Don't Stop Praying
Prayer, it is something we take for granted so much of the time. Just because we think God isn't answering our prayer or has said no, don't stop praying because God sent an angel the moment you started praying. The delay is simply Satan trying to stop your angel!
Daniel was willing to persist in prayer until God answered his prayer. Daniel was taken into captivity into Babylon, along with many other Israelites. The Israelites return from exile did not happen for 70 years. Daniel prayed for 60 years before his prayers were answered. 60 years! Would you pray for something for that long?
Interestingly, at one point Daniel was praying for 21 days about a revelation God had given him concerning a great war. While he was praying out by the river, a man clothed in bright linen walked up to him and said in Daniel 10:11-13: “O Daniel, man greatly loved… stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. (But) The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-‐one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me…”
Isn't that awesome and confusing all at the same time? On the day that Daniel started to pray, his words were heard, and this guy clothes in linen was sent with the answer to his prayer. But along the way a demonic force engaged this angel and they had a cage match for 21 days! Have you ever looked up to Heaven and thought, “What’s going on up there?” If you and I had any idea of what is happening when we pray it would blow our minds.
While he was held up, Daniel kept praying, for 21 days. And then another angel, named Michael, who is kind of the Jack Bauer of angels, shows up around day 20 and helps this first angel. The scripture doesn’t say directly that the second angel came because Daniel kept praying, but you have to wonder about the connection. What if Daniel had quit praying on day 20? I don’t know.
There’s so much mystery here it would be unwise of me to speculate. But I know the uniform teaching in scripture is that some answers to prayer are only given in response to persistent prayer. You’ve prayed for 20 days, no answer, keep praying. You’ve prayed for 60 years, no answer, keep praying.
In Him,
Pastor Boyd
Daniel was willing to persist in prayer until God answered his prayer. Daniel was taken into captivity into Babylon, along with many other Israelites. The Israelites return from exile did not happen for 70 years. Daniel prayed for 60 years before his prayers were answered. 60 years! Would you pray for something for that long?
Interestingly, at one point Daniel was praying for 21 days about a revelation God had given him concerning a great war. While he was praying out by the river, a man clothed in bright linen walked up to him and said in Daniel 10:11-13: “O Daniel, man greatly loved… stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. (But) The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-‐one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me…”
Isn't that awesome and confusing all at the same time? On the day that Daniel started to pray, his words were heard, and this guy clothes in linen was sent with the answer to his prayer. But along the way a demonic force engaged this angel and they had a cage match for 21 days! Have you ever looked up to Heaven and thought, “What’s going on up there?” If you and I had any idea of what is happening when we pray it would blow our minds.
While he was held up, Daniel kept praying, for 21 days. And then another angel, named Michael, who is kind of the Jack Bauer of angels, shows up around day 20 and helps this first angel. The scripture doesn’t say directly that the second angel came because Daniel kept praying, but you have to wonder about the connection. What if Daniel had quit praying on day 20? I don’t know.
There’s so much mystery here it would be unwise of me to speculate. But I know the uniform teaching in scripture is that some answers to prayer are only given in response to persistent prayer. You’ve prayed for 20 days, no answer, keep praying. You’ve prayed for 60 years, no answer, keep praying.
In Him,
Pastor Boyd
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