Beloved, here me well. From the first day you began to pray, God has heard you. The heavens aren't brass. But look at what the angel reinforces Daniel was praying for. He was praying for understanding and humbled himself before God. Now, I do not know your individual situation but I know that we can sometimes approach God arrogantly. We can be upset with God. We can be bitter about our lives. We can be depressed because our lives have not turned out as we expected -- or as the church has promised us it would! We need to stop listening to the seeker friendly and prosperity nonsense that is passed off as Christianity. God always wants to prosper you? Tell that to Peter who was crucified upside down! Tell that to Isaiah who was sawn in half according to legend. We need to get out from the churches that are feeding us this poison because then when we really need God we approach Him without the reverence He is due, respecting His authority and sovereignty over our lives. We need to humble ourselves and seek understanding -- not go to God demanding answers!
But for twenty-one days the spirit prince
of the
There are many
times I say that we are on a need to know basis and God has decided we do not
need to know! Yet here we see the angel explaining to Daniel why there was a
delay in his answer! There is something we never consider during the valley.
There may be a reason we cannot even fathom to explain what seems like a delay
in the answers we seek. These two verses might be the most important of the
whole story. We live in an age where the church has turned a blind eye to
spiritual warfare. The result is we are raising up a generation of spiritually
illiterate Christians. But just because we choose to not understand this war
does not mean it stops from being waged against us. We read in Ephesians 6 that
we are fighting a war against evil rulers and principalities in the heavenly
realms. This story in Daniel explains that more clearly. Daniel prayed and God
dispatched an angel to Daniel. But the angel was blocked in the heavenly realms
by the Prince of the
What's the point
preacher? The point is that this kind of spiritual warfare is going on all the
time and all around us. The woman with the issue of blood suffered for 12 years.
God only knows what kind of spiritual warfare was going on all around her for
that time. But in our own flesh with our poor understanding of spiritual
warfare we just think that we have been praying and not getting an answer. So
God must be mad at me. I must have a secret sin. God is no longer close to me.
I'm drifting. Well, while there may be slivers of truth in some of those we
need to start with where we are at in understanding the nature of the war we
are in!
For though we live in the world, we do not
wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself
up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it
obedient to Christ. -- 2Corinthians 10: 3-5 (NIV)
Yet how often do we
find ourselves waging war as the world does? We have a problem and we take it
to our friends. Or we take it to our therapist. We do not hear from God so we
react like the world and get depressed. We marginalize all the good God has
done by insisting that everything is bad. Beloved we need to snap out of it,
like my pastor is fond of saying. The spiritual weapons God has given us
possess divine power! We can take authority and demolish the strongholds of the
enemy! But we have to wield the weapons! We have to do our part as well. We
have to take these rogue thoughts that are set up in opposition to God and make
them obedient to Christ! When the enemy says that God has forsaken us we remind
him of the Scripture that assures us He never will. When the enemy says we are
not worthy of an answer from God we remind him of the Scripture that says we
are fearfully and wonderfully made. When the enemy says God doesn't care, we
remind him that God knit us together in our mother's womb and numbers the hairs
on our heads! When the enemy comes against us at our weakest moments we need to
tell him that we do not need to defend ourselves in this matter for God can
deliver us -- BUT if He chooses not to -- so be it. The name of the Lord be
praised!
While he was speaking to me, I looked down
at the ground, unable to say a word. Then the one who looked like a man touched
my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing
in front of me, "I am filled with anguish because of the vision I have seen, my
lord, and I am very weak. How can someone like
me, your servant, talk to you, my lord? My strength is gone, and I can hardly
breathe." -- Daniel 10: 15-17 (NLT)
Daniel is blown away by the faithfulness of God and the visit from the angel. This leads us to our key verses for today. In light of this backdrop, we can see several messages for us. I do not know where this writing finds you. I do not know what the answer is that you are waiting on or where your understanding of spiritual warfare is either. What I do know is the Word of God always has the answers and I see four parting messages from the Lord to us today from these key verses:
Then the one
who looked like a man touched me again, and I felt my strength returning. "Don't
be afraid," he said, "for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged!
Be strong!" - Daniel 10: 18-19 (NLT)
All we need is a touch from God or His ministering
angels and all of our strength will return! Thus when we feel weaker during
these times the answer must always be to draw closer not withdraw farther. Secondly,
God is saying don't be afraid! If God is for us then who can stand against us! Third
and this was so important He said it twice to Daniel in this story - you are
very precious to God! He sent His only Son to die for YOU. Don't ever lose
sight of this! Lastly, peace, be encouraged, be strong. Unrest, discouragement
and weakness are just the soils the enemy loves to use to plant his lies in. Do
not give him a foothold. You are a child of the living God. Let's all get back
to believing it, showing it, and living it!
Reverend Anthony Wade -- April 25, 2013
