Daniel 10:12-14
Have you ever spoken to someone and you just felt like somehow there was a communication break-down, and so you repeat yourself. But it feels like either you're being ignored or to give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was a very noisy environment, so you say the same thing again, but with a little more umph, and you might even add, I said...
Then suddenly they turn around and they snap out, I heard you the first time.
And you with a little attitude say back. Well why didn't you answer me the first time?
Well those things happen sometimes, and sometimes the delay is because of distractions in the environment, and you truly weren't heard. Then there's another explanation. It could be that the other party was thinking about what you said, and they didn't just want to snap back with just anything, they actually wanted to give you a processed answer, or an answer that they thought through.
Whatever the reason is, whether it is valid or not, that time of waiting for a response is very disturbing, and agitating. And in some cases we could even get so irritated that we say, just forget it, and walk away.
Let's admit it, we are an impatient society. We want it yesterday. We will throw something in the microwave, and stand in front of it tapping our foot, because it’s too slow.
If the drive through at Mcdonald’s takes over five minutes, we want to talk to the manager about how slow they are.
I think God wants us to understand something… impatience can rob of us of the best things in life.
Many bad decisions are made because we didn't see what we wanted, or hear what we wanted to hear quick enough, so we just angrily stomped off in a different direction and ended up causing ourselves a lot of unnecessary grief.
Some people have made big purchases out of impatience and later regretted it.
Some people married out of impatience, and later regretted it.
Time is a great sifter. Time will sift out the half hearted, the insincere, the lazy, and the indifferent.
God uses time to qualify us for his best blessings. Remember our favorite song? They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength...
While we wait our capacity for receiving is enlarged.
While we wait our desire is tested.
While we wait our commitment is tested.
Waiting is a season for things to develop, or mature.
A baby is conceived in a moments time, but there is a season of waiting that follows, and that waiting season is a developing season. You don't want to cut that season short because you could have a premature, or under-developed child if you do.
So there are good and godly reasons for waiting, and many seasons of delay, are actually divine in nature. But there are also times when delay is not divine in nature, but it is in fact demonic. it is Satanic in nature. And it is sent to derail you, to discourage you, and to disappoint you.
The devil will at times use delay to try and get you to fall into fear, and doubt, and unbelief. And many times the weapon of delay has defeated great men and women of God.
So where the devil has failed in a frontal attack, in many cases he has succeeded, by utilizing the weapon of delay.
In Exodus 32:1 When Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, the children of Israel went off the rails. They went crazy. They made a golden calf, and stripped off their clothes and started drinking and dancing and worshiping a golden calf.
When Abram’s promised son was delayed, Abram and Sarah left the God path to the promise, and started acting in flesh, and Abram went into Sarah’s handmaid, and they produced a child of the flesh. This child Ishmael, was born out of their impatience, and was a source of grief to them, and still is today.
But because of God’s mercy, Abraham and Sarah still brought forth the promised son 25 years after the promise.
Abraham and Sarah were delayed for 25 years, but not denied.
Joseph received his dream when he was 15 years old, he was delayed for 15 years, but he was not denied.
God promised the children of Israel, a land flowing with milk and honey, they were delayed for 40 years before they even saw the fruit, but they were not denied.
You may have received a promise, or a prophetic word about something, and it may have been a year or 5 years, or more, and you haven’t seen it manifested yet. And it seems like it’s farther away than ever, and looks more impossible than ever, “but delay is not denial.”
You may have been battling a sickness for awhile, and you’ve been praying and believing God, but it feels like things are worse, and looks more impossible than ever, “but delay is not denial.”
Come on, I need you to say it with me… Delay is not denial.
Dear reader, this is participation time, say this with me... I may have been delayed, but I have not been denied.
Now say this with some gusto, I refuse to be denied.
Say it like a preacher, I refuse to be denied.
Remember the old hymn of the church, I would not be denied. It doesn’t say, I would not be delayed. Because truthfully there are different reasons for delay. It could be wrong choices, and wrong decisions, and wrong paths taken that have delayed your journey. Or it could be God, working something out for you. Or it could be the devil who is trying to strip you of your faith, and discourage you to the point of giving up, and turning the switch of faith off.
Say this with me, it doesn’t matter why, I won’t be denied.
You may have prayed and prayed and prayed, and it feels like the heavens are brass, and it looks like nothing has changed. And the devil has been telling you, you’re wasting your time.
I want to tell you, you’re never wasting your time when you pray. If your heart is right with God, you’re never wasting your time when you pray.
It may feel like the heavens are brass, and it may look like nothing is happening, but it is not wasted time. You may feel like you’ve been asking and asking, and there’s no reply, but say it with me… I won’t be denied.
