Daniel Part Viii Series

INTRODUCTION

• We are in the 8th part of series on the life of Daniel.

• Daniel Chapter 10

• Accounts in the first half of Daniel are historical stories, chapters 7 through 12 contain visions and prophecies.

• Daniel was in Persia when he had this vision.

• He had as a young boy been taken captive from Jerusalem into Babylon or modern day Iraq as we know it. Now the Persians have conquered Babylon and Daniel is in what we would know as Iran.

• Daniel is a leading voice in the government and has for 70 years been a leader in the land. He is both a leader and a spiritual man.

• Though he has deep encounters with the Lord, Daniel is also very pragmatic.

• Cyrus the king has set the Jews free to go home to Jerusalem, but it is not going well.

• Chapter 10 is the clearest account in the Bible of what goes on in the spiritual realm; in the battle for human lives and destiny.

• And what prayer and intercession can do to impact lives.

• How a practical person can be spiritual as well. That is Daniel, practical and spiritual.

• Can only be done by having a strong foundation in your life, in the Word and Daniel did.

• He read the Word and wasn’t swept away be either his circumstances, his culture or the spiritual realm. He was grounded on the Word and prayer.

• This took place in Cyrus’s third year, would have been 536/535 B.C., about two years after Gabriel’s appearance to Daniel in Chapter 9 and a short while after the first return of the Jewish exiles to Palestine.

I. CONFLICT, WARFARE AND PRAYER

• Chapter 9-12 ongoing flow of climactic prophecies.

• Three types of prophecy in Daniel:

o Specific prophecy for people,

o Historic prophecy and

o Climactic end of time prophecy.

• Chapters 9-12 climactic end times prophecies.

• Daniel 10:1-10, “…the message was true but the appointed time was long…or full of conflict…” Warfare was great. The Hebrew word means war, battle, heavenly hosts, army, waiting.

• We all hate conflicts, especially when they drag on.

• Galatians 6:9, “Do not grow weary of doing good in due season will reap!”

• Vss. 2-3 - “I am mourning and I did not eat for three weeks” fasting after the Lord.

• “I am stuck but I am going to make you Lord the focus, not focus on the conflict.”

• If you choose to wait on the circumstances to change you will struggle, but if you wait on God there is a peace that will come.

• Daniel had the promise of God.

o But he also had the conflict and

o The conflict had nothing to do with failure on Daniel’s part.

• The promise was clear, his people would go home to Israel, but the battle began when they returned. Ezra and Nehemiah tell us that story.

• If I am waiting for things without God, I will struggle with unrest. But with God there is rest.

• Vss. 3-4-5 - Fasting and prayer 3 weeks.

• Often, if the Lord wants to show you something in a dream you will know it, but it often isn’t for you to tell anybody. It is for prayer, for warfare.

• Fasting has far less to do with influencing God’s opinion about something than it has to do with fighting and confronting powers of evil.

• II Corinthians 4:4, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”

• Do you ever wonder if your prayers even matter?

• Look at Europe and ask yourself why that coldness to spiritual things isn’t happening in the USA, intercessory prayer, fighting the battle with darkness in the spirit realm.

• Three things that matter:

o 1st - Fasting puts my attention on God. I am dependent on God.

o 2nd - Fasting is a means that God has ordained – Isaiah 58

o 3rd - Fasting is a spiritual weapon, to do battle

II. A GLIMPSE INTO THE BATTLE

• Daniel 10:11-13, And the man said to me, "Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you." When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling. Then he said, "Don't be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.”