2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years

3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

— Daniel 9:2-3

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

— John 15:7

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

— Colossians 3:16

The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.

— Psalm 145:18

And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

— 1 John 3:22

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

Daniel’s love of Scripture propelled his prayer. Daniel knew God’s Word. He prayed God’s Word. He trusted God’s promises in His Word. Saturated in transforming truth, Daniel modeled a Scripture-based prayer life. Following Daniel’s pattern, we can practice taking God’s truths to heart while we study His Word. We can practice praying to cooperate with God by remembering His promises recorded in His Word.

One more thing is that while we often tend to focus on ourselves when we pray, Daniel took his eyes off himself and lifted the people he loved in prayer to God. He sought not only his own redemption but God’s purpose for all of his people living with him in exile. He offered a corporate prayer on behalf of his fellow Israelites. We can again follow Daniel’s pattern to seek God and His mercy to lead us to pray for whomever He wants us to pray for in order we can rejoice when the ones whom we pray for experience God’s love, care, and redemptive power. And besides worrying over the needs of our own community, we can pray for God to work in our neighborhood, city, state, province, and nation like what Daniel did. Let’s commit to pray unceasingly and trust God to answer our prayers in grace and power.