Full Transcript for Daniel 9:1-19 - A Pattern for Prayer

been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:21.360 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:29.680 The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does, yet we have not obeyed him. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:41.039 Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:50.159 Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:59.360 Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:04.000 Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:08.400 For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:10.800 Give ear, our God, and hear. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:15.199 Open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name. 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:21.199 We do not make these requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:22.879 Lord, listen. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:24.480 Lord, forgive. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:26.079 Lord, hear and act. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:33.199 For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:37.439 Would you pray with me? 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.360 Lord, we thank you for your word to us. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:50.800 We ask that you would help us to listen well, to communicate well, and to obey what you have revealed to us. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:05:01.680 Help us to draw closer to your heart, to nurture our relationship with you, and to grow closer to our Creator, the one who has recreated us in Christ. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:09.040 Help us to live for you and help us to do that more and more through encountering this text this morning. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:10.000 Amen. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:22.160 You may have had the experience of trying to walk alongside somebody who walks at a different pace than you do. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:23.920 Have you ever experienced this? 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:29.759 You've tried to walk next to somebody, but they walk at a different pace than you do. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:32.240 It can be kind of difficult, can't it? 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:34.000 Yeah, yeah, it can. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:36.800 You know, I'm naturally a pretty fast walker. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:38.079 I think it's a family trait. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:39.839 My dad's a fast walker too. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.120 I tend to be pretty fast. 00:05:41.199 -->

00:05:45.120 I'm in a hurry usually to get nowhere, but I'm a pretty fast walker. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:49.600 Uh, you know, my wife Sarah, on the other hand, is a more leisurely walker. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:55.360 And so there's always this sort of negotiation and compromise that takes place when we walk next to each other. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:57.680 You know, she maybe speeds up a little. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:03.279 I try to slow down, then I speed up, then she's got to slow me down. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:07.759 We gotta try to meet in the middle and keep pace. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:18.720 I had a friend in college and going to college in Chicago, we walked a lot of places, didn't have a vehicle, and I thought I was a fast walker, but he left me in the dust. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:22.959 Anytime we would walk anywhere, he'd be a block up ahead of me. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:26.800 I have to tell him, slow down, I can't walk that fast. 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:28.160 It was difficult for him. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:32.399 He walked at a much faster pace than I do. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:42.560 And when you're walking alongside somebody, the challenge is that you have to kind of adjust your pace to theirs, and they adjust their pace to you. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:47.759 Now, this morning we're gonna talk about the topic of prayer. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:56.160 We're looking at a prayer that Daniel prayed in chapter 9 of the book that bears his name. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:07.199 And I want to suggest that prayer is a way in which we align ourselves with God's pace and God's purposes in the world. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:13.600 Prayer is a way of growing in our walk alongside God. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:24.399 Prayer is a way in which we grow in walking alongside God and keeping up with his pace and keeping up with his priorities. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:31.680 When you're walking next to somebody and you have different paces, you know, the two of you can adjust. 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:34.959 One speed up, one slow down, and you meet in the middle. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:43.759 But when it comes to God, it's not a matter of God adjusting to us, but us adjusting our life to God. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:50.000 Prayer is a way in which we adjust our pace. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:08:05.600 It's a way in which we adjust our priorities so that we walk in sync with God, and so that our desires and our motivations, the way that we view things, are in alignment with the way that God does. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:12.240 Prayer is a form of adjustment, adjusting and realigning our lives to God. 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:17.439 And Daniel here models prayer for us. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:20.639 Daniel models what prayer looks like. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:31.439 And in this passage, we see a couple of principles about how Daniel prays that also help us in our prayer life, in talking to God. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:37.919 As the passage opens, it says that Daniel was reading the prophet Jeremiah. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:46.960 He was reading scripture, and he was reading the prophecy that the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years. 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.639 Daniel had been taken into captivity in Babylon. