It’s About Time
Scripture Reading: Daniel 9:1-3 & 20-22 & 10:1-13
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made
king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by
the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the
prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with
fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
20 Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel,
and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God, 21
yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the
beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. 22
And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give
you skill to understand.
1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was
called Belteshazzar. The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he
understood the message, and had understanding of the vision. 2 In those days I, Daniel, was
mourning three full weeks. 3 I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor
did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
4 Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is,
the Tigris, 5 I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist
was girded with gold of Uphaz! 6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of
lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the
sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.
7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but
a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. 8 Therefore I was left alone
when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty
in me, and I retained no strength. 9 Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the
sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.
10 Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my
hands. 11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I
speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this
word to me, I stood trembling.
12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to
understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come
because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one
days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone
there with the kings of Persia.
Last week we finished by talking about the spiritual warfare we, as believers, find
ourselves in. Today we’re beginning there. Any good soldiers needs to learn the
tactics of his enemies. It’s very important to understand your enemy so you can know
how to counteract those tactics. In our scripture reading today we are going to be
able to learn a few things from Daniel’s two experiences.
First, let’s look at the verses chapter 9. In verses 1-3 Daniel has figured out from the
words of the prophet Jeremiah that the seventy years of exile for Israel have been
accomplished. So, he realizes that the exile should be over so, he organizes a
boycott against the palace, right? He gets the exiles all riled up and gets them to
picket until the captives are allowed to return to Israel, right? Maybe, he goes on a
hunger strike, you know, for publicity for the cause. No, he didn’t do any of these
things. What Daniel did was set his face toward God to make his request by prayer
and supplication with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. Daniel had pull with the king.
Remember, Darius was the king that was forced to throw Daniel into the lion’s den but
it was clear that he had great respect for Daniel. The king couldn’t eat and worried
about Daniel all night and eventually glorified the God of Daniel and punished those
who had tried to come against him. He could have taken the pull he had with the king
and gone to the king with a request. But no, Daniel went to the real King, the LORD
Yahweh.
Many times I think believers spend too much time considering politics, and not
enough time considering God; too much time standing on picket lines and not
enough time on our faces before our Lord. We can all take the example from Daniel
who could have easily gotten an audience with the earthly king but chose rather, to
seek an audience with our Heavenly King. So, while he was in prayer, the Father
heard him and sent an answer to him through the angel Gabriel. While he was still
praying his answer came swiftly. It’s good to know that God is prompt, isn’t it? But
really, we should already know that because scripture tells us over and over that God
is faithful but the enemy is constantly trying to get us to doubt Him, just like he did in
the garden.
Now, let’s take a look at the incident from chapter 10. Just a little side note, this
actually happens before the events of chapter 9 because Cyrus was king before
Darius. In fact, two kings before Darius. The lion’s den incident likely happened after
the events in chapter 10 but don’t let that confuse you about scripture. Those who
want you to doubt the Bible will try to make it look like things like this are errors but in
reality, it doesn’t say that this is a chronological account. Daniel is merely telling
about his life and just as you might reminisce about old times never implying that the
thing you said first happened before the things you said second, and so on.
So, anyway, this account tells of Daniel in a very similar situation to the one he refers
to in chapter 9. Again he is troubled so he takes his request to the Father. He
fasted and prayer but this time he did it for three weeks without an answer; three
whole weeks without an answer. Have you ever been in that situation? You pray
earnestly to God for some really important issue and it seems like He doesn’t hear
you? Well, maybe He hears you but He just doesn’t answer, right? Maybe He just
wants to teach you something by not answering right away. Christians come up with
lots of reasons why it seems that you don’t have your prayers answered but this
passage gives that subject a bit of a different twist.
The messenger here informs Daniel that on the very first day he began praying
about this issue, God heard his prayer and sent an answer to that prayer. So, if He
sent the answer on that very first day why did it take 21 days for his answer to get
there? The messenger explains that he has been delayed by the prince of Persia.
