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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Prayer should be prominent. How prominent is prayer? I'm not going to ask you how prominent it is in your life. That's what we're dealing with internally right now, as the Spirit of God is speaking.
But can I just throw something out at you? The average computer User. And probably most of us are computer users. The average computer user in this country spends 49 minutes per day managing emails. A little frightening, isn't it?
49 minutes per day. managing emails. How much time does the average Christian spend managing Nemales. Prayers. Do we spend 49 minutes a day praying?
I don't. I'd love to. I aspire to.
Sometimes I get to. The average Christian spends How much time every day do you think? That many minutes. Three minutes per day. Three to four minutes per day, the statistics tell us.
So, George Barna will say that four out of five Americans pray regularly. Christians pray three minutes per day.
Now, allow me, permit me to suggest something that can help cure that. That brings us to our second point. Prayer not only should be prominent, prayer should be prompted by something. Verse 2. In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by the books.
The number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. His prayer was prompted by his reading of the Word of God. Daniel's been reading his Bible. The New English translations puts it this way: I was reading the scriptures and reflecting.
So apparently Apparently, the Jews, especially Daniel, had in his possession the scrolls of the Torah. And the prophets, when they left Jerusalem and went into captivity in Babylon. And he was an intelligent man. He could read, so he was reading through. He made it evidently his practice to read through the scrolls of.
The Old Testament. And as he's reading, as he's studying, as he we would say having his devotions, his quiet time.
Something catches his attention. And it catches his attention enough for him to stop. and pray about what he just read.
So now it's not a monologue, it's a conversation. God is speaking to him, and he speaks something back to God. Prayer was prompted by that. One of the best books I have ever read on prayer, Bar None, is a book simply called Answers to Prayer. Not flashy.
Put out but A century and a half ago, by a guy named George Mueller.
Some of you will recognize his name. George Mueller was a pastor, but more than that, he ran an orphanage called the Ashley Down Orphanage in Bristol, England. Tens of thousands of little children were there and he educated them and fed them for years. He was a man of prayer, and his book, Answers to Prayer, is a classic. An absolute classic.
Let me share a paragraph. It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth the benefit of which I have not lost for more than 14 years. The point is this. I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how I might serve the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state.
and how my inner man might be nourished. And so I saw the most important thing I had to do was give myself to the reading of the Word of God. Not to prayer. but to the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the word, so that it only passes through my mind like water runs through a pipe.
but considering what I read, pondering over it, applying it to my heart. to meditate on it. That thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus, by means of the Word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart might be brought into communion. with the Lord.
He said, prayer is most effective. After the inner man has been nourished by the meditation, of the Word of God. And he said this. I sought the will of God only in concert with the Word of God, for the will of God is never contrary to Scripture. You get a secret?
His prayers to God were prompted by the word of God. to his heart.
So it became a conversation. It's a good one.
Now, wouldn't you like to know exactly what passage of scripture Daniel was meditating on this for his quiet time to get this prayer? Would you like to know? We actually do know. It says he was reading through the prophet Jeremiah. He was reading the books of Jeremiah, and he understood.
70 years. God said 70 years. Listen to this. It's 538 BC. He was taken captive at 605 BC.
It's 67 years of the 70. Time's almost up. He's reading that and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, God said 70 years? Time's almost up. I'm going to set this aside now and I'm going to pray about that.
So There's two places in Jeremiah, chapter 25 and chapter 29, that speak about the exact 70-year timeframe. That he's referring to. I'm not going to read them both, but I'm going to read to you Jeremiah 29, beginning in verse 10, a very famous portion of scripture, actually, some of which you know, but listen to it this way.
Now picture Daniel. He's reading the scroll. For thus says the Lord, after seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good work toward you. and cause you to return to this place, Jerusalem. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord.
thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future. And a hope. It's amazing how we rip that verse from its context. The context of that glorious promise to give you a future and a hope was all about the Babylonian captivity for 70 years, but at the end of that, he would bring them back to fulfill his good purpose. And so here's Daniel in 538 BC going, We got three years.
