From His Heart

Larry Nobles: Our poster child for prayer is Daniel. Daniel is probably one of the most righteous, godly men to have ever lived. A man of conviction, a man of courage, a man of prayer, and in Daniel chapter nine, he shows us what it looks like when we return to God in prayer.

If you ever study how revivals start, you'll learn that they've been preceded in history by one common denominator. The revival always came after people started to cry out to God in brokenness, humility, and repentance, and with fervent prayer. Sadly, when it comes to the discipline of prayer, most Christians aren't very disciplined.

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve. Thanks for joining us today as we look to what it takes to return to God in prayer. That's the title of today's fourth message in the series Soul on Fire: God's Plan for Revival. And it's a convicting message from Pastor Jeff where we'll learn afresh what a privilege we have as Christians to call on the Lord in prayer. To listen to any programs you may have missed or to get a copy yourself, go to fromhisheart.org. Open your Bible if you can and let's begin returning to God in prayer. Here again is Pastor Jeff.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Now if we're going to see God do a fresh work in our hearts, in our homes, in our marriages, in our families, in our community, a work in this nation, it's not going to come about unless we pray. Matthew Henry, the great Christian from yesteryear, said this: "When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is to set them to praying."

If you'll study revivals that have taken place over the centuries, you'll find one common denominator. The revival did not come until the people started to pray. Started to cry out to God in brokenness, in humility, in repentance, and in fervent prayer. Sadly, prayer is one of the things that most Christians don't do very well in. It's one of those Christian disciplines and Christian practices that many of us are just lacking.

I've told you before it's much easier for me to read the Bible for an hour than it is to pray for an hour. And maybe you're like that too. Maybe you get down on your knees to pray and it seems like after about two or three minutes you're done. You don't know what else to pray for. Or you get down to pray and your mind wanders on all the other things you need to do, and something pops into your head. "Oh, I need to do this" or "I need to check on that" or "I need to go here, I need to go there, I need to call this person, I need to email this person." Well, you're talking to God, the King of the universe, and your mind wanders.

We need to learn how to pray. We need to return to God in prayer so that He can revive us again and do a deep work in our hearts and in our homes and in our marriages and in our businesses, in our churches. It starts with prayer. Now, the one we're going to look at today, our poster child for prayer, is Daniel. Daniel is probably one of the most righteous, godly men to have ever lived.

If you remember Daniel's story, he was just a teenager when Nebuchadnezzar came in and overthrew the nation of Judah and took over and he took back captives to Babylon. Jerusalem became a vassal state under the thumb of Babylon. Well, Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BC when he took back all these captives, Daniel was one of those along with his three friends: Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. We know them better as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And he took them back to Babylon along with about 10,000 people in total. And Daniel and his friends went into Babylonian graduate school and they became counselors to the king. Daniel had lived in Babylon from the time he was 14 or 15 years old until he died. He was a man of prayer, a man of conviction, a man who loved the Lord and walked with the Lord.

We know he's a man of prayer because in Daniel chapter six, the Chaldeans, the ones that were part of his brain trust and counselors to the king, they didn't like the idea that the king was thinking of elevating Daniel as over the whole realm, over his whole kingdom. And so they tried to find some dirt on Daniel. They couldn't find any dirt on Daniel. They said, "The only way we're going to get at this guy is if it has something to do with his God."

And so they tricked the king into making a decree that nobody prays to any god except the king for 30 days. Well, they knew Daniel prayed three times a day. And when Daniel heard the decree—hey, what happens if you pray to a god other than the king for the next 30 days? Throw you in the lions' den. Daniel said, "I'm going to keep praying to my God." A man of conviction, a man of courage, a man of prayer. And in Daniel chapter nine, he shows us what it looks like when we return to God in prayer.

And this is what he says, beginning in verse one: "In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years."

So Babylon was overthrown by the Medo-Persians in 539, 538 BC. Babylon was the great power, but they were overthrown. And now you have Cyrus the Great, also as many Bible commentators believe, also a name for Cyrus the Great was Darius the Mede. Many kings had different names and multiple names. So Darius the Mede is Cyrus the Great. And he is now king and he is going to let the people go back to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem's been destroyed. When Nebuchadnezzar came in, see, he came in three different times. 605 he defeats Judah and takes back captives. And then Judah, which is just the two nations—Benjamin and the two tribes, Benjamin and Judah—make up the nation called Judah. The nation called the Southern Kingdom, the nation whose capital is in Jerusalem. The 10 tribes which made up the Northern Kingdom, they're already gone. They were defeated in 722 BC by the Assyrians.

So all you have left is Judah. And so he lets, Nebuchadnezzar lets Judah continue, but they're just a puppet state of Babylon and they have to keep paying tribute to Babylon. Paying a bunch of money for Babylon to not come in and destroy them. Well, they mess around in 597 BC, he comes back, slaps them around a little bit, takes back more captives. And then they mess around again on Nebuchadnezzar and he gets really mad.

