Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. (James 5:7-8)
I had two encounters with two different local Christian leaders within the same week, both of which pointed to the same dramatic problem in the lives of these two ministers. The first pastor confessed to me, “I’ve become afraid to dream.” The second one worded his condition as, “I can’t seem to get a vision beyond the day-to-day routine.” Both of these men were men of faith and men with a great love for the Lord and the communities where they served. However, their words and their attitudes told me that they were lacking one other important ingredient: hope. The Apostle Paul declares that these three elements are supposed to be an inseparable trio.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (I Corinthians 13:13)
We have all probably heard people make derogatory remarks about hope as if it were an inferior form of faith. Such expressions as, “Well, I hope so,” are often condemned as being faithless and full of unbelief. Yet the Bible specifically commands us to have hope (Psalms 42:5, 11; 43:5) and, as I have already mentioned, hope is listed as one of the enduring aspects in the trilogy of Christian qualities.
After my two conversations with these hopeless ministers, I began to ask myself if it is possible to have faith and love without hope. I found the answer in the first chapter of Ephesians where Paul addresses his audience as being full of faith and love in verse fifteen.
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
However, it isn’t until verse eighteen that he credits them with the quality of hope — and even then, hope is still an unrealized promise in their lives.
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
In studying the context of the three verses between the faith and love and the anticipated hope, we see that hope seems to be birthed out of the revelation knowledge of God’s will for our lives and situation. In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord declares, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” God knows what He thinks about us, but do we know and are we in agreement with His thought? If, as far as we know, the jury is still in deliberation concerning God’s good will for our lives, then we are unsure about ourselves and our future and don’t have a basis on which to hope for good things to happen in our lives. In response to this exact deficiency, Paul prayed for the church to have wisdom, revelation, and understanding
[I] cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:16-23)
If he could get them to wake up to all these powerful realities, the Ephesian church couldn’t help but be incredibly abounding in hope. He primed them with a short teaching concerning God’s good plan for them.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. (Ephesians 1:5-11)
First of all, he told them that they were predestined. His use of the word is quite unlike how we often use it in theological discussions to mean that one’s destiny is pre-set and unalterable. Rather, Paul’s concept is that God has a course of life picked out for each of His children. Like any good parent, God wants the best for His children; therefore, we could look at a natural parent and get a parabolic glimpse into the way our Heavenly Father cares for us. No father ever stands in the delivery room holding the new-born son that his wife has just presented to him and proclaims, “Someday, he’ll grow up to be a felon, a drug addict, and an inmate at a maximum security federal penitentiary.” Instead, that proud father declares that his son is going to be a doctor, the CEO of a large company, or some other contributing and respectable member of society. Not only does the father express these grand dreams for his son, he also busies himself by opening a college fund, setting up a good learning and living environment, and arranging anything else within his power in preparation for these dreams to become a reality. If we as human parents attempt to set a course for our children to follow in order to achieve the best in life, certainly our Heavenly Father will predestine a course for us to follow toward His perfect plan for our lives. Of course, natural children do not always choose to follow the course mapped out by their parents; likewise, we may not decide to follow our heavenly Father’s plan for our lives.
Paul’s second point answers the question of our wanting to occasionally go our own way and follow our own plan rather than to submit to His predestined plan for our lives. The Apostle speaks of the “good pleasure of His will.” God’s will is good and there is pleasure in fulfilling it. Although some teach that bad things happen to good people to teach them lessons or to make them examples, the scriptures never make the slightest hint that God is out to hurt His children or make their lives uncomfortable in any way. If we will seek His will and align our lives with it, we will experience nothing short of “good pleasure.”
Paul’s third point answers the question which immediately comes to our minds when we discuss getting into alignment with God’s will for our lives, “How can I know that I’m in His will?” Paul makes the simple statement that God has “made known the mystery of His will.” God’s will is not hidden or secret and it is not difficult to find. As we yield our lives to Him, we will find that He is constantly speaking to us through His Word, through His Spirit, through His men, and through His creation, confirming His good plan for our lives.
One other statement that the Apostle makes has to do with the “praise of His glory. This expression means that our lives are intended to bring honor — not dishonor — to God. He does not want us to be an embarrassment to His reputation. Just as an earthly father does not want to hang his head in shame when his children are mentioned, our God does not want to be embarrassed by our sicknesses, poverty, or lifestyles. In other words, He wants to present us as His “trophy sons.” Imagine how a father yells, “That’s my boy!!” when his son hits a homerun in the Little League game; well, that’s how God must be rooting us on from heaven. Take a look at the refrigerator door of any parent of an elementary school child and imagine how your Heavenly Father must celebrate each of your accomplishments.
