| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Mighty Prevailing 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.” Daniel 10:12 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Don’t give up” Mighty prevailing prayer is prayer that doesn’t give up. It’s prayer that persists until it prevails. There are many good reasons that it’s sometimes necessary for us to persist in prayer before our prayers are finally answered. Over the next few days we’ll consider several of those reasons. Today we will think about what might be happening in the spiritual realm that could be interfering with the answer to our prayers, and which could require persistent prayer on our part to break through. Daniel lived during the time the nation of Israel was attacked and conquered by the Babylonians. He was young at that time, a teenager, and along with his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he was taken as a captive to Babylon where he spent the rest of his life. In chapter ten, which took place decades later, Daniel was in deep distress over the situation his people were in and he wondered what the future held for them. Beginning in verse 10:2 we read, “In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks. I didn’t eat any rich food, no meat, or wine entered my mouth, and I didn’t put any oil on my body until the three weeks were over.” So, for three weeks Daniel fasted and prayed, but apparently with no answer. Then, in verse 12 (quoted above), we read that an angel was sent to Daniel from God who informs him that his prayers were indeed heard the moment he prayed them. So, why the three-week delay? Beginning in verse 13 we read the angel explaining, “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision refers to those days.” Why was the answer to Daniel’s prayer delayed three full weeks? Because there was a battle being fought over it in the spiritual realm and while it was being fought, Daniel had to pray through it in the physical realm. This is often true for us too but because it’s happening in the spiritual realm, we aren’t aware of it. The fact is that there’s a direct link between our prayers on earth and things that happen in the spiritual realm, and sometimes business needs to be taken care of there before an answer is delivered here. We’ll think more about this tomorrow. In the meantime, I urge you to continue to persist in your prayers. There are battles being waged on your behalf that you don’t even know about. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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