Daniel 10:10-13 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.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
The world we cannot see is more vital to our condition than the one we do see. The world we see is a mystery to us. We see, but often we do not understand the creation of God. As man has gained more knowledge, as he has developed more sophisticated tools that allows him to delve into the very depths of space, the depths of the oceans and view some of the smallest particles of creation we gain insights into the power and imagination of our Creator. As God reveals Himself to us in His creation and allows us to find some of the intricacies of it, man thinks he is in command; he gives his own version of how the world was formed and developed and thinks he is the one that is all powerful – placing his intelligence above the Creator. Yet, we have so much to learn; so many riddles in our universe we have yet to discover let alone solve. The more we learn the more we realize the universe, and all that is in it, is a complex mass of organized infinitesimal particles that God has used to form everything. And that is what we see but do not understand.
What we do not see is the Spiritual realm about us. We get an inkling of it as we go about our daily lives and are tempted by satan. The reality of the Spiritual realm is not readily seen by us, we can see results of some of the battles, but seldom do we see the participants. We see persecution all around us, the world is full of it. We pray and sometimes we see a direct answer to those prayers. Missionaries tell us of escaping certain death or captivity by supernatural means of God. They are on the front lines of some of the most vicious spiritual action and they battle daily for the survival of their flocks.
What is real to the world is what they can see, touch, smell or hear therefore they do not accept the scriptures; they talk of foolishness and/or superstitious nonsense when we try and tell them of God and what His Word proclaims. Yet, the physical battles we face in the world are a direct result of the spiritual battles we cannot see. The world discounts it by saying it is just a difference in ideology, or greed on the part of governments and/or individuals without recognizing it is satan that places those sinful desires in the hearts of man.
The world believes if we but encompass and accept everything and challenge nothing than love will prevail and we will have peace. The lies of satan dominate the minds of man, and the battle for their souls goes on in that spiritual realm. If we allow the world’s thinking to prevail, then satan has won – God will not allow it to happen. Sometimes it takes hours and days – and often months and years of prayer on our part before the angels break through.
In Daniel’s case he had been praying and fasting for 21 days, at the end of which he saw the angel before him. Interestingly enough no one else did:
Verses 6-7 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.
Daniel’s experience was not an isolated one; God used and I am sure still uses angels many times to convey messages to His people, usually to a specific individual; and sometimes to minister to them. It is not for everyone to see, but that doesn’t mean it has not happened.
I do not know how all this works out, I just know that the Bible tells us that it does. While God could decide at any time to end it all, He has not yet done so, and until He does the battles will continue. The battles are as vicious and deadly as any we see in the natural world.
While I know these battles rage on and I know I have a part in it – although not always defined to my understanding, frankly, I do not worry too much about it. If I call for a police officer I do not say I want a specific person and then tell them how to do their job. I trust their training, experience and abilities. Once they know what the problem is, they follow the law and do what needs to be done. Since they are human, they may make mistakes, but for the most part they strive to do a professional job.
When I pray to God for relief, while I may try and tell Him what needs to be done – which is a mistake, of course – He already knows, if He needs to send an angel, or a band of them, or just strengthen my resolve He knows what needs to be done; and He makes no mistakes. We battle unseen forces every day, it would seem to be easier if we could see them, take swords in hand for the battles – but then again, God knows what is best for us.
We fight alongside angels we cannot see, against an enemy that is not seen. We are equipped for that battle, we have armor, swords and His support. We are not fighting blindly, but with faith that what we are doing for Him, in service to Him, makes a difference in the outcome.
It is enough to know that while we battle unseen forces, but we are not alone in those battles. He will send what is needed to help us overcome our enemy and be victorious for His sake. As a police officer, when I went into dangerous situations I was seldom alone. There were times of course that backup was a long ways away, but I knew it was coming. We always tried to have each other’s backs and be there for each other. God ALWAYS has our backs. He tells us that He is always with us, even until the end of the world. Our spiritual battles begin with prayer and ends in faith and obedience to God. We will be wounded if we are fighting the battles as we should, but we will be victorious in the end. Even if we should lose our physical life, it is for a just cause in His service and God will use that sacrifice for His purposes. More importantly we will not lose the thing that means the most, our soul - that is forever kept in the palm of His hands.
From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
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