Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Unseen Spiritual Battles

Daniel 10v12-13 “Since the first day that you set your mind .. to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, … but the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days.”

Have you ever known it take a while before God answered your prayer? I am sure you have! Have you wondered why the answer is so delayed?

Daniel had had a partial fast for 3 weeks, then on the 24th day God gave him a vision of a man who would reveal much about the future to him. This man seems remarkably like the vision John has of Jesus in Revelation 1. You may have been waiting a lot longer than three weeks for an answer to prayer, but God gives Daniel an explanation for the time taken. This may not be the only reason for delays in prayer, but it does give us some important insight.

Here we see that there is a spiritual battle going on which you and I are unaware of much of the time. There are the spiritual powers of evil behind the authorities of this world, referred to here as “the prince of the Persian Kingdom” and there are the spiritual powers of God. The person came to Daniel in response to Daniel’s prayer, but he was delayed by the spirit of evil. The evil powers do have an impact, but God’s power is ultimately victorious. The evil power can delay, but God’s power overcame.

In the New Testament, this flows into Paul writing in Ephesians, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the  … powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” The Devil and his demons are not out of a fairy tale nor are they in the order of Santa Claus: they are real and dangerous in the order of a “roaring lion” (1 Peter 5v8).

This is not a call for us to fear, but to trust in Jesus Christ and his power. We belong to him and he is the victor. It is, however, a call for us to be wise, aware and alert. Paul also writes, “Do not give the Devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4v27). Don’t invite the Devil in, whether intentionally or not. Don’t move outside the protection of Jesus Christ who guards his sheep (John 10)

With love and blessing,

Roland