Answered prayers

Daniel 10:10-14 (NIV)

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.”

Daniel chapters 10-12 provide Daniel’s vision about the future of Israel that includes revelations about the roles of Persia (Iran), Greece, Egypt, Syria, and prophecies concerning the antichrist.  Well worth your time to study these chapters (with the help of some good commentaries) in light of all the current news about these nations.

No one knows who is the man speaking to Daniel.  Certainly an agent (angel?) of God, some scholars have suggested the angel Gabriel.  Daniel writes that this man’s hand touched him and he trembled on his hands and knees.  The Message Bible says that he fainted first before moving to his hands and knees.  A personal encounter with God or one of His messengers is not a superficial experience so don’t be misled if you think you or someone else has had such an encounter if the experience was not like that of Daniel’s. 

Daniel, like Joseph, is a supreme human example of having Christlike character.  Here he is described as highly esteemed, someone who set his mind to gain understanding about God and to humble himself before God.  Daniel prayed three times a day (6:10).  Of course, the Lord is going to hear and respond to his prayers.  Every time I am reminded of prayer warriors like Daniel, I feel guilty because I know that my prayer life could be better.  What about you?

After telling Daniel that the Lord has heard and will answer his prayers, the man explains why Daniel’s prayers have been delayed.  Who is the prince of the Persian Kingdom?  No, it’s not Jake Gyllenhaal in the movie “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”.  No one knows for sure other than this prince must have been an evil spirit.  Paul wrote about such spiritual forces in Eph 6:12:  “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.”  The fact that the archangel, Michael, had to intervene signifies that this resisting force was an evil spirit. 

This makes you wonder if the reason why your prayers are not yet answered is because of interference and resistance from spiritual forces of evil?  There are many reasons why prayer is not answered—e.g. sin (Psalm 66:18), not reading God’s Word (Prov 28:9), not praying fervently (Jer 29:12-13, James 5:16), asking for the wrong reasons (James 4:3), not yet God’s time (II Cor 12:8-12), insufficient faith (James 1;6-7, many of Jesus’ statements about lack of faith), husbands not treating your wives with honor (I Peter 3:7)---and spiritual conflict like that described in this passage.  Eph 6:13 says that you need to put on every piece of God’s armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil and you will be able to stand firm after this battle.  The armor of God includes being obedient, faithful, and standing on the Word of God.  This is what Daniel did and even though there was a battle with evil forces and a delay in answered prayer, his prayer about the future of his people was eventually answered.

If you are struggling currently with an unanswered prayer need, study your Bible and pray over these examples of why prayer is not answered.  Be strengthened and deepen your faith that if you live your life as Daniel lived his, doing all he could to be faithful and obedient, God will answer your prayer(s).  Yet, always be mindful that “not my will, but Thy will be done”.  Trust that God looks at things from an eternal perspective and will answer prayer according to that perspective. 

“I turned to the Master God, asking for an answer—praying earnestly, fasting from meals, wearing rough penitential burlap, and 4 kneeling in the ashes. I poured out my heart, baring my soul to God, my God.”---Daniel 9:3-