You may feel like you’ve been knocking at the same door over and and over, and it may feel like no one is home. But say it with me… I won’t be denied.
You may feel like the days and the years are flying by, and there’s no reply, but say it again… I won’t be denied.
You may have been praying for that prodigal child for years, and it seems like they are farther from God than ever. But say it again… I won’t be denied.
You may have been praying about your ministry and the direction of your ministry, and it seems like there’s no reply. But say it again… I won’t be denied.
God told me to tell you today, "he heard you the first time". The first time you bowed your knees, and opened your mouth to talk to him, he heard you.
He said tell them, your prayer was heard on high the first time you prayed.
He said tell them I am not ignoring them.
He said tell them that the answer was released from the throne, the moment they prayed. But just like Daniel in our text, there has been satanic resistance, and demonic interference.
The devil has been jamming the radar. Your prayer has been such a threat to hell, that the devil has released a host of demons to keep your answer from getting through.
In other words, your deliverance, is on the way. It’s in the atmosphere, it has been released from heaven. Your breakthrough, your healing, and your miracle is on the way.
Like when I order something from Amazon, I get a text telling me it has just left shipping. Then it will say… it’s on the way. But my favorite text is the one that says, your package is out for delivery.
I hear the Lord saying to you today, it is not just on it’s way, your package is out for delivery. But you have to keep praying, because the devil doesn’t want you to get your package. But say it again.. “I will not be denied.”
Somebody needs to tell God, and let the devil hear you…
I’m not forfeiting my blessing.
I’m not giving up.
I’m not turning the switch of faith off.
I’m not getting out of position.
I’m not going to let discouragement and disappointment get me out of position for my miracle.
Dear reader… He heard you the first time.
Basically that’s what the angel of the Lord said to Daniel.
The message Bible says, from the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard.
Then the King James says, I have come because of your words.
Notice that, I have come because of your words.
I heard your words the first day you prayed, and your words kept me moving through the demonic resistance.
God is saying to his church today, I heard you the first time you prayed, but don’t quit praying.
Your words activate heaven’s messengers and your words keep them in fight. The angel army of God is strengthened through the prayers of the saints.
Psalms 103:20 Bless the Lord ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments hearkening to the voice of his word.
Daniel prayed diligently for 21 days without any evidence of an answer, we pray for 20 minutes and if we don’t hear trumpets, and bells, and we don’t see angels we’re ready to quit.
But God said… tell my children I have heard their prayers. But so did hell, and now it’s up to you and your faith whether the answer is received or not.
The answer is in route, and Michael has been ordered into service, but the hosts of God are strengthened or weakened on the basis of the intensity, and the fervency of our prayers.
Friend I remind you… God heard you the first time you prayed. But you have to know the devil heard you too.
That’s why you have to keep praying. Let me say it again, keep praying.
We’ve got to keep the pressure on. The battle is turning in your favor. Michael is on the job, but he needs our prayers.
Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
I hear the Lord saying... Hold on, change is coming. The angel of the Lord has received reinforcement, and your package is out for delivery. Your hope has been deferred for awhile, but you're getting ready to eat from the tree of life, meaning the fruit of answered prayers.
God heard you the first time you prayed, and the answer is out for delivery, now just stay in a position of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.
Friends God is never late, but he has missed an aweful lot of good opportunities to be early.
But even when God is four days late, he's right on time. All you have to do is ask Lazarus about that, and he'll tell you it's true.
Why does God sometimes delay the answers we seek?
I don't know all the answers but I'll tell you what I have learned personally. Desire is a very powerful thing with God.
God wants you to want what your asking for. And many times he will delay your answer until your request becomes a passionate plea, and he feels the heat of your desire.
God many times delays our answer because we aren't ready for it. In other words, we aren't prepared to steward it.
Sometimes God delays answers to teach us how to fight, and how to work our faith.
Let me give you an illustration, when the pandemic hit, there were a few people that cried out to God. But for the most part it wasn't a national passionate plea for God to save us. It was just a few moans and groans of disappointment, and of discomfort.
God has his ear inclined to the United States of America, and he is listening, and he is waiting for a universal united cry for his help. And when he hears that passionate in earnest plea for help. It will happen.
I don't want to sound mean, but many times our prayers are not like heat seeking missiles that pierce the heavens to reach the throne of God. Many times they're more like duds that barely reach the ceiling.
If our first prayer was filled with the desire, the fire, the passion and the zeal of our last prayer, our answers would have come a long time ago.
E.M. Bounds said "there are two things that God cannot tolerate in our prayers... one is the lack of heat and the other is, the lack of heart." When God, finds heart, and feels the heat in our prayers, the answers won't be far behind, because he heard you the first time.
