Powerful Prayers (Daniel 9:20–23)

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.
– Daniel 9:20–23

This passage is amazing. Just let it soak in. There’s a ton we could talk about here that we don’t have time to address. But this picture of Daniel praying to God, confessing his sins, other’s sins, presenting his plea for mercy before the Lord, “my God, for the holy hill of my God”. What a picture!

Daniel 9:20–23 shows the unseen power of prayer.

This is Daniel just communing with God. And as he’s praying, an angel comes and tells him, “When you began pleading for mercy”… Not just on this day, but this goes back, there’s a lot more happening here in Daniel 9… “A word went out”… And that’s what I want to just focus on for our time to pray together today. When we pray, things happen in the heavenly realm that we can’t see that affect what happens in the world, in the physical realm.

Don’t underestimate what is happening when you are communing with God. You are joining in spiritual battle with a spiritual weapon, prayer. Your prayers of praise, of repentance, of confession of sin, your prayers of petition and intercession in your life, for others’ lives, for what’s happening around the world. They are affecting things in the world. This is the way God has designed prayer, that there is spiritual battle between spiritual forces of good and evil, all under the sovereignty of God, that our prayers involve us in.

And so when you pray, don’t just do so casually as if what you’re saying really doesn’t matter or you’re just kind of speaking words into the air or up to the ceiling. No, you are communing with God, and he will act in response to your prayers. This is mind-boggling, but this is how God has sovereignly designed prayer. And when we pray, we are engaging in spiritual battle.

Daniel 9:20–23 pictures a God who draws near to those who call on him.

So let’s do it right now. God, holy, holy, holy. God over all. The Lord our God, we pray to you. We seek you. We praise you. Lord, we declare before you that you alone are holy, that there are no other gods but you. And you are worthy of all worship in our lives. You’re worthy of all our worship. You’re worthy of worship among all peoples in all the earth. Hallowed be your name, oh God, in all the earth we pray. Cause your name to be hallowed in the earth and in our lives today. We pray for this.

We pray for spiritual victory over sin and temptation. God, we pray for spiritual sustenance amidst suffering and challenges as we walk through different burdens, concerns, even fears on our hearts. God, we lay those before you. And we praise you for your promise in Psalm 55, that you’ll sustain us and strengthen us. We pray for your spiritual sustenance and strength all day long.

This verse encourages us to stand in the gap for others through prayer.

God, we pray for this over others. We pray for victory over sin and temptation in others’ lives. We pray for holiness in our lives and others’ lives. God, we pray that you would help others who are walking through struggles in their faith, that we know God, we pray that you would help them sustain them. Just like you promised again in Psalm 56, you will not let them be moved. You will uphold them, Psalm 37. We pray that in spiritual battle for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We pray this for people around us who don’t know you. God, we pray for the spiritual battle that’s happening in their hearts, that you would open their eyes to the love of Jesus for them. Lord, that you would give us boldness, spiritual boldness to share the gospel today, that we might lead others to life in Jesus. God, we pray for their salvation. We engage right now in spiritual battle for the salvation of friends of ours and family members of ours, and God for the nations.

Prayer for the Solanki Rajput People

We pray for the Solanki Rajput people right now. For 350,000 Hindu men, women, and children, and this part of India. God, we pray that the Solanki Rajput people would hear the gospel and be saved. We pray that disciples would be made, churches planted and multiplied among the Solanki Rajput people. Hear our cries for them and send the Word out. God, cause, we pray, the gospel to spread to them. Use our prayers right now as a means in your sovereign hands to bring about salvation among this people group. Oh God, we praise you for the privilege of prayer. Pray that you’d help us to steward this privilege to engage in spiritual battle all day long, as you have called and invited us, and commanded us to. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.