Daniel 9:18. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
Oh Friends, here comes another day filled with new blessings and mercies from our great and generous God! Unfortunately though, the blessing and mercies don’t all fall into our laps automatically, we also have to make an effort to acquire them. But sometimes that’s difficult because our spirits are awash in confusion, broken, or simply at a rather low ebb, our faith has hit rock-bottom, and in many cases we’ve lost hope. That brings me to a definition of Hope that I read in a devotional by Robert Schuller of the Hour of Power T.V programme. Dr. Schuller describes it thus: ‘Hope: It is a scientific experience of the presence of God operating in your personality. The presence of a God of LOVE coming into your mind, your spirit, your body, your personality. This is God. This is Hope.’ Dr. Schuller does have a way with words, but the essence of what he says is true. Hope is a non- physical experience of a LOVING God coming into our lives, which consequently raises the level of our faith and belief in Him. Why do you think Daniel prayed the long, gut-wrenching prayer for his people found in Chapter 9 eh? Because though the situation in Babylon for God’s chosen people looked bleak and helpless, the burning presence of Jehovah God in Daniel gave him hope, and thus boosted his faith. He knew that if God wanted to fix matters, He could, but it would undoubtedly involve some effort on his people’s part. First Daniel confessed the sins of his people, the reason why they were in captivity in Babylon. (Dan.9:4-14) Then he prayed for the negativity of God’s anger to cease against them: ‘O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from the city of Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.’ (Dan.9:16) Finally, he moves into a positive vein of prayer, which includes our Bit: ‘Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and (be gracious) cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary (the temple) that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do (listen and act); defer (delay) not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.’ (Dan.9:17-19) Oh Friends, what a powerful appeal to Almighty God! We desperately need the same sort of thing today because Jerusalem is till a mess, a veritable war zone, and God’s people are still being ill-treated and persecuted by the descendants of Babylon, mainly because of their faith in Almighty God. But I believe we need more than one person to offer up such heartfelt prayers. We need many men and women of great faith, with a close connection to God to cry out to Him for our sakes, because we’re possibly even in a worse situation that Israel was back then. The evil, spiritual world powers are relentlessly trying to eradicate Jehovah and His followers. Remember though Friends, we can do anything in Christ’s name, but we have to come to Him in hope and with great faith, otherwise nothing’s going to happen, Just look at how Daniel and some of the people persisted in being true to their faith. It wasn’t easy for them, but in God’s good time, He softened the hearts of the same kings of Babylon who had enslaved them and allowed them, under Ezra and Nehemiah, to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. That means Friends, if God can do it for them, He can also do it for us. But like them we have to repent of our sinful lifestyle and refrain from following the ungodly lusts of the world, which isn’t easy, but Daniel and his associates found a way by refusing to partake of Babylon’s food that was offered up to idols, and continuous worship of the God of their fathers, regardless of the persecution they faced. Likewise my brethren, each of us can find some way to stop buying in to Lucifer’s lust programme and stick with Jesus on the tried and true path. If enough of us do that for a lengthy period, our God will eventually relent and allow us to prosper again. As I keep saying Friends, following God is not rocket science, but simple common sense. Our fathers did it God’s way and prospered. But we, in our arrogant pride, decided to do it our own way, and just look at the disastrous results. The obvious solution is for us to turn back to God. It’s as simple as that my people. Much LOVE!…if your way isn’t working…then wake up and try God’s…
SCRIP-BITS 