Welcome to Labor Day weekend.  Where did the summer go?  For those of you who love Christmas, we are only sixteen Sundays away.    

We are in Daniel 9.  And in this chapter, Daniel is 85 years old.   Now remember, when the book of Daniel began, he was a prisoner of war at age 15.  Now 70 years later, Daniel is reading Jeremiah and learning that his time in captivity is almost over.  He’s excited to go home, but there is a problem.  Israel has pushed God away.  They aren’t following after God.  And this has really impacted Daniel, so Daniel turns to God in prayer.   

Let’s read about it.

Daniel 9:3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. ESV

Remember, we talked about what happens sometimes when you ignore a little kid?  What do they do?  They will grab your cheeks and turn your face to get your eye-to-eye attention.   That’s what Daniel is doing here.   He is seeking after God.  He is grabbing God and asking God to look at him.   This isn’t like getting gas at Sheetz or Rutters, and on your drive, you give a quick, half-hearted prayer that God would save the world.  This is more passionate.  It’s like taking a half-day off work to go somewhere to be quiet, walk, and pray.

We said that the secret to the Christian life is seeking after God.  Why?  Because when we seek after God, when we grab God’s attention, God blesses us.  How do we know?

I want you to see this.

Hebrews 11:6 He [God] rewards those who earnestly seek him. NIV

This week, we keep reading about Daniel’s prayer.

Daniel 9:4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments. NIV

Did you notice how Daniel started his prayer?  Daniel begins his prayer and is thankful and grateful.  What is Daniel doing?  Daniel is praising God.  He is focused on who God is and what God has done.  He continues in verse 9.

Daniel 9:9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. NIV

Why is Daniel praising God?   Is he doing this because this is the official format of prayer?  No.  Is Daniel saying nice things to get God to be nice back?  No.  He is focused on who God is and what God has done, and how faithful God has been.  He is reminding himself how kind God is.  And God is all those things even while the people rebel and push God away.

Did you know that’s how we are supposed to pray?  The bible tells us that when we pray, we are supposed to tell God what we need, but do it with a thankful heart.

Philippians 4:6b Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. TLB

Same verse, different translation.

In all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. GNT

I want to take a step back and ask, why?  Why are we supposed to be thankful?  Because being thankful changes us.    

Quick time out here to process this.  In the past, when I heard pastors tell me that I needed to be thankful in prayer, I didn’t understand it.  Being told to be thankful in prayer just seemed like the pastor was trying to get me to follow some prayer template or format.  It seemed fake to me.  Let me ask you, what do you think about scripture when it says, When you pray, pray with a thankful heart?  

Think about this with me.   If you are in a relationship with someone, how do you stay connected with that person?  You talk with them, you text them, you communicate with them.   How would it go in my relationship with Karen if I always started with: this is what I want from you, this is how you let me down, this is where you come up short, this is what I need you to do by tonight?  When I communicate like that, what is happening in my heart towards Karen?  I’m just using her.  There is no emotional connection.  The relationship is based on, ‘What have you done for me lately?’  And it can lead me to be disappointed in her.

What happens when I go to Karen and start with: thank you for who you are.  Thank you for the memories we have together.  Thank you for our three girls.  Thank you for making choices in your life to make our lives better.   Thank you for being a kind person.   What begins to happen in my heart towards Karen?  It changes me.  I can see the big picture of our lives.  It reminds me of who she is and how I love her.  What is the relationship based on?  ‘I care about you more than day-to-day ups and downs.’  And it leads me to be grateful for her.

It’s no different with God.   When we go after God, and we are grateful for who He is and what He has done, it changes us.  It reminds us that life isn’t about what God has done for us lately.   It’s about who God is and what He has done for us.   

I remember when I got the prostate cancer diagnosis.  It was right before Christmas, and everyone was home, so it was a perfect time to tell the girls.  I told them I still needed to do the contrast MRI to verify that the cancer hasn’t spread in my body.  I remember the next day after we told the girls.  It was a regular morning for me.  I was reading scripture and praying.  I read Zachariah’s prophecy.