When we come to know how much God loves us and how great a plan He has for our lives, it is easy to begin to generate hope in our lives. That quality of hope in our lives will bring us to a place of fulfillment where that neither we nor our Heavenly Father will be ashamed or embarrassed.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Romans 5:1-5)
There may be periods in our lives when the promises we are depending upon have not yet become realities and hope is all we have to hang on to. In times like these, we may feel like the subjects of Zechariah 9:12 who were described as “prisoners of hope,” or more accurately translated, “prisoners who still have hope.” No matter how desperate our situation may be at the present, if we hold on to our hope, there is an incredible promise of restoration awaiting:
Return to your place of safety, you prisoners who still have hope. Even now I announce that I will give you back much more than you had before.
Probably the most dramatic story depicting this truth is found in Jeremiah chapter thirty-two. The prophet had been thrown into prison because of his predictions of the coming conquest by the Babylonians. While he languished under custody, his cousin came to him with a proposal that he buy a piece of land. Anyone who knows anything about real estate investing would know to turn down such an offer when an invading army is marching toward the parcel of land up for sell. However, if you happen to be a child of God with an inside revelation of His will for your life and His plan for the future, you can spot a good investment when others can’t see it. Jeremiah confidently purchased the land because he knew through divine revelation that the Babylonian captivity would be for only a limited time and that the property would eventually be redeemable and profitable. Though he was in prison, Jeremiah had hope. When he acted on that hope, he proved God’s will. Although it took seventy years for the prophecy to be fulfilled, eventually Jeremiah was proven to have made the choice which left no one embarrassed.
This seventy-year wait demonstrates the true quality of hope: that it is patient faith — faith for the long haul. I like to describe it as “slow cooker faith” — the difference between grilling a steak and cooking a roast. Both the grill and the slow cooker are doing their jobs in providing a nutritious and delicious meal; one just takes a while longer. The steaks take only a few minutes whereas the roast takes all day. Faith may bring a promise into reality immediately, and hope may take a while; but both are vital instruments in the hand of God to perform His will in your life.
In Hebrews 11:1, we learn that faith is the substance of things hoped for. In other words, there comes a time when our long-range hope must be converted into here-and-now faith. In terms of our study on the harvest, this is when all the patient waiting during the growing season gives way to the fruit production at harvest time.
The whole time that Jeremiah’s property lay desolate from the hand of the Babylonian invaders, another prophet was rising to prominence in Babylon itself. In Daniel chapter nine we learn the technique that this man of God’s used turning his patient hope into here-and-now faith that brought about an immediate manifestation of the promise. The land had languished in desolation for seventy years, but now was time for the hope of restoration to be turned to faith in fruition.
In verses 1-2, we see that there had to be a revelation of God’s will in order for Daniel to act in confident faith.
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Daniel understood from reading the book of Jeremiah (25:11, 12; 29:10) what God’s plan was. It was only then that he began his prayer for the restoration of his nation. He based his intercession on revelation he received from the Word of God — not just my own idea. He may have read this passage many times, but it was only after it became rhema to him that he could pray effectually about it.
Daniel’s next ingredient was determination.
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: (verse 3)
The first element in Daniel’s intercession is that he set his face “unto the Lord.” If we are going to have effective petitioning of the Lord, we must remember that blessings come when we seek God, not the blessings themselves. We might say that the direction of our affection makes the connection. During the sixteen years I spent working closely with Dr. Lester Sumrall, I had a number of occasions to be with him in times of private, personal prayer. The thing that was so powerful in those times of prayer was that I never heard him pray for television stations, airplanes, or buildings — though these things always came to his ministry in the right timing. His prayer was always, “I want to know You, Lord.” This was the heart cry of a man who had already spent fifty years in the ministry!
Daniel next mentions that he sought the Lord through prayer and supplication, terms which can be interpreted as meaning communion and communication, connecting with God directly. Our answers come through dedication to the Lord, not by activities, programs, or techniques. Finally, Daniel says that he interceded with fasting and sackcloth. Throughout the Bible, serious prayer is associated with fasting. This association has often led us to the misconception that fasting is a way to prove to God that we are serious about our requests. Actually, quite the opposite is true; through fasting, we prove to ourselves that we are serious about our requests. When we are more serious about seeking God than about fulfilling our human desires, we are on our way to a miracle answer. When we can strengthen our spirit man to the point that we can dominate our soulical and physical dimensions, we are entering into a realm of spiritual authority where we will see results from our prayers. Fasting is a propellant to our prayers.
