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 seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

Daniel 9: 2-3 NKJV

From this scripture, two things are worthy of note: Daniel came to a place of understanding or revelation while reading the book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:10). You see, there are lots of prophecies and promises in the bible for us. The Holy Spirit will open our understanding to them. But, when we don’t read the word of God we can never know them and never come to the understanding of the things written concerning us. There are things written concerning us; promises, prophecies, instructions, guidance, etc. but as long as our bibles are closed those things will remain unlocked and lost to us.

Second thing worthy of note is the response of Daniel to the prophecy he chanced upon while reading. He could have queried the prophecy, “It’s about seventy years, why hasn’t God delivered us as promised?” Or he could have decided to wait for its manifestation ‘in God’s time’, but rather he prayed for its manifestation. He travailed in the place of prayer. He set in motion the spiritual forces, he ignited series of angelic activities, and caused heaven to intervene in the affairs of men.

Prayer, especially praying the scriptures, is the powerful force by which men engage the supernatural to intervene in natural affairs, a way by which divinity envelopes humanity and by which the heavenly gets involved in the affairs of the earthly. 

Earth aligns with heaven when men pray the scriptures; the promises of God and the resultant effect are more explosive than the most powerful chemical reaction. It is supernatural. Praying the scriptures is our supernatural nuclear program.

Recommended text for further reading:

1 Timothy 1:18; John 5:39; Isaiah 34:16; Luke 24:27.