At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.
On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.
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.”
While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”
Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. “Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace! Be strong now; be strong.”
When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.” (New International Version)
Perhaps you, like me, have had the experience of praying, and feeling as if those prayers were only bouncing off the ceiling and never heard by God. But the Lord has been watching and listening all along. Although we may not get an immediate response, we will most certainly receive an answer to our prayers.
I am encouraged that God listened and was attentive to Daniel. The prophet had put himself in a position to hear God, so that when the Lord responded, Daniel was able to receive what was given to him.
The spiritual disciplines which Daniel was practicing almost seems like the guy was observing Lent. For three weeks, he gave up certain foods, did not eat meat, drank no wine; and he didn’t take a bath. He did all of this because he was troubled in spirit.
Daniel’s outward practices were congruent with his inward disposition. This is a far cry from our modern predilection for keeping up appearances, even though we are dying inside. But Daniel was not like us. He stopped his normal routines in order to give himself to prayer and a partial fast.
The Jews had been in exile for 70 years, and there was no sign of them going back to Jerusalem. And that troubled Daniel to no end – because the prophet Jeremiah had said the people would be in captivity for that long (Jeremiah 29:10). Daniel knew that fulfillment of the Lord’s promises would come by living in Palestine, and not by being exiled in Babylon.
While Daniel and his friends were together in a prayer meeting, Daniel experienced a vision; it was as if the veil separating this three-dimensional space from the spiritual dimension was lifted, and Daniel could see what was happening in the invisible realm.
Daniel’s prayers were being heard; they were not bouncing off the ceiling. And they were heard, I believe, because Daniel prayed according to his understanding of what God wants. He desired to participate in what God wanted, and not what he himself necessarily wanted.
And that is essentially what the Lord Jesus taught his followers in how to pray. We need not try and persuade God, as if we must be spiritual lawyers advocating for what we want. The Lord does not operate by twisting arms or harassing people; and neither ought we to try and treat God that way.
Prayer puts us in sync with what God wants. And as we desire to do God’s will, our prayers will reflect that desire. We only then need to ask. (Matthew 6:5-15; James 4:1-3)
Although God answers prayer, those responses are not always immediately put into effect. Daniel’s vision allowed him to see that there are other forces at work – dark forces – that oppose what God is doing. Sinister monkey wrenches are thrown into good plans and responses for people.
Behind the scenes of our lives, there are invisible powers which are influencing people. This is why our ultimate struggle is not on this visible realm; it is, instead, against the invisible demonic spirits of this present evil age.
Daniel saw and heard that behind the affairs of this world is a hierarchy of evil which seeks to control us for purposes contrary to God’s justice, peace, and goodness. Yet there is also an angelic host who are involved in ensuring that the Lord’s will is accomplished on this earth as it is always done in heaven.
Therefore, sometimes our delays in answered prayer have nothing to do with us; it may be because there is a great conflict happening in a dimension that you and I don’t see. In fact, if we do not have immediate answers to prayer, this is precisely the best time to persevere in prayer and not give up.
Through our perseverance in prayer, like Daniel, we are strengthened in faith. Our connection with God brings us peace and courage, emboldening us for continued wrestling in prayer and dealing with the structural and systemic evil that exists everywhere.
Faith is a belief in things we cannot see. Hope is the confidence of things which can happen. Love is a culmination of faith and hope coming together in order to make a difference in this fallen world. The Lord provides all the strength we need for the struggle. And there is perhaps no better model of how to deal with things and gain spiritual power than the prophet Daniel.
Strengthen us, O Lord, by your grace, so that we may overcome all spiritual enemies; and with pure hearts serve you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 