Dare To Be a Daniel

Today was a church day, and I got to go to Highland again (it's been over a month since I've last been there!) It was great to be in a place of worship again, with over 400 people praising God with their smiles, handshakes, voices, instruments, and God-given talents. The Worship Pastor had picked out an excellent arrangement of songs...and I know that 4 of the 7 I will be using together as a worship service this summer:

We Want to See Jesus Lifted High
Arise
Everlasting God
Your Love, O Lord

The four of these songs just felt like we were lifting God up...literally raising our praises to him! He lifts us up, and we get the opportunity to lift Him up. Not that He NEEDS to be lifted up by us, (He's greater than any of our human hands) but God is pleased with our worship. (If of course, it is worship of our hearts!)

The sermon was very intriguing this morning, and encouraged me to do a quick blog/summary of what Pastor Jeff said this morning. We've been working on the book of Daniel for about 3 months now. (maybe more...) And today we reached Daniel 10.

Let me quick summarize Chapter 10, and maybe through a few verses in. Daniel is in his late 80's now. His country has been taken captive by Babylonians, and now the Persians-Medes, and his people (the Israelites of Jerusalem) have been away from their traditional Jewish customs/laws for about 70 years!
But here is Daniel. After 70 years, he hasn't given in to the gods of their captivity. He hasn't turned away from God, and he has not chosen to follow the gods of the Persians...He is an upright man. After SEVENTY years of being away from God's chosen city and laws, He is still willing to follow them. This is pretty awesome. I know that if I was away from Christians for even ONE year, I would fall into the hands of sin--most likely conforming to the world.

But anywho's. Daniel decides to have a little quiet time with God for 3 weeks. He wants to pray for his people, because their 70 years of captivity is almost up, and he wants to make sure his people return to the land God gave them, and that they will desire to follow God with all of their hearts when they are released.
--So here's Daniel, praying for His people! Amazing!

For 3 weeks, he cries out to God, hoping for a revelation or dream, like in his many other cases. (If you read the earlier part of Daniel, you find that God is always giving him the answers to people's situations, etc.) But for 3 weeks, he hears nothing! But then an angel comes to him in a vision:

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 10:11-14)

Wow. Did you see that? Daniel is praying for an answer, his voice has been heard--but Satan has detained this response to prayer for 21 days! And Michael (whom we commonly see as an archangel) had to come along and help out!

Do you know, or realize that Satan is trying to destroy God's Kingdom? God's plan? He fights. It's almost scary to think about. People literally PRAY to Satan, asking him to destroy the most powerful spiritual leaders in this country! In this world! People who are like Daniel--the ones who deliver God's messages, the ones who preach God's word, the ones who hold true and are leaders---these are the people Satan wants to bring down!

We need to be praying for our leaders more than we realize. We need to be praying for our church. We need to be praying for the people around us.

And more than anything: We should NEVER underestimate the power of the enemy. Because when we do that, we will fall. We need to stand up and fight. But why? and How?

Put on the full 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. (Eph 6:11-12)

Right there. We need to take stand against the devil's schemes. And how? Put on the full armor of God. If you follow the rest of Ephesians, we can see what an armor of God looks like.

Remember how the Armor of God has the "Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God"? Swords are pretty important in battle. Of course the ENTIRE armor of God is essential to fight, but the sword is the piece that brings down the enemy. Listen to this:

I Jn 2:14
....because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

How can we overcome the evil one? The word of God lives in us. The Sword of the spirit.

Pray. Do not underestimate the power of the enemy. Never give up. "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith..." (1 Pet 5:8-9)

Stand firm, don't lose hope. Wait on the Lord...sometimes the answer is detained because of Satan. Keep praying for those in leadership, who may be brought down under the devil's schemes. Dare to be like Daniel.

Scripture and sermon ideas taken from Pastor Jeff Hinds, Highland Community Church. You can find the sermon on their website www.highlandcommunitychurch.com.