DCLM Daily Manna, Friday February 27, 2015 by Pastor Kumuyi - Earnest Intercessions

Topic: Earnest Intercessions [Friday February 27, 2015]

Text: Daniel 9:20-27

Key Verse: “At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision” (Daniel 9:23).

The text today reveals a man, Daniel, who had a real burden for his people. He was concerned about the Jews who were in exile serving punishment for their sinful lifestyle.

Usually, the Jews used evening to offer sacrifice in their homeland. Now in Babylon, a strange land, they could not offer sacrifices to God. Daniel would use the period to pray based on the promise of God through Jeremiah that the Jews would return to Jerusalem after 70 years. The time was almost over as the next king would allow the people to return to Jerusalem. While he was praying, angel Gabriel came with the answer.

However, Gabriel told Daniel that God had other plans, which would be for a period of 70 weeks, when the people and their holy city would suffer terrible devastation. A week was regarded as seven years. So, 70 weeks means 70 x 7, which is 490 years. In the first seven weeks, which is 49 years, someone would issue a command to build Jerusalem again. The people would build the city of Jerusalem again, though they would suffer trouble because of some resistance. Within the next 62 weeks, which is 434 years, God would appoint a special ruler, which is Jesus, whom the people would kill at the end of the period. In the last week, which is seven years, a foreign prince, Anti-Christ, would come with his army. Bible scholars believe that this last one week is the period of the great tribulation, which is yet to happen.

Daniel had all the disincentives that could make him not to pray. He was a prisoner, as it were, in a foreign land. He did not have the liberty to pray because of the constrictive laws of the land. Besides, he was a busy official. Yet, he dared the odds by praying to the point that deep revelations came to him. You can act like Daniel by consciously turning adversities to blessings through effectual, fervent praying.

Bible in One Year: 1 Corinthians 12-14

Thought for The Day: Prayer brings divine intervention.

DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.