Dear God
Who and what do you pray for?
Chapter 9 of Daniel is mainly about a prayer Daniel’s said to God. There are so many things we can learn from it and so we go deeper into it today!
The service starts at 9:30am on stwderby.online.church
But this button will go live about 11am on Sunday 14th March for you to watch the service again if you missed it live! You won’t want to miss out!
Hope you enjoyed our Werb’s Kids Service this morning!!
We love how everyone is getting involved so don’t miss out! Just email Amy (amy.farrar@stwderby.org) so that we can keep making it better and better and involving more and more people!
As mentioned this morning we are still in the book of Daniel. We’ve learnt a lot already and been through so many stories, from eating vegetables to the fiery furnace to last week when we saw Daniel in the Lion's den.
Today we jump forward a bit to Chapter 9 which is a story that’s a bit different. Last week we talked about how Daniel was a hero of prayer and our passage this week shows this completely!
do you remember what happened in the story?
We focused in our service on the first part of the story where Daniel prays to God!
We find out that a long time ago a prophet named Jeremiah was sent by God to tell Israel they would be captured by Babylon and taken for 70 years. Obviously this happens as we know from Daniel 1 when Daniel and his friends are taken to Babylon.
But we are now in the part of the story where the 70 years are coming to an end and Babylon has now been defeated by another kingdom, and King Darius is now in charge.
Daniel was reading Jeremiah’s old writings and thought Israel would be free soon!
So, what did he do?
He began praying and fasting which is a discipline which helps people focus on God. It’s super interesting thought what he prays for!
“Lord, you are a great and awesome God.
You have never given up your commitment to us,
never given up on those who love you
and do what you say.
But we have sinned in every way imaginable.
We’ve done evil things, rebelled, dodged and taken other routes around your clearly marked paths.
We’ve ignored your servants, who preached your Word.
You are so good but we are not.
But it’s also true that you are kind and full of mercy.
Just like in the days of Moses when
you saved your people from Egypt,
will you come and rescue your people today?
I’m not asking because we deserve it…
we don’t.
I’m asking because you are a good, righteous,
and forgiving God.
The other nations laugh at us, so show them how powerful and good you are by rescuing us.
Lord, hear!
Lord, forgive!
Lord, listen and act!
My God, for your own sake, do not delay,
because we are your people.”
Anything in that passage stand out? Anything jump out at you?
What does Daniel pray about?
There’s 3 main points which I have taken from this prayer:
Daniel knows he is loved by God
Daniel’s prayer he talks about how awesome God is! And we know God is awesome don’t we!
Daniel knows that God will never give up on him in fact he has loads of examples in the previous chapters of how God has been there for him and for his people. All the stories we’ve looked at over the past couple of week from the vegetables to the fiery furnace to Daniel explaining the kings dreams and then him in the Lion’s den have shown us that God has always shown up and been there for them.
So Daniel knows with his whole heart how good God is, that he’s never alone, God will never give up on him and that God loves him an insane amount!
Daniel says sorry
Even though God has never given up on his people, God’s people have turned away from him again and again. They have sinned and done lots wrong.
So Daniel says sorry.
We do wrong things too sometimes too don’t we. Sometimes we say or do something that’s unkind. Sometimes we are hurtful to others or we just don’t think about how what we are doing might make someone sad.
We need to say sorry to God too, we need to be real and honest and ask God to forgive us when we do things that don’t honour him and when we go the wrong way.
We also mentioned this morning it’s amazing that no matter how many times we mess up or get things wrong, God will always love us and as Daniel says God is merciful which means he will always be there and forgive us again and again and again even when we don’t really deserve it. God wants to be in relationship with us and that’s why he wants us to say sorry so that we can be friends with him again!
Daniel prays for others and his home
We should pray like Daniel for our city and for all those around us.
Hopefully this morning you did write down places and people in Derby that you’d like to pray for. There are plenty of people in derby who really need God and his love and peace right now.