And we're going back. And so he prayed. His prayer was prompted. By what he read. Actually, there's a couple fascinating things I don't want you to miss.
First of all, Daniel believed in a literal interpretation of Bible prophecy. Literal. It wasn't figurative, it wasn't allegorical, it was literal. It said 70 years. To Daniel, 70 years meant what?
Seventy years. They weren't 70 allegorical, mystical, perhaps years meaning something else. 70 years meant 70 literal years. Just like when the Bible talks about 144,000 Jews in the book of Revelation, it means that and nothing else. He believed in the literal interpretation of prophecy.
Daniel realized he was on the very threshold of fulfilled prophecy. Why is that important?
Well, because there are people who say: if you study Bible prophecy like what you guys are doing Sunday mornings at Calvary. You're going to get really distracted from the present. You know, it's not really good to talk about the future so much. It distracts you from the present. One preacher actually said, I never preach on prophecy because it distracts people from their present responsibilities.
Another preacher said, well, then there's a lot of distractions in the Bible. Because God speaks about the future a lot and his coming kingdom a lot. What I want you to see. Is that it did not distract Daniel. It motivated Daniel in the present tense to pray to his God very powerfully.
Second thing to note is that Daniel's prayer was driven by What he read.
Now, I say this because for those of you whose prayer life has gotten a little bit dusty, a little bit rusty, you're in that three to four minute crowd. This is good for you. This could freshen your prayer life up a bit. Letting what you say to God be prompted by what God says to you in His Word. I have another little book, and I'm not here to sell books.
I didn't write them, so I guess I can talk about them. It's a book called Drawing Near by Ken Boa. And he has taken the prayers of Scripture, prayers of confession, prayers of worship, prayers of intercession, and categorized them for days of the month. And I found it very helpful to pray scriptural promises back to God. To get prompted by what I'm reading in those prayers, they're so inspiring.
It's very helpful in my prayer relationship to God.
So here's the principle. The prayer that God accepts is the prayer that God directs. Say that out loud. The prayer that God accepts is the prayer that God directs. This is why when um George Whitfield would read his Bible.
He would read his Bible every day. This is practice. He'd get on his knees. and have his Bible open. and read his Bible on his knees.
So that when he came to something that he felt the Lord was speaking to his heart, he'd use that to prompt his communication back to God. It was a two-way communication, it wasn't a monologue, it was a dialogue. God is speaking to me, I am speaking to him. That's a relationship. with a person.
Now, listen, according to Jesus Christ. You and I have all of the authority. to draw checks from the Bank of Heaven, the Power Bank of Heaven. If you ask anything in my name, Jesus said, I'll do it, right? But To make a withdrawal, it has to conform to heavenly policy.
The only way you and I are going to know what heavenly policy is Is by what's written in God's Word, what He has revealed.
So when you read the sure promises or the warnings, those become promptings to you to have a dialogue. with God. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before today's message continues, there's a special offer for your family this Christmas. Hey, this is Nate Heitzig.
And if you're like me, one of the best parts of the Christmas season is gathering your kids to share the story of Jesus in a way that makes it come alive. That's why I wrote Christmas Under the Tree. A beautifully illustrated book and companion audio experience for families of all ages. My hope is that this story helps you and your kids connect the cradle to the cross and treasure the true meaning of Christmas for years to come. Christmas under the tree is yours when you give a gift of $25 or more to help more people discover God's word through Connect with Skiff Heitzig.
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Now, let's get back to today's teaching.
Now you might ask yourself a very basic question. At least I hope you do this from time to time. If God made a promise in Jeremiah that the captivity would last seventy years, Why does Daniel need to pray about that? It's going to happen. Why didn't Daniel read that and go, oh, cool, it's going to happen.
Give me a rocking chair, I'll just watch. Why did he enter into this lengthy prayer?
