Mensa Otabil - Search the Word (10/27/2025)
Welcome to day number eight of our 40 days of power. It is normally known as the number of new beginnings. May God do something new in your life today as you go on trusting Him, praying, and seeking His face. This week, we are looking broadly at the subject of guidance. It’s important as we seek the face of the Lord to be guided by Him, to have direction from Him, to know what He wants us to do. So today, we focus on knowing the Word of God so that you’ll be guided by God.
Daniel chapter 9, verse 2: «In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet that He would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem.» This is Israel in captivity in Babylon, and Daniel was a young man in Judah in Jerusalem when Jeremiah the prophet prophesied that Israel would go into captivity for 70 years.
Now, Daniel is an older man; he is in his 80s, and he is now reading the Scriptures, the Word of God. He came to know that Israel is supposed to go into captivity for 70 years, and it’s just about time for those 70 years to be up. So he started praying and said, «Lord, You promised that we would go into captivity for 70 years, and You will deliver us. Now I come back to Your Word and pray, 'Lord, deliver us.'»
He prayed based on the Word of God. A couple of things I want you to note about Daniel’s approach to seeking guidance from God: he was a student of God’s Word. You know, many times when we talk about guidance from God, we want to get it from a dream, from a vision, or from someone to tell us something. And it could happen, but the primary way by which the child of God gets guidance is through the Word of God. That’s what Daniel did; he just went to the Scriptures, studied the Scriptures, and he got guidance from the Scriptures.
So if you want guidance from God, pay attention to the Scriptures. Go into the Scriptures. You’re not going to find a word that says to wear a red shirt or a blue shirt; you’re not going to find such specifics in the Bible. But you will find the purpose of God in a deeper way that guides you and orders your steps in all the important choices you have to make. Search the Scriptures, and when Daniel did that, he related the Scriptures to his current situation.
The prophecy was given long ago and written down, but now, almost 70 years later, he compares the situation he is in and realizes it’s about time for God to deliver us. That’s what we do when we study the Scripture; we realize, «Oh, God has promised to bless me. God says in His Word that I’ll be the head and not the tail. God says in His Word that He’s my healer. God says in His Word that He’s my deliverer.»
You relate that to your situation, so that you will see the manifestation of God’s will in your life. Based on that, the passage says Daniel set his face toward God in prayer. So he prayed, but his prayer was based on relating the Word of God to his situation. He was able to relate the Word of God to his situation because he studied the Word of God. Don’t just think of praying; you have to know what God has said. You have to know how the Word of God applies to your situation, and then based on the promises of God, which are eternal and never change, you can pray, and God watches over His Word to perform it.
So spend time in the Word of God. Read the Scriptures. Apply them to your situation. Then zoom out, praying and seeing God’s hand at work in your life. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, thank You for what You’re doing in my life. Help me to understand my season of visitation. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Well, I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.