The Word To Live By:10-12-25
Phil Waggoner
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely seventy years. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. Daniel 9:1-3
The Word to live by: Here we see Daniel, who sees in the Word that the days of the captivity of Israel, specifically Jerusalem and the surrounding area, are over or about over. (We’re going to call that a conditional promise of God.) So, he begins to pray for it to happen, or to come to pass. (Now I’m not going to go into the spiritual warfare that Daniel was doing but you can read it in the 9th chapter of Daniel beginning with the 20th verse.) I just want you to see that Daniel is praying earnestly for the promise of God to come to pass in his life. Meanwhile, in another part of the kingdom around the same time, you have two men - one a priest and the other in charge of running the private affairs of the king, Ezra and Nehemiah. Not only are Ezra and Nehemiah also praying, but Ezra is teaching the Word to the people and Nehemiah is organizing the work on the city wall and surrounding area. The devil goes nuts, of course, and tries to kill both men, really all three if you include Daniel in the lion’s den. What I want you to see though is that even though none of the three were aware of the other (their timelines don’t quite mesh), God was working through them to bring His word to pass. All three elements are needed for answered prayer - prayer and supplications, the teaching or learning the Word, and doing the Word. There’s no record that Daniel ever got out of Babylon, but the nation of Israel is there today because of his prayers. In the same way, the fruit of the work of Ezra and Nehemiah is still coming to pass today. When you fight your way through to do the will of God, you can’t begin to envision the effect it has on the future. You want to leave a legacy? Pray, read and do the will of God.
Read through the Bible in a year: Revelation 12; Esther 2; Psalms 105:26-45;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 12, Luke 8:29:-56, 1 Timothy 3
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160