26 February 21012 AD by Pastor Ben Willis

Daniel 10:1-14 [NLTse]

1 In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) had another vision. He understood that the vision concerned events certain to happen in the future—times of war and great hardship.

2 When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. 3 All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

4 On April 23, as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, 5 I looked up and saw a Man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around His waist. 6 His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and His eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and His voice roared like a vast multitude of people.

7 Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. 8 So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak. 9 Then I heard the Man speak, and when I heard the sound of His voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground.

10 Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. 11 And the Man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When He said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.

12 Then He said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in Heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13 But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help Me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. 14 Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.”

Many Christians don’t understand prayer; some even believe it doesn’t really matter whether they pray or not. They either believe God’s going to do what He’s going to do anyway (so why bother?) or they see prayer as a last resort after all of their other efforts have failed: They’ll pray a little bit; they’ll throw up occasional appeals; but, in their heart of hearts, they don’t view prayer as making that big an impact on their circumstances or the decisions they make every day.

Does that describe you?

I find that so hard to believe because the Bible shows prayer to be a very simple thing: A personal conversation, interaction, an audience with the King of the Universe, Who is also our Father…

The Bible shows us God visiting and talking with Adam and Eve in the “cool of the afternoon”; challenging Cain about his attitude toward his brother, Abel; Enoch taking walks with God; the Lord and Abraham standing on a hillside overlooking Sodom and Gomorrah discussing those cities’ fate; Moses receiving the plans for the Tabernacle and the words of the Law, and returning from every with meeting with his face shining in reflection of God’s glory; we see the prophets interacting with our Father in all sorts of different ways…

There’s no evidence that these old saints always visibly saw God or necessarily heard His audible voice each time, but the accounts are clear that they knew they were speaking to Him, and that He was speaking to them, and guiding them and helping them…

Daniel (called Belteshazzar by the Babylonians) met with God three times every day. He prayed in his room. He prayed in the lions’ den. He prayed for wisdom. He prayed for guidance. He prayed that God would forgive the sins of His people Israel and return them to their home. And, in this mornings’ reading, we find Daniel has been struggling in prayer for twenty-one days because he’s troubled by a dream he’s had…

Anyone here every prayed for twenty-one days about some matter or concern? Yeah, few Christians hang in with the Lord for that long. We’re a fast-food, instant coffee, microwave kind of people. If we don’t get immediate answers from God too many Christians give up, thinking God doesn’t hear or doesn’t care.

However, Luke writes how “One day Jesus told His disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. ‘There was a judge in a certain city,’ He said, ‘who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy. The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!

“Then the Lord said, ‘Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to His chosen people who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the Earth who have faith?’” (18:1-8)

Notice here that the Lord Jesus seems to equate praying – and never giving up in prayer – with faith; that is, if we truly trust God we will keep on asking, keep on crying out, we’ll keep on praying until we get a response from Him.

The Lord spoke of this again when He said, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) Unspoken in this teaching is the idea if you don’t “keep on asking” that, perhaps, you won’t receive what you’ve asked for; if you don’t “keep on seeking” that, perhaps, you won’t find; if you don’t “keep on knocking” that, perhaps, the door won’t be opened to you.

Paul Harvey once told a story about a three year old boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered the grocery store she said to him, “Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask.”

She put him up in the cart and he sat in the little child’s seat while she wheeled down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies and he stood up in the seat and said, “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not even to ask. You’re not going to get any at all.” So he sat back down.

They continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back in the cookie aisle. “Mom, can I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you that you can’t have any. Now sit down and be quiet.”

Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this may be his last chance. So just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart and shouted in his loudest voice, “In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?”

And everybody round-about just laughed. Some even applauded. And, due to the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy and his mother left with twenty-three boxes of chocolate chip cookies!

We ought always to pray and not give up…

But why? Why should we always pray and not give up? I mean, is God deaf? Is it hard to get His attention? Do we have to keep bothering Him until He throws up His hands in disgust and says, “If I don’t grant their request I’ll never get any rest?”

No. That doesn’t seem right considering the God we come to know in the Scriptures. And our reading this morning seems to be saying something else altogether.

Let’s look at Daniel 10:10-12 from our reading. Notice it says, “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God your words were heard,” and the Man says, “and I have come in response to them.” (vs. 12)

If you’re familiar with Daniel you know this isn’t the first time Daniel has heard this from God’s messengers. In 9:23 Daniel was told, “As soon as you began to pray an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed…” (Daniel 9:23)

In the cross of Christ, the almighty God shows us how highly esteemed we are to Him, and every time you and I pray not only does God gladly hear our prayers, but an angel is immediately sent from God’s presence to give us His response.

“Why all the delays?” you might ask. “Pastor, I may not keep on asking and seeking and knocking as God calls us to, but there have been many occasions where I have prayed a whole heck of a lot! And nothing seems to have happened. What about those times?”

We’ll talk next week about prayers that seem to go unanswered, but for today our reading does give us some insights as to why there can be delays between the times of our prayers and the times we see them responded to…

The messenger tells Daniel, “Since the first day you began to pray … your request has been heard in Heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way.” The angel is telling Daniel (and us) that when Daniel prayed, demonic forces rose up (this one was called “the spirit-prince of kingdom of Persia”) and battles between angels and demons broke out. So, sometimes, when God doesn’t seem to respond to our prayers – although we may not see it – sometimes it’s the powers of Hell rising up seeking to get in God’s way, seeking to discourage us by delaying the Lord’s response, seeking to harden our hearts and pollute our minds against our Savior by speaking their little deceptions and half-truths in our eager ears. Yet when we keep on praying we see that God’s angels are willing to fight for us to bring answers to our prayers!

Are you praying for someone in your family to become a Christian? Know that every prayer you pray puts more and more pressure on that person to listen to the human and divine messengers God sends to them to share His good news. Do you pray for your friends in their daily struggles? Know that every prayer you pray imparts to them more and more grace and power and opportunities from the Lord. Do you have difficulties with someone at school or at work or around your community or home? Know that every prayer you pray brings God’s power to bear on those difficult people and situations.

Prayer is not a passive act on our part. Prayer is an aggressive, active ministry! The Bible tells us that in Christ we are reigning with Him in the heavenly places. Now, it’s only a foretaste of the authority He has promised us we’ll enjoy after He returns, but when we pray we are moving the very forces of Heaven itself! The powers of greed and lust and pride at work around us are strong. To come against them takes more than quickie, half-hearted prayers. We must know God’s will, and persevere in asking for His will to be done, and be determined to see it through until we see His changes in response.

Maybe you’ve heard the acronym, P.U.S.H.? P-ray U-ntil S-omething H-appens? That’s how Jesus prayed! Mark tells us:  When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged Him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, He laid His hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?”

The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.”

Then Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. (8:22-25) He kept on praying until something happened.

George Mueller was a Christian evangelist and the Director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England during the late 1800’s. Once, while crossing the Atlantic on the “SS Sardinian”, Mueller’s ship ran into thick fog. He explained to the captain that he needed to be in Quebec by the following afternoon, but Captain said that he was slowing the ship down for safety and Mueller’s appointment would have to be missed. Mueller asked to use the chartroom to pray for the lifting of the fog. The captain followed him down, claiming it would be a waste of time. After Mueller prayed, the captain started to pray, but Mueller stopped him; partly because of the captain’s unbelief, but mainly because he believed the prayer had already been answered. When the two men went back to the bridge, they found the fog had lifted. Mueller kept his appointment in Quebec; and the captain became a Christian shortly afterwards.