Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”
Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for 21 days.” Daniel 10:12-13 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “The battle must be fought and won before the prayer can be answered.”
Daniel had a problem. He was faced with a difficult situation that he did not understand and he had no idea what he was supposed to do about it. So he did the right thing, he prayed to God and asked for understanding and clarification. But understanding didn’t come. So Daniel kept praying. Not for an hour, and not for a day, and not even just for a couple of days. He prayed and fasted and waited for three weeks. (As we’ve already learned from the example of Elijah, effective prayer is often hard work and it takes time.)
Finally, after three weeks of praying and fasting and waiting, an angel appeared and gave Daniel the answer he had been waiting for. And we read in Daniel 10:12-13 that the Lord had dispatched the angel to deliver the answer to Daniel on the very first day he started his prayers, but Satan opposed the delivery of that answer. As a result there was a battle that had to be fought and won in the spiritual realm before the answer could be received and experienced in the physical realm.
This is the very lesson we learned from Paul yesterday in Ephesians 6:10-20. There is a spiritual battle raging, you and I are in it whether we want to be or not, and the battle has to be won in the spiritual realm first before the effects of it can be experienced in the physical realm. The continued, persistent, effective prayers of God’s people are a key element in winning the battle.
Thank God Daniel didn’t give-up and stop praying. If he had, there’s a good chance the battle would not have been won and the answer would not have come! And that is the lesson here for us. I can’t help but wonder how many battles were on the verge of being won, and would have been won, if I had just kept praying.
If we go back to yesterday’s lesson in Ephesians chapter six again, we read in verse 13 Paul says, “This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.”
“Take your stand.” The implication is that you plant your feet and you refuse to be moved. You are steadfast and determined. You won’t budge and you won’t give-up. That’s the way Daniel approached his prayer and as a result, the battle was won and the answer came.
The battle must be fought and won in the spiritual realm before the answer can be experienced in the physical realm. So put on your armor, take your stand, pray, and don’t stop praying until the answer comes.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 