Persevere in Prayer

Welcome to Living in the Light with Bible teacher Anne Graham Lotz. When God calls you and you know it's what He's called you to, do you have a passion for it and you're devoted to it? And I think that makes the battle almost more intense because you care so much.

Welcome to today's Living in the Light. Our Bible teacher Anne Graham Lotz has a message today from Daniel chapter 10, an encouragement to persevere in prayer and a reminder of who is our real problem. Have you ever wondered why is prayer so hard? Maybe it's just for me, but prayer doesn't come easy to me.

There's some prayers that do help, you know, but the kind of prayer we're talking about reverse thunder, it's hard. Oswald Chambers said that prayer is not preparation for the battle, prayer is the battle. And the dictionary definition of battle is that it's a struggle to achieve something.

And we wrestle and we struggle and we're wanting to achieve something. On December 7th, I know you know this date, 1945, you know 353 Japanese fighters bombed Pearl Harbor and it was called by our presidents a day of infamy. It was a day of great victory for the Imperial Army.

But the next day, December 8th, America declared war against Japan. And just about three and a half years later on September 2nd, 1945, we won. So the point is that we can be attacked, but we don't take it lying down. And we battle, and we battle, and we battle, and we may not have victory immediately, but we keep on battling. The victory is assured. We're going to win. But the battle can be intense.

Stephen Alford, who I don't know if you're familiar with him, he's now in heaven, one of my mentors, and very precious to me. And he said, Ann, one of the most dangerous places you can be is on your knees. It's the front line of the battle. That's why prayer is so hard. And you know what, the enemy convinces us into thinking, well, you know, you're just not a prayer warrior. You know, other people can do that, but that's just, you're just not cut out for that kind of prayer. And that's a deception.

That's a lie. So, six years after Daniel chapter 9, in contrast to Daniel chapter 9, when Daniel prayed and reversed the thunder and his prayer was confirmed immediately and ultimately and specifically, six years later he prayed and had a totally different experience. And he went through an agonizing delay to his prayer. So I want to read to you Daniel chapter 10. It's not that long, and it's a very interesting chapter.

Okay? I'll try to explain some of the things as I go through. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that's three years after all those people went back, you know, to Jerusalem, a revelation was given to Daniel who was called Belteshazzar. Its message was true, and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision. 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 24th day of the first month as I was standing on the bank of the great river of the Tigris, I looked up, and there before me was a man dressed in linen with a belt of finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face was like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice was like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision. The men with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and they 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. All right, now I want you to get this, because now the hand that touched him is not the man in the vision, okay?

You can tell that from the context. The man in the vision was a pre-incarnate Son of God. This hand that touched him is coming from one of God's messengers. He set me trembling on my hands and knees, and he said, Daniel, you are highly esteemed. Consider carefully the words I'm about to speak to you and stand up, for I've now been sent to you. And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he continued, don't 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've come in response to them.

But the first day that you were in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days. Now he's talking about in the invisible world. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, who is the prince of Israel, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

Now this is getting like a Steven Spielberg movie, isn't it? Now I've come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future for the vision concerns of time yet to come. While he was saying this to me, I was speechless. Then one who looked like a man touched my lips and I opened my mouth and I began to speak. And I said to the one standing before me, I'm overcome with anguish because of the vision, my Lord, I'm helpless. 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 gave me strength. Don't be afraid.

Oh man, highly esteemed. Peace. Be strong now.

Be strong. When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and I said, speak my Lord since you've given me strength. So he said, do you know why I've come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia.

And when I go, the prince of Greece will come. But first I will tell you what is written in the book of truth. Now that is an incredible passage of scripture. And I can't tell you what a battle it's been to try to break it open and to make sense of it. But in this passage I see several characteristics of the battle. One that the battle is personal. And two that the battle is emotional. And three that the battle is invisible. And four the battle is winnable. So that's your outline.

First start out with the fact that the battle is personal. And Daniel as you know is devoted as a prophet of God. And that's been disputed by theologians even today. And they say his prophecies are so specific and so exact nobody could have known those things in advance.

It has to be written by somebody who's later and you know looking back on history. But Jesus said in Matthew 24, he said Daniel is a prophet. He referred to Daniel the prophet. And Daniel was a prophet of God. That was his calling. That was his life's work. And Daniel was absolutely dedicated to finishing, completing the work that God had given him to do.