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:09:04.799 This was something that happened as a judgment on Israel's sin, and they were in captivity in Babylon, and Daniel read the prophecy that had been written down by the prophet Jeremiah that it would last 70 years. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:11.039 You can read that prophecy in Jeremiah chapter 25 and chapter 29. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:15.840 It predicts that after 70 years the captivity would come to an end. 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:24.320 Daniel is reading this, and he's reading the scripture to help him interpret and understand the events going on around him. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:28.159 And in response to reading Scripture, he prays. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:38.399 Scripture is the way in which God speaks to us, and prayer is the way in which we respond back and have a conversation. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:43.519 And so Daniel's prayer was prompted by his reading of Scripture. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:52.000 Now, I want to encourage you to ask yourself if you feel like your prayer life is maybe waning, if it's weak, it's not what it should be. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:54.480 I often feel like that in my own life. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:59.679 I often feel in my life that I'm not as prayerful as I ought to be. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:04.320 A preacher named Haddon Robinson once said something about prayer. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:15.600 He said that when it comes to his own prayer life, he said, I feel like I have been able to grab at Jesus' garment, but I've never been able to really sustain the grasp. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:18.799 I feel like that sometimes. 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:22.879 I can grab at his garment, but just can't sustain the grasp. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:31.360 Daniel's prayer life arises from his reading of Scripture. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:40.639 And for each one of us, the strength of our prayer life will grow the more that we immerse ourselves in Scripture. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:50.559 Allowing God to speak to us through his written word is the most powerful way there is of prompting our own communication with God. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:56.240 God communicates to us in his word and we communicate back through prayer. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:00.240 Daniel, his prayer, is prompted by Scripture. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:06.000 And we have a transcript, a record of what he prays here, which I've just read. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:16.320 And I want to draw a couple of highlights about what Daniel prays that helps us think about how we can pray as well. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:20.159 How does Daniel talk to God in this prayer? 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.679 There are a couple points worth noting. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:29.440 First of all, let's note that when he prays,

Daniel acknowledges God's character. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:33.039 Daniel acknowledges the character of God. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:40.399 And when we pray, we ought, each one of us, to begin by acknowledging the character of God. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:47.360 He says, Daniel says in verse 7, Lord, you are righteous. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:51.759 Lord, you are righteous. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:59.679 Verse 14, he says, the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:05.039 God's character is morally pure, perfect, and holy. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:08.720 And because of that, all of his actions are perfect. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:15.919 Everything that God does is right because God acts in a way that's consistent with his character. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:19.360 God is holy and just. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:22.879 God is righteous. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:26.000 Daniel acknowledges God's moral purity. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:30.960 He begins his prayer by establishing who he's talking to. 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:36.080 Daniel begins by recognizing who he is speaking to. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.279 This is not just a casual conversation. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:47.840 Daniel recognizes that he's not just shooting the breeze with a stranger here or having a casual chat on the side of the road. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:55.840 Daniel is speaking with the righteous and holy God of the universe. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:00.399 And he begins by acknowledging who it is that he's speaking to. 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:04.879 Kevin Zuber says something that is relevant here. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:12.720 He says that being intimate with God does not mean being casual with God. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:18.799 Being intimate with God does not mean being casual with God. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:22.480 We have access to God. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:26.639 We can approach him as a child approaches a parent. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.399 We have access to his presence. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:49.200 But we also must remember when we talk to God that we are dealing with one who is holy, holy, holy, one who is pure and just and righteous, one who is wholly different than we are, so far above us in every way, perfect in every respect. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:58.000 We have an intimate and personal relationship with God, but it is not a relationship of equals. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:05.919 When we speak to the one true God of the universe, we are not speaking to our equal. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:11.120 We are speaking to the God who is holy, holy, holy. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:24.000 I remember vividly the year before I went to college, I had the privilege to go out to Denver, Colorado, and visit the Rocky Mountains. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:32.320 And I took a drive, actually, about as high up, I think, as you could go in Rocky Mountain National Park, and it was a long drive. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:36.000 It was a long, slow, slow winding drive. 00:14:36.240

