“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
(James 5:16)
IV – DAVID PRAYED WITH CONTRITION - “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”(Psalm 51:1).
Contrition – complete sorrow for sin.
“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:18).
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 51:17).
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy [place], with him also [that is] of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15).
LESSONS:
1. God wants a broken and contrite heart. You can never please God by outward actions – no matter how good – if your inward heart attitude is not right.
2. God sometimes has to “break our heart” in order to bring a person to true repentance. People wouldn’t change until God broke their hearts with humiliation, pain, suffering, and defeat.
3. Praying with contrition is asking God to forgive us and turning from our sinful ways.
4. When we confess our sins, we must also make a commitment to change our behaviour. A person planning to return to that sin is not sincere in his confession.
5. True repentance has a double aspect; it looks upon things past with a weeping eye, and upon the future with a watchful eye.
Illustration: “Give God Your Sins”
A hermit once, having renounce the world and lost all things, yet found no peace. It seemed to him in his lonely cell that the Lord was asking something more. “But I have given you EVERYTHING!” cried the hermit. “ALL but one thing” answered the Lord. “What is it, Lord? “YOUR SINS.”
V – ELIJAH PRAYED WITH CONFIDENCE - “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” (James 5:17-18). Confidence – trust in someone or something freedom from doubt.
LESSONS:
1. Self sufficiency is an enemy when it cause us to believe we can always do what needs to be done in our own strength. We must recognize the danger of fighting in our own strength. We can only be confident of victory if we put our confidence in God and not ourselves.
2. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” (Psalm 46:1-3). Even in the face of destruction, God is our refuge. He is not merely a temporary retreat; He is our ETERNAL refuge and can provide strength even in the face of global destruction.
3. "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12).
“I was persuaded in the past and remain so now.”
Poem: “AN EYE THAT NEVER SLEEPS”
There is an eye that never sleeps,
Beneath the wing of night,
There is an ear that never shuts,
When sink the beams of light;
There is an arm that never tires,
When human strength gives way;
There is a love that never fails,
When earthly loves decay.
An hour in prayer can give the believer enough power from God to overcome the second most powerful force in the universe.
VI – DANIEL PRAYED WITH COURAGE - “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.” (Daniel 6:1-11).
His windows being open...”“kneeled”“and prayed before his God.”
Daniel 6:10 should be read in conjunction with Matthew 6:6. “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (Matthew 6:6). Daniel tells us about PRIVATE PRAYER:
A. Daniel “WENT HOME” to pray.- “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Daniel 6:10).
“He went into his house.”There were no temples in Babylon, except heathen temples, but Daniel had a “sacred place” within his own home where he frequently withdrew in order to have fellowship in prayer with God.
LESSONS:
1. Daniel had a disciplined prayer life.
2. Our prayers are usually interrupted not by threats, but simply by the pressure of our schedules.
3. We should pray regularly no matter what.
B. Daniel kept his windows OPEN – “TOWARD JERUSALEM”.
“ Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Daniel 6:10). “His windows being open his chamber toward Jerusalem”.
Note the words: “Toward Jerusalem.” “Toward Jerusalem” means “GODWARD.”
LESSONS:
1. It is said that the sweetest side of any fruit or vegetable is the side which grows toward the sun.
2. “The household shall be preserved and never shall decay, where the Almighty God is worshipped day by day.
3. So often our souls are open only MAN-WARD, and in consequence we get bogged down with the problems and the perplexities of life, and we tend to forget the great God whom we love, whom we worship, and who is on the throne.
C. Daniel “GOT DOWN ON HIS KNEES” to pray.
“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Daniel 6:10). “he kneeled upon his knees”
Kneeling indicates humility, reverence, and submission. When we pray the bodily posture is not the important thing. We can pray walking or standing while we are working or while we are resting in bed, but the attitude of our hearts when we pray should be that of kneeling.
“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13).
D. Daniel prayed “THREE TIMES A DAY” - “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Daniel 6:10).
“ Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:17).
Daniel’s life must have been filled with the affairs of the state from morning till night, with official matters as well as with social and domestic duties. No man had a more valid excuse for not giving much time to prayer, and yet Daniel prayed regularly three times a day. For Daniel “PRAYER” was not SUPPLEMENTAL something added on after everything else had been seen to. Daniel’s prayer was FUNDAMENTAL, a priority in his life.
