Many Christians wonder how to know the will of God. The best way to know the will of God is by reading his word or the Scriptures. Yes, God has revealed his will in his word. Did you know that God never fail to answer when we pray according to His will? One of my favourite verses is found in Jeremiah (1:12), God speaking to Jeremiah the prophet: “…You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.” The idea is that God is behind his word to make sure it is fulfilled.
We are talking about what happens when the Scriptures inform our prayer life. Remember Daniel? He was a great man of God, indeed. Yet, he was not a priest in the temple of the Lord. Let me encourage you to read the whole book of Daniel and hopefully appreciate the role and power of prayer in a believer’s life.
Let’s read Daniel 9:2-3, “in the first year of his [Darius] reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”
Daniel turned to God in prayer on behalf of his people in captivity upon understanding from the Scriptures that God said the captivity was to last seventy years, that is, it was not permanent. He knew from the Scriptures that time had come to petition God in humility -mostly according to another scripture ( 2Chronicles 7:13, 14) which refers to God’s people humbling themselves and praying to the Lord…., which is exactly what he did.
Not surprisingly, Daniel 9:23, “As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision.”
By allowing the Scriptures to inform his prayer Daniel ensured that he was in tune with heaven or God’s council. The angel said as soon as you began to pray an answer was given…. undoubtedly, Daniel prayed in accordance with the will of God. He knew he had a timely case to bring before God and the time for it was ripe, and he got God’s attention.
Here we learn the great advantage in allowing the Scriptures to inform our prayers, or praying according to the Scriptures or the word of God. God always responds to his word.
May the Lord grant us the grace to allow the Scriptures to inform our prayer life, in Jesus Christ’s name!
