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).
3. However, the answer had not yet come, so he kept on praying in faith for three more
weeks. “Give me understanding,” he had cried.
4. Nothing came. He prayed on, knocking at heaven’s door.
5. For three weeks he petitioned God–wrestling, agonizing, weeping, waiting–all the time
unaware of the battle raging somewhere in the unseen realm of the heavens.
6. Daniel experienced a delay because Satan’s forces fought against the answer to his prayer.
7. If Daniel’s persistence in prayer had not outlasted this period of delay, he would have been
defeated.
B. THE WINNING FACOR? PERSERVERANCEAND HIS DETERMINATION TO KEEP ON
PRAYING UNTIL THE ANSWER CAME!
The reason the Bible tells us to persist in prayer is not to overcome God’s reluctance but to prevail against Satan’s opposition.
C. I'M CONVINCED THAT TOO MAY OF US TOP PRAYING BEFORE GOD SENDS THE
ANSWER!.
1. We think just because we haven’t gotten an instant answer that “it’s not God’s will” so we
stop praying.
-------------------------------EXAMPLE-----------------------------------
When Jesus taught his disciples about prayer he used a present tense verb signifying a continuous action. For instance, what Jesus said in Matthew 7:7 should be translated as follows: “Ask (and keep on asking) and it will be given to you; Seek (and keep on seeking) and you will find; knock (and keep on knocking) and the door will be opened to you.”
IS THERE SOME AREA IN YOUR LIFE IN WHICH YOU HAVE STOPPED PRAYING BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'TGOTTEN AN ANSWER?
WHY DID YOU STOP PRAYING?
III.PRAYER IS RESISTED BY SATAN'SSOLDIERS! (vs. 13)
13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold,
Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the
kings of Persia.
A. There are reasons why the answer to our prayers may be delayed. Vs. 13 gives us
tremendous insight into the “battle of prayer” taking place within the invisible, spiritual world
around us.
1. We learn our enemy Satan, is fighting to keep our prayers from being answered. The devil
is real and he wants to make your life miserable
2. In this passage the angel says he was delayed by the prince of Persia (a demon) and then
he says that Michael (an angel), one of the chief princes, helped him.
In verse 20, the angel says he is going to fight against the prince of Persia. That’s warfare language.
Have you ever thought about the fact that the devil has a highly organized, demonized,
mobilized army?
That he assigns demons to certain nations and governments to try to influence them for evil?
Just as there was a prince of Persia, I’m convinced there is a “PRINCE OF AMERICA” who devotes much of his attention to our political leaders in Washington.
It is logical to assume there is a “prince of Russia” and a “prince of China” as well.
3. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians
6. “Put on the whole armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s
schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms ...And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all
kinds of prayers and requests.” (Vs. 11-12, 18a)
Peter Wagner writes that as we move into the 21st Century, the Holy Spirit is calling the church to a spiritual warfare with territorial spirits–evil spirits, demons, principalities, powers, world rulers of this present darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places–which attach themselves to specific territories or regimes or institutions.
Pastor John Piper writes, “The New Testament tells us that this prince of demons ‘darkens the minds of unbelievers’ (II Cor. 4:4), he ‘deceives the world’ (Revelation 12:9), plants his weeds throughout the world (Matt13:39), he takes people captive to do his will (II Tim 2:25),
he plucks up the seed of the word when it is preached Matt13:4”
3. Since we know the prince of demons does all that, we may conclude this is what his sub-
princes do as well
B. DANIEL 10 MAKES IT CLEAR SPIRITUAL WARFRE IS A REALITY.
1. When we read about the atrocities of Hitler, Stalin, or the leaders of the Bosnian-Serbian
conflict, we cannot escape the fact there is a Devil who is bent on the destruction of the
human race.
2. Satan has ruined everything he has ever touched. And he will wreck your life if you don’t
resist him. Our only hope is God’s promise: “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in
the world.” (1 John 4:4)
3. I’m don’t sees a demon behind every tree - someone sneezes they rebuke the demon of
sneezing or hiccups!
But I am convinced there is invisible of world of spiritual conflict that rages around us and our prayers are a KEY in importance of the battle plan.
C. Satan and his demons don’t want you to recognize their existence. They want to make sure
you are not faithful servant of Christ a prayer warrior.
D. THE DEVIL IS NOT OMNISCIENT HAVING COMPLETE OR UNLIMITED KNOWLEDGE.
1. He does not know everything he is highly organized:
2. He has intricate network. Nothing is left haphazard, even to the smallest detail.
3. They plan. They are structured. The Devil’s assistants are more cunning than diplomats,
and their servants are more beautiful than angels of light.
4. The Devil has a delegation of sinister soldiers and they operate in every area, the entire
world over.
5. He stirs up prejudice against the Church, always seeking to resist the spread of the gospel
and the building of God’s kingdom.
THAT'SWHY PRAYER IS A SPIRITUAL WARFARE.
