This morning, if you have your Bibles, if you’ll turn with me to Daniel, as we continue our study through the book of Daniel. We’re coming to Daniel chapter 10 this morning. The songs that we just sang, Great is Thy Faithfulness, and A Shelter in the Time of Storm, would have been two songs that Daniel could have joined right in with and sung.
If there was ever a time where there was a storm going on, it was at the time that Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah lived. Today in chapter 10, we’re going to see the impact of where that storm comes from, and the fact that that storm is still with us today. But we have someone who can calm the storm and still the seas, who is greater than our every need, and that’s the Lord.
As we’ve been studying in Daniel, in chapter 9, the Lord revealed to Daniel 70 weeks of years that would deal with the nation of Israel. Daniel being a man who loved God, who desired to serve God, and who did just that, no matter what situation life found him in. And he was not found in the easiest situations at various times.
Daniel was involved in the government of Babylon, and then after that, the government of the Medes and the Persians. Both kingdoms were kingdoms that came out of ungodliness. The Babylonians had their own gods, which were false gods.
And Nebuchadnezzar, that ruled during the time that Daniel was there, viewed himself as a god until God humbled him and brought him to the knowledge that there’s only one true and living God, and that is the God of all creation, the God of the Bible, and who Nebuchadnezzar referred to as the God of Daniel. From there Daniel goes to the Medes and the Persians, but the Lord is revealing to Daniel how he’s going to be dealing with the nation of Israel. And you need to understand, Daniel not only loved the Lord, he loved his nation.
He loved his people. And he saw the wickedness that had gotten ahold of them. He saw the judgment that had befallen them.
He saw how Satan desired to destroy and consume them. And yet God had revealed to them that God was not done with them even though they had become very perverse and wicked in their attitudes and actions. In chapter 10 we find there’s been a period of time from when Daniel had saw the visions of the last week of years that we see in the last portion of chapter 9, in which we’ve been briefly looking at and we’re going to get into greater depth in the future.
As Daniel saw that, he saw the fact that there lay great hope in the future for not only Israel but the whole world and that there was a Messiah that was coming. And Daniel was concerned and he’s in an attitude of prayer. And so let’s just pick it up in chapter 10, verse 1.
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.
2 In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. 3 I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. 4 And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel;
today we know it by Tigris,
5 then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: 6 his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. 7 And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. 8 Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. 9 Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground.
10 And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. 11 And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. 12 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. 14 Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.
15 And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. 16 And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. 17 For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.
18 Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, 19 and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. 20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. 21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
Let’s just bow in prayer. Heavenly Father as we come before you, Lord may we be in awe and may we be in wonder as we see the things that you have revealed through your word of what happens in the realms which we cannot see into but are very real. Lord help us who are weak to look to you, the one of great strength. And Lord may you be there and may your spirit rest upon us and may we seek to walk in your power and might and even as your servant said to Daniel to stand. Lord may we stand. Lord I pray this and help us to understand this we ask in Jesus name. Amen. If you stop and think about Daniel, he’s a man that has a position of power and authority in the government of the Medes and the Persians.
Yet Daniel understood his power did not come from Cyrus. His power did not come from his position in the Medes and the Persians. But his power only came from the Lord.
And he understood that in and of himself he had no strength. But in God he was told to stand. I think it’s interesting as we opened up this particular portion of scripture in this passage in the book of Daniel.
Daniel had gone three weeks in prayer, in fasting. It says that he had so concentrated in prayer, calling out to God in fasting and he hadn’t even put on his proper apparel. Because he was crying out to God for depth of understanding of what God had just revealed to him.
About what would happen to the nation of Israel in the last days. About what would happen to this world in the last days. About the power and the authority of God as He reveals it not only to Israel but to all of mankind in the last days.
And Daniel was greatly troubled. And he wanted greater understanding. And he understood that he didn’t know.