(From Rev. Pastor Teofilito A. Rufon's Sunday Worship Messages).
Contrition – complete sorrow for sin.
“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:18).
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 51:17).
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy [place], with him also [that is] of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15).
LESSONS:
1. God wants a broken and contrite heart. You can never please God by outward actions – no matter how good – if your inward heart attitude is not right.
2. God sometimes has to “break our heart” in order to bring a person to true repentance. People wouldn’t change until God broke their hearts with humiliation, pain, suffering, and defeat.
3. Praying with contrition is asking God to forgive us and turning from our sinful ways.
4. When we confess our sins, we must also make a commitment to change our behaviour. A person planning to return to that sin is not sincere in his confession.
5. True repentance has a double aspect; it looks upon things past with a weeping eye, and upon the future with a watchful eye.
Illustration: “Give God Your Sins”
A hermit once, having renounce the world and lost all things, yet found no peace. It seemed to him in his lonely cell that the Lord was asking something more. “But I have given you EVERYTHING!” cried the hermit. “ALL but one thing” answered the Lord. “What is it, Lord? “YOUR SINS.”
V – ELIJAH PRAYED WITH CONFIDENCE - “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” (James 5:17-18). Confidence – trust in someone or something freedom from doubt.
LESSONS:
1. Self sufficiency is an enemy when it cause us to believe we can always do what needs to be done in our own strength. We must recognize the danger of fighting in our own strength. We can only be confident of victory if we put our confidence in God and not ourselves.
2. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” (Psalm 46:1-3). Even in the face of destruction, God is our refuge. He is not merely a temporary retreat; He is our ETERNAL refuge and can provide strength even in the face of global destruction.
3. "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12).
“I was persuaded in the past and remain so now.”
Poem: “AN EYE THAT NEVER SLEEPS”
There is an eye that never sleeps,
Beneath the wing of night,
There is an ear that never shuts,
When sink the beams of light;
There is an arm that never tires,
When human strength gives way;
There is a love that never fails,
When earthly loves decay.
An hour in prayer can give the believer enough power from God to overcome the second most powerful force in the universe.
VI – DANIEL PRAYED WITH COURAGE - “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.” (Daniel 6:1-11).
His windows being open...”“kneeled”“and prayed before his God.”
Daniel 6:10 should be read in conjunction with Matthew 6:6. “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (Matthew 6:6). Daniel tells us about PRIVATE PRAYER:
A. Daniel “WENT HOME” to pray.- “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Daniel 6:10).
“He went into his house.”There were no temples in Babylon, except heathen temples, but Daniel had a “sacred place” within his own home where he frequently withdrew in order to have fellowship in prayer with God.
LESSONS:
1. Daniel had a disciplined prayer life.
2. Our prayers are usually interrupted not by threats, but simply by the pressure of our schedules.
3. We should pray regularly no matter what.
B. Daniel kept his windows OPEN – “TOWARD JERUSALEM”.
“ Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Daniel 6:10). “His windows being open his chamber toward Jerusalem”.
Note the words: “Toward Jerusalem.” “Toward Jerusalem” means “GODWARD.”
LESSONS:
1. It is said that the sweetest side of any fruit or vegetable is the side which grows toward the sun.
2. “The household shall be preserved and never shall decay, where the Almighty God is worshipped day by day.
3. So often our souls are open only MAN-WARD, and in consequence we get bogged down with the problems and the perplexities of life, and we tend to forget the great God whom we love, whom we worship, and who is on the throne.
C. Daniel “GOT DOWN ON HIS KNEES” to pray.
“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Daniel 6:10). “he kneeled upon his knees”
Kneeling indicates humility, reverence, and submission. When we pray the bodily posture is not the important thing. We can pray walking or standing while we are working or while we are resting in bed, but the attitude of our hearts when we pray should be that of kneeling.
“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13).
D. Daniel prayed “THREE TIMES A DAY” - “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Daniel 6:10).
“ Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:17).
Daniel’s life must have been filled with the affairs of the state from morning till night, with official matters as well as with social and domestic duties. No man had a more valid excuse for not giving much time to prayer, and yet Daniel prayed regularly three times a day. For Daniel “PRAYER” was not SUPPLEMENTAL something added on after everything else had been seen to. Daniel’s prayer was FUNDAMENTAL, a priority in his life.
(From Rev. Pastor Teofilito A. Rufon's Sunday Worship Messages).
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