EPISODE 507 – PRAYING…ALL PRAYERS 6 — SUPPLICATION 4

PRAYING…ALL PRAYERS 6 — SUPPLICATION 4

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”

Ephesians 6:18 (KJV)

To make supplication is to pray according to the will of God.

God answers our prayers and He is the good Father who gives good things to His children. However, you neither make supplication to God nor make demands while you are full of self-will

Though prayer of supplication is basically to make a request, it must be done with humility of heart and surrendering of your will to God’s ultimate will.

Let’s look at the example of Daniel:

In Daniel chapter 9, we see the prophet making supplication for the people of Israel.

However, what you must understand is that Daniel had always desired that Israel would return from exile to Jerusalem.

Yet, he did not make supplication just according to his desire. He submitted his will or desire to the will and plan of God. He had to make supplication with humility of heart.

“Now 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. O 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.“ Daniel 9:17-18 (NKJV)

Daniel in his supplication, did not stand in his own righteous deeds; instead, he surrendered and submitted to God’s mercies.

Just as I explained in the previous episode, you don’t make supplication according to your will. You make supplication according to the word of the Lord.

That was exactly what Daniel did. Daniel the Prophet, set his face upon the Lord according to the understanding of the word of the Lord.

“in 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.
Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” Daniel 9:2-3 (NKJV)

Daniel understood the times he was in and knew what to do by understanding the Prophetic letters or books written by the Prophet Jeremiah and also by reading the Chronicles (2 Chronicles 36:17-21).

Jeremiah wrote that the people of God will be going to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon for 70 years. (Jeremiah 25:1-11).

Again, while the people of God were in captivity, the Prophet Jeremiah sent a Prophetic word (a letter) from Jerusalem to them in Babylon.

This Prophetic letter was to comfort the Jews in captivity and to make them know what God had in mind for them, how they were to conduct themselves in Babylon (Jeremiah 25:5-9) and how they had to respond to God’s plan.

This was how Daniel knew what to do when he noticed the  word of the Lord concerning the seventy (70) years in captivity:

“For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.“ Jeremiah 29:10-12 (NKJV)

There you have it!

Daniel the Prophet clearly made supplication to God according to the instruction of the word and the revelation or understanding of the thoughts of God concerning the Jews (as he had read in the Prophetic books or letters).

He prayed according to what God said through the Prophet and not just according to their condition in Babylon.