--> 00:14:40.960 The elevation got so high that I could feel my ears popping from the pressure change. 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:42.799 It's like I was in an airplane. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:45.919 And I got finally to the top. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:47.600 It was a long drive. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:57.279 Got to the top, and I looked out, and I could see this vast and amazing and beautiful mountain range, the open sky as far as I could see. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:05.440 And in that moment, I was not inclined to think that I was very big. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:12.639 As I looked out over the Rocky Mountains, I was not inclined to think that I was the center of the universe. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:26.559 Because when we get a grasp of something, in this case, someone, much bigger than ourselves, it humbles us and it puts who we are in perspective. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:35.840 When we recognize the majesty and the holiness and the beauty of God, it humbles us and it reminds us who we are. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.039 He is God and we are not. 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:46.159 Daniel begins prayer by acknowledging God's character. 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:54.000 Once he does that, he moves on, and Daniel acknowledges sin. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:58.320 Daniel acknowledges the people's wrongdoing. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:10.960 And as we pray and we approach God, we also need to be sure that we acknowledge who God is and that we acknowledge who we are. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:21.840 The holiness of God only put into clearer relief the people's failure to live up to God's commands. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:23.679 Verse 9. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:30.320 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:31.600 That's God's character. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:33.120 What's the second part of that? 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:35.759 Even though we have rebelled against him. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:43.440 The Lord is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:44.639 Verse 10. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:52.559 Daniel says, We have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants, the prophets. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:17:07.200 Daniel acknowledges that the people, including himself, had not obeyed God or kept his laws, and that that was at least partially the reason for their current situation. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:13.759 A mentor of mine once gave me some advice that I've always remembered. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:20.880 I approached him and I said that I see a lot of people who seem to start off with a passion for God in life. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:33.359 But then over time it seems to wane, and either they lose the passion and they just begin to live for themselves rather than God, or they fall into some kind of egregious moral wrongdoing. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:39.039 And I asked for any advice on how do you avoid that, how do you keep a passion for God. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:46.400 And my mentor said to me, you need to always be ruthlessly honest about yourself before God. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:51.440 Be ruthlessly honest about yourself before God. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:56.000 Be honest about who you are before God. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:02.240 And here Daniel exhibits a striking honesty when he describes the people's condition. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:08.160 He doesn't just say, all right, God, I mean, I know we made a little boo-boo here, but come on, was it really that big of a deal? 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:10.880 I mean, obviously nobody's perfect, God, alright? 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:11.920 Come on. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:16.319 No, he names sin, he calls it such. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:21.279 He says plainly that they have fallen short of God's standards. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:28.799 Note that his confession of sin flows out of his recognition of God's holiness. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:42.720 When we minimize God's holiness, when we lose sight of his character, we begin to treat forgiveness as something that God owes us rather than the free gift that it is. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:54.960 And when we treat God's mercy as something that is owed to us rather than a pure gift, then God's mercy will never motivate us to live for him in the way that it should. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:06.960 Do you want to live a life that's fueled by a passion for God, a life fueled by an appreciation of God's grace? 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:13.039 Then you need to begin by recapturing a vision of God's holiness. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:19.440 When we see who God is, we also see who we are. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:31.039 To be clear, this does not mean that we insult or denigrate ourselves or put ourselves down or say that we are worthless, far from the truth. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.079 Each one of us is precious and made in God's image. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:39.519 Each one of us is precious and made in God's image. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:42.480 And each one of us matters to God. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:48.079 So it's not a matter here of self-flagellation or beating ourselves up or something like that. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:52.960 It's a matter of simple honesty, recognizing that we are created in God's image. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:20:02.240 And yet we are fallen sinners, and Jesus invites us to be recreated in his image through faith. 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:17.119 There will be times in the Christian life when we come to an awareness of our own sin, when we recognize that we have not lived up to the standard that God has set for us. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:20.960 And when we come to that moment, there are different ways that we could respond. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:24.799 One way that we respond could be an avoidance of God. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:29.359 We feel a sense of shame and disappointment, and so we flee. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:36.880 We stop praying, we stop reading the Bible, we stop showing up at church and being around other

