Intercessory Prayer

Intercessory Prayer

Daniel 9:1-19

            Here is an interesting example of intercessory Prayer.  Daniel had just received the vision of the coming of the Medo Persian (Iranian) empire followed by the Grecian and then followed in the latter times by Anti Christ. He had read Jeremiah's prophecy and how the Jews would be freed to return from the Babylonian Captivity to their land at any time.  He then began to pray.

            He prayed in humility.  This prayer was more than his usual prayer.  It was his custom to pray toward Jerusalem 3 times a day 6:10.  This special prayer was prompted by his reading Jeremiah's prophecy 25:11 of the Jews' return to their land.  He acknowledged the greatness of God :4.  He called Him the great and dreadful God.  Perfect wisdom will produce a fear of God.  He acknowledged that God was a God of covenants, and that He kept His covenant.  He also acknowledged Him as a God of love for His people.

          Then Daniel began a confession of sin.  He confessed that Israel had departed from God's precepts :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:"   He also acknowledged that this had been done in wicked rebellion against God.

          In verse 6 he confessed that they had refused to hear God's preachers.  This too was a wicked sin.  To reject the message of God's preachers was in effect to reject the word of God.  In verses 7-9 He continued to acknowledge that God was fully right to judge them for their sin.  On top of this they were prayerless.  There was a little saying that went around when I was quite young that said, "The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible."  Not Bible but true.  The same could also be said about prayer.

         Then what did he pray?  He begged God to hear him :17-19.  In verse 16 he prayed God to have mercy on his people.  That is the way of intercessory prayer.  He prayed that God would answer him for God's own sake :19 "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." 

         What an example for a pastoral payer!  Would you dare to pray this prayer when you pray your pastoral prayer next Sunday?  I mean when you pray whether you call it pastoral prayer or not.