So he was devoted to serving God in the capacity that God had placed him which was to be a prophet. And he tells you, he identifies himself in the first verse. I'm Belteshazzar. And in chapter 1, if you read chapter 1 of Daniel when he's taken in that first deportation and he's brought from Jerusalem as a 15 year old kid and he's stripped of his masculinity, he's stripped of his identity and he's given the name Belteshazzar. So right there Daniel is saying I'm not a different person. I'm the same little kid that was brought from Jerusalem in that first deportation.

I am the Daniel of the book of Daniel. So there's no question that he's identifying himself as the author of this passage even though pundits today will dispute that. But he's saying this is what he has seen. This is what he's experienced. So he's now 73 years after he was taken into captivity, three years after he was later. The remnant has gone back. Most of his friends are either dead or they're now distant. They've gone back and he was too old to go.

You know I'm assuming. He's 90 years of age when this takes place just about. And so he's too old to go back to his beloved Jerusalem. He'll never see the temple again. He's still in captivity, still serving a pagan king and absolutely dedicated and devoted to completing the work that God gave him to do.

And I love it. And he's still in a sense that a revelation is given to him. Still reading his Bible. Isn't that a lesson? I remember Miss Wetherill Johnson who founded Bible Study Fellowship and who was the one that taught me to teach. And she ended up dying of cancer. And I called her a few weeks before she died. And I just wanted to hear her voice one more time. And I said the most ridiculous thing to her.

I said, Miss Johnson, how are you? And so she told me every day she spent just trying to overcome the pain. She was thanking God for medication. And then she said, but I was just reading in my Bible and I learned something new. And I was so astounded that she was still reading her Bible. I cannot remember what she said she was learning. It was something about Jacob. I remember that. And I didn't want to ask her to repeat it because I just, you know, I was sort of overwhelmed to speak with her. But I thought, God, thank you for the example of this old woman who's been through so much and she's done so much and born so much fruit and she's in so much pain and she's still reading her Bible and learning new things.

What an example. So here is Daniel, almost 90 years of age, still reading his Bible, still trying to understand. And a revelation was given him of events that were future to him. He was given revelation just and still future to us. Some of his prophecies are phenomenal. And they tell us when the Messiah will come and when the tribulation begins and when the Messiah will come at the end of that and what happens in the middle of tribulation and all that. He's the Apostle John of the Old Testament. The Apostle John gives us the book of Revelation.

Daniel has prophecies that are equal in power and insight to what the Apostle John gave us in the book of Revelation. And so he was just given a revelation about the time period between the Old and New Testaments. And he prophesied exactly about Alexander the Great. And that's when the Prince of Greece rose up and Alexander the Great ruled the world and then he turned it over to his four generals. And then Antiochus Epiphanes took over. And do you remember he sacrificed that pig on the altar in Jerusalem, the abomination of desolation. And Jesus said in Matthew 24, that's going to happen again when the Antichrist does it.

And when that happens, you run for the mountains. And so all of that prophecy has been given to Daniel. And he's struggling to understand, okay. He wants to understand so he can impart what God has given to him. So he's absolutely devoted to his ministry as a prophet of God. And when you discover your life's work, when you pray and you ask God to give you your next assignment and he begins sending you out and maybe you're gifted as an evangelist and you share the gospel just one on one and you lead people to Christ. Or maybe you're good at discipleship and you disciple people. Maybe you're good with little children and teach children the scriptures. Or maybe you're just like a marketplace evangelist and sharing your faith. Or maybe your parents can be a senior care living and you go and you're there and you're ministering to those older people. Or maybe you come out of an alcoholic background and God's sending you to alcoholics. Or maybe you have a heart for the homeless, you know, whatever your life's work is. When God calls you to it and you know it's what he's called you to, do you have a passion for it? And you're devoted to it?

And I think that makes the battle almost more intense because you care so much. Daniel was absolutely devoted to being a prophet of God and completing and finishing the work that God gave him to do. And that was one reason he was deeply discouraged by the people. Because after the people had gone home so, you know, in the 70th year Cyrus said all the people could go back to Jerusalem. And I don't know how many people there were then living in Persia who had come from Jerusalem and Judea. But I'm guessing that there were hundreds of thousands and there were only 42,000 that went back.