Christians. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:40.880 This approach, fleeing from God. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:44.480 That was the approach of Adam in the Garden of Eden. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:53.039 When Adam sinned against God, it says in Genesis chapter 3, the Lord God called to the man, Where are you? 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:59.759 And Adam answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:06.160 The nakedness represents shame, embarrassment before God because of sin. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:15.759 When we feel exposed or embarrassed, sometimes there's a tendency to flee from God. 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:32.240 We do the same thing with God. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:35.119 We try to avoid God. 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:42.000 Daniel models a better approach for us. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:44.799 Daniel goes to God and is honest. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:48.880 And he's honest because, of course, God already knows. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:53.200 You're not going to tell God anything about you that he doesn't already know. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:57.839 Daniel goes to God and confesses sin. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:00.640 He's honest about their Sin. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:03.920 And this is a great model for us. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:08.960 Listen to what the New Testament says in 1 John chapter 1, verse 9. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:20.960 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:29.359 If we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive. 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:33.519 We go to God directly. 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:35.839 We go directly. 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:45.039 Jeffrey Arthur says that we can either cover up our sin or we can go to God and be covered by the blood of Jesus. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:48.240 We can cover or be covered. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:55.680 When we pray, when we talk to God, we need to acknowledge who He is. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:58.880 And then we need to acknowledge who we are. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:02.240 We need to be honest about ourselves before God. 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:05.440 And we need to go to Him and confess. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:09.359 And that is the way in which relationship is restored. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:16.079 Because God does not want to be in some kind of a standoff or at enmity. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:17.599 He wants peace. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:24.720 And confession and humility is the way to peace with a holy God. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:31.200 When Daniel prays, he acknowledges God's character. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:33.680 He then acknowledges sin. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:41.279 And then third and finally, when Daniel prays, he prays that God's name would be magnified. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.640 He prays that God's name would be known. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:51.440 And when we pray, we need to pray that God's name and God's character would be known. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.759 Daniel doesn't pray simply for his own sake. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.319 He prays for the sake of God's name. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:03.200 Verse 19 says this: Lord, listen. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:07.119 Lord, forgive, Lord, hear and act. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:14.799 For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:18.880 When Daniel prays, he doesn't do it for his own sake. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:22.480 He prays that God's name would be honored. 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:27.279 You see, God's name represents God's character, who he is. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:30.079 God's name says something about him. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:41.200 Daniel is praying here for the Israelites, for his people, but he prays for them ultimately because he's concerned about God's character being revered and being honored. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:49.119 You see, what we pray for has a way of revealing our priorities. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:55.759 The things that we instinctively ask a God for say something about what's most important to us. 00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:04.559 And so examining our prayers is a way of examining our own motivations and priorities. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:11.680 Daniel doesn't pray just for himself, but ultimately he prays for God's glory. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:16.079 There's certainly nothing wrong with praying for ourselves. 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:19.680 Jesus taught us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:24.960 It's certainly appropriate and good to pray for ourselves. 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:32.720 But I would suggest that our prayers, while they certainly include ourselves, should also go beyond ourselves. 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:47.440 That we don't ultimately pray for our own good, but for the good of others and for the sake of God's name, that God's character would be known, that other people would come to know the God that we have come to know? 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:56.559 So let me ask you, when you pray, are you praying primarily or exclusively for yourself, for your own good? 00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:59.759 Or are you praying for God's character to be known? 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:02.640 Are you praying that others would encounter him? 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:06.720 Are you praying that God's purposes would be fulfilled? 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:10.960 Do your prayers ever go beyond yourself? 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:20.799 Let me apply this on a more corporate level to us as a church, as First Baptist Church of Centralia. 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:23.279 What are your hopes for this church? 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:27.599 What are your aspirations for what this church would be? 00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:38.319 Believe I can say with confidence that God has in so many ways blessed our church out of proportion to our numerical size. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:48.000 God has given us many blessings over the years, over the decades,

