Religion & Spirituality
If you are like me, I assume you are trying to make good decisions in a complex and complicated time. To make good decisions about life, we need information, and we are certainly inundated with information, right? There are “authoritative” voices on both sides of the election and on both sides of pandemic management, to name a few! The confusing thing is that both voices speak with authority and suggest a clear—although opposing—direction. Who should we believe? This may be more complicated than meets the eye. Spiritual life is no different. There are authoritative voices that can say opposing things about God’s plan and purposes. If you were hopeful spiritual things would be more clear, I’m sorry to disappoint you! There are prophets and there are false prophets. There are teachers and there are false teachers. There are sheep and there are also wolves dressed up as sheep. There are spiritual experiences and dreams and visions, and, well..let’s turn our attention to Daniel 9. Daniel chapter 9 opens a window for us to sit and listen and watch a man of God pray. This is the content of our passage today. But how does Daniel know what to pray for? How does he know how to pray and to what end? What informs his prayers? What if your prayer is motivated by the wrong information? What if the sermon you heard was exciting—but wrong? God’s will does not always fit neatly into our own plans or opinions. Listen in as we learn via a godly man’s prayer via Daniel chapter 9. If you haven’t already, read a companion passage that we refer to: Jeremiah chapters 25-29. Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles will give some additional background to what we look at in our message from Daniel 9. Listen in and see!