Do you know who the prince of Persia is? Well, it doesn’t actually say but it doesn’t
take a detective to figure a few things out. First, he called him a prince, then he calls
Michael, the archangel, a chief prince so it seems that it is an angel. Since he is
coming against the messenger of the LORD Yahweh, he must be a fallen angel. The
messenger tells Daniel that Michael, one of the chief princes, had to come to help
him because he alone was there with the kings of Persia. We’ve heard Michael
mentioned as an archangel so that makes since calling him a chief prince and the
enemy angel as just a prince. This passage gives us a small glimpse into the
spiritual realm and the battles that go on there.
More importantly, I believe, it shows us that God is indeed faithful as we were talking
about with the events of chapter 9. Once again, Daniel took his petition to the Father
and the Father both heard him and sent a response to his petition right away. So, we
can see that God is faithful both when we get an answer to prayer and when we don’
t. What we may think is Him not answering a prayer could really be Him sending an
answer but it being delayed by a battle in the spirit realm. Why was Michael sent to
help the Messenger? Could it have been because Daniel continued to fast and pray
for those three weeks? So, what if Daniel had thought God wasn’t listening? What if
he had started to doubt God? He probably would have stopped fasting and praying
for one thing when it’s very likely that his prayers were what gave the messenger
power to withstand not only the prince of Persia but it says here in verse 13 that the
kings of Persia were also against him. It should have been an extremely unfair fight
but very likely because Daniel stayed faithful and continued to pray, the messenger
had the strength to stand against the enemy until Michael was dispatched to help.
I believe scripture when it tells me, For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His
ears are open to their prayers, from 1 Peter 3:12 when he is paraphrasing from Psalm
34. James tells us in 5:16 that, the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much. We have discussed before that none of us are righteous on our own but when
we stand in Christ’s righteousness, we are righteous so both of these verse are ones
we can claim for ourselves. So we can be confident in our prayers that Yahweh does
indeed hear us. I remember a couple of years ago my son Cameron was really into
Magnetix building sets. He’d gotten a small set and loved them so even before he
asked for them I had decided to buy them for a present. I ordered them online and
while waiting for them to come we were in a store where he saw them in the toy
section and asked to buy them from his own money that he had saved up from
allowances. When I told him no he could not understand so he kept asking me over
and over for days after he would bring it up again and again. He had no idea that his
request was already on its way. Now, let’s say that package was late in coming. As
the one who had it sent I might notice that it’s not there yet and then contact the
seller or the shipping company to do something about it. You see, all the while
Cameron was begging, I heard him but knowing that the answer was on the way, I
took no action, but if I’d thought there was some problem, then I would’ve taken
action. I think that’s why God sent Michael, because he saw that the answer was not
there yet.
Now we’ve been discussing understanding the enemy’s tactics and I’d said that they
haven’t changed since the garden. The enemy wants to get us to doubt God and His
Word. This scenario fits perfectly into that when you analyze it. Let’s say you pray
for something like understanding for some question you have. Then after waiting for
a while you decide that maybe God doesn’t have time to answer your question so you
go off and do what you think is right without waiting for God. You’ve just played right
into the enemy’s hands. You have doubted God’s faithfulness and decided that you
can handle it. The messenger God may have sent for you just hangs his head and
turns around because you have, in essence, rejected God’s answer. How many
times have we turned God’s answer away by our words or actions?
