DESPERATE PRAYER BY PASTOR IAN FOLEY

There are times in our life when there is no one else to turn to for help but the Lord. There are also times when there is really no one else who can help us than the Lord, but we still look for help elsewhere. If we calculate the total span in time taken by these two situations it probably adds up to the whole of our Christian life. Either we have no one else to turn to for help but the Lord or we need help from the Lord but try to solve the problem ourselves. “When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?” It takes time for us to learn that God really cares.

• Daniel was a man who maintained a consistent walk with God throughout his life.

This is shown in Daniel 6:10; “Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God”. It paid off, because when he was really in trouble, it was perfectly natural for him to go to the Lord and find the answers that he needed. On the other hand, when we are in trouble, we go to the Lord for help (perhaps), but struggle to hear His answer because we hardly know Him and then criticize Him for not caring. The reality is that we are selfish and proud, so we always to try to solve our problems ourselves if we can and so we hardly know the Lord. We exploit God’s grace for our selfish ends and then hit out angrily when He either doesn’t do what we think He ought to, or he allows something we think of as “bad” to occur in our life.



Even as a young man, a new graduate from the University of Babylon, Daniel turned to God in a desperate situation and obtained the help he needed not only to interpret the king’s dream, but to save the lives of all the wise men in Babylon. It started off when he recruited his team of intercessors “to plead for mercy from the God of heaven” (Daniel 2:17-18). That night he received the answer that he needed. That was not just because he was diligent in prayer with his friends that night, but because he consistently prayed and walked with God every day so that in the hour of need he knew how and when to turn to God and his heart was soft and his ear tuned so he could hear God’s answer.

• His sensitivity to God’s plans and ways

was such that in 538 BC when he was about 90 years old, having waited and watched for nearly seventy years while his people endured exile and lived prosperously, he was ripe and ready to seek God earnestly at the right time for God to act and cause the people to return from exile and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple and start all over again to be God’s holy people. On his knees he goes! He does not miss a moment; always spiritually alert he is ready. And in obedience to Jeremiah 29:12-14 and in the context of what God had promised through Jeremiah, he pleads with God to carry out what He had promised. That prayer is one of the most remarkable in the whole Bible.



Read it in Daniel 9:1-19. In it Daniel affirms God’s righteousness and his people’s sin and God’s sovereignty. In a very desperate and emotional plea, he concludes by crying out

“O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name" (Daniel 9:19).

• God listened to Daniel’s prayer and he received an answer.

In that answer, God committed to doing everything that Daniel had asked. His cry for mercy was heard. However, there were two rather sobering things that Daniel realised about the answer. Firstly, it would take a very long time to complete, more than 2,500 years! Secondly, during that period his people would have to suffer a great deal. And God gave him a very wonderful personal promise,

“at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance” (Daniel 12:13).

• Today, God is looking for men and women like Daniel

who will walk with Him every day and share His plans; men and women who understand the times in which we live.

There are important parallels between 538 BC and today. Daniel knew prophetically that in a few years, his people would return from exile to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple and city. He also knew that for this to happen, according to Jeremiah, his people would need to seek God with all their heart. Today, we know according to the word of God that very soon Jesus will return, the Great Commission will be completed and judgment will come on the church and the world. God’s urgent desire is for the salvation of all and He wants to pour out His love.



Therefore, like Daniel more than 2,500 years ago we need to be desperately on our knees seeking the Lord and pleading for God’s forgiveness and mercy. The time to do this is now. As we enter 2009 we need God’s empowering to maximize our impact in reaching others and for each of us to grow strong in our walk with God.


Pastor Ian Foley
Hope Melbourne, Australia
Desperate Prayer, © Ian Foley, 11 January 2009