Gandhi once said that “Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness.” Despite the fact that Gandhi was not a Christian he understood the significance of prayer and the futility of man. But long before Gandhi’s time lived a humble man of God named Daniel. It was “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah” that God called Daniel, an Israelite of the tribe of Judah, out of a life of obscurity to accomplish His will. Although outwardly Daniel resembled a slave under the control of a foreign king he was in fact a godly ambassador to King Nebuchadnezzar and a servant of the Lord by God’s own design. Daniel had a longing deep within his soul placed there by God. He was a man who recognized his need for God. Daniel had a heart for the things of the Lord and was a man who lived righteously before the Lord walking in humility. Daniel was a man who had his priorities in order and his prayer life followed his theology. But what exactly was Daniel’s view of God and how did his prayers reflect that view – what was the theology of Daniel’s prayers? I believe the book of Daniel reveals seven main principles of theology concerning prayer in general. Beyond that, I believe Daniel’s prayer in chapter nine provides a model of intercessory prayer that we all can learn from.
Despite the fact that Daniel does not reveal an abundance of information concerning himself or his past one can glean a great deal concerning his character upon closer examination of the biblical text. From Scripture we know that Daniel trusted God completely and without question or reservation. Additionally we know he prayed at least three times every day and that he prayed in his room unashamedly for everyone to hear...
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Odysseus on the other hand was a different story, he did not pray or just did not mention praying during his time of trouble. Why would he not pray?
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The Book of Daniel is the only full-blown apocalyptic book in the Protestant recognized version of the Canon. A literary device divides the book into two halves. Chapters 1-6 are a collection of stories that introduces the reader to Daniel and three other Israelites as unwilling guests of the Babylonia Empire ruled by Nebuchadnezzar. The second half, Chapters 7-12 consists of apocalyptic imagery of deformed beasts and the heavenly court. The focus of this paper will be on chapter 7, which serves as a bridge of the two halves. Chapter 7 is the earliest of the visions as it identifies with the genre of 8-12 while through language and content it reverts to Daniel chapter 2. The linguistic break down is not as neat as the literary divide in that Dan. 2:4b-7:28 was written in Aramaic while other portions of the book is written in Hebrew.
Today’s culture is one where people like to do as little work as possible. Even when it comes to reading our own scripture, The Holy Words of God, a lot of people like to look up one verse and reference it to something without knowing what the rest of the passage says. Psalms 109 is no exception, it is one the more widely misused passages as of late. A popular verse from Psalms 109 is verse 8 which reads “Let his days be few; and let another take his office”, this is seen in reference to our current president, but what people fail to realize is what else David is actually praying. This paper is going to go through Psalms 109 and unpack it verse by verse to show the true meaning of what David was praying and to give us a new look at how to pray.
I agree with Camp’s discussion on prayer because, as the title of the chapter it self says, it demonstrates how Christian disciples trust in God instead of flawed human calculations of how things will turn out. Prayer also helps make us obedient to God’s will, especially when used in a context similar to “The Lord’s Prayer”, where we as Christians ask the Lord to fulfill His will on earth and provide for our daily needs as we take up our cross on a daily basis to help establish His coming
Kunitz, Stanley J, and Howard Haycraft, eds. American Authors 1600- 1900. New York: Wilson, 1966. Print.