CONFESSION OF SINS

Why Israel? Chapter 12 – CONFESSION OF SINS by author Derek Prince.

As we continue looking at the right approach to prayer, it is important to include a discussion on confession of sin.

A true intercessor is one who not only prays in a serious way, but also comes to confess sin before the Lord. The perfect example of this is Daniel, who was one of the most righteous men recorded in the Old Testament.

Identification

Though Daniel was an outstandingly righteous man, he identified himself with the sins of his people. If you are an intercessor, you cannot stand before God and say, “They have done wrong.” That mindset doesn’t get you anywhere with the Lord. You have to say, “We have done wrong.”

It is imperative that you identify yourself with the sins of your family, your inheritance, your culture, your nation, or whatever situation you are praying for. In regard to Israel, Daniel says in chapter 9 verse 5:

We have sinned . . .

Daniel does not say they have sinned, but he says we have sinned. Then he continues:

. . . and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.

Is that true of Israel? It certainly is.

Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day.

O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgive- ness, though we have rebelled against Him.

We could continue with that passage, but can you see the pattern? We can’t be self-righteous.

We need to practice this principle of confessing the sins of the group we represent. We have to stand in proxy just as Daniel did, because he was a righteous man. Yet he did not say of his fellow Jews, “They have sinned.” He said, “We have sinned.”

Personally, I believe it was Daniel’s prayer that opened the way for the return of the Jews from Babylon to Israel. This example teaches us that confession is an essential part of effective intercession. We can be part of this activity of confession, but we should also be praying that God would release this act among both Gentiles and Jews.