January 10: Daniel 9:1-19

The Acknowledgment of God’s character (verse 4)

Daniel was praying in the will of God, basing his prayer upon the Word of God (Jeremiah 29:10).

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” (1John 5:14-15, ESV)

It seems very clear that this is an important part of prayer, understanding the will of God. Studying and praying the prayers according to the prayers in Scripture is a wise way to learn to pray according to the will of God. There are books one may use to that focus on this subject. Of course, it only takes a little study to find these prayers in the Bible.

There are over 650 prayers in the Bible, and Scripture records 25 prayers of Jesus. Probably the most comprehensive list of prayers in the Bible has been recorded by Herbert Lockyer in his book, All the Prayers of the Bible. This list may be found here: http://www.lbdsoftware.com/All%20the%20Prayers%20of%20the%20Bible.pdf

“We know that if we ask anything according to God’s will, He hears those prayers and will answer them. Indeed we should fear to pray for anything that is not in accordance with His will. Perhaps someone will say, “But how can I know the will of God?” In a general way, the answer is that God’s will is revealed to us in the Sacred Scriptures, and so we should study the word in order that we might know better what God’s will is and how we can pray more intelligently.” – Believer’s Bible Commentary

As with other prayers, Daniel’s prayer begins by focusing on the One to Whom all prayers should be the focus, for He is the only one who can answer our prayers.

“Daniel’s petitions were based on the character of God (His greatness, awesomeness, faithfulness, righteousness, forgiveness, mercies)…”

– Believer’s Bible Commentary

NOTE: Daniel uses YHWH (LORD), the covenant name of God, seven times and only in this chapter. Since Daniel’s prayer emphasized God’s faithfulness to His people, it is only fitting that He use this name for God, the one who keeps His covenant with His people.

APPLICATION

Seek to turn Daniel’s prayer or another one of the prayers in the Bible into your own, expressing your prayer in your own words or personalizing the prayer.