If you’re like me, you often find yourself struggling to trust other people. Someone promises something, but deep within, you wonder if you can believe their promise.

Why?

We’ve been stabbed in the back by a close friend; a spouse cheated on you, a parent lied, again and again, you’ve watched an addict friend or family member say over and over, “this is the last time.”

In fact, the idea of choosing to trust anything or anyone seems like one of the worst decisions we could make. It opens us up to all kinds of hurt.

That is what makes prayer so hard for us, at least for me.

We think God has to be the same way.

We wonder, will God keep his promise? Will God hear me?

If prayer doesn’t get answered, we think God isn’t listening; God is holding out on us (because someone held out on you before), God isn’t listening because He’s disappointed in you (because someone in authority once said they were disgusted by you or disappointed in you).

Why does this matter?

What if one change, one change in how we see God and ourselves is the key to changing our prayer lives.

When it comes to prayer and trusting in God, we bring all of our hurt and baggage along with us.

We bring our past hurt, past sin, past messages and that is the lens we look at God through and often, that is the lens through which we pray.

As I’ve been preaching through the book of Daniel, it’s important to remember the theme: In spite of present appearances, no matter how things look, God is in control.

Before getting to how Daniel prays (because Daniel is a man of prayer), we need to understand where prayer begins. 

It starts with the promises of God.

In Daniel 9:2 were told: In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.

That promise found in Jeremiah 29:10 – 14: For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you…

Daniel’s prayer starts from reading the promises of God found in the word of God.

Daniel is saying, “God you promised to rescue us after 70 years.” You promised to move.

Promises like this one and others like God promising to heal, promising not to leave us or forsake us, promising to provide for us, when we pray, we go to God with his promises.

God’s promises are the fuel for our prayers.

Prayer starts with the promises of God and those promises fuel our prayers.

One author said, “It is as if God’s promises have Velcro on them and our prayers are meant to ‘get stuck’ there.”

That is such a great way to think of prayer because we often feel like we’re talking to ourselves or think our prayers simply leave our mouth, hit the ceiling above us and drop back down.

But they don’t.

Let me make one last point on using Scripture in prayer; often when I talk with people who are struggling in their relationship with God, seeing prayer answered, hearing the voice of God, finding freedom from sin, they are often spending very little time reading God’s word.

To grow in your prayer life, you have to marry it to God’s word.

Because…it will show us our need and what we need to pray for.

What I find interesting (at least compared to my prayer life and most people’s), Daniel’s prayer starts in verse 4 with confession, not a request.

This is important because for many of us begin our prayers with what we want from God.

Our prayers sound like a shopping list. God if you could do this, provide this, make this happen.

Now, I want to be clear, that is part of praying, but many of us make that the only part of our prayer life and wonder why it stalls out.

Throughout scripture, an important part of prayer is the confession of sin.

God responds to Daniel by sending the angel Gabriel.

Now, here’s what you’re thinking, if God sent me an angel, I’d believe in Him more. I’d have more faith.

Here’s the funny thing, first, no you wouldn’t. You would wonder what you ate.

We have more access to God than Daniel did because of Jesus and God’s word and yet, Daniel exhibits more faith than we often have.

What is important about Daniel 9 is how God responds to Daniel.

God doesn’t start by telling Daniel what to do, how he failed, how he did something well, he doesn’t give him an assignment.

What does Gabriel tell Daniel in verse 23?

“You are greatly loved.”

I want us to stop here.

Being loved by God, This is the space we pray from.

Many times we believe that God is disappointed in us, yet there isn’t a verse that says. There are hundreds that say you are loved.

If you are a Christian, you are praying to your heavenly father who loves you, who is pleased with you. A father who gives good gifts to his children. A father who disciplines yes, but because he loves you. We sheepishly come to God because we aren’t sure we belong, we aren’t sure he loves, he cares, yet he does. Notice, before Gabriel tells Daniel what God wants him to know or do, he says, you are loved.

The word “deeply loved” in Hebrew translates as preciousness.

Let me ask you if you believed this, do you think it would transform your faith? Your prayer life? If you believed God was for you instead of against you, would that change things? If you believed God loved you and was not disappointed in you, what does that change? If you believed God would never leave you or forsake you instead of thinking he’ll leave you the first chance he gets, what does that change.

Those are promises of God.

Often, people look to Daniel 9 to show us when Jesus will return or what the millennium looks like. For some help on that, check out Sam Storms great book Kingdom Come. 

I think we see those things in Daniel 9, but we have to look at those through the lens of prayer and answered prayer.

The 70 weeks in Daniel 9 represent the full picture of God’s redemption: the end of sin; atone for sin, everlasting righteousness, and a holy place. That holy place is the everlasting presence of God, full rest, and full redemption.

Gabriel is telling Daniel and us: one day, all prayers will be answered. One day, all things will be redeemed.