One of the things that’s amazing to me is that there’s a lot of people today that think they have all the answers but yet they don’t even look to the word of God nor do they call upon the name of the Lord for wisdom and strength and how they should deal with situations. As you look at chapter 10 of the book of Daniel one thing I want you to note is Daniel is given a glimpse into an arena that is around us right at this instant but we can’t see. Right now the Lord tells us there’s a spiritual realm that’s here and it’s real.
He says that He sends angels to minister to us. He says that He sends angels to guard us, to protect us, to help us. We also know that the Lord in the spiritual realms there is one, an adversary, Satan who at one time held the most powerful position of all the angelic hosts.
He was an archangel and his job was to lead all the angelic beings in worship of the Lord. He stood before the Lord led songs of praise from the angelic beings before God in worship until pride was found in Him and sin brought Him down and as Jesus Himself says of Satan He became a liar and a murderer and in Him is found no good. Satan is at war with his Creator because he thinks that he should have the position of God.
We read in the book of Ezekiel which we will get to later on how that Satan views himself that he desired to rise up and take the position as the most high and to be like the most high. Well, I want to tell you one thing there can only be one most high. You can’t have two.
And God is the one who created all things including Satan. But as you see in the text that we just read as Daniel is praying his prayer isn’t being answered immediately. And he prays for three weeks.
How often do I pray for three minutes and I give up? We are to continue in an attitude of prayer. The Apostle Paul tells us our attitude should be one of prayer continually and that we should continually seek to communicate with our Redeemer and Savior and Lord and King and God. He tells us that it’s only in Him that we can find wisdom and strength.
It’s only in Him that we can find answers and solutions to our problems. It’s only in Him that we can seek to be used by His power flowing through us to touch other people’s lives. And one of the ways it begins is in prayer.
And I want you to know one of the things that Satan wants you to do is to think that prayer doesn’t matter and that prayer can’t change anything. Daniel viewed prayer as extremely important. So important he spent three solid weeks in prayer and received no answer but he kept praying.
And then God sent an angel, Gabriel. And it’s interesting what Gabriel says. He calls Daniel beloved.
Why is Daniel called beloved? Well, Daniel was a sinner saved by grace just like you and I. But Daniel was a man who was constantly seeking the Lord. And God allowed him to be placed in very difficult situations during his lifetime. But in those situations he always placed God before even the rulers that he was working for.
If you go back in the Old Testament you will find in the book of Genesis another man very much like Daniel. His name was Joseph. Joseph found himself like Daniel in positions and oftentimes like Daniel he’d been taken out of his home, been taken to a foreign land, been placed in a position that he did not want or ask for, been sold as a slave and then after he was put in that position a situation that he did not do anything wrong but was falsely accused and he ended up in prison because of that.
And it would have been very easy for Joseph to turn his back on God. Say, what are you doing? I was trying to worship you when I was a child in my father Jacob’s home. I tried to talk about you to my brothers and all it got me was I was sold into slavery to the Ishmaelite traitors.
And they sold me to Potiphar. And then Potiphar’s wife falsely accused me of making sexual advances towards her when I had done nothing wrong. And I fled from her presence lest I would be accused.
And yet I was accused and thrown into prison. And in prison I told a man to remember me when he came into the courts of Pharaoh but yet he forgot. And Joseph could have said, God, what kind of a God are you? You can’t deliver on your promises.
But he didn’t do that. Much like Daniel, he just wanted to understand in greater depth what’s going on and how am I being used every situation that Joseph found himself in every situation that Daniel found himself in they sought to be used of God and they sought to bring glory of the Lord through their lives to touch the lives of those around them so that they would see the God they served in their life and would be drawn to Him. Daniel’s brothers knew I mean, Joseph’s brothers knew what Joseph was like and the God he served.
And years later when they stood before him and he was at the right hand of Pharaoh the second most powerful man in the land of Egypt and he could have had them killed for what they had done to him as a young boy. He had that power. But instead, if you read in the book of Genesis you will find that Joseph began when he saw his brothers walk in to weep.
