"PRayer-Answer Delayed"

Prayer – Answer Delayed

Have you ever noticed how the cereal companies market their cereals. First of all, there are pictures on the box that tells you who their target audience is. If the target audience are young children, you without a doubt know that somewhere on the box a little blurb has been written especially for moms. This little blurb shouts out “A source of 9 or 8 essential vitamins.”
The bottom line is this: there are vitamins that you and I need daily to put into our bodies if we are going to remain healthy and strong. In our health-conscious day and age, we are very aware that our bodies require a regular input of foods that contain all the essential vitamins and minerals to survive. If we don’t get these essentials into us, then we weaken and become susceptible to sickness.

Just as there is a list of essential vitamins that we need to take in to be physically healthy, the same is true spiritually. For you and me to be strong in the Lord and strong as Christians there are some essential disciplines that must a part of our daily lives.
The month of January and this month of February, we are going to continue our series on prayer as a discipline. Prayer is an essential, non-negotiable discipline that make for a strong Christian.
Have you noticed that there is a connection between strong Christians and passionate for God Christians? The fact is that they are one and the same. Strong Christians are passionate about God. The result of truly giving oneself to the pursuit of godliness and the spiritual discipline of prayer is that one’s heart becomes inflamed for God and filled by Him and his glory.
In I Timothy 4:7b-8 (NIV) it says, “Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
This is a good verse for us to memorize for it reminds us that godliness doesn’t come naturally, it takes effort, discipline, perseverance, commitment, hard work. Also held out for us is this: such training benefits us in this life and in the life to come.
The topic of prayer is an immense one and I could preach dozens of sermons on the subject, but here’s the bottom line. If you and me are going to be strong Christians, then we are going to have to train and discipline ourselves in the area of prayer.
That we might be encouraged to take up this discipline and so reap untold benefits let us consider the account of Daniel in Daniel 10.
The lions aside, our focus today will be upon Daniel as a man of prayer.
When he was just a young teen Daniel was taken into the land of Babylon as a captive of war. God was punishing Israel for her sins. God’s decree was that for 70 years Israel would be captives of Babylon.
At this point in our text Daniel is approximately 85 years old. He’s an old man—but he’s a godly old man.
For most of his life he has been a top official in the Babylonian kingdom. Amazing really. He’s a Jew, not a native. Yet God saw to it that he was elevated to an extremely influential position in the Babylonian kingdom: a kingdom noted for idol worship and sin.
What was the secret to Daniel’s “success” and place of honor in the kingdom of Babylon? Honoring God was his priority. He had a heart for God. He was sold out for God and because of that he was blessed: God says to you and me in 1 Samuel 2:30 that “Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise will be disdained.”
Read Daniel 10:1-3 (NLT)
Again, we are back in time when the Medo-Persians conquered Babylon and Cyrus was king. Daniel’s name was still Beltshazzar. Daniel received this revelation in 536 B.C.
This was about the same time that the Lord rescued him from the lion’s den. This was in the third year of King Cyrus’s reign. Right after King Cyrus conquered Babylon, he had issued a proclamation of freedom allowing all Jews who wish to do so to return to their homeland. Almost 50,000 chose to return under the leadership of Zerubbabel. When Daniel received this revelation, the Jewish exiles had already returned to Palestine and were rebuilding their homes, shops, businesses, farms, and the temple.
Keep in mind, Daniel was an official in the governments of Babylon and then Persia. Daniel had access to official records. So, he had probably seen reports that construction of the temple in Jerusalem had stopped due to the opposition of the surrounding people. This is what drove Daniel to his knees. He was deeply concerned and grieving for his people and nation. He wanted to intercede on their behalf.
So, for 3 weeks he was in mourning. He fasted and prayed. He didn’t eat any choice food during that time. Nor did he eat meat or drink wine, and he didn’t anoint his body with oil. He was totally consumed by his concern with the fate of his people, the Jews.

