Week 13: Day 1
When something goes wrong is your first thought to pray or to panic? Join Josh as he unpacks Daniel 9 with us.
In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favour of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.
Intro: What’s up everyone?! Welcome to Orbit, a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life from the team behind Satellites. My name is Josh Green from 24-7 Prayer. Every weekday, the guys from Satellites have got some amazing people in to share a little bit of the Bible with you, give you a chance to pray and think about it, and provide you with one practical way to put it into practice today. Today it’s my turn!
Bible: Today we’re continuing looking at the book of Daniel. Daniel 9:2 says, “During the first year of his reign, 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 is referring here to Jeremiah 25:11-12 & 29:10). God told Daniel that Jerusalem would lie desolate (which in Hebrew means a place of waste & destruction) for 70 years. What a word to receive from God!
Daniel follows this by praying. Daniel 9:3 says, “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.”
God came to Daniel, so Daniel went to God. “He loved us first” (1 John 4:19)
Daniel realised, through prayer, that part of the issue for everything going on was that the people forgot to seek God.
Daniel 9:13 says, “Yet we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognising his truth”
Thoughts: God is full of mercy, but the people had turned away from God who is mercy and now are experiencing a life without the mercy of God. It’s full of desolation and destruction. Jesus says in John 10:10 that “the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come to bring you, life and life in all its fullness.”
Elsewhere it says in the Bible, in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I have set before you life and death…now choose life.”
What we see here in Daniel is not a God who wants to cause destruction and devastation but a God who longs for us to call on His name, like Daniel did, and receive God’s mercy and His love. To receive the full life that Jesus promised.
But here’s the thing, choosing life, following the God who is full of love and mercy, is about a daily relationship with God.
What you cultivate determines what you carry. This is something we learn about the life of Daniel. He isn’t just praying a one-time prayer to God because everything’s gone wrong. The Bible tells us that Daniel prayed to God at least 3 times a day, “as was his custom”. Daniel had a custom and a daily discipline.
Jesus also had a custom of regular prayer. If He did then who are we to not also follow this way? Because of Daniel’s daily custom of prayer Daniel knew who to turn to in crisis. Because He had cultivated such a relationship with God, He knew God could rescue them.
In these past years we’ve been living with Covid and all sorts of other difficult events taking place. I believe this whole time that God has been looking for people who will turn to Him. We’ve all been brought to our knees… and as the dust settles and pandemics begin to come to an end, we realise that here on our knees is where we should’ve been all along.
Often, when we reach rock bottom, we realise the bedrock of our faith, where God is all we need.
I want to encourage you today that God loves you so much and He longs to hear from you and hear what your struggles are. He longs to embrace you and carry you on His shoulders, like He carried the Cross, and be with you through every moment.
Prayer: Let’s pray. Why not repeat this prayer with me?
Jesus, thank you for always being with me. Thank you that even when I’m faithless, you’re faithful. Help me to spend time with you each day. Give me the strength I need to choose you above everything. I cast my cares on You and I receive your care for me. In Jesus name, Amen
Challenge: Every day on Orbit we give you a simple practical challenge to help you put this passage into action in your life. Here's today's:
This is called the daily prayer challenge. There are 4 easy steps to help you pray
Step 1 – put your phone on airplane mode before bed – top tip – your phone charges quicker if you do this and won’t use up much battery overnight
Step 2 – set an alarm for 10 minutes earlier than you normally wake up
Step 3 – don’t turn airplane mode off until you’ve spent 5 minutes reading the Bible and then pray into anything that stuck out to you in the Bible. Why not start with the book of Mark?
Step 4 – When you pray, use the acronym P. R. A. Y. Pause, Rejoice, Ask, Yes. Start by PAUSING and thinking about God, then REJOICE by thanking God for all the good things in your life, then ASK God for anything you need for the day, finish by saying Yes to God and yes to His purpose for your life.
Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining us - I'll be back with another reflection tomorrow.