And he dismissed themselves lest they would see him weeping. He tested his brothers. And the amazing thing is he saw a change in their hearts.
A change that would have never been brought about had Joseph rebelled against God. It’s interesting when the final climax of the account of his brothers standing before him and they have come to preserve their lives because there’s drought in the land of Canaan and there’s plenty in the land of there’s corn in the land of Egypt because of Joseph storing all of the the fruit, the grains and they’ve come to get some and as they stand before him he reveals himself to them. And Joseph as he reveals himself to them they’re filled with terror.
But Joseph says an amazing thing. What you meant for evil God meant for good. And today their lives are preserved in spite of all the evil.
As Daniel is looking in the visions that God has given to him. How is God going to work through all this wickedness that has been in the nation of Israel that he has to deal with that needs to be justly dealt with and yet fulfill his promises promises that must come and must be fulfilled if the Messiah is to come and if the Messiah is going to come to redeem mankind and he’s going to come again to judge the world and to deal with the injustices and the wickedness and the sin that’s always been there. It would be very easy for Daniel to say I just don’t see how it can happen.
But he doesn’t. He trusts in God. In spite of what is happening in his own personal life in spite of what he sees happening in the nation of Israel at the time he lives he knows that God’s word is true that God’s promises will be fulfilled and he’s praying to that end.
And praying, Lord, help me to understand. Help me to understand these 70 weeks of years that you’re talking about. Help me to understand this final judgment that’s coming upon the world and how your people will one day turn to you completely.
Help me to understand. And so God sends him a man an angel, Gabriel. And it’s interesting that Gabriel says I started out in our ascent three weeks ago.
When did Daniel start to pray? Three weeks ago. But I was held up by really it’s a demonic spirit that’s over the land of Persia. Just heard a man speak about this passage a little bit and he says, you know, today you see that same influence of that same demonic spirit over the land of Persia today.
Satan is a murderer. Satan’s a liar. What do you see coming out of Persia today? Murders and lies.
And you know how many Christians really pray for the people of Persia and pray for the deliverance that God would come and somehow deliver these people who are being slaughtered by their own government and being slaughtered really by Satan. How many of us really pray for them? How many of us really understand the work that God is doing in spite of all of the wickedness that is happening in the Middle East right now that people are getting saved in the midst of this wickedness? And how many of us pray that people would understand the bankruptcy of Satan’s systems and the bankruptcy of Islam which is one of his major religions and turn to Christ because they’re doing it? But how many of us are praying that it will be done? Daniel understood the battle he was in and at the moment he didn’t even understand the depth of the battle. We see in verse 10, And behold, a hand touched me when it was set upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands.
As we look at what God did for us, who are so unworthy, and do we have a fear and a holy reverence for this great and powerful God that can do these great and mighty things? That is greater than the wicked one who would seek to destroy all mankind. And God is greater than him. He’s greater than the wicked one who would seek to undermine our faith and our walk with Christ.
Do we tremble when we come into his presence, understanding who he is? The Bible tells us that wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. One of the things that’s sad today is in many Christians’ life, there isn’t a whole lot of wisdom. What directs and guides their paths? Is it the word of God, or is it what their friends say? Is it what the politicians say? Is it what the government’s doing? Or is it what the word of God says? Daniel looked at the word of God and looked at what God had revealed to him and what he told him.
And now the revelation is going to come and be revealed to him in greater depth, and he’s already trembling. I had a young man ask me just a few weeks ago, how do you explain wickedness in the world and the holiness and righteousness and power of God? And if God is all-powerful, how come wicked things are happening? If God is all-powerful, and he’s the one that created the nation of Israel, it wasn’t created by men. God, in his word, tells us, I brought this nation and made this a nation who was not a nation.
