A MAN TREASURED BY GOD - PART 4

"Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for Your own sake, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name." Daniel 9:19

Why was Daniel called "a man treasured by God"? Having already established that his prayer life was a key to this, let me point up the final and most important aspect of his prayer life that made him so special: Daniel's praying was God-centered and Kingdom-focused. This is abundantly clear in the verse above, as Daniel is concluding his prayer beseeching the Lord to fulfill His promise to restore the Jews to their ancient homeland. Daniel is concerned, not just about himself and his people, but also about the Lord's interests in this matter. "For Your own sake...because Your city and Your people are called by Your name." Daniel's praying is God-centered.

By contrast, much of the praying we do today is man-centered and need-focused. It concerns our interests -- our needs -- our desires. God should do this or that because of how it will affect us. "Heal me because I'm in pain. Meet my financial need so I won't suffer lack. Help our marriage so we can be a happy couple." Seldom do we pray about a matter from God's perspective, and for His sake. It's mostly for our sake.

Please don't misunderstand. I am not saying that we shouldn't pray about our personal problems and needs. On the contrary, in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus instructed us to pray, "Give us this day, our daily bread..." Instead of worrying about our problems, we are to lay them before our Father in confident prayer (Matthew 6:25-34). In fact, Jesus urged that we persist in praying until our needs are met: "Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching and you will find. Keep knocking and the door will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7-11).

BUT, Jesus also taught us to pray FIRST about God's kingdom interests, before we pray about our personal needs: "Therefore you should pray like this: 'Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven...[Then pray] ...Give us this day our daily bread...'" (Matthew 6:9-11).

Again, don't misunderstand. This is not a cumbersome "formula" to be followed at all times. Obviously if we are in crisis, we should just cry out to God for help. If a pit bull is attacking me, I'm not going to work through some religious protocol. I'm going to scream, "Jesus, help me!"

But what about other times, when our needs are not so urgent? And even when praying for our needs, shouldn't we consider them from God's perspective? Why not pray, "Father, heal me because my healing will bring honor to You. Your Son bore the stripes for my healing -- do it for His sake." Regardless of the issue, when we pray from God's perspective, our praying will be more faith-filled, and therefore, more powerful.

God-centered and Kingdom-focused praying is biblical praying. We see it all over the Word. Jesus said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God...and all these things will be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). In other words, we should pray first about God's kingdom interests, while also trusting Him to take care of our personal interests. When the Apostles were arrested and threatened by the religious authorities, as soon as they were released, they gathered the church for a prayer meeting. What did they pray for? Relief from persecution? Protection for themselves? No. "And Now Lord, consider their threats, and grant Your that servants may speak Your message with complete boldness, while you stretch forth Your hand to heal and perfome miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus" (Acts 4:29-31). That's God-centered and kingdom-focused praying and it is powerful! Read the prayers of Paul in his epistles and pray them, inserting your name and the names of your dear ones. You will find yourself praying some powerful, God-centered prayers -- prayers that get results.

Not long ago the Lord laid it on my heart to create a little booklet that contains seven prayer topics -- one for each day of the week. Each topic is a matter dear to the heart of God. In the booklet each topic has several bullet points (I call them "prayer prompts") as well as scriptures that pertain to that particular topic. The booklet is titled "Come Boldly", and is available free of charge to anyone who requests it. It is a great tool to prompt us toward God-centered, Kindgom-focused praying. I commend it to you for your praying in 2011.