Many people feel that fasting is really a way to get God to do something that He has been reluctant to do previously. Their mentality is that if normal prayer doesn’t get His attention, fasting will. At that point, we should ask ourselves, “Are we on a fast or a hunger strike?” If fasting is seen as a way to turn God’s sympathy toward His poor, hungry children or as a way to prove our seriousness about our requests, then we really need to seriously rethink our relationship with God. The Bible teaches that it is faith that pleases God. ( Hebrews 11:6) Jesus taught us to approach our Heavenly Father with the same kind of confidence that we approach our earthly fathers. (Matthew 7:9-11) With these ideas in mind, it is obvious that fasting must serve some function other than to persuade God to act.
Actually, fasting should be a time of fellowship with God. It is not a time of outward mourning visible to our human neighbors. Instead, it is a time of inward seeking for the presence and favor of God.
Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:16-18)
When these hypocrites, which Jesus mentioned, woke up in the morning, they didn’t bother washing their faces or combing their hair. They would go out into the street looking ragged as a sign that they were fasting. If this scripture were written in the twenty-first century, Jesus would have said, “Go ahead and take a nice hot shower in the morning, shave your face, and comb your hair.” Jesus said that those who go around making a sign to people that they are fasting have their reward because everybody around them knows how miserable they are and admires them for it. Those people who fast secretly and use the time for fellowship with the Lord will be rewarded openly. Fasting brings the reward that you need from God into the open manifestation.
In verse four, Daniel makes his confession. He prayed his personal and individual heart feelings:
And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments.
Notice that his confession was not a recitation of his sins; rather, it was an affirmation of the truths he knew about God. First, he called on the infinite quality of God (O Lord). Like Isaiah who encountered God as high and lifted up, with His train filling the temple (Isaiah 6:1), Daniel acknowledged God in His fullness. Next, he recited the covenant of God. This is exactly the approach which Jehoshaphat used in II Chronicles 20:6-9 when God answered so powerfully that He would fight the battle for His people and that they only needed to stand still and see His deliverance from the attack of the combined armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir. Next, the Daniel called upon God as “my God,” not just “God.” It is of earth-changing significance when we recognize the personal relationship we have with God. No matter how much we acknowledge His omnipotence, if we don’t recognize that He is in a personal relationship with us and is, therefore, willing to act on our behalf, we will not be able to appropriate that omnipotent power for our situation. A great example of this principle is found in I Samuel chapter seventeen when David stepped forward to fight against Goliath. For forty days the entire army had cowered before the threats of the giant, yet David boldly stepped forward to take on the over-sized challenge. Why? Notice that throughout the chapter the army is continually referred to as “the army of Israel” and “the men of Saul.” It is only David who sees himself as a member of the “army of the living God.” That personal relationship with God gave the little shepherd boy a confidence that none of the trained soldiers could muster.
Finally, Daniel called on the mercy (benevolent generosity) of God. Even though he recognized that it was undeserved, the prophet could confidently petition God for grace. The life of Hosea, another of Israel’s prophets, paints a dramatic picture of this undeserved benevolence of our God when he unwaveringly committed himself to his wife Gomer even though she sold herself in unfaithfulness and harlotry.
And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. (Hosea 2:19-20)
In verses five and six, Daniel makes a national confession for his people even though they had not personally repented. Unlike his personal confession, this one was a confession of sinfulness rather than a profession of one’s position in God as Daniel had prayed in the previous verse.
We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
The prophet lists six different levels of wrongdoing of his people. First, he mentions sin which could be literally translated as missing the mark. The imagery here is of an archer shooting an arrow. He seldom hits the bull’s-eye and may even miss the entire target on occasion. There is no element of willfulness in missing the target; in fact, the archer is very purposefully trying to hit the bull’s-eye. It is just his lack of ability that keeps him from scoring perfectly with every arrow. So it is with the majority of our shortcomings. Even though we try to do right, we fail simply because we are humans and are incapable of measuring up to God’s standards.
Next, the prophet prays for the people’s iniquity, which is the inborn law of sin and death (Psalms 51:5) which works in all of us to keep us from living up to God’s standards. Paul described the bondage of the iniquitous law of sin and death in Romans chapter seven when he said that even though he determined to do right, he always wound up failing and when he determined not to do wrong, he wound up doing so anyway. He summed up his situation with the desperate plea:
O wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24)
Wickedness is Daniel’s third category. By this term, he is referring to human immorality — our inability to withstand temptation. Next, he ups the ante by interceding for the people’s rebellion, which is deliberate defiance of what we know is right. When he confesses that the nation has departed from God’s precepts, he is acknowledging that they have deviated from the right path either by accident, ignorance, or even on purpose. Finally, he repents for the nation who has not hearkened to the prophets, denoting the people’s deliberate disregard for divine authority.
