The story of
Daniel is a story of faithfulness and of God’s care for a faithful Daniel. Daniel was particularly known for his life of
prayer. His opponents tried to use that
to trip him up, but his confidence in God paid off. Daniel’s story serves as a reminder that our
engagement with God through prayer works.
In Daniel chapter 9, verses 15 to 19, we have an account of Daniel
praying for his people. The most famous
pattern prayer is the Lord’s Prayer, taught by Jesus to his disciples. However, here is another prayer that models
how to pray.
In his
commentary on Daniel[1], Doug Ingram comments on
this: “Daniel’s prayer provides a wonderful model for us to draw on. It starts
by praising God, making specific reference to how the Lord is portrayed in the
scriptures. It then offers heartfelt confession, again drawing on scripture and
noting specific ways in which the people have sinned. Next it reflects on the particular
situation that has called forth the prayer, relating this too to the
scriptures. And finally it turns to petition—and these are no feeble, tentative
requests, but fullblooded, confident pleadings which, in clear and unambiguous
language, call on God to hear, forgive, listen and act quickly, and all for the
sake of God’s good name!”
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