In 586 BC, he comes in, he breaks down the wall of Jerusalem, he destroys completely Solomon's beautiful temple. He just levels it. And he just leaves them a wasteland and takes back more captives and Jerusalem is totally destroyed. Well, Daniel in the first year of Darius the Mede, or Cyrus the Great, he's reading in the prophet Jeremiah. And Jeremiah had said this was going to happen.

Jeremiah chapter 25, verses 11 and 12: "This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. Then after 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity," declares the Lord, "making the land an everlasting waste."

Well, Daniel knows, hey, it's getting, we're right at that 70-year time. And so because he read the Word and he saw what God was getting ready to do, it stirred his heart to pray because he knew that the people of God had sinned so greatly against God and he knew that he needed to get his heart right and he needed to pray on behalf of the people. And this is what he did, verse three: "So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth and ashes."

"And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, 'Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.'"

"'Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame as it is this day, to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness for we have rebelled against Him.'"

"'Nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. Indeed, all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice, so the curse has been poured out on us along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.' What a prayer."

Hey, what does it look like when we return to God in prayer? I want you to notice three discoveries, three things that Daniel did that you and I can do and that you and I must do if we're going to return to the Lord. Remember what we said in this series, the song, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." That is true for you, it's true for me, it's true for all of us.

As the Lord said to the church in Ephesus, Revelation chapter two: "You're doing all these good things, but I have this one thing against you: you have left your first love and you need to return to me." So what does it look like when we return to God in prayer? First discovery: we get serious.

Larry Nobles: Hmm, convicting, isn't it? Are you serious about your walk with the Lord? I mean really serious? Do you actively and intentionally bow your heart and head to speak to the Lord? To call out to him in pain? To plead with him for help and comfort and peace and a miracle? God is waiting for you to do just that. You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve today and the lesson: Returning to God in Prayer. It's one of five in the powerful series we're in this month, Soul on Fire: God's Plan for Revival.

We hope today's message will touch your heart and you'll allow God to reveal to you the condition of your soul and that you'll know He is waiting for you to pray, to repent of your sins and renew your passion for Him. This month's offering, the series Soul on Fire: God's Plan for Revival, is our gift to you this month for your support to From His Heart of any amount. And you can get your copy when you call 866-40-BIBLE or go to fromhisheart.org.

Again, make your gift of any amount and we'll send you this series in the format of your choice. Thank you for helping us open spiritual hearts to hear the truth of God's Word. And thank you for investing in a message that doesn't just inform but transforms. Now let's hear the conclusion to part one of this lesson: Returning to God in Prayer.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Daniel is serious. Look at verse three: "So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth and ashes." Daniel is not praying a ho-hum prayer. He's not reciting something he learned as a kid that's just like, you know, we just put it on autopilot, we punch a button and it just comes out regurgitated junk, blah, blah, blah, you know, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep." It's not one of those prayers. He is seeking the Lord. He's giving his attention to the Lord.

Literally when he says in verse three, "So I gave my attention," that is "I set my face. I turned my face to seek the Lord." Hey, when we get serious, we give God our undivided attention. Undivided attention. Have you found that in our day and age with technology it's very difficult to give people undivided attention? It's very difficult in our Christian lives to give God our undivided attention. Why? Because everybody seems to have one of these.

And these things they ring and they ding and I already got messages. And they have, you know, all these things that seem to call to us. And so when we're praying, when we're reading the scripture, this thing dings. "Oh, I got to look at what's coming through and who's saying what and what's on TikTok and what's on Facebook Live and all these different things, Instagram and Twitter and who's saying this about this person and that about that person and what's the latest podcast?" All these things. None of those things are bad in and of themselves, but they're all a distraction.

And so it's very, very difficult when we're going to turn our face to the Lord. If you're going to turn your face to the Lord, if I'm going to turn my face to the Lord, I need to turn this off. Because you're not going to turn your face to the Lord undistractedly if this thing is ringing and dinging and calling to you. We need to seek the Lord. Give Him our undivided attention. Get serious about Him.

Daniel was serious. He was seeking Him by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. We approach God as we get serious about Him, as we give Him our full attention, then we approach Him with a broken and contrite heart. See, fasting shows God you're serious because you're not eating. You're depriving the physical appetites of your body because you're going to seek the Lord.

Sackcloth and ashes—well, that's a sign of mourning in the ancient Near East. If you wanted to show how you were so contrite and repentant and broken over your sin, what did you do? You put on sackcloth, which is like burlap, rough on your skin, and you sat in ashes and you put ashes on your head to show how you were mourning.

