Spiritual Warfare of Prayer
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Comcast
Comcast
This last week I had the great privilege of calling Comcast Xfinity.
You know, “in these unprecedented times, they are experienced extra wait times...” How long are they going to milk that?
After navigating the automatic menu, yelling at a robot that “I want to speak to a Hooomannn” I got to speak to a representative.
Now, we all know when calling in to Comcast:
It isn’t about changing my circumstances, it’s about changing me.
Calling Comcast changes me.
Comcast already knows what my problem is, and they have chosen in their wisdom, not to do anything about it… so calling Comcast is really about changing my heart.
Okay. I do think that’s true, at some level. If they can be difficult enough, I’ll give up and they’ll keep collecting money monthly.
It worked, I ran out of time and I have to call back next week.
But this is often the attitude we bring to prayer.
We have a theology of God: He is omniscient, omnipresent, He knows the beginning and the end, and He is unchanging.
True statements, yes?
Because of that, what difference could I possibly make? When I pray, would I give God ideas He doesn’t already have?
Whether God moves or doesn’t is predestined, so it doesn’t matter what I pray or if I never pray. God’s going to do what God’s going to do.
So, if I’m commanded to pray, it must be about changing me… because it can’t really do anything outside of me.
Soren Kierkegard, brilliant theologian says it this way: Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays
So… why even pray
This is a theological trap… and one many of us fall into. I certainly did for many years as a young adult. It makes sense, it’s a logical philosophical conclusion from some of those starting principles.
It’s good systematic theology… just not for the God of the Bible.
Not the God of Daniel… not the way Daniel prays, not the YHWH and the heavens respond to Daniel’s prayer.
Keyword: respond.
Daniel: Prayer Warrior
Daniel: Prayer Warrior
We talked before about Daniel’s faithfulness in prayer. Three times a day, predictably, on his knees in prayer. When King Darius makes it illegal for a month. Still on his knees in prayer.
Faithful prayer warrior.
What is all that prayer doing?
Well, here’s what’s true and beautiful in what we said earlier:
Prayer changes us!
Daniel is absolutely shaped in prayer. It forms him, he learns his wisdom at the feet of the Father. His confidence in God’s provision, in God’s character, his faithfulness…
It isn’t in the crucible of the moment in the Lions’ Den… it’s in the thrice daily faithfulness in prayer.
That is gospel, good news, truth. We are shaped and reshaped into the image of Christ in prayer.
But is that all prayer does? Look at Daniel.
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—
in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
So, he’s reading Jeremiah. In particular, something like
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
Now Babylon has fallen. And Daniel is wondering: when will God fulfill his promise?
Or the more familiar next verse:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
But now the time of 70 years is up.
So all Daniel has to do is wait, right?
Patiently passively wait for God to fulfill his promise?
Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.
To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him
and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.
He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.
As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.
Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.
And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
“O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.
Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.
O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
Daniel prays into the prophecy. He claims the promise!
Daniel fasts and prays into the prophecy and promises of God: earnestly asking that God would accomplish what He said He would.
Why if God is already going to do what He is going to do???
Clearly this is not Daniel’s understanding of God. He entreats God, as we would a king, calling on his faithfulness, on His promises, begging for God to deliver on the promise.
God sends an angel and answers.
And the heavens move:
While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God,
while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.
He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.
At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
I wish every prayer ever had exactly this response. So good.
It’s so tactile, messenger sent, message received.
This angel then lays out some prophecy. The famous seventy weeks prophecy. There’s some theories here, this has spilled a lot of ink… so we’ll skip it (but just for now). More about that later.
But the answer from God is: Yes, I am going to deliver. Not just now, out of Babylon, but beyond that a Messiah is coming, an anointed one… maybe even a prophecy of his crucifixion.
Daniel prays. God sends. God answers. Daniel is given answers and wisdom and guidance, prophecy of salvation.
Prayer Warrior - Round 2
Prayer Warrior - Round 2
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision.
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks.
Cyrus is king at the same time Darius of Medes is. So, third year of Cyrus is also third year of Darius.
So… a couple years later… and the same year as the Den of Lions. And… drumroll.... a short while after the first return of the Jewish exiles to Palestine.
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.
Why is he mourning? Maybe because he couldn’t go home to Jerusalem?
Maybe, like Nehemiah which uses the same word, he “mourns” over the condition of the Jews returning to Jerusalem.
