Teaching Series
Resilience
Daniel 9

Series: Resilience
Message: Hope
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira

Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 19:1-6.

Read:  Daniel 9 - As you read in the NLT translation, note 1-3 insights/questions that arise. 

Reflect: Sharon Pace in her commentary (p.290) shares these seven summary headings of the prayer:

  1. Praise God, with citation of God’s covenantal fidelity vs. sin of the people, with citation of the people’s lack of covenantal fidelity (vv. 4b-6)
  2. Righteousness of God vs. shame of the people—both past and present (vv.7-8)
  3. God’s mercy vs. people’s disobedience (vv. 9-11a)
  4. Confession conclusion: “curse and oath of the covenant” (punishment) (vv.11b-14)
  5. Praise of the God of the exodus vs. admission of sin (v.15)
  6. Recollection of God’s righteous acts, and request for God to turn away anger from Jerusalem and Zion [“your holy mountain”] vs. the sin of present and past communities (v.16)
  7. Supplication conclusion: Pleas for God to accept the petitioner’s prayer, for the sanctuary and city and for forgiveness (vv. 17-19). 

In his commentary, God Cares, p. 200, C. Melvyn Maxwell adds six great insights into the prayer of Daniel: 

  1. He prayed very much in earnest. 
  2. He depended on God’s righteousness, not his own. 
  3. He used the Bible. 
  4. He confessed his own sins and the sins of his group. 
  5. He sought the glory of God and of His sanctuary. 
  6. He claimed God’s promises. 

Most commentaries and even the cross references in the Bible margins show that this prayer came from huge references throughout the First Testament.

Recalibrate: 

  1. What was your favorite prayer, when you were a child or early in your faith journey?
  2. What have you found makes your prayer life grow?

Respond: Pray for insight.

Research:  Compare the powerful prayer of Nehemiah 1 with Daniel 9. Explore different prayer methods and practices. 

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