When Jonah came to the city of Nineveh—Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrians. Assyria is the country that destroyed the 10 tribes, the Northern Kingdom, in 722 BC. Jonah goes there in like 765 BC and he preaches, "Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed, Nineveh will be overthrown." And the people received his word and they responded to his word and what did they do? They cried out to God and they put on sackcloth and ashes and they fasted. That shows that you're serious.

And it says that he sought the Lord with prayer and supplications. Supplications is a cry, a plea for mercy. And he was calling upon the Lord, asking Him for mercy. He was serious. Hey, God does business with those who mean business. And one of the things we desperately need in America today, in our lives today, is we need to get serious about seeking the Lord. Second discovery: not only do we get serious, we get reverent.

Daniel got reverent. Verse four: "And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, 'Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments.'" Now did you notice, this is the beginning of his prayer and the beginning of his prayer doesn't start with petitions: "God, I need you to do this for me, I need you to do that for me." It starts with praise. It starts with worship. He is reverent before the Lord.

The word "reverent" means showing deep and solemn respect. And as we pray, as we begin our prayer, prayer needs to begin with worship. It needs to begin with adoration. It needs to begin with praise. It needs to begin by remembering who God is. We remember who He is. The great and awesome God. God is the great and awesome God. No one greater than God. God is the greatest by a zillion miles.

Next up to God is so far down the list that you don't even see him. It's just God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, Moses said, who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. That is God. We need to see God for who He is. For what does the Bible say about Him? Not what we think He is or what we feel He is or what someone else said about Him. It's what does the Bible say about Him?

He is the great and awesome God. You know the word "awesome"? We use the word "awesome" a lot. Probably shouldn't. "Awesome" is really a word that's restricted for God because "awesome" is the Hebrew word yare, which means to fear. To be full of awe. God is the God that we fear. We stand in awe of God.

"Who can stand before the Lord," the scripture says, "this holy God?" Wow, God. That we would fear Him all the days of our lives. The conclusion Solomon said, when all has been heard is, "Fear God and keep His commandments because this applies to every person." Remember who God is. Now, how do you handle the difficulty that we all seem to face when your mind wanders in prayer? When you get down on your knees to pray and your mind just gets so distracted?

I had a friend of mine that said to me, he said, "You need to see yourself when you pray, see yourself before the throne of God." You know, the Bible says Hebrews 4:16: "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." And so we see ourselves at the throne of God.

Now, Isaiah in Isaiah chapter six, he saw God. "In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, sitting on a throne, high and lifted up and the train of His robe filled the temple." That's how you measured a king's greatness, by how long his train was. God's train fills the whole temple. God is so great. He is sitting on a throne. He's not sweating on a throne. He's not fretting on a throne. He's not wringing his hands on the throne. He is sitting on the throne. He's got everything under control.

And Isaiah said, "And the angels were there, the seraphim, the burning ones stood above Him, each with six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to the other and they said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.'" And Isaiah said when they said that—and it says in Revelation they day and night they do not cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the God of angel armies, Yahweh Sabaoth." The whole earth is full of His glory.

And Isaiah said the foundations of the thresholds of the temple shook and the temple was filled with smoke. That is the God that we pray to. He's in charge of all things. He is holy and awesome and great. You get that picture in your head, it keeps you from getting distracted. Remember who He is and remember that He is faithful and true.

When Jesus returns at the Battle of Armageddon, Revelation chapter 19, He sits on a white horse. "And I saw heaven opened and a white horse and Him and He who sat upon it who is called Faithful and True." He's always faithful and true to His promises. Daniel said, "...who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments." He says in verse nine: "To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness for we have rebelled against Him." Hey, we get serious and we get reverent.

Larry Nobles: A great reminder to us all and a reminder to return next time for part two of this message called Returning to God in Prayer. Today's lesson is one of five in Pastor Jeff's series Soul on Fire: God's Plan for Revival. We've been airing it this month and it's a series of lessons designed to warn us about the danger we get into when we start growing distant from God. It happens gradually and so it's really hard to spot in the moment.

Before we know it, our faith has grown stale, our prayers have no vibrancy and we're left just going through the motions. Worse still, as time goes on, we can begin to accept this as normal. If you don't want that to happen to you or those you love, the series we're airing this month can help you reignite your faith and light your soul on fire again. It's Pastor Jeff's gift of support to you this month when you make a gift to From His Heart of any amount.

It's available in multiple formats. Call 866-40-BIBLE to get your copy of Soul on Fire. 866-40-BIBLE or go online to fromhisheart.org. And thank you so very much for investing in kingdom work through From His Heart as together we share this good news with the world. Thank you also for joining us today on From His Heart.

I'm Larry Nobles, praying that you'll link with us again this weekend on television as the From His Heart broadcast is seen around the world. You can find it in your local listings. Plus, you'll be sure to be right back here on Monday for part two of the lesson Returning to God in Prayer from His Soul on Fire series. Join us next time when we'll open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart.