Prayer: The Key To Victory In Spiritual Warfare

I. PRAYER: THE KEY TO VICTORY IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Daniel 10:1-21

INTRODUCTION

Dennis Swanburg, a little West Texas church. They were building a new sanctuary and it was almost finished. The new baptistry was functional the changing rooms not available. The excited pastor planned a baptism in the new baptistry. They hung sheets up so those being baptized could change.

The whole congregation gathered to watch. Everything went well until the last person to be baptized.. This lady was terrified of water. She panicked before being lowered into the water, clawing the air to keep from going down. She grabs the curtain which formed the front barrier of the men’s changing room and pulled that sheet down.

There stood a man wearing nothing but his underwear. he turned around, only to see the entire congregation gaping at him in embarrassed astonishment. He dived into the baptistery with the preacher and the panic-stricken woman!

“They just dismissed the service at that time.”

What is the point?

These few verses pull aside the veil and we catch a glimpse of what takes place behind the scenes of this physical world. We are enabled to look into the invisible spiritual world of how the good angels of God and the fallen angels of Satan often interact.

Why? Because angels are a fascinating topic and there is so much ignorance out there about them.

The Bible teaches us in Hebrews 1:14 that angels are “God’s ministering spirits sent to serve those of us who are His children.”

During WWII, soldiers were often given Bibles to take into battle. I recall one veteran talking about his. A German bullet punctured it and traveled halfway through until it stopped in Psalm 91. What does Psalm 91:11 say? “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” The ministry of angels is continually occurring, though we are not aware of what is happening. What we think are ordinary coincidences are oftentimes the result of the ministry of angels.

So God sends this angel to Daniel to do two things for him.

A. First, he comes to comfort and reassure him. In verse 12 and again in verse 19, he

says, “Don’t be afraid.”

1. The #1 message they bring is “Don’t be afraid!” Is that the message you need to hear from

God today? Don’t be afraid.

2. Faith and fear cannot reside in your heart and mind at the same moment; they are mutually

exclusive. If you let Him, God will replace your fear with faith today.

B. The second thing the angel comes to do is to deliver the answer to Daniel’s prayer

1. In the process we learn something about the mystery of prayer critically important for us

when we pray today. a. Daniel is a man of purity, prophecy, and prayer.

I. POWERFUL PRAYER:

A. Starts with a burden (vs. 2-3)

2In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 3I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

B. Daniel is so burdened he begins a partial fast.

1. He stops eating meat, drinking wine, and he stops using body lotion to soften the effects of

living in the dry desert. He is probably living on bread and water.

C. Why is Daniel burdened?

According to the timing of this vision, the Jews should have started going back to Jerusalem and begin to repopulate Israel 2 years before. History tells us many of them grew so accustomed to the Persian lifestyle they decided to stay. The entire book of Esther describes the Jews in Persia after they were given the right to return to their homeland. Daniel is so burdened because his people, the Jews, had fallen in love with the wrong world.

1. ARE YOU BURDENED FOR AMERICA?

1. Are you Burdened for your children-family-friends?

2. Are you so burdened you are regularly fasting and praying? That’s the problem: Too many

of us aren’t even burdened because Christians are in love with this godless culture around

us. Daniel fasted and prayed for three weeks, would you consider doing the same?

II. PRAYER DOESN'T STOP UNTIL THE ANSWER COMES! (vs. 12)

12. Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to

understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have

come because of your words.

A. Daniel doesn’t just pray once and say, “There, I’ve done my duty I’ve talked to God about

this problem.”

1. No, he humbles himself before God, and he is in a heavy spirit of mourning for three weeks.

2. The angel reports to Daniel his prayer had been heard since the first day he prayed (10:12).