Saturday

Related Verses
1 Kings 8:48
48 And if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who have carried them captive, and they pray to You toward their land that You have given to their fathers, the city that You have chosen, and the house that I have built for Your name;

Dan. 6:10
10 Now when Daniel came to know that the writing had been signed, he went to his house (in his upper room he had windows open toward Jerusalem) and three times daily he knelt on his knees and prayed and gave thanks before his God, because he had always done so previously.

Psa. 48:1-2
1 Great is Jehovah, And much to be praised In the city of our God, In His holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion, the sides of the north, The city of the great King.

Eph. 2:21
21 In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord;

Col. 1:12
12 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light;

Col. 2:6-7
6 As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,
7 Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Deut. 8:7
7 For Jehovah your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs and of fountains, flowing forth in valleys and in mountains;

Related Reading
In Daniel 9:3-23 we see the way to obtain [the vision of the seventy weeks]—Daniel’s desperate seeking of the Lord God in prayer and supplications with fasting. 

In his prayer Daniel confessed his own sins and the sins of the kings, the chief men, and the fathers of Israel, and of all the people of Israel (vv. 3-15, 20a). 

In his prayer Daniel also supplicated for the holy city of Jerusalem, the holy mountain of God, and the holy people of God (vv. 16-17, 19b, 20b). This means that he supplicated for all the interests of God on the earth, not for his own interest. 

Furthermore, Daniel asked the Lord to forgive them, not based upon their righteousness but based upon God’s great compassion (vv. 18-19a). 

In verses 21 through 23 we have God’s answer to Daniel’s prayer and supplication…In his desperate prayer, Daniel requested that God recover the Holy Land, send His people back, and rebuild the holy city (vv. 15-19). But God answered him by giving him the report through the angel Gabriel of the seventy weeks (vv. 20-27). This answer exceeded what Daniel requested.  (Life-study of Daniel, pp. 85-86) 

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Solomon prayed even concerning the future captivity of God’s people (1 Kings 8:46-53). He prayed that in the captivity of His people Jehovah would hear His people’s prayer and maintain their cause when they would return to Him with all their heart and with all their soul and pray to Him toward the land that He had given to their fathers, toward the city that He had chosen, and toward the house that Solomon had built for His name, that they could be separated from all the peoples of the earth to be His inheritance. 

In the last of the seven conditions concerning God’s listening to the prayers of His elect, three things are stressed (v. 48): the Holy Land, typifying Christ as God’s allotted portion to the believers (Col. 1:12); the holy city, signifying the kingdom of God in Christ; and the holy temple, signifying God’s house, the church, on the earth. These three things—the Holy Land, the holy city, and the holy temple—are the three crucial things regarding God’s economy. During the Babylonian captivity Daniel prayed for the Holy Land, the holy city, and the holy temple three times a day by opening his window toward Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10). This indicates that God will listen to our prayer in the way that our prayer to God must be toward Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God as the goal in God’s eternal economy. 

The Holy Land, the holy city, and the holy temple are all types of Christ…Today, our prayers should be aimed at the Holy Land, the holy city, and the holy temple. This means that our prayers should be aimed at the interest of God, that is, at Christ and the church as God’s interest on earth. 

We need to pray for the saints, but we should not aim our prayers at them. On the one hand we pray for them, but on the other hand we pray for them because of God’s interest. 

We need to remember that prayer involves three parties: us, God, and Satan. Sometimes when we pray for a certain person, Satan comes to attack him, and his situation becomes worse. The reason for this is that our interest is in that person, not in God’s economy. No matter for whom we are praying, we should aim our prayer at God’s Christ, who is God’s interest in His economy. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 38-39) 

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6

Further Reading:
Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 21

Hymn: #779
1 Pray with one accord in spirit,
Not according to our thought,
But alone by the anointing,
As the Lord has ever sought.
 
Pray with one accord in spirit,
Not according to our thought,
But alone by the anointing,
As the Lord has ever sought.

2 Pray with one accord in spirit,
By the cross deny the soul;
All desires and all intentions
Let the Spirit now control.

3 Pray with one accord in spirit,
Pray as in the heavenlies;
All the earthly interests treading,
Fight the principalities.

4 Pray with one accord in spirit,
Supplicate relatedly;
Seek the Lord, His mind, His leading,
In the Spirit’s harmony.

5 Pray with one accord in spirit,
Pray and watch persistently;
For God’s kingdom and His glory,
Pray and watch in harmony.

6 Pray with one accord in spirit
Seeking God in unity;
In the Spirit of the Body
Ever pray in harmony.