Daniel’s testimony is the best kind of testimony that anyone can have: He started young with the Lord and grew old serving Him faithfully. We love to hear dramatic testimonies -- the drug addict, the alcoholic whose life is transformed. But testimonies to God’s keeping power, like Daniel's, are the best of all.

Illustration:

When returning home from a meeting the great evangelist Dwight L. Moody was asked by his wife if anyone was saved. To which he replied, “Yes, we had 2 ½ people saved.”
“Oh, so two adults and one child came forward.”
“No, two children and one adult.”

But Daniel remained true to God. One main reason was that, from an early age, he knew the value of prayer and knew how to pray effectively.¹ As we look at this prayer in Daniel 9:1-19 let’s see if we can discover some Essentials For Effective Prayer.

Daniel 9:1-19 (NKJV)
¹ In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans-- ²in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 
³Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, ⁵we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. ⁶Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. ⁷O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day--to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. 
⁸"O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. ¹⁰We 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. ¹¹Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. ¹²And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. 
¹³"As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. ¹⁴Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. ¹⁵And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day--we have sinned, we have done wickedly! 
¹⁶"O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. ¹⁷Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. ¹⁸O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. ¹⁹O 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 are called by Your name." 
(AMP) | (NIV) | (NLT) | (KJV) | (NASB)

We are told that Daniel was reading Jeremiah (probably chapters 25 and 29)  in which the prophet prophecies that the Babylonia Captivity will be 70 years long. At this point Daniel had been in Babylon 68 years. Being reminded of these prophecies moved him to prayer.

God had spoken directly to him through angels; but he still felt the need and had the desire to read and study God’s Word. If you are serious about your relationship with God, you will take the study of the Bible seriously as well.

Chapter 9 is in the same time frame as chapter 6 and we see in the first few verses of that chapter (Dan. 6:1-3, NKJV) that Daniel was a very busy man. He was one of three people that had oversight of 120 government officials; and Darius was planning to promote him to be second in Babylon, overseeing the kingdom. But Daniel did not let his position or his busy-ness keep him from studying God’s Word. And, as he studied, he was prompted to pray.

Do you want to bring life to your prayer life? Begin to let the Word of God determine what you pray about.

Illustration:

George Mueller (1805-1898) quote: “The first and primary business everyday is to get my soul happy in the Lord reading and meditating on God’s Word. Prayer is most effective after the soul has been nourished by the Word of God.”

³“Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes."

When difficult times had come, Daniel had always turned to God in prayer. Now the prospects of the return of the Jews to Israel, with the restoration of the Temple and the city in view, he turns to God as well.

My first reaction was, Daniel, what difference can you make? God will either do this or He won’t. But then I see that “set my face” also means to “align with God’s will."

Prayer is not 1-800-CLAIM IT. Daniel understood that the purpose of prayer is not to get my will done in heaven but to get God’s will done on earth.

Can it be said that prayer is a pursuit of your life?

Illustration: 

A young boy came upon an old man praying by the river. ”Teach me to pray.” The old man grabbed him and stuck his head under water and held it there for a while. “When you long to pray like you longed to breathe, then I can teach you to pray.”

Daniel knew that God had allowed Israel to go into Babylonian captivity because of Israel’s sinfulness and disobedience. He knew that God’s promises were conditional on the obedience of His people. Knowing this, he was moved to intercession for Israel.

Daniel also knew that there had been four different phases of the Babylonian Captivity. He had been part of the first group taken into captivity. He knew that the end of the 70 year period would depend on the starting point that God used, which could be as much as an 18 year difference. He determined to ask God to use the first phase as the starting point so that the people could return to Israel sooner.

We read in James 5:16 (NKJV) that the “effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.‘ Jesus tells a parable in Luke 11:1-13  (NKJV) to teach about prayer: the persistent neighbor: Sometimes God requires that we show that we mean business.

IV. DANIEL’S PRAISE IN PRAYER

⁴And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, ...

Notice that he also addresses God as a Covenant God. Our first reaction might be that Daniel is trying to claim so special privilege to which God is bound.

But then we read, “…a God who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments…”. Daniel is telling God, “I know that this Babylonian Captivity is not your fault. If Israel had loved you as they should and kept Your commandments, this would not have happened." 

Later in the prayer Daniel even praises God for His judgment of Israel: ”You had to do it, God - to maintain Your integrity - You had to do it. No fault can be laid at your feet.”

When we come to God in prayer, isn’t it amazing how many times we, either blatantly or subtlety, try to blame God. It’s a trick of satan that causes us to be ineffective in our prayers. Don’t waste your energy and breath. There may be things you don’t understand; but you can be sure of God’s character and no fault can ever be laid at His feet.

V. DANIEL’S PLAINNESS IN PRAYER
Daniel does not whitewash Israel’s sin or mince words.

 ⁵we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. ⁶Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.

⁸"O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. ¹⁰We 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. ¹¹Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.

Daniel also says that shame belongs to Israel. Sometimes, shame is a good thing. There are some things that should cause shame!

What a contrast to us today!
Instead of sin, we made a mistake; we messed up; we were weak.
We don’t have any problem praying for “them” but don’t include us.
We do everything we can to do away with shame.
Everybody’s a victim - not really responsible. It’s somebody's or society’s fault.

The Bible tells us in Psalm 66:18 (NKJV) that unconfessed sin is a barrier to prayer: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. "

Illustration:

There is the story of a preacher in a Scottish prayer meeting who got up and started one of his long-winded prayers. Finally a dear old lady pulled his coattail and said, “Parson, call Him ‘Father’ and ask Him for something.” We need more plainness in prayer.

¹⁶"O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. ¹⁷Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 

Why do we need to ask? Doesn’t God already know what we need? Yes, He knows; but He wants you to know that you know what you need or desire.

God has ordained it that way and instructed us to ask. It’s not “We want Your will God - whatever that is." But rather, after having established that our dependence is upon God and it is His will that we desire, we ask - as a child asks his father. We then trust Him to answer according to His will and in our best interest.

VII. DANIEL’S PRIORITY IN PRAYER

¹⁸O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. ¹⁹O 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 are called by Your name." 

Daniel knew that God’s judgment was just; but he didn’t want it to last any longer than necessary. 
"As Israel is restored ...
As the Temple is restored ...
So, too, will the nations have respect for you, God."

This was not manipulation! This was holy motivation. The thing that pained Daniel the most about the Babylonian Captivity was that God’s cause had been damaged.

Daniel doesn’t claim any basis on which Israel deserved God to act. He just asks for God to act out of mercy: ”I don’t ask because we deserve it. I ask because I know that You are a God of mercy.”

In fact, the Bible says that there is one prayer that must be prayed before any of these Essentials of Effective Prayer kick in.

It is the Prayer of Repentance.
God always hears this prayer.

I don’t know how far away from God you are this morning; but I do know that you are only one step from getting back to Him. Won’t you turn around and take that step today?

Notes:
¹ Daniel was a man of the Word and a man of prayer. We need balance between the two:
  Knowledge for knowledge’s sake puffs up - 1 Cor. 8:1 (NKJV) but ...
  Zeal without knowledge is useless - Romans 10:2 (NKJV)