In the Bible, we see prayers of confession of sins. One of them, of Daniel, who prays for the sins of the people, and includes himself in prayer, in the error of the nation; But Daniel, when we see the Bible, was like a superhero, a man almost perfect. He was not contaminated with the king's food, he prayed, he was a righteous man; In the eyes of God, he was what we all should aspire to be. And, by the way, in Daniel 9, we see that Daniel was reading the Word in the book of Jeremiah and understood that the people were living what had been prophesied and was about to be fulfilled, and the first thing he said was: We have failed, I include myself, I come to confess our sins.

3 And I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and supplication, in fasting, sackcloth and ashes." Daniel 9: 3

When a prayer request was made for sins, these people lived it; They put on sackcloth, they threw ashes, they fasted. It was not to say: Lord, I apologize for my sins. They demonstrated in their body, in their actions, true repentance. Change is not change, but until you really condition your heart to the new way of living. Modifying behavior is not change; To change, there must be repentance and the right actions. If a man fails his wife, and brings her flowers and takes her to dinner, that is not change; To change, first you have to ask for forgiveness, accept that you were wrong; Because modifying your behavior does not say anything, if you did not do what you really have to do because of the mistake you made. Daniel was not simply to ask for forgiveness, he put it on him, he lived it, he fasted; These people wore sackcloth, they tore their clothes; They failed, and they had to prove it; It is a consciousness.

Daniel proceeds to make a list of all the ways in which they failed, and recognizes that the confusion they had was for themselves. This prayer of Daniel is one of the most powerful, as an example of a prayer of confession of sins. Daniel confesses the sin of an entire people, recognizing the need for transformation to experience the power of God.

Something to highlight in this prayer, and what is important for us to know how to present ourselves before God in moments like these, is the spiritual position in which Daniel puts himself. Daniel finds himself in the midst of the captivity of Babylon, studies the Word and realizes that the times are being fulfilled, that the promise has to be fulfilled, but he knows that the promise can not be fulfilled if the people are not in the correct position . Therefore, the first thing Daniel does is recognize sin. Before God, you need to recognize that you failed. The next thing Daniel does is declare the justice of God; It says: We fail, but your justice remains forever. The recognition of God's justice not only gives you access to his grace, but also reveals your mistakes; As God does not change, everything that is around him has to change to conform to Him. When you see God's justice, you realize where you failed. If you do not recognize the justice of God, you will never recognize where you have failed, where you have to make arrangements. Daniel recognizes that God did not bring confusion, but themselves, saying: "7 Yours is, Lord, righteousness, and our confusion of face ..." (Daniel 9: 7)

In the third place, Daniel intercedes for the grace of God; He says: If there is someone who can and will have mercy, it is you, Lord; The only thing is that we have not asked for it. Daniel is saying: Look at everything that we are living, simply because we do not recognize that we are wrong, that you are just, and do not ask for mercy. Have not you had such people in your life? They know they did wrong, but the relationship is never fixed because they have not gone where you recognize their mistake and ask for forgiveness. When we do not approach God in this way, it is because of our perception that He is a judge who will punish us; But God is a righteous judge, his justice is the one who governs, and if you can ask for mercy from someone it is Him. On one occasion, David makes the mistake of sending a census of the people; And God is angry. There is a curse to the life of David, and David goes before God; And God gives David two options: Either you fall into the hands of men, or you put yourself in my hands.
Either way, David would have consequences; Putting oneself in the hands of God did not exempt him from the negative consequences of his error; But David had to choose the justice of God, or of men. And David said: Lord, in your hands. David understood that, if he was going to ask for mercy, it was in the hands of God. Asking for mercy and grace did not eliminate all the consequences of error, but putting yourself in the hands of God is more important.

The next thing Daniel does is recognize the consequences of sin; It says: We have sinned, and these are the consequences; Daniel does not hide that what they were living was a consequence of sin.

Finally, Daniel recognizes the importance of God's testimony. There are many reasons why you have to repent, but the most important is that your repentance brings glory to God. When you repent and God works with you, he uplifts you, restores you, who receives the glory is God. The proud person never gives glory to God. Saul made a mistake, but with an error it was enough; David made many mistakes, but his attitude was different. Saul's problem is that he was proud, he never acknowledged that he did wrong, and he wanted all the glory; For him, the fault was of the people, of the people, and he had not done wrong and he did not have to repent; But God can not work with someone like that, He knew Saul's weaknesses, and He did not put Him there because Saul was God, but because He was the best candidate at that time, but God needed Saul to admit his mistakes, his faults, in order to work with him and then take him to that level of glory. The particular thing about David is that every time he repented, who took away the glory was God.

If you have failed, acknowledge your error, declare the justice of God, and intercede for His grace, recognizing that what you are experiencing is a consequence of your error. Your repentance will bring glory to God, and in your hands you will find mercy.

When there is a crisis it is because something has to change, we have to change, a country does its people, let's look at Jesus again!

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