In verse seven, he uses what might seem at first to be a rather unusual term to describe the people’s condition, “confusion of face.” This is a term which depicts the people as in a state of bewilderment.
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
When people live in a constant and consistent state of sinfulness and disregard for divine authority, they become so confused as to the difference between right and wrong that God’s evaluation is that they can’t even tell their right hand from their left. (Jonah 4:11) “Confusion of face” seems a fitting evaluation of our present generation which spends more on pet food than on world missions, which can’t seem to see the evil in ordaining homosexuals into the ministry and aborting babies, which uses more Christian broadcast time talking about health products than ministering healing, which turns offering time into a get-rich-quick promotional, which requires parental permission to give a student an aspirin at school but will arrange an abortion without notifying the parents, which would rather pass out free condoms and needles than to tell teens to abstain from promiscuous sex and drug usage, which has criminalized any reference to Jesus during the celebration of His own birthday, and which needs a constitutional amendment to help them define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
In verses seven through nine, Daniel acknowledges that even the trespasses which might not have been deliberate sinfulness are of equal consequence with their defiant transgressions.
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him.
Daniel acknowledges in verses ten through twelve that restoration will come through learning to obey the voice of the Lord as well as His written Word. If we want to see our harvest, we must learn to walk in the spirit as well as the letter of the law.
Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
In the next two verses, the prophet quickly recognizes that until we turn away from sin and toward God, we will not be able to learn His truth which we have just determined in the previous verses to be the key to restoration.
As it is written in the law of Moses, 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 thy truth. Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
In the following two verses, Daniel “pulls out his trump card.” He appeals to God’s own righteousness. Certainly, the sinfulness of man has disqualified him from making petitions to a holy God, and no amount of pleading on our part can convince the Almighty Sovereign to act. However, because of God’s righteous nature, God is willing to act on behalf of His needy people. Daniel knows that this is the only “bargaining chip” he can use when pleading with God.
O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
He continues his appeal based on God’s personal qualities in verses eighteen and nineteen.
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
His point is that the real basis for God’s intervention is that God wants to act for His own name’s sake. When He chose Abraham to receive His covenant, He did so in order to bless Abraham and establish him as a symbol so that the rest of the world could see what it means to be in favor with God. He also established the people of Israel as a sign to show the nations what God can and will do with a people who serve Him. Isaiah said that they were “a light to the Gentiles.” The Apostle Paul expresses the same idea when he says that we are ambassadors for Christ. No human government would ever select the uneducated, the ones who could not speak English, the ones with contagious diseases, the ones who didn’t know how to dress properly, the insane, the ones with no social skills, and criminals to be their ambassadors. If we humans want to put our “best foot forward,” God certainly wants to put forward a people who are healed (and not just healed, but overflowing with healing for others), saved (and not just saved, but overflowing with salvation for others), joyous (and not just joyous, but overflowing with joy to others), and prosperous (and not just prosperous, but overflowing with prosperity to others) — in general, He wants a restored and blessed people. He wants them for His own reputation’s sake!!!!
Daniel’s testimony in the following two verses confirms that God is ready and willing to answer our prayers when a righteous man prays fervently and effectually in alignment with His will. Isaiah 65:24 declares that He will answer even before we call and that He will hear while we are still speaking. Matthew 6:8 emphasizes that He already knows what we need before we ask, and Luke 18:8 promises that He will answer speedily.
And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
God’s answer came in verse twenty-two where He promised Daniel skill and understanding. We seem to always think that God should give us a physical answer; however, He often prefers to give us the supernatural ability to bring our own answer to pass. Peter, for example, was not handed a coin to pay his taxes; instead, he was given a divine blessing upon his fishing talent so that he was able to catch the one fish which was carrying a coin in its mouth. (Matthew 17:24-27) We often pray for a spiritual anointing, but God often answers that He wants to equip us in the physical and soulical as well as in the spiritual realms. The world will not be won to Christ through our intelligence and presentation, but it certainly will not be won without them.
And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
In the last verse related to Daniel’s intercession, the Lord reconfirmed that whatever He does is because of His love, not because Daniel followed a formula that included all the principles in the prayer. It is because we are His beloved that we get our answer.
At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
If we study the historical timing of this prayer, we’ll see that at the exact time when Daniel prayed, the Lord started moving upon the king of Persia to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple! When Daniel activated his “now” faith, seven decades of “patient” faith instantly took on substance, hope was fulfilled, and the harvest came in.