A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.
Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”
Daniel 10:10-14
There are some prayers that are short and quick … ones we don’t put too much thought into. Prayers before meals, at the beginning or end of an event, and others that we quickly utter up almost as a habit.
And then there are those prayers in which we are intensely seeking the Lord for – the desperate ones that seek a directional response from our Father. It is in these type of prayers we may feel a perceived silence. Perhaps we wonder if God even hears us or does He even care.
I think we sometimes fail to comprehend the real spiritual battle that is taking place on behalf of our prayers and for the situations that surround us. In this passage in Daniel, we are given a glimpse into the great struggle that takes place – often as we are unaware.
Daniel had been in deep intercession as he was seeking understanding from God. After twenty-one days of prayer, his answer finally came. This passage reveals so many truths that I believe we can bring into our own understanding of prayer. Let’s look at six of them.
- Do not fear. Fear comes to us when we don’t trust in God, when we don’t believe He hears our prayers or that He will answer them. There are battles going on around us in which we know nothing of. Daniel’s messenger explained that he had been battling for twenty-one days as he was trying to come to Daniel to deliver the message from the Lord. Take heart, God will always overcome.
- Be humble and continue to seek God. There is power in us humbly continuing to intercede and petition God for our requests. He is answering us and it’s our posture that welcomes His response.
- God is hearing our prayers. Daniel’s messenger reveals to him that the moment he petitioned God, the messenger was sent as God’s response. The same is true for us. God always hears us regardless of what we feel and despite what we see.
- Spiritual warfare is real. Scripture is clear that there are battles that happen in the spirit world all the time, seen and unseen. We must continue to battle the way Scripture teaches us – through the pronouncement of His Word and through prayer.
- Keep pressing through. The enemy wants you to think your prayers are useless and powerless because he knows, even more than us, the power of our prayers. He wants us to give up. Our role is trust God’s timing in answering prayer and to continue to press on in prayer as we await the response. Our prayers are powerful weapons in the spiritual battle.
- God will always answer. He is moving 100% of the time. He never fails and He is always faithful.
Perhaps you are, or have been, intensely praying to God for something and you wonder if He even hears you. Let this passage be an encouragement to you to continue to press on, to not give up and to trust that God’s answer is on the way.
May you continue to live…
Rooted in Him,
