Praying Prophecy

Read: Daniel 9:1-17

I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the LORD, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. Daniel 9:2

IN WORD

Daniel, among the exiles in Babylon, read the words of Jeremiah given some seventy years earlier. He could have responded with confidence that God was going to fulfill His promise and just waited. He could have told everyone to pack their bags because the time to return to Jerusalem had come. What did Daniel do instead? He prayed. He didn’t assume a unilateral fulfillment of the promise. He understood that God’s promises almost always require faith on the part of the recipient before they are accomplished. Daniel knew God wasn’t going to deliver until repentance was complete.

So Daniel began to pray intensely, pouring his heart out to God that the promise might be fulfilled. He took the Word literally and begged its completion. Though God’s integrity is never in doubt, His promises to human beings are often conditional. The chosen people began with the faith of Abraham, and faith had always determined the difference between blessing and curse. If the promise was to be fulfilled, someone was going to have to believe it.

Daniel stepped up. It weighed on his heart to think of God watching over His Word while the people of God ignored it. He was moved to pray with passion and zeal.

IN DEED

Is that your normal response to God’s promises? When God has said He is going to do something, He’s prompting His people to look for it, giving them a treasure map and waiting to see who will believe it. Prophecy is more than information to have; it’s information to act on.

It is never inappropriate to ask God to do what He has promised to do. It’s no coincidence that Simeon and Anna were praying at the Temple for the Messiah when the infant Jesus was brought to that same Temple. And it’s no coincidence whenever God pours His Spirit out on the earth according to His Word. What promise do you want to see Him fulfill?

ADDITIONAL READING: 2 Corinthians 1:20

The purposes of God are His concealed promises; the promises, His revealed purposes.

PHILIP HENRY