Waiting, maybe a bit stinky. Definitely hungry!
(Also, probably note here that Daniel did not follow the Daniel diet all his life since meat and wine is worth being called out here).
But note. For three weeks, 21 days.
It’s also the season for fasting after Passover.
And then his prayer is answered:
On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves.
Beryl comes in different colors, but the Hebrew word is “gold-colored stone.” White linen, gold body, matches sweet gold belt and face of LIGHTNING!
How can he see flaming torch eyes past lightning face. This guy is SUPER glowy!
Crazy AWESOME looking dude.
So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.
Move over, Elvis, Daniel is swooning.
And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.
Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.
He came right away? Messenger from God? What could stop or delay him?
He came right away, but it took weeks for him to get there.
The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia,
and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”
So he has a message… but I’m super stuck on this verse.
The “prince of the kingdom of Persia.” Could be “king” but that would imply King Darius or King Cyrus is detaining this angel dude. Not possible, doesn’t make sense.
Since this prince opposes God’s angel, we can safely assume this is an evil angel, presumably what the new testament calls… a demon.
And this demon / opposing being has a territory, the kingdom of Persia.
Then later in the chapter, he continues:
Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.
This is the landscape of heavenly battle!
I want to know so much more!!! I want to strategize. If I pray on the border of two “principalities”, is it easier for the angel to sneak between them or harder because they both fight?
Do the angels square off, do they have assigned zones and sections too? Is Gabriel assigned to Daniel, is he the “Palestinian” angel since he shows up there in the Christmas story to Mary?
But Michael is the “great prince who has charge of your people” (Dan 12:1)
I don’t know.
I know we have this one SUPER fascinating glimpse behind the possible curtain.
I know we have a few others, enough to see that the “heavens” are filled with creatures beyond our comprehension. “Angels” makes it sound like a uniform group, but then we get visions of radical variety. Even here, where they have somewhat the appearance of humanity, it is immediately clear to Daniel that these are creatures beyond.
The world is so much bigger than our corner. Than what we’ve seen. Than what we’ve understood.
So what do we do?
We do what Daniel did.
We pray.
Prayer change us? Yes.
Prayer changes God. Not His character, but we have many examples of God responding to His people’s prayer and the Bible explicitly says He relents, or He changes course in response.
Prayer changes the heavens. Here we have a war waged in the spiritual realms. Why? Because Daniel prayed, and God sent an answer, and the enemy opposed it, but God’s messenger won through.
Prayer changes us.
Prayer changes the heavens.
Prayer moves angels and casts down demons.
Prayer Changes Everything
Prayer Changes Everything
As Wayne said, we Pray Until Something Happens. PUSH (I love it).
We pray, and know that the heavens move.
This isn’t passive: “God’s going to do what God’s going to do.” For whatever crazy reason: God chooses not to work that way. He chooses to actually listen. To hear and send, to hear and respond.
That breaks my brain too. It conflicts with my small understanding of predestination and omnipotence and omniscience… but it is my understanding that is small. God has it figured out. He is all of those things and He actually hears and responds to our prayers.
So we pray into the promises of God. Not what you’ve decided you want. What has He declared over you? What has He prophesied over you? Here’s one I know:
You are loved.
You are forgiven.
You are His forever.
Claim it. Know it.
What about when you don’t have a sure prophecy there? You can pray into the question too, Daniel does that all the time. And he’s asking people in his prophetic dreams because he still doesn’t understand.
Pray. And then picture this. The angels sent on mission in the moment of prayer, fighting as mighty warriors to accomplish the will of YHWH who has heard your prayer, and will move heaven and earth for the good of those who love him and are called by his name.
Prayer changes me.
Prayer changes things.
Prayer changes everything… because our God is listening.
Wayne shared from James 5. Is someone sick, let him pray. Someone sinned? Confess and pray, be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has “great power”.
Prayer changes the heavens. Prayer changes everything.
Elections are this week. Be a good citizen, go vote. Will that save our nation? Don’t hold your breath.
Pray this promise to Israel over our own country:
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Oh, Lord, can we get some of that???!
Your vote has political force and, in a small way, can change some things.
Prayer changes everything.
So, I’m going to stop talking about prayer… and let’s just do it.
You want to see change in our country, in our families, in your life? Pray, and watch God change you, and, in His timing, in His will, according to His purpose, watch Him win the war.