I usually get my guidance for the day in the early morning. On the morning of July 25,2018, I was lying in bed in my usual receptive mode waiting on the Lord, when He brought this scripture to my mind. –
If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. – II Chronicles 7:14
Then the Holy Spirit said, “This is the prayer, Daniel’s prayer.” I knew which prayer He was referring to. I grabbed my Bible and flipped through the pages stopping in Daniel. Without my realizing it, I had stopped at the exact place where the prayer was located in Daniel chapter nine.
In this chapter, Daniel had read Jeremiah’s prophecy that the captivity would last seventy years. Daniel then realized that they had been in captivity for seventy years and were at their time of release. This prompted Daniel to pray the prayer that is recorded in verses four though nineteen. It is a prayer of repentance for the people, and a plea for God’s mercy and forgiveness.
I read the prayer again, and this thought came into my mind, “What if the Israelites had prayed this prayer of repentance before the captivity? Would it have happened?”
Today, the powers that be are gradually engineering us toward World War Three or some other cataclysmic event that will advance their agenda toward a one world government as revealed in the Book of Revelation. This is the beast of Revelation chapter thirteen. This is not a conspiracy theory, it is Bible prophecy. The beast rises out of the sea, and is hidden, forming beneath the surface of those waters. Waters, as we are shown in Rev.17:15 represent “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” Because it remains hidden beneath the surface, it remains unobservable for many years before it can be fully operational and obviously visible upon the world’s stage.
So what does all this mean in relation to Daniel’s prayer? I believe that the Lord is directing those who can hear, to pray this prayer of repentance now on behalf of the church and the nation of Israel that is still unaware of the spiritual and physical warfare we are facing. It is recorded in the prophecy of Zechariah chapter 14, that Israel will go into another captivity before the Lord returns. Therefore this prayer has special significance for her at this time.
The prophecy of the beast will be fulfilled eventually, but it can be delayed or held off.
In Revelation’s chapter ten, we see the apostle John as a representative of the church, being commissioned to preach the Gospel. He is given his instructions by an angel who is standing with one foot on the sea, and one foot on the land. We see that the beast system arises from the sea and the antichrist arises from the land in Rev. 13, verses one and eleven. I believe the symbolism of the positioning of the angel’s feet shows us that the emergence of these two beasts are capped until the church’s assignment is completed. Thus we are being directed to pray Daniel’s prayer for God’s mercy so He will hold back the “captivity,” the great tribulation for a time and thwart the evil that is trying to bring it to pass.
Daniel was right with God and the Lord used him to intercede on behalf of all the people. Likewise, sincere disciples of Jesus, His bride, I believe, is being called to this ministry of prayer. Even though the circumstances are different, Daniel prayed this prayer at the end of their captivity, I believe God wants us to pray Daniel’s prayer before our tribulation. Christians are saved by grace and are no longer under the curse of the law, but according to God’s word He rewards those who are obedient to His word and chastens those who need correction.
Let’s put ourselves in this prayer as Israel, His church, and pray it now together. -
4 O Lord, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments;
5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and from Your judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened to Your servants the prophets, which spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O LORD, righteousness belongs to You, but to us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries where You have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against You.
8 O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against You.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.
11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, even by departing, that they might not obey Your voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him.
12 And he has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand Your truth.
14 Therefore has the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all His works which He does: for we obeyed not His voice.
15 And now, O Lord our God, that has brought Your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has gotten You renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O LORD, according to all Your righteousness, I beseech thee, let Your anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
18 O my God, incline Your ear, and hear; open Your eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name: for we do not present our supplications before You for our righteousnesses, but for Your great mercies.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for Your own sake, O my God: for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.
God’s will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.
Copyright 2018 by H. D. Shively
Video version. Please share with your church. -
If My People
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