How could God allow that nation to become so wicked in their actions, and in the things they did, and in their rebellion against their Creator, that he allowed the Babylonians to take them into captivity, and now the Babylonians have been defeated by the Medes and the Persians, and so now these same Jews are under the influence of the Medes and the Persians? As I was talking to this young man, and I wrote him back, and I said, number one, as the scriptures say, our ways are not God’s ways, and our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. God had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hundreds of years before Daniel lived, and those promises were going to be fulfilled in spite of some of those descendants who walked in total rebellion and rejected the God of their fathers. So what does God do? It’s amazing, God gives you the ability to choose.
You can choose to walk in rebellion, or you can choose to walk in obedience. And the amazing thing is, God reveals to us in his word, there are consequences to choices. What we choose will result in consequences, not only to us, but oftentimes it influences other people.
Daniel is a man who is after God’s own heart. He’s a beloved, yet he finds himself in foreign capitals, not in Jerusalem, not in Judea, not where the temple was, but where false gods are worshipped. But yet God says, Daniel, I’m going to show you things and reveal it to you.
I’m not done with your people in spite of choices they made. I want you to understand, God will not cause us to automatically choose him. It’s a choice he freely gives us, just as he did to Daniel.
He desires we choose rightly. But even sometimes when we choose wrong, God can overcome our wrong choices and deliver on his promises in spite of us. And that’s where the spiritual battles come in.
Satan thinks he is as powerful as God. He thinks once you make a wrong choice, he’s got you under his thumb. That’s not what the Bible says.
The Bible says that when we choose wrong, we can be forgiven. The apostle John tells us, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from our unrighteousness. And that the Lord desires to walk with us and forgive us.
But we still need to make the prayer for forgiveness. And we need to understand the battle we’re in. I want you to just keep your finger here and just turn with me quickly to the book of Ephesians.
And in Ephesians chapter 6, the apostle Paul has revealed the depth of this spiritual battle to us. And I want you to begin in chapter 6 at verse 5, he says, Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. So your circumstances aren’t supposed to be what guides you, but it’s Jesus.
That’s what he’s telling us. That’s what he’s telling these people. He wrote the book in Ephesians, what God preserved for us.
Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ. Doing the will of God from the heart. This is what Daniel was doing, the will of God from his heart.
And he wasn’t there to please men. He was there to please God. And the thing is, many people today that name the name of Christ are more concerned about what people think of them than they are of pleasing God.
With good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men. Why was Daniel calling on the name of the Lord and wanting greater understanding and wanting a greater depth of knowledge when it came to the visions that he saw and what God was having him relate to the nation of Israel and those that were around them and that he was preserving for us to hear as well? Because he was there to serve Christ, not Cyrus. He was there to serve Christ and not Nebuchadnezzar.
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And ye masters, do the same things unto them forbearing, threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him. Christ is not a respecter of persons.
He looks at the heart. He doesn’t look at our position, doesn’t look at our authority, doesn’t look at our bank account, doesn’t look at our friends. He looks at our heart.
Then Paul gets into it. What does this all mean? Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Daniel could not do what he did in his own strength.
It was by his trust and faith in God. When he was in the Medo-Persian empire, as we saw at the beginning of the book of Daniel, they made a decree that anyone who prayed to any god and acknowledged anybody but the king of the Medes and the Persians would be put to death. And the death would not be a pleasant one.
It would be in the den of lions. Remember, we studied that. The death stopped Daniel from praying.
The death stopped Daniel from understanding where his number one responsibility lay. It lay to the Lord. Not to the king of Persia, who had made the unwise decree.
Not to those that were his fellow, on the fellow level of leaders of Persia that wanted him out of the way. It lay to the Lord. And if you remember, what did he do? He didn’t go into his room and cower under his bed and pray there.
He knew what they were going to do. He knew what the results of his prayer would be. Instead, he opened up his window, he faced Jerusalem, where the temple was, and he prayed to the Lord, as he always had.
And God delivered him. But Daniel didn’t know God was going to deliver him. But he did it because he trusted God.
