THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22
Scripture: Daniel 9:1-23, 1:21, Jeremiah 1:10

In Daniel 9, the Lord reveals to him the seventy years that Jeremiah prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem. Daniel lived his whole life in the dispersion because of that destruction. Israel rebelled against God and the judgment was they lost their nation and they were dispersed to Babylon. Daniel spent his whole life there. He subdued kingdoms, subdued Babylon and in Daniel 1, we are told exactly how long he ministered. Daniel 1:21 says, “Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus.” Just before King Cyrus was going to take over in the last part of Daniel’s reign, he began to pray for the restoration of Jerusalem. That is the assignment of the king who was going to take over next. So Daniel began to pray it into existence. At the very end of Daniel’s life as he was closing out his days, he got to see the king that was going to restore Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Not only did Daniel subdue kingdoms, but he got to restore kingdoms. He got to pray that restoration into existence in the Spirit. He laid the spiritual foundation for it to happen even though it did not happen until after he was gone. One of the things we need to learn from the book of Hebrews is that faith to walk in the end-times is realizing that what we pray about may not come until we are gone. It did not for Daniel, who prayed for restoration, but he only lived through the first year of Cyrus. Cyrus completed what Daniel prayed for. We may not get to see what we pray come to pass – somebody else may see it after we are gone. But rest assured, our prayers mean that it will in part be attributed to us. Are we willing to walk knowing that we may never see our dreams and prayers be fulfilled in this life? Our destiny may be handing off the answers to the next generation. The next generation cannot be made complete without us. They are standing on our shoulders and it is our job to pray it and call it into existence. If we never see the fruition of our prayers, we will get to watch from the balcony of heaven as God brings it to pass!