From thanking God for the fun parks near your house and the amazing peak district that he created to praying for our hospital, our schools and the streets on which we live it’s so important to pray for our home.
What we didn’t have time for in our service today is that…
…while Daniel is still praying an answer arrives. Quite literally actually, an angel appears!!
Ever had an angel appear when you’ve prayed?
Below as you go deeper you can think about this next part of the story.
Main points:
Are you expecting God to answer you?
Always be ready to listen
In the answer we see Gods thoughts are bigger than ours
GO DEEPER!
SPARKS (Preschool)
What did you think of the story!?
Do you like to talking to God? Do you think he will talk back? Are you ready to listen to him?
God loves talking to us and he loves listening to our prayers. We need to keep on praying to him and talking to him about what is happening in our lives.
Where do you think you could pray?
Name some places together and think about how you can actually pray ANYWHERE!
In the car or on the sofa. At nursery or in a shop. You can pray standing up or sitting down. With your hands together or in the air!
In this story we see at the end that an angel from God appears to Daniel. How amazing is that!?
Can you act like an angel right now?
Never forget that God loves it when we talk to him bit he also wants to talk back to us so we need to sometimes stop and listen and wait to hear what God wants to say back!
You can end by saying this prayer together:
“Dear God,
Thank you that Daniel shows us how we should pray.
I love you God.
I am sorry for when I was bad this week.
I thank you for Derby.
Help all those who work in our hospital and all key workers this week.
Help me now to listen to you speak to me.
Amen.”
FLAMES (KS1)
We ALREADY know how much of a hero of prayer Daniel is!
He’s so good at talking to God because he’s done it so often. How many times do you pray each week? What about each day?
Remember God doesn’t mind where or how we pray he just wants to talk to us. So whether you’re at home or at school or even in the bath, God wants to know how you’re doing and how your day has been. But don’t forget God wants to talk to.
And each time you pray there are so many things you can pray for.
When Daniel prayed he started by talking about how great God is! This is such an important thing to do as it reminds us who we are talking to and that he can do anything that we ask!
Then he says sorry. Say sorry to God now again. We are human and so mess up all the time but never let your sin or the wrong things you do get in the way of you and God. Talk to him and ask him to forgive you. Remember Daniel calls God merciful which means he’ll always forgive us even when we don’t deserve it.
And last of all pray for your home and your city and all who live in it! It’s SO good to pray for others and not just pray about ourselves all the time.
After Daniel prays guess what!?
God speaks to Daniel! An angel of the Lord appears and has a very special message for him and his people.
Isn’t that amazing! How do you think you’d feel if you saw an angel?
Well Daniel listens to the angel as wants to know what God has to say. But actually the answer isn’t as what Daniel had hoped.
Daniel hears from the angel that God is in control!
He was ready to listen and so God spoke through an angel! But as mentioned before the answer isn’t what Daniel had thought it would be.
Gods thoughts are so much bigger than ours that sometimes the answers he gives us aren’t what we expect.
Be ready today to hear from God. If you need to sit quietly in order to be able to listen maybe find a special space to pray where you can be alone.
God can speak in many different ways and he won’t always say what we think he will so make sure you talk to someone about what you hear from God and check it matches what the bible says. God will never disagree with himself or his word (the bible)!
BLAZE (KS2)
What did you think of Daniel’s prayer today?
The main points that were pulled out earlier were:
God is great and we are loved by him
We need to say sorry
We need to pray for others
Were there any other things that stood out to you in Daniel’s prayer?
You might want to reread it in a different version to help you see more in the passage:
But the part we didn’t manage to get to in our service is when God answers the prayer and an angel turns up!
The angel Gabriel appears with something to tell Daniel and his people.
Gabriel tells Daniel that he is 'highly esteemed'. Which is pretty special as this means 'precious' and shows that God has seen his faithfulness in praying.
Daniel is then told that he needs to understand this answer that Gabriel is about to give.
The answer is greater than the prayer itself!
