Salilo

Daniel knew from the written word of the Lord to Jeremiah that the desolations of Jerusalem would last 70 years and this was about to come to an end.Daniel was a righteous man whom after finding out the written word of the Lord sought God for forgivess and restoration of his people. He knew that the people must come to repentance before God and renew their covenant with him before going back to their homeland. Daniel's life was fully dedicated to God and He was faithful to all His ways. This was probably the reason why God revealed to Daniel a lot of things that would happen and were happening during that time with his people through visions.

A broken heart and spirit I believe it means that when a person is at the lowest point of their life and feels there is no hope at all after trying out everything humanly possible to get answers to a situation they're facing. When a child God sins or unable to come to terms with a situation, their heart become broken and realise that there is none other but God who can come to the rescue. In a situation where sin is involved, a heart becomes so heavy with sorrow of what took place and the only way to take such feeling away is repentance before God. A broken heart and contrite spirit is essential in the prayer pardon because it brings one into true repentance before God. I believe this becomes a sacrifice when a person gives up total control of self and surrender it all to Jesus. Allowing Jesus to take over their emotion, mind, spirit and soul means we sacrifice our own individual human nature and let God have His way within us, which is always the best because He knows His creation and how we function. I suppose as human we'd like to think we are in total control of our life. We resist a broken heart and contrite spirit because we do not want to allow God to take over what we can't. Some times is because as human we treat God how we treat our friends and family. We don't want Him to see that we are broken. It's our pride to be in total control and not dare to appear weak or broken to others.

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Abraham shows persistence in the way he pleads with God to have mercy on the righteous and not to slay them with the wicket. He starts by asking God if He would destroy even if there are fifty righteous people in the city and right down to ten. abraham needed to know if God would save even if there are ten righteous in the city. He did not just ask once or twice he really wanted God to save any one who was righteous and he knew well that God was a just and merciful God who would not bring evil to any one of HIs children. I suppose Abraham just needed to know if God would show mercy and saved those who put their trust in Him. Persistence is necessary in prayer as it create a faith building mechanism within each christian. Some times we give up so easily because we don't see answers to prayers. So being persistent encourages us to stand in faith believing God for answers. God wants us to be like Abraham, just go before Him and continuing to seek Him until we hear from him. I don't think God wants to see His children give up easily. Jesus gave a parable about a woman who bothered a judge by persistently going to sort some issues out until he gave in to her. She was so persistent that she wouldn't leave him alone until he gave her the answer she wanted. God I believe wants His children to do the same when they go before Him in prayers. Praying through for me often comes when there are difficult issues or intercessory prayer for others or situations I become aware of. One of my most difficult times was when my dad passed away a few years ago. My relationship with mom was not the best and for me a best friend and mentor was gone forever from this world. I went through a period where it felt lonely and no one cares. So God came to the rescue and in the midst of my darkest moments, He told me to forgive and love mom regardless. All I needed to do was to pray for her and trust Him to restore back what the enemy robbed me of for so many years. So for months I spent time praying that God would heal mom and deliver her from bitterness, restoring a relationship etc. No visual change as a matter of fact, it seemed things got worse as i continue to pray. Bit by bit God removed things in my own life that caused me to see things in the way I wanted, and allowed me to see mom in His eyes and His grace. After 3years of praying I can surely say, that God is gracious and merciful. He restored my ralationship with mom and it's a beautiful friendship now blooming. It didn't take a week or months, it took years of sowing, pruning and watering in the prayers!

Abraham had a wonderful relationship with God and he knew Him intimately, so it wasn't hard for Abraham to tell God what he wanted. He trusted God would grant him an answer to his prayer for Lot. His faith in God was the result of a trusting relationship which caused such boldness to voice his need or grieveance. God desires for us to do the same as Abraham. It is God's desire for his children to know Him intimately and spending time to fellowship with Him which build a relationship that cause us to come boldly before Him to make our requests known. After all, the veil was torn when Jesus said on the cross, "it is finished." We no longer have to go through a priest to pray for us, instead we can now go boldly before the throne of God as a child would with their earthly father. Abraham did not beat around the bush trying to find the right word or grease around God. He just ask God what was on his mind. Praying in faith and in boldness and telling God what's in our heart. Of course He knows everything we hold in our heart and mind but He wants us to tell Him because He's our father.