recently, and for a long time. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:57.440 When we pray for our church, when you pray and think about this church, we need to think about what our motives are. 00:26:57.839 --> 00:26:59.359 Why do we pray for the church? 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:02.160 Why are we concerned about the church and the church's future? 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:06.640 Do we pray simply for our own existence? 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:11.359 Do we pray simply for institutional preservation? 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:16.079 Do we pray simply that God would keep us in existence? 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:23.839 Or are our aspirations for the church broader than that? 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:31.359 Are our aspirations for the church bound up in our own self-existence as an institution? 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:37.680 Or are our hopes for the church that we would magnify God's name? 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:51.440 Because if we are not committed to making God's name known, magnifying his name, helping others encounter him, then there is no reason to pray for the continued existence of the church. 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:55.680 The church exists for a purpose beyond itself. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:05.519 If our prayers are simply for our own sake as a church, then Daniel's prayer gives us a better way forward. 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:13.279 He prays and he says, Lord, answer this for your sake, not for mine. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:26.000 When we pray for the health of our church, the future of our congregation, we ought to do so because we are deeply concerned that God's name would be known and honored in Centralia. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:30.640 That is the purpose for why we exist. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:38.880 Sometimes we feel like God doesn't answer our prayers, and that can be a source of frustration. 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:44.799 The book of James gives us some reasons why God might answer those prayers. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.400 One reason you have not because you ask not. 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:51.200 In other words, you're simply not asking for something. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:56.880 Sometimes simply asking can be the means by which God fulfills a need. 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:10.319 But James also goes on to say that sometimes God doesn't answer prayer because when you do ask, you ask for your own good, to heap it upon yourselves and for your own satisfaction and your own pleasure. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:15.039 In other words, your prayers have no purpose beyond you. 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:17.759 My prayers have no purpose beyond me. 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:24.960 And when that happens, God doesn't have any interest in answering that because God's purposes are much bigger than any one individual. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:33.839 God's purposes are that he would be known, that his name would be magnified, and that people would come into relationship with him. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:38.640 That's ultimately why Daniel prays for Israel. 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:45.759 And that's why we ultimately ought to pray for ourselves, for one another, and for our church. 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:59.839 Author Eugene Peterson says that people who pray know that centering life in the insatiable demands of the ego is the sure path to doom. 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:09.359 When we center our demands upon ourselves, it's a sure path to doom. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:20.079 But when we center our desires on God's purposes, that is the way to experience vitality and blessing from God. 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:25.440 Daniel gives us here a model of prayer. 00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:31.119 When he prays, he acknowledges God's character. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:33.519 He acknowledges the people's sin. 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:37.200 And then he prays for God's glory. 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:43.119 That's a model for prayer, and that's one that we can take to our prayer closets. 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:54.240 Curtis said that for many people, for many Christians, prayer is a little bit like the safety masks on the airplane. 00:30:54.559 --> 00:31:05.759 You know, when you fly, if you've ever been on a plane, they give a little presentation at the beginning about if there's a loss of oxygen in the cabin that safety masks will come down and you put those on. 00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:12.640 It's been said that a lot of Christians think about prayer kind of like those safety masks. 00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:20.480 We know it's there, we're thankful it's there, but we really hope that we don't ever have to use it. 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:26.720 Is that how we think of prayer? 00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:32.640 Prayer isn't just for emergencies, it's a day-to-day practice. 00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:39.680 It shapes our view of God, it shapes our view of ourselves, and it shapes our desires. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.720 I invite you to encounter and experience God through prayer. 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:51.759 And I invite you to use Daniel's prayer here as a model for growing deeper in your own prayer life. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:52.960 Amen.