Hebrews 11:1-3
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the
elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by
the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
We have got to recognize that there is much happening in the unseen. One thing it
will do would be to keep you from getting upset at different people who may come
against you. If you realize that they are only being used by the enemy then you can
get mad at the enemy and not at the person who is likely clueless that they are even
being used. A few years ago I read a couple of different books by Frank Peretti; This
Present Darkness and the sequel, Piercing the Darkness. My daughter Kristen
also read them and I would really recommend them to any Christian who likes reading
fiction. For me, it opened my eyes so much to the war in the heavenly realm and how
it may be affecting our daily lives. You see, the enemy in another of his tactics, wants
to distract us from what is really important by blinding us with things that are really
unimportant. Ask the Father for discernment so you will be able to stay focused on
the things that matter. The things of God; of the kingdom are what matter. Don’t
forget that the devil is a liar as Jesus tells us in John 8:44, You are of your father the
devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he
speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
When you know his character as that of being a liar who can’t the truth because it’s
not in him, it will be easier to recognize his lies. Here’s a simple one that I use. God
says over and over not to fear in many different ways so I know that God doesn’t
want me to be in fear. Paul tells us in both Romans 8:15 and II Timothy 1:7 that God
has not given us the spirit of fear. So because of this I KNOW that God is not going
to give me an answer through fear. When something is trying to motivate me by fear,
I know it is not from God so it must be from the enemy. Like if you feel led to help a
friend but makes you afraid that if you give them the help you may need it and not
have it, that’s a clear sign that you do it. In contrast, the other day I was in bed
heading off to sleep when I felt the urge to get up and check my bills. I have a
notebook where I write my bills for the month, the amounts, and the date I need to
pay them. It wasn’t a fear but it was a definite urging. So, I picked up my flashlight so
I would wake my husband and looked at the book. I saw that there were two bills with
the next days date. But that urging persisted so I turned on the monitor and checked
and guess what? One was a new bill that I didn’t realize needed to be paid a day
before because they don’t post payments on the same day. It would have cost me a
$35 late fee if I had waited just 30 minutes because it was 11:30pm. The second bill I
checked had a similar situation. I was so happy I had been prompted to get up but
never was I fearful; it wasn’t a fear because that isn’t how He operates.
I’m going to end today where I ended last week because I believe it bears repeating.
Ephesians 6:10-13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand.
Stand knowing that God both hears your prayers and answers them. Stand knowing
that even when delayed, your answer is on the way. Stand knowing that God will not
motivate us by fear to do anything. But whatever we do, we must stand!
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: November 26, 2006
Scripture Reading: Daniel 9:1-3 & 20-22 & 10:1-13
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made
king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by
the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the
prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with
fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
20 Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel,
and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God, 21
yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the
beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. 22
And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give
you skill to understand.
1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was
called Belteshazzar. The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he
understood the message, and had understanding of the vision. 2 In those days I, Daniel, was
mourning three full weeks. 3 I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor
did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
4 Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is,
the Tigris, 5 I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist
was girded with gold of Uphaz! 6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of
lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the
sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.
7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but
a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. 8 Therefore I was left alone
when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty
in me, and I retained no strength. 9 Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the
sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.
10 Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my
hands. 11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I
speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this
word to me, I stood trembling.
12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to
understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come
because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one
days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone
there with the kings of Persia.
Last week we finished by talking about the spiritual warfare we, as believers, find
ourselves in. Today we’re beginning there. Any good soldiers needs to learn the
tactics of his enemies. It’s very important to understand your enemy so you can know
how to counteract those tactics. In our scripture reading today we are going to be
able to learn a few things from Daniel’s two experiences.
First, let’s look at the verses chapter 9. In verses 1-3 Daniel has figured out from the
words of the prophet Jeremiah that the seventy years of exile for Israel have been
accomplished. So, he realizes that the exile should be over so, he organizes a
boycott against the palace, right? He gets the exiles all riled up and gets them to
picket until the captives are allowed to return to Israel, right? Maybe, he goes on a
hunger strike, you know, for publicity for the cause. No, he didn’t do any of these
things. What Daniel did was set his face toward God to make his request by prayer
and supplication with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. Daniel had pull with the king.
Remember, Darius was the king that was forced to throw Daniel into the lion’s den but
it was clear that he had great respect for Daniel. The king couldn’t eat and worried
about Daniel all night and eventually glorified the God of Daniel and punished those
who had tried to come against him. He could have taken the pull he had with the king
and gone to the king with a request. But no, Daniel went to the real King, the LORD
Yahweh.
