Prayer is the key to enduring any crisis.

We can see this with Daniel and his prayer life. When the time grew closer for the Israelites to return to their homeland, Daniel knew his people were not ready. The Israelites still did not have a right relationship with God. This grieved Daniel, so he prayed.

His prayer in Daniel 9 reveals six principles for praying in a way that God answers during a crisis. We’ll look at each of these six steps over the next few days.

First, you let God speak to you before you speak to him.

You need to hear the voice of God. He will always make the first move in your life. He never expects you to do something he doesn’t do first. The Bible says we love God because he first loved us. We serve him because he first served us.

God initiates. Then, we respond.

Remember, God always makes the first move. We talk to God because he first talked with us through his Word.

So how do you listen to God? You read the Bible.

Daniel did this: “It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of Ahasuerus, who became king of the Babylonians. During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the LORD, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years” (Daniel 9:1-2 NLT).

Daniel, a hero of the Bible, who had incredible faith and trusted God with his life, still knew he had more to learn from God’s Word. He knew that God still wanted to speak with him and give him the wisdom he needed.

So Daniel studied Scripture and listened for God to speak. He didn’t come to Bible study ready to tell God what he needed. He came ready for a conversation with God—and he let God speak first.

You will never pray effectively until you study the Word and listen to God. The more you know the Bible, the more effective your prayers will be.