Daniel 9:20-27
20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill—21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:
24 “Seventy ‘sevens’[c] are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish[d]transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.[e]
25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,[f] the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.[g] The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’[h] In the middle of the ‘seven’[i] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple[j] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.[k]”[l]
23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.
One of the things I find most astounding about my faith is that prayer works. That God, who is the infinite creator of the universe, all powerful, all knowing and all good, would listen to me and respond to my prayers. I wonder if we really knew the power of prayer, whether it would transform our lives.
Daniel is faced with a terrible situation and awful consequences, so he starts to pray. While he is in prayer, an angel speaks to him and tells his that he is highly esteemed in heaven. When we connect with God he reminds us how precious that we are to him and how loved. The angel then says that as a result of Daniel's prayers that God would offer mercy and that the punishment would be cut short for all of his nation.
If we learn nothing else from Daniel it was the power of prayer to him. He was willing to die rather than to stop praying. His prayers moved Heaven and transformed earth. Every success that he saw was rooted in prayer. His prayers were exceptionally humble and honoured God. Let's learn to pray a bit more like Daniel.