IV. PRAYER IS OUR STRATEGIC WEAPON AGAINST SATAN! (vs. 20)
20Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against
the prince of Persia; and when I am through with him, lo, the prince of Greece will come.
If you want to life in victory, learn this truth about prayer.
A. Satan and his organized legions of angels are constantly working to obstruct the plan of
God.
1. As believers, our greatest weapon is prayer.
2. It is logical, then, that we can expect our greatest opposition when we are on our knees.
3. And, as Daniel teaches us, the demons do not quit the battle until they must.
V. The price we must pay for victory is persistence– praying until the answer is received.
II Corinthians 10:4-5 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
A. Stronghold means “a fortress” an area where the enemy is entrenched.
1. In spiritual terms it means an area of your life where the devil has discerned a weakness in
your spiritual defenses and has erected an outpost, a fort, a stronghold.
2. A stronghold may be an obsession, a fixation of thought, or some deep-set attitude or
thought pattern keeping you from experiencing spiritual victory.
3. It could be largely subconscious, like an iceberg, with only a small portion of it about the
surface of your consciousness.
4. It may be an unreasonable fear, worry, temper, hate, lust, aggression, or unrestrained urges
and appetites.
5. I think many addictions may be the result of a stronghold the devil has erected in the mind
of a person.
6. The nature of a stronghold isn’t nearly as important as HOW you can demolish it.
7. We are told in this verse we have spiritual weapons to pull strongholds down and the best
weapon is prayer. In fact, it is true the primary place spiritual warfare is fought is in the
prayer closet.
Illustration:
Good example in Exodus 17 the Israelites faced a formidable enemy–the Amalekites.
This enemy said, “You aren’t going to claim what your God has promised you. We are here to stop your progress.”
In Exodus 17 young Joshua led the army against the Amalekites down in the valley of Rephidim.
Moses is up on a mountain praying. He stood on the mountain and lifted his hands in prayer holding the rod of God. As long as Moses lifted his hands in prayer, the Israelite army was winning but when he lowered his hands and stopped praying, the enemy starting winning.
When Moses got too tired to keep lifting his hands in prayer, his brother Aaron stood on one side and a man named Hur stood on the other side and held his arms up so he could keep on lifting up the rod of God–a picture of prayer.
And soon, the Israelite army won the battle against their enemy. Was the battle really being fought in the valley? No it was really being won or lost on the mountain of prayer.
B. What a lesson for us! We also have an enemy who stands in our pathway of progress.
1. We have a spiritual weapon with “divine power to demolish strongholds.” (THAT’S PRAYER)
2. Are you using this weapon? Prayer is where the real battle takes place when we get up off
our knees, then we go out to enjoy the spoils of battle.
CONCLUSION
A. In 1990, Sadaam Hussein entered the small country of Kuwait and captured it.
B. I don’t think he was quite prepared for the unified response of the free nations of the world.
C. As you know by now, the Coalition of forces led by General Norman Schwarzkopf assembled to do battle with Iraq.
At the beginning of the Gulf War, Iraq had a large, well-equipped army; some say the fifth largest in the world at the time. Sadaam predicted his army would be victorious in what he predicted would be “the mother of all battles.”
C. The strategy of the Coalition Forces was to start with an aerial assault, the magnitude of
which the world had never seen before.
D. On the first night, the stealth fighters slipped into the airspace above Baghdad to bomb the
control and communications of the Iraqi army.
E. That opened the way for thousands of air sorties into Iraq. 1. We watched on television as
the “smart bombs” tracked with precision accuracy right into their targets.
F. After several weeks of this air assault, the ground operation began.
1. History records there was once a 100-year war and there has probably been a few 100-day wars but the Gulf War ground operation lasted only 100 hours!
2. The Iraqi soldiers literally ran toward the enemy with their hands up wanting to surrender.
The key? The bombing campaign made the difference.
In spiritual warfare, prayer is the bombing campaign. As we bombard heaven with our prayers, victory is assured.
G. Is there anyone else in this room with me who wishes the Vietnam War had been fought
with the same strategy as the Gulf War?
1. The politicians running the Vietnam War made decisions based on the political ramifications
of each decision.
2. The philosophy of the Gulf War military strategists was, “if we are going to fight, let’s win and
let’s win fast to avoid casualties.”
3. Some of my friends died in Vietnam and I consider Vietnam vets as true heroes. I just wish
our country had taken the same strategy into that war.
PRAYER IS SPIRITUAL WARFARE!
Some of you have a Vietnam War prayer life. You struggle and you win and lose a battle here and there
1. You don’t even have any clear objective when you pray
2. You haven’t even identified what your enemy is.
3. You are clueless about the activity of demons and angels around you.
4. Your prayer life really can be more like the Gulf War.
5. Put on the armor of God and start praying!
6. Get a burden!
7. Keep on until you get an answer!
8. Realize there is an enemy out there who wants to resist your prayers.
9.And start bombing his strongholds with your prayers of faith!
That’s when your prayer life will be effective in spiritual warfare