Many times I think believers spend too much time considering politics, and not
enough time considering God; too much time standing on picket lines and not
enough time on our faces before our Lord. We can all take the example from Daniel
who could have easily gotten an audience with the earthly king but chose rather, to
seek an audience with our Heavenly King. So, while he was in prayer, the Father
heard him and sent an answer to him through the angel Gabriel. While he was still
praying his answer came swiftly. It’s good to know that God is prompt, isn’t it? But
really, we should already know that because scripture tells us over and over that God
is faithful but the enemy is constantly trying to get us to doubt Him, just like he did in
the garden.
Now, let’s take a look at the incident from chapter 10. Just a little side note, this
actually happens before the events of chapter 9 because Cyrus was king before
Darius. In fact, two kings before Darius. The lion’s den incident likely happened after
the events in chapter 10 but don’t let that confuse you about scripture. Those who
want you to doubt the Bible will try to make it look like things like this are errors but in
reality, it doesn’t say that this is a chronological account. Daniel is merely telling
about his life and just as you might reminisce about old times never implying that the
thing you said first happened before the things you said second, and so on.
So, anyway, this account tells of Daniel in a very similar situation to the one he refers
to in chapter 9. Again he is troubled so he takes his request to the Father. He
fasted and prayer but this time he did it for three weeks without an answer; three
whole weeks without an answer. Have you ever been in that situation? You pray
earnestly to God for some really important issue and it seems like He doesn’t hear
you? Well, maybe He hears you but He just doesn’t answer, right? Maybe He just
wants to teach you something by not answering right away. Christians come up with
lots of reasons why it seems that you don’t have your prayers answered but this
passage gives that subject a bit of a different twist.
The messenger here informs Daniel that on the very first day he began praying
about this issue, God heard his prayer and sent an answer to that prayer. So, if He
sent the answer on that very first day why did it take 21 days for his answer to get
there? The messenger explains that he has been delayed by the prince of Persia.
Do you know who the prince of Persia is? Well, it doesn’t actually say but it doesn’t
take a detective to figure a few things out. First, he called him a prince, then he calls
Michael, the archangel, a chief prince so it seems that it is an angel. Since he is
coming against the messenger of the LORD Yahweh, he must be a fallen angel. The
messenger tells Daniel that Michael, one of the chief princes, had to come to help
him because he alone was there with the kings of Persia. We’ve heard Michael
mentioned as an archangel so that makes since calling him a chief prince and the
enemy angel as just a prince. This passage gives us a small glimpse into the
spiritual realm and the battles that go on there.
More importantly, I believe, it shows us that God is indeed faithful as we were talking
about with the events of chapter 9. Once again, Daniel took his petition to the Father
and the Father both heard him and sent a response to his petition right away. So, we
can see that God is faithful both when we get an answer to prayer and when we don’
t. What we may think is Him not answering a prayer could really be Him sending an
answer but it being delayed by a battle in the spirit realm. Why was Michael sent to
help the Messenger? Could it have been because Daniel continued to fast and pray
for those three weeks? So, what if Daniel had thought God wasn’t listening? What if
he had started to doubt God? He probably would have stopped fasting and praying
for one thing when it’s very likely that his prayers were what gave the messenger
power to withstand not only the prince of Persia but it says here in verse 13 that the
kings of Persia were also against him. It should have been an extremely unfair fight
but very likely because Daniel stayed faithful and continued to pray, the messenger
had the strength to stand against the enemy until Michael was dispatched to help.
