Foundations Week 26, Day 2

Scripture Read: Daniel 9 - 10; 12
Title: Daniel the Man of Prayer

H.E.A.R. 
(H) Highlight verse: "Then I turned my face to the LORD God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for many with fasting and sackclothe and ashes." Daniel 9:3

(E) Explain:  A Trait of Daniel that is glaringly obvious is that he was a man who communicated with God and God communicated with him.

• He was A man of prayer (Dan. 9) – In this chapter we read that Daniel prays for his people.  He intercedes for them, beseeches God to have mercy on them and asks God to call them back to Him. 
• He was a man of dreams and visions (Dan. 7, 8, 10, 11, 12) – Daniel was continually receiving visions and dreams from God.  He often received these dreams from God as a warning of what was coming but in some cases the dreams he received were merely given to him and he was told not to concern himself with the interpretation because they weren’t for him to know.
• He was a man who talked to angels (Dan. 9:20 – 27) – Often Daniel received visions or dreams from God and an angel would come down and give him the interpretation (wouldn’t it be nice that whenever God spoke to us that he would send an angel to tell us what he meant and what we should do?).  

(A) Application: Daniel shows us that prayer is necessary in our lives and shows that it is an avenue for us to communicate with God and He with us.   
So here are the Four “P’s” of Prayer

1. The Pitfall of prayer -  Let’s face it, prayer takes time and time is the one thing we have little of or are not willing to give freely of.  It can be boring, it can be painstaking and it can seem like it takes soooooooo long to do.  So the pitfall of prayer in our lives is that it is hard to do sometimes.  I am just as guilty as the next person and I will admit there are times I do not want to or can take the time to pray.
2. But when I consider the pitfall of prayer I am reminded of the Privilege of prayer.  Prayer may seem boring, time consuming or painstaking, but we must all remember what prayer is… it is talking with the creator of the universe.  We can have a one on one connection with God Himself.  
3. Not only do I realize what a privilege it is to pray, I am also reminded of the third “p” and that is the imPortance of prayer.  I know it doesn’t begin with a “p” but it has a “P” in it and “Portance of prayer” didn’t sound right.  Do we really realize how important it is to pray?  The Bible is loaded with stories that talk about the power of prayer in healing and miracles.  It shows that it was so important that Jesus himself prayed.  He valued prayer, in fact it was His lifeline.  Jesus also went through great measures to teach us how to pray and tell us about the importance of prayer.  He always said, “When you pray…”  Never once did He say, “If you pray do …”
4. Lastly, we must understand that we must make prayer a Priority.  When we get busy we must prioritize.  When we prioritize we are doing things in the order of what is most important.  Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” and that means make Him your number one priority.  As believers we are God’s children first and then whatever after that.  We must make talking to God a Priority in our lives, because when we do, we are keeping a close relationship with the creator of the universe, our God.

(R) Respond: Lord, may I make prayer a vital part of my life.  Prayer is  a gift that God has given to us so that we can communicate with Him and Him with us.  May we not neglect this precious gift.