So it was a small fraction of the number of people living in Babylon which is now Persia. So he's very discouraged by the complacency of the people, his people, still they would rather live in Persia than go home. And then he's deeply discouraged by the people that went home, the 42,000 and they were to go home to rebuild the temple and restore Jerusalem and they started rebuilding the temple and they came under attack and they quit.

So the temple wasn't being rebuilt and the city wasn't being restored. So he's very discouraged and because he cares so much and he's so devoted, this discouragement is very deep. You're discouraged by the complacency of God's people and their cowardliness, the political correctness that just clams them up or causes them to compromise or even deny Jesus or deny the truth of the gospel. And it can be deeply discouraging if you really care. And not only was he discouraged by the people, he was disappointed in the promise of God.

And I'm reading into this a little bit but I'm giving you some background. God had promised after 70 years, I'm going to take you back from captivity, the captives can go home. But Daniel, he had been praying in chapter 9 verse 16, he prayed, Lord turn away your wrath from Jerusalem. Turn away your wrath from your city, from your holy hill, which would be the temple area. Our sins and iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem an object of scorn. Now hear our prayers, oh Lord, for your sake look with favor on your desolate sanctuary.

Oh Lord, open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name. And in the last phrase he says, oh my God, do not delay because your city and your people bear. He's praying for the city of Jerusalem. His prayer wasn't just deliver your people and let them go home, but God rebuild the temple and restore the city. And he believed God had promised him that he would do that.

And they had gone home after 70 years and they had quit rebuilding the temple and the city was still in ruins. And so Daniel is disappointed in God's promise. He was in a very tough place. So Daniel has just received two missile attacks, discouragement and disappointment. And the enemy is after him. And he's 90 years of age and he's still in the battle of his life.

You and I cannot coast in on the foundation of our service prior to today. And the enemy will go after you and he's no gentleman and he's no respecter of age or gender or whether you're feeling good or bad or you know all the other problems in your life. So he comes after Daniel and Daniel doesn't take it lying down. He's so determined.

I just love him. Just this old man who decides that he's going to fight back and he was determined not to roll over, not to pull back, not to give up. So when God gives you a promise and he hasn't fulfilled it the way you thought he would, then go back and re-examine. And if it is something that comes from him and it is something that you feel that he would fulfill, then you may need to keep pressing through and you persevere in prayer.

And the enemy and the enemy will try to distract you and pull you away from it, but you just persevere. In verse 2, at that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. And I thought about that mourning and it's because he cared so much. He was so passionate about what he was to do to receive a word from God and to write it down and to understand it and to impart that understanding to others. And so when he couldn't get it, he mourned. It was distressing to him.

And only somebody who cares that deeply understands that kind of mourning. For three weeks I ate no choice food. No meat or wine touched my lips. I don't think it meant he didn't starve himself. He wasn't on a hunger strike. He just wasn't eating anything, just survival food, crackers and cheese and bread and water, whatever. And I used no lotions at all until three weeks were over. And that basically is he wasn't taking baths. I think it just means for me I wouldn't put on my makeup.

I wouldn't do my hair. I would just put on my fleece and my old clothes and just, you know, just do nothing that takes extra time, whether it's eating or dressing or whatever it is, so that I can make the time to give God my full attention. Now when have you cared that much? I don't know that I've ever spent three weeks in prayer and fasting. So when we care, there's just no limit to what the time we'll give God, the effort we'll put into it. I want you to look at verse 12 and then we'll come back to it. But the angel tells Daniel, since the first day you set your mind to gain understanding, that's when the battle began. And the first day of those three-week spirit, when he was disappointed and he's trying to get an answer and he wants to understand, from the first moment he began to set his mind to understand, that's when the battle began. And when you get on your knees and you're desperate for an answer and you're deeply disturbed and you're mourning and you're crying and you're praying, you've just got to watch out, because it's going to be a battle, maybe.

I think many times, I've experienced that, let me just say, and trying to teach you something about the battle, so you'll have eyes to see what's going on and you'll understand what's happening to you. But from the moment he set his mind to understand and actually that word understanding, as I understand it, I don't know Hebrew, but in the Hebrew it basically means from the time he surrendered. And I was thinking, what did he surrender? His life was already surrendered, so I wonder if he just surrendered his expectations, surrendering what he was trying to force God to do. You know, God, you said this and now you keep your word and I don't see that you did that and I'm disappointed and just let it go.

