The chief and most blessed part of my work is to ask and receive from my Father what I can bring to others.
A life abiding in Christ and filled with the Spirit, a life entirely given up as a branch for the work of the vine, has the power to claim these promises and to pray “effective prayer that availeth much” Lord teach us to pray.
from The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer by Andrew Murray.
| Daniel 9:3 | Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. |
| Daniel 9:13 | “”As [it is] written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth |
| Daniel 9:17 | “Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. |
| Daniel 9:21 | yes, while I [was] speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. |
Its great to just look at the verses related to prayer in the Old testament book of Daniel.
As we come to read the Bible, which is God’s Word, allow our spirit, our human spirit join with God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit in wonderful fellowship.
John 4:23 “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
Here we have one of five passages in the Bible on the new covenant.
Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Notice the phrase “cause you to walk in My statutes” Surely God wants us to pray, and here God helps us to pray.
Matthew 21:21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” 23 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”
Again the Lord Jesus emphasis is on speaking (say to this mountain, ask in prayer) and faith (believing). Notice the action verbs “say”, “ask”, and “believing”. There is always action in prayer, but not some outward doing, but just faith and speaking.
Matthew 21:13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ “ What a contrast we see here, we need some business to make money, but this place, God’s house, is for prayer and touching God.
Matthew 17: 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Notice the relationship between speaking and prayer.
Acts 16:13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Its seems that pray always works on God’s timetable. We have our schedule, and God has His schedule. In this verse in Acts, prayer had been going on some time, look at the phrase “where prayer was customarily made“.
At the God moment, the God time, God acts and prayer is answered. Trying to change God’s clock does not seem to work. Just waiting for God does work.