TOPIC: TURNING TO THE LORD IN PRAYER & FASTING
TEXT: Daniel 9:3-14(NKJV)
- 9:3. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
- 9:4. 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, and with those who keep His commandments,
- 9:5. “we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.
- 9:6. “Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.
- 9:7. “O Lord, righteousness [belongs] to You, but to us shame of face, as [it is] this day — to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
- 9:8. “O Lord, to us [belongs] shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.
- 9:9. “To the Lord our God [belong] mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.
- 9:10. “We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.
- 9:11. “Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.
- 9:12. “And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
- 9:13. “As [it is] written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.
- 9:14. “Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God [is] righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.
STUDY:
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the 40-day Lenten season. It is a very important Church season that reminds believers in Christ, how Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights in preparation for his earthly ministry (Matt.4:1-2). In our text, we saw how Daniel sought the Lord in prayer, supplication, fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
This was because he discovered through the study of the word of God, that the desolation (captivity) of Jerusalem would last seventy years. He also found out that they had completed the prophesied number of years. Daniel then prayed and fasted for the Lord to fulfil his promise of release from captivity, made through Jeremiah, the Prophet.
Daniel in praying for the nation of Israel, included himself with the entire people, who had transgressed the conditions of the covenant they had with God. Fasting is a very important spiritual exercise.
Jesus taught that some levels of spiritual forces cannot go out except by prayer and fasting (Matt. 17:21). Fasting unlocks the doors of blessings and deals with satanic forces that hinder breakthroughs. It is important however, that fasting should not be done to seek the praise of men (Matt. 6:16-18).
Fasting should be supported by a life of humility, prayer, righteousness and sound knowledge of God’s word (Isa. 58:3-10). As we enter this year’s Lenten season, let us turn to the Lord in prayers and fasting.
PRAYER:
Ask for grace and strength to fast and pray regularly as part of your Christian life.
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