And he wasn’t a man-pleaser. Paul tells us the same things. Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Wiles means schemes, plans, plots. Wiles are things that are designed to undermine and destroy you.
Wiles are things that will give Satan victory over God’s people. And the way that we know them is by walking in the power of God. It says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. I want to ask you a question. What’s going on in Minneapolis? Have you ever stopped to think about what’s really going on in Minneapolis? If you listen to the news, it’s anti-Trump syndrome.
People hate Trump so much that they’re out there. Or it’s people want to overthrow the government of the United States. They want it to become a socialist, communist government.
And that’s one of the theories. There’s proof to both of those. But what’s really going on? It’s a spiritual battle.
Why did they go into a church in the middle of the service, and the church was not doing anything about politics that Sunday? They were just worshiping. But they came in and disrupted the service. They threatened the people.
That wasn’t a protest. That was a spiritual battle. What’s going on is a spiritual war.
And the problem is, at the heart of it are the souls of men. Satan does not want Christians to understand the greatest victory that we can have is not to have every illegal alien deported from our country, but it’s to see thousands of people come to Christ. Know what would be the greatest victory of all? If the whole Somali community got saved.
Because right now, they’re under the thumb of Satan. They’re in the worship system that he set up as his religious system. And how can I say that? Because everything in Islam stands exactly opposite of what the Bible teaches.
Everything. And they’re under the control of that. They’re under the control of money.
They’re under the control of this world. They need Jesus. And Christians need to understand the greatest battle that we have is a spiritual one.
We are not promised that this country is going to last forever. As a matter of fact, if you look at the history of the world, our nation has lasted longer than most nations. And nowhere in Scripture does it say that we are to become a theocracy.
But it does say that God’s people are placed in a nation for a purpose. And God made this nation so different than any other nation in the history of the world because many of the principles that it was founded on were biblical principles. And if you look at the founding documents, you will see our founding fathers understood men and women are sinners that need salvation.
And that’s why they set up the type of government they did where there’s checks and balances because of the sinfulness of man and the wickedness of his heart. And if he’s given power that’s unchecked by the Spirit of God and unchecked by fellow men, it will lead to very evil and wicked things. I was listening to a man and he said, one of the problems we have in America today is preachers don’t want to preach about what’s happening.
And he’s right. They don’t want to talk about the spiritual battle. They don’t want to talk about, do you realize all the Somalis in Minneapolis, just stop and think how horrible this is, all the Somalis in Minneapolis that do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior, where are they going eternally? To hell.
All those of European descent in Minneapolis that don’t believe in Jesus Christ, where are they going eternally? To hell. But nobody wants to talk about it. And they look at the battle as something else.
But that’s the real heart of the battle. Satan knows his time is short. He’s doing everything he can to try and keep people’s eyes off of Jesus and keep them on the things of this world and the wickedness of this world that he entices people with.
Those of you who are Christians here this morning, would you trade your walk with Jesus Christ for a Lamborghini or a Maserati? Would you trade your walk with Jesus Christ for a million dollar bank? I was just thinking about that, you know. I got a different car because my other car was starting, it had lots of miles on it. It was starting to rust.
I got a different car and this car was amazing because it was 2019 and I bought it in 2025, 24 rather, and it hardly had any miles on it. And it was in perfect condition. I didn’t have it more than about a month and I put a scratch in the bumper.
About two more months and somebody hit me at the bank, put another scratch in the other bumper. But it’s a car. It’s not going to make any difference whether it’s got scratches in it or not in my eternal relationship with Jesus.
If we put our trust in things, we’re not getting the whole picture. As the Apostle Paul was writing this to the church at Ephesus, he says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness in this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.
And he tells you that, I believe it’s five times he uses the word stand in this passage. Stand, stand, stand. Do not retreat.
Do not fall, but stand. As Daniel has Gabriel come with this message, he lifts him up and tells him, Stand! Stand against the evil that is coming and understand who is the victor. Who is the one that’s going to give the victory? It’s not Satan.
