Daniel 9: 3-6;13
“(3) And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: (4) And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful 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 thy precepts and from thy judgments: (6) Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land...(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 thy truth.”
Daniel was a prayer warrior and he set aside three specific times a day to go before the Lord in prayer. Notice these seven points Daniel exemplifies as an intercessor after he learned about the desolation of Jerusalem and the 70 years of captivity awaiting the Israelites:
He immediately went before God in prayer.
He expressed humility before the Lord.
He recognized God’s greatness, mercy, and justice.
He petitioned God to remember His Word.
He confessed Israel’s lack of authority regarding God’s representatives.
He realized if there were true repentance, then God would restore Israel again.
He understood that truth relies upon humility and repentance towards the Almighty.
We learn from Daniel's example, in verse 3, that when we recognize unmet needs in our lives and others, we should turn and ask God to help. Yet we also learn that there truly is something more important at stake than our needs being attended to and met by Him. As Matthew 6:33 states, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…”. When we become more interested in His program and purpose in the earth; His kingdom; His government, then provisions will come in ways one couldn’t have imagined.
Daniel also comes before the Lord in verse 4 recognizing his "great and dreadful God" and simultaneously has confidence rooted in God's character, namely his covenant faithfulness, love, and mercy. Jesus, in the New Testament, taught His disciples, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” (Mt. 6:9). This is paramount. In other words, is non-negotiable. It is not merely liturgy or a magical potion for successful prayer. This is the divine-order based on Scripture and must become our personal experience in Christ. We are to recognize His supremacy in our prayers. But this does not strip us of our boldness. It gives us true confidence because it is not in flesh and human accomplishment. Rather, this confidence comes through what Christ has done, according to the demands of the Almighty, Eternal Father (Heb. 10:35-36). When we, as born-again believer’s, place faith in Calvary we participate in and with Christ and what He has accomplished for the Church. Thus, we come before his throne with deep reverence and unwavering confidence.
Lastly, just as Daniel, in verse 5, makes confession and repents to God we have a similar example in King David. When David sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, his family, and Israel he declared: “Against thee (God), thee only, have I sinned...” (Ps. 51:4). The first person that must be addressed in any omission, rebellion or transgression is to the Lord God. As a prayer warrior, we have the opportunity to mediate and intervene upon the chaos of Earth’s realm because of the victory at Calvary. We as intercessors must understand and rightly prioritize this principle: recognize the Almighty before all else.
Ultimately when we seek the Lord first and foremost, intercession becomes a joy, a privilege, and a relatively light-burden because we know and trust that the weight of the results of our requests lies upon the shoulders of our Eternal Father.