Copyright © 2020 Michael A. Brown
‘In the
first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent) who was made ruler over the
Babylonian kingdom – 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 and pleaded with him
in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes...’ (Dan. 9:1-3)
We are told in these verses that Daniel
had understood from the word of God what the purpose and will of God was for
Jerusalem, that the period of its desolation would last only seventy years. Being that it was around the year 538 BC when
he came to understand this, it would mean that this period of seventy years was drawing to a close, and that
the time was approaching when God was going to act to fulfil his purposes concerning
the city.
When he realised this, Daniel didn’t simply
accept the fact of what the word of God said prophetically concerning Jerusalem
and then move on from it in his mind, effectively saying to himself that if God
had said he was going to do something, then he would just do it. No, he set himself specifically to seek the
face of God, and to pray that God would bring about and fulfil his purpose for
the city in fulfilment of this prophetic promise.
This illustrates a very important
principle regarding prayer and the prophetic words and promises of God. It is this, that the prophetic words and
promises of the word of God are not fulfilled automatically. They have to be prayed into being and
into practical fulfilment. In his
purposes and interactions with human situations, God does not work
independently of people. He seeks for
people that he can use in prayer and intercession to bring about the fulfilment
of his word.
How many times have we heard someone say
words like: If the word of God says such and such a thing, then why does he not
do it? We have all heard this, and, in
the ignorance of our spiritual immaturity, we have all probably said it at some
stage. I certainly have. However, this fails to understand that when
God works in human situations, he lays his purposes on people’s hearts and uses
them to pray these purposes into being.
It is not enough simply for the word of
God to say something. To see a
fulfilment of this word, someone has to do what Daniel did. They have to take this prophetic word or
promise back to God in prayer and seek his face for its fulfilment. The beauty of this is that as believers we
have the immense privilege of being drawn into a place of intimacy with God,
where we can pray and intercede before him until breakthrough comes and the word
of God is fulfilled in practice. In
working out his purposes, God delights to draw people into deep fellowship with
himself to co-opt them into these purposes, so that, through their prayers and
intercession (and their ministry too, of course) the fulfilment of the word of
God then comes about THROUGH THEM. This
is our great privilege!
It does not matter what the particular prophetic
purpose or promise of God is. The promise comes by faith; it is fulfilled
through prayer and faith on the part of believers (Rom. 4:16). And the corollary of this is also true: if we
are not prepared to approach a particular promise of God with an attitude of
faith (to take it up and pray it into being), then to all practical intents and
purposes, it might as well not be written in the word of God. It might as well just be a blank verse, or we might as
well take the proverbial pair of scissors and cut that promise out of the word of God and
throw it away. An attitude of unbelief
towards a promise of God (for whatever reason) disempowers it and renders it
sterile. God might as well never have said
it. The whole purpose of a promise of
God is for it to be proven in practice to be true, because it is an expression
of the veracity of God’s unchanging nature.
He gives us his promises because he fully intends to keep them.
Apart from Daniel, there are several other
examples of this principle in the Scriptures.
For example, when God revealed to Abraham what he was about to do to
Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham then interceded before God for these cities, and Lot and his family were saved (Gen.
18:16 - 19:29). When Ezekiel prophesied that
God’s people would return to the land, God also said that he would be enquired
of by the house of Israel to do this for them (Ezek. 36:37 AV). Jesus told his disciples that the fields were
white unto harvest, and therefore to pray for God to send out labourers into
the harvest (Matt. 9:35-38). As Andrew
Murray once pointed out, this implies that the number of workers sent out into
gospel work at any given time is directly proportional to the amount of effective
praying by God’s people which is being made to this end. If people do not pray, then the harvest
languishes and is simply not reaped.
If we as believers really did understand that the
prophetic purposes and promises of God are fulfilled through prayer and faith, that it is
only through the power of prayer and faith that they are fulfilled, and also that we can
indeed see God fulfilling his word in our life through faith, then our prayer
meetings would be consistently full. If we really did understand that God's promises are given to us in order that they might be fulfilled, then we would seek his face! Believers would look forward to prayer meetings, and we would not be able to keep them
away. They would give themselves to prayer,
and they would crowd into prayer meetings all the time. Our prayer meetings would be powerful
times! If believers really did believe that the
promises of God are all ‘Yes’ in Christ, then they would make prayer meetings a
major priority in their life, because they would know that their faith holds the key to
seeing God work. And they would know by
heart the promises of God’s word. They
would never let go of God, because they would know that his word is
trustworthy.
Furthermore, there would never be any
problem getting believers to spend devotional time with God. They would be excited to spend time with God
on their own, and they would come to him willingly and expectantly every
day. This would be their greatest joy in
everyday life. They would have an inner
fire and compulsion which would draw them aside to spend time with God. Their times with him would be consistent and long, if they
really understood and believed that their own praying would make a difference and
change things, and that God would indeed work through their prayers to fulfil
his purposes in people’s lives. Daniel
spent three times in prayer every day (Dan. 6:10). So did David (Ps. 55:17). Peter and John would go up to the temple
every day at the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1).
Paul prayed day and night (2 Tim. 1:3).
However, as things stand, too many
believers do not understand this. Prayer
meetings tend to be frequented only by a few, while too many others either willingly
or passively allow their time to be consumed by personal busyness, or
distracted and wasted away by social media, films, watching sport, or whatever
else. Their understanding of the principles
of spiritual life is too often merely shallow or superficial. So the promises of God remain
unfulfilled. Little or nothing moves or
changes in people’s lives, or in our churches, towns and cities. Darkness remains, and God’s kingdom does not
come. The unsaved stay unsaved. The sick and oppressed remain unhealed and in
bondage. We have not, because we ask not
(Jas. 4:2-3).
But the promises of God still stand. They have not changed. They are just as true today as they have
always been. And neither has God
changed, he is just as willing to answer prayer today as he has always
been. God’s promises are indeed ‘Yes’ in
Christ, and they are simply waiting for someone to take God at his word and
start believing them, so that s/he will turn to the Lord and plead with him for
their fulfilment, just as Daniel did.
In Daniel’s case, God’s answer to him came
quickly. He sent an angel to Daniel even
while he was still praying, and Daniel received further and deeper revelation about
the future of the city of Jerusalem, the very thing he was praying about. And his name went down in history as being a
person whom God used in prayer to bring about the restoration of this city
after the period of exile in Babylon was over.
In principle, it is no different with
us. God is a God who answers
prayer. Believers who discover the joy
and excitement of prayer and intercession behind the scenes, who believe the
promises of God and are prepared to embrace them and pray them into being, and
who commit themselves to growing in this as a lifestyle, are always people who
see many of God’s promises fulfilled in and through their life, and they often
get roped into particular purposes of God and see these worked out through them
as well. God is no respecter of persons;
he is simply looking for people who will believe his word. So there is no reason why this cannot be true
also of you, my friend. Take hold of the promises of God, stand on them by faith, and you too will have the joy and excitement of seeing God answer your prayers!
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