In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. – Daniel 9:2-3
Daniel intercedes. | WATCH ON YOUTUBE
A wonderful model of intercessory prayer is found in this chapter.
Daniel prays in response to God’s Word. The fact that he understood from the Scriptures indicates that he spent much time with the Scriptures, to understand it. He didn’t just stop with academic knowledge; he acted on it. He prayed. He pleaded with God in earnestness.
There is a fervency and urgency to Daniel’s prayer. His prayer is based on the character of God (v4). He personally knows the God he is praying to. A God who keeps His covenant of love to His people. And what he knows gives him the confidence to approach Him.
Daniel’s prayer is undergirded with confession, not just of his own sins but that of the people he identifies unselfishly with, God’s people (v5). His prayer is dependent on God’s character and its goal is God’s glory (v16-19).
True intercessory prayer seeks to know God’s will and glory and see it fulfilled, regardless of what it costs us. All Christians have the Holy Spirit in their hearts and, just as He intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will (Romans 8:26-27), we are to intercede for one another.
Intercession is not a privilege restricted to some ‘super believers’, rather, not to intercede for others is sin (1 Samuel 12:23). Are you interceding for others?
Lord, that I may be diligent in praying for others, I pray.
Extended Reading — Daniel 7-9
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