 70 years, it is coming to completion. The time of exile is complete. Babylon has been overthrown. Darius the Mede has begun his reign. So, Daniel reads this and that leads us to a third step.
C. Pray as you read
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the number of the years concerning which the word of [a]Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. 3 So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
He reads the prophecy, then he gets down on his knees to pray that God would do what God said he would do. This is an important step for us to emulate. We are sinful in regard to many things in our Christian walks. First, we do not spend time in the Word of God outside of our time at worship services. I don’t spend the time I should, and many of you don’t. I am so thankful when I hear some of you talk about time you spend in the Word at home, in your personal devotions. We need more of that, and more like that.
But a second kind of sinfulness in this area is that we open the Word, we read the Word at home, we read devotions, but we don’t respond to what we have read. James chapter one addresses this problem.
22 But become doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [r]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he looked at himself and has gone away, [s]he immediately forgot what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in [t]what he does.
He compares reading the Word without responding to the Word to a person who looks at himself in a mirror. He’s got dirt on his cheek, his neck needs washed. He needs to shave and get a haircut. His hair is sticking up all over the place and needs to be washed. His eyebrow, singular, needs to be plucked and his nose hair trimmed. But he looks at himself in the mirror, shrugs, and says, “good enough,” and goes on without fixing any of the flaws the mirror revealed.
To pray scripturally is to read and then respond. It isn’t just beginning my prayer with a list of my desires to bring to God. Then finding Bible verses that purportedly agree with what I want. We do that don’t we. We start praying, then we think of Scripture to shore up our desires. The godly way of praying Scripturally is to go to the Word in search of God’s answers and wisdom, then to respond to what He shows us as we study the Word.
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