I believe scripture when it tells me, For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His
ears are open to their prayers, from 1 Peter 3:12 when he is paraphrasing from Psalm
34. James tells us in 5:16 that, the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much. We have discussed before that none of us are righteous on our own but when
we stand in Christ’s righteousness, we are righteous so both of these verse are ones
we can claim for ourselves. So we can be confident in our prayers that Yahweh does
indeed hear us. I remember a couple of years ago my son Cameron was really into
Magnetix building sets. He’d gotten a small set and loved them so even before he
asked for them I had decided to buy them for a present. I ordered them online and
while waiting for them to come we were in a store where he saw them in the toy
section and asked to buy them from his own money that he had saved up from
allowances. When I told him no he could not understand so he kept asking me over
and over for days after he would bring it up again and again. He had no idea that his
request was already on its way. Now, let’s say that package was late in coming. As
the one who had it sent I might notice that it’s not there yet and then contact the
seller or the shipping company to do something about it. You see, all the while
Cameron was begging, I heard him but knowing that the answer was on the way, I
took no action, but if I’d thought there was some problem, then I would’ve taken
action. I think that’s why God sent Michael, because he saw that the answer was not
there yet.
Now we’ve been discussing understanding the enemy’s tactics and I’d said that they
haven’t changed since the garden. The enemy wants to get us to doubt God and His
Word. This scenario fits perfectly into that when you analyze it. Let’s say you pray
for something like understanding for some question you have. Then after waiting for
a while you decide that maybe God doesn’t have time to answer your question so you
go off and do what you think is right without waiting for God. You’ve just played right
into the enemy’s hands. You have doubted God’s faithfulness and decided that you
can handle it. The messenger God may have sent for you just hangs his head and
turns around because you have, in essence, rejected God’s answer. How many
times have we turned God’s answer away by our words or actions?
Hebrews 11:1-3
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the
elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by
the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
We have got to recognize that there is much happening in the unseen. One thing it
will do would be to keep you from getting upset at different people who may come
against you. If you realize that they are only being used by the enemy then you can
get mad at the enemy and not at the person who is likely clueless that they are even
being used. A few years ago I read a couple of different books by Frank Peretti; This
Present Darkness and the sequel, Piercing the Darkness. My daughter Kristen
also read them and I would really recommend them to any Christian who likes reading
fiction. For me, it opened my eyes so much to the war in the heavenly realm and how
it may be affecting our daily lives. You see, the enemy in another of his tactics, wants
to distract us from what is really important by blinding us with things that are really
unimportant. Ask the Father for discernment so you will be able to stay focused on
the things that matter. The things of God; of the kingdom are what matter. Don’t
forget that the devil is a liar as Jesus tells us in John 8:44, You are of your father the
devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he
speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
When you know his character as that of being a liar who can’t the truth because it’s
not in him, it will be easier to recognize his lies. Here’s a simple one that I use. God
says over and over not to fear in many different ways so I know that God doesn’t
want me to be in fear. Paul tells us in both Romans 8:15 and II Timothy 1:7 that God
has not given us the spirit of fear. So because of this I KNOW that God is not going
to give me an answer through fear. When something is trying to motivate me by fear,
I know it is not from God so it must be from the enemy. Like if you feel led to help a
friend but makes you afraid that if you give them the help you may need it and not
have it, that’s a clear sign that you do it. In contrast, the other day I was in bed
heading off to sleep when I felt the urge to get up and check my bills. I have a
notebook where I write my bills for the month, the amounts, and the date I need to
pay them. It wasn’t a fear but it was a definite urging. So, I picked up my flashlight so
I would wake my husband and looked at the book. I saw that there were two bills with
the next days date. But that urging persisted so I turned on the monitor and checked
and guess what? One was a new bill that I didn’t realize needed to be paid a day
before because they don’t post payments on the same day. It would have cost me a
$35 late fee if I had waited just 30 minutes because it was 11:30pm. The second bill I
checked had a similar situation. I was so happy I had been prompted to get up but
never was I fearful; it wasn’t a fear because that isn’t how He operates.
I’m going to end today where I ended last week because I believe it bears repeating.
Ephesians 6:10-13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand.
Stand knowing that God both hears your prayers and answers them. Stand knowing
that even when delayed, your answer is on the way. Stand knowing that God will not
motivate us by fear to do anything. But whatever we do, we must stand!
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: November 26, 2006
