One of the most profound things Jesus said about prayer is found in Matthew 21:22. He said, “All things whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing you shall receive. Note the words “all things” and the word “whatsoever.”
When we plug that verse into our life, however, it doesn’t seem to be that simple. You know you believe, but receiving the answer to your prayer seems much harder than what the verse suggests that it would be.
All of us know what it is to pray about something, and pray, and pray, and wonder what in heaven is going on. The truth is that prayer involves more than you and I communicating with God. Intense spiritual opposition happens when we pray.
The challenge spiritual opposition poses for us is that we can’t see it. That does not make it any less real. But because we can’t see it, we often don’t know when it’s happening.
Daniel the prophet had an experience like that. He saw this troubling vision. So troubling that it left him in mourning for 21 days. Daniel was praying and waiting to hear from the Lord.
Learning to Wait on the Lord
Here is what the angel said to Daniel when he finally showed up:
“From the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard…”
Daniel 10:12, NASB
What Daniel experienced is not the exception but the rule. When we pray to God, He does not put us on hold. He does not put us in queue. Our prayers are heard the very first day we pray. But as it was in the case of Daniel, there is often a duration of time between when we pray and when we receive from God.
Because this is true, we must know how to wait on the Lord. I know I am not saying anything you have not heard before or experienced. All of us know what it is to have to wait on the Lord after we have prayed. But based on what the angel shared with Daniel, it’s not because God has not heard us.
In the book of Hebrews, it is written, “You have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (Hebrews 10:36, NASB). According to this verse, sometimes the reason we don’t receive what we request from God is not because we have not done the will of God but because we lacked the endurance to wait.
Delay Resulting from Spiritual Opposition
The angel explained to Daniel what was the hold up:
“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me…”
Daniel 10:13, NASB
This means the angel encountered spiritual opposition during his effort to bring understanding of the vision to Daniel. The angel was detained 21 days by the prince of the kingdom of Persia. In fact, the arch angel Michael had to assist the angel to come to Daniel.
Let’s talk about the prince of Persia that opposed the angel in the heavenlies. We know he was a spiritual being because he fought against the angel which is also a spiritual being. We also know the prince of Persia was demonic because he opposed the God’s angel from heaven.
The resulting spiritual opposition is a good example of what Paul the apostle means when he writes in his letter to the Ephesians that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies (Ephesians 6:12). When we pray, that’s where the battle is.
In this case, God chose to answer Daniel’s prayer by way of an angel. Of course, that’s not God’s only way of answering our prayers. Sometimes, He answers our prayer by way of other people. Sometimes, He speaks to us by the Holy Spirit, or through dreams or visions.
All of that activity invites spiritual opposition. The devil’s goal is to oppose all that God wants to do on our behalf. He wants to get between us and the person God wants to use to bless us. He wants to hinder people we are praying for to come to the Lord. He wants to keep us in the financial bind we find ourselves in. The list goes on; he is our adversary.
We must believe that from the very first time we pray to God that He hears us. And if we pray and don’t give up, we will reap in due season.
No matter how intense the spiritual opposition is against us, as it was in the case of Daniel, God knows how to answer our prayers and He will answer them.
Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.