swordwoman

Daniel's essential prayer was requesting God's mercy and for God's lovingkindness after confessing the sins of the nation and acknowledging responsibility for the them as an intercessor... I believe God is moved in mercy when we acknowledge our sin and are sorry in asking forgiveness. Daniel based his grounds on God's past way of delivering His people up and out of Egypt...and God's nature of righteousness and justice. By sending Gabriel to "discuss" the matter with Daniel...telling him he was greatly loved and giving him understanding of the vision given to Daniel by God.

He identifies himself because he realizes he must take ownership of the sins of the nation simply because he belongs to that nation. Jesus sought forgiveness for His people because He came to earth as a man even though He was the Son of God...He took ownership of our sins as the Great Intercessor...bringing salvation for all by faith in Him. Daniel also was an intercessor for his nation, but did not take on the sins of his people, he simply acted as an intercessor and brought them before God. Daniel is the image of a righteous man...Jesus is image of the Lord our Righteousness.

His demeanor was one of humility...and praise of his God. He prepares by putting on sackcloth and fasting...he confessed his sins and the sins of the people to cleanse hearts before communing with a Holy God. We can prepare by coming to God in humility thanking Him for the forgiveness of sin by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross and in thanksgiving and praise present our requests to God. Essentially, following the Word in Philippians 4:4-9. Thank you Jesus!

He believed that God would hear and answer his prayers. He knew God's Word on the matter...and he trusted Him in faith.

Last little bits of "self" trying to control...flesh...pure flesh still trying to die to self. Years ago, I prayed: Lord, show me who I am...and then prayed the verses in Psalm 51 asking for Him to create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me...restore to me the joy of my salvation...and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me...also the verses where surely You desire truth in the inward parts and wisdom in the inmost places. Believe me, it has been a real journey getting to where I am today...but oh so worth every moment. I am free...and clean...walking in the righteousness of Christ. I believe to be a true disciple you would need to pray this type of prayer to bring yourself into total surrender. The only way to be...totally surrendered...true freedom.

There are no "accidents"...He's been "in" it from the beginning...and that in and of itself is encouraging to know. A young woman and young father-to-be may not feel so "alone" in this grand endeavor...God is there to help...! It simply is just too big to fathom...our little minds can't contain it all...

With loving protection... Yes...His hand has been on me always...and ultimately, I know He does all things out of His great love for me...no matter what it "feels" like. He's good...and doesn't just do good things...He is good...!

Not too long ago, God gave me a revelation that there are essentially three kinds of people in the world today: Those who run AWAY from God...those who RUN AROUND God...and those who run TO God. For many years, I was one who ran away from God because the enemy had me in bondage to fear...being terrified of God...literally paralyzed in fear, but not the healthy fear of the Lord...it was distorted and kept me from a right relationship. Jesus has set me free, and I no longer have that unhealthy distorted concept of God. I pray for a healthy fear of the Lord and for a hatred of sin...between those two prayers...God hears and believe me...He delivers...!!! I think people imagine that God doesn't know what they do because of shame and guilt...they don't want Him to know, but somehow realize that He does...the age old conflict...Romans 7 come alive... Have I ever felt that way...? What do you think? Answer: Yes....but no more... He is loving and merciful...knows it all anyway...like David said: Where can I flee from your presence? Even the darkness is as light to Him. Give it up...He's everywhere.

His integrity before the Lord. God honors our motivation to be holy. God cannot bless disobedience...although His word states that He will have mercy on whom He has mercy and compassion on whom He has compassion. He is sovereign and can and will do anything He wants to whomever He wants. That my brothers and sisters is mercy and grace.

To enable healing to flow from Hezekiah as leader to the people...to keep the people from being unprotected. He knew the importance of them having Godly leadership. Hezekiah knew the promises of God and he knew that God promised a king who would lead in a manner favorable to the Lord..despite his lack of having an heir.

Both prayers exalt God as the true and living God and His sovereignty above all. Also, it verifies his "residence"... Important to faith because it shows the relationship -- He's God...we're not. He is Father..we are child. God wants us to be dependent upon Him. He's the Dad, we're the child...He'll take care of it...whatever "it" is.

I believe the significane is that Hezekiah was "coming clean" with the Lord and wanted Him to know "what he knew.." Underlying principle is complete honesty. How can we apply the principle: Be Honest. When we don't apply the principle, then our prayers and impeded, and God needs to deal with our dishonesty before Him before our "issues."

The answer to all the questions above boil down to one word: revelation. When you get the revelation that all you have is from God and belongs to God...including people and things...then you can't really do anything else but praise Him and share all you have with all whom you know. None of it belongs to you ...and you know it.

Praise lifts up God higher than ourselves. We should (need to) exalt God because He is the Creator. He is God...we are not! This exaltation puts us in our "proper place." I says that we are the children and He's our Dad.

We were created to worship...God has given us freedom through worship... As mere humans, we have the choice to worship...I believe it blesses God when we choose to worship and praise Him. Those would be self-centered prayers and do not have God as the focus.