Straight away we kind see how God is thinking about much higher and greater things than those that were in Daniel's mind!
Daniel focuses on his people, Israel and their sin and all they’ve done wrong. He looks at the now and how they are currently in exile in Babylon.
Yet God's answer above is far higher and greater that anything that had entered into Daniel's thoughts or prayer.
This does not make Daniel’s prayer bad it’s just that we need to remember that when we wait for an answer it’s not always what we expect. God is often looking at the bigger picture and just like the Lord’s prayer states we need to pray for God’s will to be done and not ours.
Here are some of the differences between Daniel's thoughts vs. God's thoughts
Daniel is thinking about forgiveness for Israel's current sin and wrong doing.
God is concerned about getting rid of all sin and bad things for EVERYONE FOREVER!!Daniel is thinking about getting back to Jerusalem to start rebuilding.
God wants instead to begin building His own kingdom and Himself as King on earth!
God often has bigger and better ideas than we do and that’s why we need to keep listening to him and be on his path not trying to do our own thing!
Remember to keep praying what it says in the Lord’s prayer:
YOUr WILL BE DONE!
FUN ACTIVITIES + CRAFTS!
For those who LOVE colouring and activity sheets check these out:
Time To Pray - Use this to help you pray!
Draw or make your favourite thing about Derby and then thank God for it!
This could be using playdough or clay or using recycling boxes! Get creative!!Prayer Hands Craft
HERE is a great website for this prayer hands craft with a print out to help you pray!Static Electricity Prayers
This is a fun, visual way to pray, and shows God's power and desire to hear our prayers.
- You will need: small pieces of tissue paper, pens, a balloon, hair or a woolly jumper!
Think about who or what they would like to pray for and then choose a colour of tissue paper to reflect that person or thing. You can write or draw on the tissue piece if you want to.
Rub the balloon on a woolly jumper or on your hair.
This will build up some static on the balloon!
Talk about giving our prayers to God and asking Him to show his power in each situation. Then hold your tissue prayer close to the balloon and watch as it is pulled onto the balloon and sticks there. Pray that, as the paper sticks to the balloon, God will hold all of our prayers and that we will see his power at work.Ezekiel 36v26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
This website shows us a cool thing we can do to think about what it means for God to give us clean hearts like Amy talked about in the service.
They mention using ‘Ivory Soap’ this is just bog standard normal bar of soap so other soaps should work too like brands such as ‘Dove’ and ‘Imperial Leather’ or the cheaper Supermarket equivalent.
WORSHIP + PRAYER
This is beautiful a song written where someone is praying and talking to God and God talks back!
Look at the lyrics. Is there a part that sticks out to you the most?
Spend some time thinking about the ‘Dear Child’ part of the song when God talks back.
Imagine God saying those things to you. How does that make you feel?
God just wants you to know today that he loves you and is so incredibly proud of who you are.
“Dear God
I’ve been trying awful hard to
make You proud of me
But it seems the harder that I try,
all the harder it becomes
And I feel like giving up,
most of the time
Dear God
I’ve been chasing their approval
and it’s killing me
And I know the more I try to prove
all the less I have to show
And I’m stuck inside my head
most of the time
But if I pray a little harder
If I follow all the rules
I wonder, could I ever be enough?
’Cause I try and try
Just to fall back down again
And I ask myself why
Do I try to chase the wind?
I should lean into the mystery
Maybe hope is found in a melody
So I wanna try again
Oh, I’m gonna try again”
“Dear child
I hope you know how much I love you
and I’m proud of you
And please believe
The thoughts I have for you
will never change or fade away
And when you felt like giving up
I never did
’Cause I’m not scared of imperfections
Or the questions in your head
Just know that you have always been enough
’Cause you tried and you tried
And I saw you wrestle with
Every how, every why
I was right there listening
So just fall into the mystery
And I’ll meet you here in the melody
Try, just to try again
Oh, child would you try again?
My child, you can love again”
Created by Amy Farrar using several different sources
