Greeting Members and Friends
It time once again for our weekly Sunday School preview so thanks for joining me and welcome back. The Winter Quarter entitled “Faith In Action” explores faith as both belief and action. The January unit is entitled “A Living Faith in God” and it explores examples of faith from the book of Daniel that provide models of sincerity, obedience, boldness, and strength. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “A Prayer For An Obedient Faith”.
The road or path to recovery begins with the acknowledgement of a problem. Salvation begins with the acknowledgement of the need and desire to be saved. As Christians, we acknowledge the fact the we are incapable of saving ourselves by our own power. We believe however that God is able to deliver the salvation we need and desire. Daniel also believed God was able to deliver the salvation Israel needed to restore their nation from the devastation of their defeat, exile and captivity.
After discovering the length of time of their captivity according to the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, Daniel began his appeal to God for deliverance. Israel had become a laughing stock of a people and was on the verge of losing their national identity. So Daniel began his petition by confessing the reason Israel needed restoration was because of their unfaithfulness to God’s law given to them by Moses and the prophets. After confessing their guilt for their situation, he appealed to God’s mercy and love for His people. Additionally, He appealed to God to do it for His name’s sake that is associated with Jerusalem, Mt. Zion and His people.
While in the midst of his supplication (a sincere appeal or request to God), Daniel received a visit from Gabriel to enlighten him and give him instruction and information regarding his petition and the future of Israel. Just as God answered Daniel, God will answer us when we follow Daniel’s example. We must confess or own up to our responsibility for our situation and shortcomings of faithfulness with sincere regret and repentance. We must appeal to God’s mercy and love for us to act on own behalf. We should keep in mind that God desires to help and do good things for His people and has no pleasure in seeing us suffer. While we may not receive a visit from an angel, we can look for an answer to our prayers and appeals for help.
God went on to use Daniel to proclaim important prophesies concerning the end times, the Messiah and the restoration of Israel. When we are sincere, repentant and obedient, God is able to also use us to carry out His will for His people. You can get a better understanding of this lesson by reading the daily SS readings found in your SS book which can also be accessed through our website and mobile app. Well, that’s all for this week’s preview. Be sure to join us in Sunday School this week for a fuller discussion of this lesson and the general topic of Faith In Action. So, until then
Grace and peace
Pastor Jordan