A broken and contrite heart is a heart that openly confesses its sin before a Holy God. Pride has been shattered and the broken and contrite heart lays bare before the eyes of God. No more hiding. It is essential in our prayer for pardon because it requires absolute honesty. It is a "sacrifice" because our sinful nature continues to rear up and it requires us to beat it down and call it dead. Personally, I have found the broken and contrite heart before the Lord to be the only place to live. I recognize that my sin is ever before me and therefore I cling to the cross. Not that I beat myself up over past offenses, but recognizing that I am a human being, prone to sin, and need to be mindful of the things of the Spirit and humble myself before God asking Him to keep me straight up. Being broken was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Yes, I believe it is possible to have a pure heart. God does it by cleansing us with the blood of Jesus. Our part is to confess and repent of our sins on a daily basis...the peace of God is our governor and the Holy Spirit is faithful to point out where we need to "come clean" before God.

Abraham was persistently praying coming to God with "changes and modifications" to his original request. He engaged the Lord in a dialogue and continued until he saw an answer...it was a model of praying through and is something that is sometimes necessary, especially in crisis situations. Yes...I have experienced "praying through" many times. My typical "pattern" (without being legalistic, mind you!) is upon the "situation," I ask the Lord for His Word....He is faithful to give me His Word ...usually is it several verses and one in particular or a passage of scripture that I stand on and pray through until the situation changes or is resolved. If the situation changes, I continue to pray and seek the Lord through His Word continuing to "dialogue" with Him for "steps to take" until resolution comes. Once the resolution has arrived...then I seek God for a closing Word and praise Him throughout for His goodness and grace and mercy. He is forever faithful and true. That is my "persistence" before Him...

Yes, I do think Abraham's boldness pleased God...and the reason I believe so is that it showed Abraham's confidence in his relationship with God. He walked with God and his faith was considered righteousness...therefore, I believe Abraham's love for God and God's love for him was the basis for his boldness. I believe a cause for God to take delight in my prayers to Him are based in my absolute dependency upon Him...even to pray...for often I do not know where to start or what to say...praise Him for the Holy Spirit who helps me in my time of need and for Jesus who is my constant intercessor...!

He recognized that he was but dust and ashes...in other words, Abraham knew God was God and he was a mere man. We can be bold before the Lord from our place of position (in Christ) before Him, tempered with humility because we know that we are nothing without Christ and certainly nothing on our own before a holy God. The boldness comes into play when we obey God's Word wherein it states to come boldly and confidently before the throne of Grace...this boldness comes when we remind God of His promises and declare His Word as Truth...not in arrogance, but in humility knowing that God will do whatever He has said...when He acts, no one can reverse it.

The basis of Abraham's argument is that he already knew God's character is one of mercy and justice for righteous requirements of God to be fulfilled. In other words, Abraham implored God to have mercy on the righteous who were in the midst of the wicked...for His name's sake...because God is righteous. God is merciful. God is just. Essentially, it is the same today...we, who are believers, intercede for the unrighteous who know not God, asking Him to display His mercy on them...and receiving His mercy for ourselves. There truly isn't anything new under the sun.

I believe our prayers can change God's mind as to "how" something comes about...but He will not contradict His Word. His ultimate sovereignty will prevail, but we just "get there quicker" when praying His Word and His Will be done. The enemy wants to rob, kill, and destroy...God wants His children to live the abundant life. It doesn't mean "everything on earth" is perfect, it just means He is with us in the person of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to bring peace in every circumstance and that is abundant life in itself. Can God answer a prayer for something outside the scope of His will? Only in that He will say "No." If the issue is persistent sin and rebellion, I believe God will intervene in love to bring repentance. This is why I believe it is necessary to relinquish your will to God at the "get go." Be an Isaac...it is truly the only way. I am grateful that God has heard my ultimate prayer of "not my will, Father, but yours be done," even in the midst of "wanting things to be different (my way)," I know that His way is ultimately the only and best way. Now I actually pray that He kills every ungodly desire in me...get rid of it...any way He desires.

A wrong understanding of determinism and predestination promotes apathy and ultimately a "lazy" relationship with God, if any relationship at all. I call a belief that our prayers make no difference to God's response "unbelief." People who don't communicate with God are out of fellowship with Him -- and if they think it doesn't matter whether they pray or not, then that would take free will completely out of the picture. Fact of the matter, we all have a free will to choose Christ...and enter into the rest. Essentially, I believe God desires a relationship with His children, just like we (as parents) desire a relationship with our children. If I had a child that did not interact with me, talk to me about their dreams, fears, struggles, life in general, I would know there was something drastically wrong with the relationship and do everything I could to reveal my love to them. I believe God does this with His children. There are those who simply choose not to...and I believe God knows who those people are -- however, I also believe He will continue to love as that is who He is...and 'ya can't change 'dat...

The aspects of Moses' prayer that we should emulate is his confidence in the character of God. In essence, Moses appealed to God based on the promises of God -- His Word -- as he (Moses) knew it. Praying the promises of God to me means that for as much as I know the Word, I mirror back to the Lord His Word to me in my circumstances. Whenever I am "hit" from the world, I first go to the Lord and ask Him for "a word"...sometimes He just gives me a verse, other times, He gives me several verses to stand on, walk through, and "maneuver" through the situation. I find myself focusing on His Word and not whatever is going on. I do this for others in intercession and watch God work it all out according to His good purposes. Knowing the Word gives the Holy Spirit "something to work with." God anoints action...and I believe our prayers can be action packed with His Holy Word.