Becoming People of Prayer
God desires to bless His people, but they must first have purified hearts and be willing to seek Him through prayer.
David Wilkerson emphasizes the urgent need for believers to become people of prayer, drawing from Jeremiah 5 where God seeks just one person who will seek Him. He highlights the example of Daniel during Babylonian captivity, who, upon reading God's Word, was moved to pray fervently for his people, acknowledging their sins and seeking restoration. Wilkerson calls for self-examination among Christians, urging them to identify and repent of the worldly influences in their lives. He stresses that true prayer involves not just intercession for others but also a deep personal commitment to holiness and seeking God's face. Ultimately, he encourages believers to cry out for personal and national deliverance through earnest prayer.
Text
In Jeremiah 5, God pleaded, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem...seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it" (Jeremiah 5:1). The Lord was saying, in essence, "I'll be merciful, if I can find just one person who'll seek me."
During the Babylonian captivity, God found such a man in Daniel. And today, more than ever in history, the Lord is searching for the same kind of godly men and women. He seeks faithful servants who are willing to "make up the hedge" and "stand in the gap," works that can only be accomplished through prayer.
Like Daniel, such a person will be found with God's Word in his hand. When the Holy Ghost came to Daniel, the prophet was reading the book of Jeremiah. It was then that the Spirit revealed that God's time of deliverance had come for Israel. As the revelation came, Daniel was provoked to pray: "I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: and I prayed unto the Lord my God" (Daniel 9:3-4).
Daniel knew God's people weren't ready to receive his restoration. Yet, did the prophet lambaste his peers for their sins? No--Daniel identified himself with the moral decay all around him. He declared, "We have sinned...to us belongeth confusion of face...because we have sinned against thee" (Daniel 9:5, 8).
God strongly desires to bless his people today--but if our minds are polluted with the spirit of this world, we are in no position to receive his blessings. Daniel made this powerful statement: "All this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand the truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us" (Daniel 9:13-14).
Would to God we would examine our own walk with the Lord and let the Holy Spirit show us areas of compromise. We would do more than pray for a backsliding nation. We would be crying out, "Oh, Lord, search my heart. Expose in me all of the spirit of the world that has crept into my soul." Like Daniel, we could then set our faces to pray for the deliverance of our families--our nation.
Sermon Outline
- I. The Lord's Plea for Prayer
- A. God's desire to pardon Jerusalem if He can find one righteous person
- B. The Lord's search for faithful servants to 'make up the hedge' and 'stand in the gap'
- II. Daniel's Example of Prayer
- A. Daniel's heart was stirred by the Holy Spirit to pray for Israel's deliverance
- B. Daniel's prayer was marked by humility and self-identification with the moral decay around him
- III. The Necessity of Purified Hearts
- A. God's blessings are hindered by the spirit of the world in our minds
- B. We must examine our walk with the Lord and let the Holy Spirit expose areas of compromise
Key Quotes
“I'll be merciful, if I can find just one person who'll seek me.” — David Wilkerson
“We have sinned...to us belongeth confusion of face...because we have sinned against thee” — David Wilkerson
“All this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand the truth.” — David Wilkerson
Application Points
- We must examine our walk with the Lord and let the Holy Spirit expose areas of compromise in our lives.
- We should be crying out to God for deliverance, not just praying for a backsliding nation.
- We must be willing to identify with our moral decay and seek God's forgiveness and restoration.