Well couple reasons. Prayer is really a cooperation. It's an aligning of my will with God's will. It's like God made this promise. I want to be a part of this.
I want to enter into cooperating with you. And God invites us in to do that. Here's another example. The book of Revelation is about the coming of Jesus Christ. We know he's coming.
But how does John end the book? With a prayer. Even so, Come quickly, Lord Jesus. He enters into the purpose of God through prayer. Here's the second reason.
Yeah. As Daniel prayed about what he read God said would happen. God gives him further insight, further revelation, by giving him the Daniel 70 weeks prophecy toward the end.
So How hungry are you? How much do you want? How much of the Lord do you want? How much is all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength? To Daniel, it was everything.
and God gave him more revelation. Prayer should be prominent. Prayer should be prompted. Finally, and we close with this: prayer should be passionate. Verse 3.
Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth. and ashes. That's pretty intense. And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession and said, O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him. With those who keep his commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, done wickedly, rebelled, even by departing from your precepts.
And your judgments.
Now listen, Daniel. was engaged Physically And emotionally, did you notice that? Physically, it says fasting. Sackcloth. Ashes, that's a physical gesture.
Emotionally by prayers. and supplications. Supplic what's a supplication? It's kind of a weird word. When was the last time you and I supplicated It sort of sounds like a medical treatment, right?
This is going to take four weeks of supplication to get this right. A supplication is a prayer, but it's a little stronger than just a prayer or an asking for something. It involves a level of intensity, even strong crying. It just sort of automatically includes an emotion. With it.
It's more than this. Oh God, I just want to come before you. It's just more than that. That's not a supplication. I don't know what that is.
It sort of dies before it gets out of the room, but A supplication is a strong, authentic... From my heart. pleading with the Lord. You say, well, is that even New Testament? Because you're just quoting the Old Testament, James chapter 5.
The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man avails much. Fervent effectual are two English words to translate a single Greek word, energeo, where we get the term energetic from. Let your prayers be with power, with energy, with feeling, with emotion, with reality. It's a simple way of saying genuine passion in prayer can be very effective. Pray with energy.
Now, I want you to see that this is actually a biblical principle, not only in the Old Testament book of Daniel and others, not only in James, but listen to what Jesus said: He's given a parable on prayer. He's teaching on prayer. And he says, Which of you, having a friend, if you need bread and you went to your friend at midnight and you said, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. And your friend said, Look, it's midnight. I'm at home with my wife and kids in bed.
I can't get up and give you bread. Yet, because of your persistence. Your friend will get up and give you the bread you want. Jesus said, therefore ask. And it will be given to you.
Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives. And in the original language, it's a continual. Whoever continues to ask, continues to seek, continues to knock, because he's teaching on persistence in prayer.
So, Jesus is inviting you in your prayer life to be a little more. Passionate. Not just to mumble off things, but to be passionate. and authentic and genuine inner communication. Did you know that all throughout the scripture, when it comes to prayer and worship, There's a lot said about how to do it with our bodies and our emotions.
Now I'm speaking to a Western audience. And Western audiences are known for being pretty dry. And the whiter we are, the drier we are. And you want to get really dry, you go to England, and it's like dead meat.
So I know that we're kind of like used to listening to things and not getting all emotional about it, but you know the Bible talks about praying, raising your hands. And I got to tell you, the first time I saw people raising their hands in church, I thought they were all nuts. They were goofy. I thought, that's so weird. What is this?
One of my antennas are up. Then I read the Bible. And Paul wrote to Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 2. I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger. or disputing.
Don't get mad about it. Don't argue about it. Just do it. That's what he says.
Now what really is this about? If you're wondering, what is this about? I come into church, people do this. What's that about? Raising hands denotes a couple things.
It's a welcome sign. You shake your hand, you put your hand out to welcome somebody. Do you go like this to somebody? Hi. Because you're Nobody wants to be around you if you're like that.