Daniel has an amazing vision and an encounter with an awesome being. It was early spring, the 23rd day of the first month when the encounter took place. Daniel was possibly taking time off from his official duties in order to observe the season of the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, which spanned the first month of the year. So Daniel had reason to celebrate this particular Passover in that the Jewish exiles had been released from their Babylonian captivity and they had returned home. Even so, Daniel’s heart was still heavy with concern for his people.
Daniel 10:4-9: Daniel was by the side of the Hiddekel, or Tigris River when he suddenly saw a man who was more awesome than any person than he had ever seen. Daniel would never forget what the man looked like. His clothing was linen. His belt was made of the purest gold. His body looked like a dazzling gem that reflected bright colors. His face was as bright as flashes of lightning. His eyes were like flaming torches. His arms and legs gleamed like polished bronze. His voice thundered like the roar of a multitude.
Who was this person? Some believe he was an angel. Others think that he was Christ himself. Several facts support the view that Christ was the awesome being who stood before Daniel.
It appears that the Lord himself appeared to Daniel in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only Daniel actually saw the vision. His companions did not see this person, but they did sense his presence. And they ran away in terror. When Daniel caught a glimpse of the glorified person, he was emotionally overwhelmed and physically weakened. His face turned deathly pale, and he became utterly helpless. Falling to the ground, he heard the awesome, glorified Christ speaking. At the sound of His voice, Daniel fell asleep. He was totally humbled and surrendered to Christ.
Daniel 10:10-11: Daniel was still weak and trembling from his encounter with the awesome person described. But Daniel was strengthened by another heavenly being that has entered the scene, perhaps Gabriel. The angel told Daniel that he was highly esteemed in the eyes of the Lord. So he was to listen carefully to the special message that was now to be given to him. Hearing this, Daniel stood to his feet, trembling but fully alert.
Daniel 10:12-15: The angel gave Daniel a special insight into the spiritual warfare constantly being waged between the forces of good and evil. It looks like the focus of Daniel’s prayer for 3 weeks had been for the future of Israel. The Angel informs Daniel that his prayer had been answered on the first day that he had begun to fast and pray.
But in verse 13, it stated that evil forces had delayed him. For 21 days the demonic Prince of Persia had resisted God’s angel, delaying the delivery of the answer to Daniel’s prayer. Remember, Daniel prayed and fasted for 3 weeks, or 21 days. It took 21 days for God to give the answer to Daniel’s prayer because Satan’s demons were causing the delay. As the conflict and delay continued, God finally sent Michael, one of the chief angelic princes of heaven, to help the angel combat the demonic forces of Satan.
We need to understand that all of this was taking place in the heavenly realm. The angel was able to leave the combat long enough to bring God’s answer to Daniel in verse 14. Now the angel was going to explain what would happen to the Jewish people in the future, because the message from God was a revelation of events yet to come.
Listen closely to this: When Daniel learned that spiritual forces had opposed his prayer, he was completely overwhelmed. In weakness he collapsed to his knees, completely speechless. It was through prayer that he had been involved in a cosmic spiritual warfare, and he was totally unaware of the conflict, totally unaware of the importance of his individual prayer. But his prayer was so important that the Lord had sent some of his most powerful angels of heaven to make sure his prayer was answered.
We really don’t have any idea what is going on in the heavenly realm as we pray. How important prayer must be!
Daniel 10:16-19: Once more God’s angelic messenger encouraged Daniel. He touched Daniel’s lips which enabled Daniel to speak. Daniel told the angel that he was terrified at the spiritual warfare that is fought over prayer. He was deeply troubled, so much so that he could hardly breathe. Again, what a lesson for us about the importance of prayer.
Seeing how emotionally drained and weak Daniel was, the angel again touched him and gave him supernatural strength in verse 18. He then instructs Daniel not to fear because he was greatly loved. He was a man who was faithful in prayer and consistently obeyed the commandments of God. The Lord highly favored Daniel and held him in the highest esteem imaginable. The angel pronounces peace upon Daniel and gives him strength. Daniel was now strengthened enough to receive the message of the prophecy that was about to be given in chapters 11 and 12.
Daniel 10:20-11:1: Before Daniel could respond, the angel said that he would soon return to fight against the prince of Persia. Then sometime later, when the Grecian empire arose, he would have to fight against the angelic Prince of Greece.
It would take the angels of God opposing these two demonic angels to restrain and control evil on the earth. Apart from God’s righteousness and the restraining power of the Holy angels, evil would run rampant across the face of the earth and destroy humanity.
This is not just Old Testament happenings. Paul spoke of this same battle being fought when he wrote in Ephesians 6:12 (ESV) “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.”
We will stop there for today. But there are a couple of things that we can learn from this chapter. Number one, there’s always been people who have scoffed at the idea of a personal devil or demonic angels who actually exist in a so-called spiritual world. These individuals feel that they are too educated and intelligent to believe such nonsense. They proclaim that these ideas are outdated and belong to the dark ages, when people were too ignorant and superstitious to know better. But God, because He is God, tells us the truth. God reveals to us the fact that there is an evil force that has access to the spirit of man and that can influence people to do evil. He is called Satan, and he rules over the darkness and spiritual wickedness of this world.

Another thing that we can learn from this passage is that it teaches us the supreme importance of prayer. God answers prayers. If we are sincere and fervent, genuinely craving for God to move and act, He will. He moves the events and affairs of society as well as the citizens and leaders, all in answer to prayer. Because of prayer:
–God will strengthen and help us, even deliver us
–Save us and our families,
–Free us from the bondages and enslaving habits of life.
–He will rescue our marriages and friendships,
–Give us understanding and wisdom,
–Help us financially, educationally, professionally.
–He will give us and our loved ones the hope of heaven and life everlasting
There is nothing that God will not do for the person who truly believes and seeks Him.
But in our seeking God and because of the power of prayer, the demonic forces of hell will oppose us. Satan will do everything he can to keep us from praying or continuing in prayer. He will do his best to keep us from receiving the answers to our prayers. He will try to keep us from living righteously and following the Lord.
Satan will do all he can to cut the heart of God, which he does by tripping us up and causing us to sin. If we are true prayer warriors, every temptation imaginable will be thrown across our path. We will be seduced to give in to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. For this reason, we need to prepare ourselves to stand against Satan as we pray. We must put on the whole armor of God.
Closing Illustration
A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the man did, day after day.
For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
But slowly doubts came. He thinks to himself: “You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t moved.” He begins to believe that the task is impossible and that he is a failure. These thoughts discourage and dishearten him.
Then he thinks, “Hey, why kill yourself over this? I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.” So that’s what the weary man planned to do, but first he decided to make it a Matter of Prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
“Lord,” he prayed, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”
The Lord responded: “Wait a minute! When I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. Really? Look at yourself. Your arms and back are strong and muscled, your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yes, you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to have faith, pray and to trust in my wisdom. That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock.”