e-mail 09/29/06

Good Morning. It is very early here at my house. I have had a difficult time sleeping and the Lord has given me much time to think about something that He wants me to share with you from our family devotions last night.

Bro Gregg is so on target with what God is saying to Westside Baptist Church that it would be wise for us to make sure we are listening to every word. He has sensed an urgency that we become a praying church. Because of the terrible accident he had a few months ago, our church has come together and prayed more and the result has been that Bro Gregg is stronger in the Lord and we are stronger as a Church. God is at work in the midst of us.

As I was really trying to sleep this morning, God kept reminding me about Daniel and His prayer life. In Daniel 6:10, we know that Daniel had a daily habit of seeking God. He prayed diligently three times a day and the Scriptures tell us that he had done this since he was a child. This was not Daniel just blessing his meals but times when he sought God for direction for his life, for his friends, for his countrymen,for the nation, for everything.

When Daniel had a special need on his heart, he shared that need with his friends (Daniel 2:17) They would pray together and Jesus encouraged this. We all like to quote "Where two or three are gathered in my name, then will I hear from Heaven..."

But in Daniel 9:3-19 we find one of the most awesome and beautiful prayers that I have ever read. It is one we should spend more time reading slowly and out loud. We can read it and make it personal and I guarantee you that if you have a heart for God, it can bring you to tears. Maybe, some don't want to be brought to tears but tears can be cleansing. Tears are a good thing especially when there is sin in the soul and heart of mankind.

As Daniel knelt before God, he first made confession for himself and others. "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity. We have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments." Notice that Daniel did not waltz around sin, he confessed it up front. He did not call it a mistake or bad judgment. He called it sin, iniquity, wickedness and rebellion. Precepts and Judgments refer to God's law and will and God has not changed.

"Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets(the preacher), who spoke in Your name..." God's servants, pastors and preachers spend hours preparing the messages that God gives them each week and too often we want them to hurry up so we can get away from the church. Today, we force our preachers to be quick to get to the point so we can get on with whatever we want to do, but in Scripture, we find the servants of God, giving all that God gave them and the people stood to listen while we have cushy seats in air conditioned buildings and complain about time. "God forgive us for not loving to hear whatever and all that You have for us".

We also forget that the whole day of the Sabbath is suppose to be dedicated to the Lord, not just a couple of hours on Sunday morning. Somewhere, Satan influenced us that Sunday afternoons are family time - that is not scriptural! It was intended to be God time. The day, the whole day, that we have dedicated as the Sabbath belongs to God. If we can't be in church, we should still be with God and in His Word. Even on Sunday evenings!!!

I am very well aware that sometimes there are reasons that we cannot be in church. Health issues keep me from doing all I want to do but even that does not excuse me from using that time with God in prayer, meditation or studying His word. Our televisions have an "OFF" switch and my grandmother had "switches" in the yard when I was growing up that could keep the kids quiet so we could pray together. " God bless my grandmother for growing her own bush just for the switches."

V.7 says, "O Lord, righteousness belongs to You but to us, shame of face as it is this day....because we have sinned against You". V9,10 "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.

There is more in the 9th chapter that I encourage you to look at but hear the heart of Daniel as he is concluding the prayer in V.19: "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive!, O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for YOUR own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people, called by Your name"

While Daniel was speaking, praying, confessing sin and bringing needs before the Lord, Gabriel appeared to him and told him (v.23) "At the beginning of your supplications, the command went out". At the beginning of Daniel's prayer, God immediately sent the answer out to Daniel...before Daniel was finished, God told Gabriel to take care of it. But we are told also that Satan hindered Gabriel from getting the answer to him as quickly as it was sent out.

Gabriel also told Daniel that he had come to tell him that he (Daniel) was greatly beloved. WOW!!!! What did it take for Daniel to be greatly beloved by God? What made Daniel a special servant of God that our Heavenly Father trusted him with seeing and knowing what would happen in future days? Was it Daniel's commitment to serving God first and above all? Was it Daniel's prayer life that he had done since he was a child? Was it that Daniel spoke to God from a heart of absolute and total submission? Did Daniel know and understand that there were demonic spiritual forces at work in the world around him? I think it was all of these and more. Like King David, Daniel had a heart for God and he only wanted to be God's servant totally submissive and obedient while........

Sharing God's love,

Peggy