Luke 1:68 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he came and set his people free. He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives, …so we can worship him without a care in the world, made holy before him as long as we live. MSG

Those words crushed me.   The reality that God sent Jesus to set me free, to place salvation in my life, so that I could worship Him without a care in the world, hit me hard.  It reminded me of God’s grace in my life.  For years, I pushed God away.  I lived life on my terms.  What did God do?  He allowed me to get to the end of myself.  And all along, He was always right there waiting for me.  When I ran back to God, He accepted me, and I never deserved it.  Even though I didn’t like myself, He still loved me.  I found rest. I found acceptance. I found peace.  I remember that morning, tears coming to my eyes and praying, ‘Regardless of what happens with this cancer, I am so grateful for who You are and what You have done in my life.’  

Do you know that Song It Is Well With My Soul?  The lyrics say,

When sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul!”

The author of that song didn’t write it because he just won the lottery.  He wasn’t a quarterback who just got a starting position in the NFL.   He wasn’t a business leader who took his business public, and the stock rocketed to $5,000 a share.  His name was Horatio Spafford.  He was a Chicago lawyer.  He lost his four daughters in a shipwreck.  Later, when he was on a ship going over the spot of the shipwreck, he wrote that song.  ‘When sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul!”’

When we go to God, we are thankful, grateful.  Why?   It changes us.  It's not a religious formality.  It’s not something we have to fake.  When you remember who God is and what He has done, it reminds us how faithful God has been in our lives every time we have pushed Him away.  Do we get everything we want?  No.  Can bad things still happen to us?  Yes.   Can we walk through very hard times?   Yes.  But God is so, so good.  We are grateful because of who He is and what He has done.  

Listen to this verse.

Colossians 2:6 And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done. TLB

Let’s read that last line again.  Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving, but only when you get what you want.  No, it doesn’t say that.  Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving, because God will give you success, comfort, and happiness.  No, it doesn’t say that either.  It says let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving.  Why?  …for all he has done.  God has sent Jesus to die for our sins.  God paid the price of our sin to make us pure so He could be one with us.  God has anointed us with the Holy Spirit.  And someday, God will invite us into heaven.   Our thankfulness, our gratefulness, has nothing to do with our current situation; it has everything to do with focusing on God.  Who God is.   What God has done.

Your thankfulness, your gratefulness for God, is like a rudder on a ship.  

A rudder is the only thing that steers the ship to determine where the ship will go.  If you focus on God, focus on who He is and what He has done, it steers your life to being grateful.  However, if you focus on day-to-day circumstances and what you don’t have, it too steers your life.  It steers it to become miserable.  

That’s what happened to the Children of Israel.  God frees them from slavery.  It was so dramatic that the Egyptians gave them gold just to leave.  God opens up the river for them to walk through.  God protects them.  God eliminates the Egyptian army trying to kill them.  What did the Children of Israel do?  They praised God, they sang songs to God.  I want you to hear part of it.

Exodus 15:3 The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him. NIV

Three days later, after singing, ‘God is my salvation,’ they ran out of water and complained.  Thirty days after singing, ‘God is my salvation,’ they complained about the food.  Sixty days later, after singing, ‘God is my salvation,’ they made a golden calf and worshipped it.  How does that happen?  Simple.   Every day they woke up, they asked themselves, ‘What is it that I don’t have today?’  And like a rudder on a ship, they just focused on what they didn’t have, and it led them to be miserable.  They complained.  They wanted to go back to Egypt.  They rebelled.  They just couldn’t enjoy and rest in God.  

Why did God establish and command Israel to celebrate the Passover?  To remind them every year of who God is and what God did for them.  He loved them.  Protected them.  And delivered them from slavery.  And He will continue to do so.  Every year they celebrated Passover, who God was and what He did, like a rudder on a ship, it led them to be grateful.  They could have joy as they walked through hard times.  They could relax and enjoy, and rest in God.

So I must ask you, What has become of you?  Have you focused on God, and like a rudder on a ship, has it led you to be a thankful and grateful person?  Has it led you to be able to enjoy and rest in God?  Or have you focused on what you don’t have today?  And like a rudder on a ship, has it led you to be miserable, complain, and maybe even rebel?  Where has your attitude led you?

Why is it important to be grateful in prayer?  Because it changes us.  Like a rudder on a ship, it determines our life.