It’s not this world. It’s not President Trump. It’s Jesus Christ.
And when will God’s people understand that and begin to stand for the truth and stand for the gospel and stand for righteousness? Stand, therefore, having your loins good about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. How do we quench Satan’s fiery darts and his wiles and schemes? It’s by faith in Christ.
Faith in the one who is greater than Satan. Faith in the one who is then the deliverer. You know, they don’t teach history anymore.
So a lot of kids don’t understand what’s happened throughout the world. I talked a little bit about it on Wednesday night as we’re going through the book of Ezekiel about how Satan’s always had his Antichrist in the wings. A man who would fit the description.
Who would be a very powerful, very intelligent, very man that the people would be drawn to and who could control people. But you know something? All of those Antichrists that Satan prepared, it wasn’t the time. Because who’s in control? God.
And that man will only be able to reveal himself when God allows it to happen. So, if the one who is trying to put together this one world government and you can look at all the things that are happening and you can see it’s all the ground works being laid. What happened at Davos, that was laying for a one world government.
What’s happening with our economy, that’s a one world government. What’s happening with electronic currencies, that’s a one world government. What’s happening with everything that you see happening around the world with all these skirmishes and trying to have a man that can come and bring peace.
That’s all for a one world government. But I want to tell you something. It’s not going to happen until God allows it.
And what he is going to reveal to Daniel is going to be a series of events that Daniel is going to be able to see through visions in the rest of the book of Daniel that are going to help answer his questions about what are you speaking about. And we see here that as he does this, that the Lord is helping Daniel to see and understand things will happen in my time, not yours. And we need to understand how that impacts us as believers in Christ.
You and I need to realize our prayers are to be made to the one who is in control and who can make a difference. Back to bring you to the solution of the question that that young man asked me about all the wickedness in the world and how can God get his plans done and how can good be accomplished. I want you to think in your life.
Decisions that you made that were wrong, but yet in spite of that wrong decision, you saw something good. Maybe it was weeks, maybe it was months, maybe it was years later. Come out of that.
Something really bad happened to you. I can think of people who have lost loved ones and can’t figure out why God would allow that to happen. And he had the power so it wouldn’t.
But out of that came a transformation in the life of the person that it happened to where they understood the power of God and had such a heart to show that power to people and to show God’s love to those that were hurting like they had hurt. And God did tremendous things. God can use us in spite of our wrong decisions.
God can use us in spite of the spiritual battle we’re in where sometimes it appears we’re losing. And God will always have a victory for us and we just need to look and trust in him. So no matter what you’re going through, no matter how difficult it may be, understand there’s a higher calling and a higher purpose.
And we’re wrestling against an adversary that wants us to be defeated and give up because that’s the only time he has ultimate victory in our lives. If we are trusting in Christ no matter how awful the circumstances may appear to be, God is in control and God will win if our trust and faith is in him. So Paul closes in Ephesians, he says, Stand therefore having your loins girded about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the word of the spirit which is the word of God, the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. That is what Daniel was doing.
That is what we are called to do. And we need to understand that the day in which we live, we can have victory in Christ just as Daniel saw and was revealed to him all these victories that he would never see in his lifetime but they were coming. Let’s just close in prayer.
Father, I pray that you just speak to us through your word, help us to understand it. Lord, I pray that you would, as we go through the book of Daniel, help us to see that as we look at history, there were wicked men, Satan raised up wicked men, they thought they could do evil things, they did evil things, but in spite of that, your word was fulfilled and your victory was achieved. And ultimately your victory will come when Jesus shall return with his ten thousands of saints and the remnant of the nation of Israel shall look upon him whom they pierced and you shall defeat those that are in total rebellion against you.
But before that, Lord, we thank you that you called and said that you’re going to rapture your church and call us home to be with you. And Lord, I pray that you would just help us to keep our eyes on you and to please you and not men. This we ask in Jesus’ name.
Amen.