God, I know you gave me a promise, maybe I just don't understand what you've said, would you just give me understanding and I let go my expectations and I trust you, but please help me in this. And from the moment he started to let go of what he was demanding and insisting on and getting what he wanted and just let it go and said, God, please help me. That's when the battle began. That's when the Prince of Persia rose up and that's when the angel came to give him the answer, but that's when there was this big battle in the heavenlies. And if fighting the battle requires your full attention, if I were the enemy, I'd distract you, I'd interrupt you.

And you can put this on a small scale. How many times when we go into prayer, when I go into prayer, you know, and I'm setting aside some time to pray and fast and maybe it goes over several days and that's when the dog throws up on the rug, that's when doorbell rings, the phone seems to ring every five minutes, UPS comes, then FedEx comes and the ministry makes demands and we have to have your answers now and we've got deadline after deadline. And it's really, you start paying attention and you see how the enemy is after you to distract you and interrupt you and keep you from centering down and focusing in on what God would say to you. The battle is very personal. Secondly, the battle is emotional. The battle is not just an intellectual exercise in trying to understand God's Word or understand God's promise. It's emotional because you're involved in it, you care and you really want it. And it's like a roller coaster.

It can be awesome and thrilling and it can be awful and terrible, okay? So we see Daniel on this roller coaster and it was awesome in verses four to six when he saw this was a pre-incarnate Son of God. I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen. That's the picture of a high priest with a belt to find his goal around his waist. The king, his body like chrysolite, is beautiful, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his holiness, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, that's strong enough to judge and trample in judgment. His voice like the sound of a multitude because no voice can be raised against his.

He has the last word. It's the same vision of Jesus that John had on Patmos. It's amazing, almost word for word the same and Daniel would have had no knowledge of John's vision and John was describing exactly what he saw on Patmos.

That would be thrilling. That would be the high point of his life I would think except two other times he's appeared in Daniel, actually the Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. But in chapter seven verse nine, Daniel has a vision of Jesus as the Ancient of Days seated on the throne, seated on the throne, head and hair white like wool, opening all the books, people standing before him, getting ready to judge.

It's a great white throne and he has that vision. This one is just more personal and so he has this awesome thrilling vision of Jesus and I thought of Ezekiel sitting on a garbage dump in a refugee camp beside a dirty irrigation canal and suddenly sees a windstorm coming out of the north and on the wings of the windstorm is this sapphire throne and on the throne was somebody like the Son of Man. And then I think of Isaiah when Uzziah died and his whole life was stripped and fell apart and that's when he saw the Lord and I think of John on the Isle of Patmos in exile and that's when he turned around and he saw the Lord.

And all these men had something in common. It was when they were stripped of distractions and were giving God their full attention then that's when they had a fresh vision of Jesus. Daniel had this thrilling vision of Jesus and he's just had that and he falls on his face before him. It was interesting as he was speaking he fell on his face in this deep sleep and then a hand touches him and draws him up but now we see the awfulness.

In verses 7 and 8 he says, I Daniel was the only one who saw the vision. I was left alone and there's a deep loneliness. You ever feel lonely in the battle?

And then there's weakness in verse 8. I had no strength left. I was helpless. You ever feel you just can't do anything? The battle is too great.

It's too hard. Fearfulness. Verse 8, my face turned deathly pale. That was a panic attack.

You ever had a panic attack? Verse 13, we'll just jump ahead for a minute. He says the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days then Michael one of the chief princes came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Daniel there's something going on in the invisible world that you know nothing about. You're praying and you're tapping into it but this is a much bigger situation than you can ever even imagine. So Ephesians 6 12 says our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Our real problem is the devil and all of his demons.

Now here's Ann with this final word. Make no mistake, when we pray the devil will work feverishly to make sure heaven remains unmoved and nations remain under his grip. But while he is more powerful than we will ever be, the one in us is greater than he is. We have the authority over him in Jesus name which is one reason when I pray I always pray in Jesus name. He is the one who gives me access into the presence of God and he is the one who gives me authority over the devil and all of his demons. Listen to me, know who your adversary is, what his strategy is and how you're to protect yourself defensively then pick up your sword, the word of God and hit your knees in prayer.

Victory is assured. You've been listening to Living in the Light and when you go to angramlots.org there are free resources to help you in your study of God's word. Ann's desire is that you embrace a God-filled life, step by step, choice by choice, Living in the Light.