You put your hand out, you'll welcome them. One of the things I love about my grandson when he sees me, you know what he does? He doesn't do this, he does this. That's what he does. He does this.
He said, like, pick me up. I want to hang with you. He's not worshiping me. He's not praise you, Papa. It's a welcome sign.
Raising your hands welcomes God in. Don't be afraid to do this. Unless you're not welcoming to God. It means something else. When you raise your hands, it's a sign of surrender.
Surrender. You can't text like this. You do enough of that in your car. You can't text like this. You're all in, you're surrendered, it's like in the old movies.
Come out with your hands up. Why? Because you can't do anything. But that When your hands are up.
So when Paul said, I want you to worship with your hands up. It's because I want you to be welcoming to the Lord. and completely surrendered to your prayer and worship. The Bible speaks about kneeling. The Bible speaks about lifting up your eyes toward heaven.
Jesus even spoke about somebody praying, beating their breast in contrition, and God received that. Interestingly, There's one activity the Bible says nothing about, and that's closing your eyes. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not one of God's top five. Not one of God's commands. It's sort of a Western tradition we've accumulated.
Why do we think that love for God and worship of the most worthy thing in the universe must be carefully contained? But I don't want to get too emotional. Prayer should be passionate. Hey, let me have you walk away with three quick little principles. I've given you kind of three main points.
I want to sum up all that we've talked about with three takeaway points. These are points you need to write down, or you'll lose them. Number one, live intentionally. Live intentionally. Here's what I mean by that.
It would be good for us as believers. to make spiritual decisions about the rest of our lives. What are our spiritual goals? How will I live intentionally after today? I went to a sporting goods store and I saw these plaques over these.
pieces of clothing they were trying to sell and they were plaques of local athletes. Giving their goals. My goal in one year, two years, five years, lifetime, personally. Professionally, and I looked at that, and it just sort of dawned on me: how many of us believers live that? intentionally.
Number two, read. carefully. This Bible we have, I hope you own one first of all. And it's good if you carry it with you. And when you read it, read it carefully.
Mull over what it says. What is the text telling me about God, about myself, about my goals, about the world, others? Is there a command I'm reading to follow? Is there a warning I need to listen to? Is there a promise I need to?
grab a hold of or an activity to do.
So, live intentionally, read carefully. Finally, Pray relationally. Relationally, you're talking to a person. Not Wilson. A person.
Never allow your prayers to degenerate into just mouthing words, mindless. Thoughtless, same old, lead, guide, bless. Mm-hmm. Freshen it up a bit. When uh I was young, I was taught to pray.
And I was taught to memorize my prayers. Anyone ever do that? You grew up in the same tradition? I memorized a lot of prayers, I knew a lot of prayers. Because I memorize them, you know what it let me do?
You know what I could do while I was praying? Anything. I could do just about anything while I was praying. I knew him that well, which meant I was disengaged from talking to God, actually. I want you to reevaluate your relationship to God.
Is he your all? In all. Let's do that before the Lord. Father, we close the service. with that evaluation.
We think about that simple command, but so profound to love you with all of our heart. mind, soul, strength. We know that part of that means that we're going to want to relationally hear from you and speak to you. And that means maybe changing things up a bit. to freshen things up a bit.
Allow that. For our spiritual growth, And for your sovereign glory, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skiff Heidzig. Before you go, don't miss your chance to request Christmas Under the Tree, the beautifully illustrated book and audio experience by Nate Heitzig that helps your family see the Christmas story with fresh wonder and excitement.
It's yours for your gift of $25 or more to help reach more people with biblical teaching through Connect with Skip. Call 800-922-1888 or go to connectwithskip.com slash offer. And don't forget to sign up for the free weekly devotional for encouragement from Pastor Skip right in your inbox. Thanks for spending time with us today and we'll see you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzing. Make a connection!
Make a connection at the foot. Of the crossing. Castle burning.
So Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
