21 Days of Prayer // Prayer is Spiritual Warfare

For that today, we are launching something called 21 Days of Prayer, and we are starting a series entitled Seek First.

And this takes us to the book of Daniel, chapter 10.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

And in Daniel 10, we see something that if you've been following Jesus for any length of time, you have probably experienced.

And that's the disappointment, or maybe the internal conflict that comes along with seemingly unanswered prayer.

You prayed for the person to be healed, and they weren't healed.

You prayed for the breakthrough to happen, and it still hasn't happened.

You prayed for the friend, you prayed for the family member, and you prayed, and you prayed, and you prayed, and you prayed with faith, and you prayed with more faith, and you came on Sunday and you got fired up, so you prayed with a little extra faith that we're gonna do and you listen to a podcast, and you got really extra fired up, you put on your favorite worship song, you're like, I'm gonna pray more, and and it's almost like my prayers must be hitting the ceiling.

Cause ain't nothing's happening.

And if you're honest, it's made you feel some type of way.

If you're honest, it's probably caused some internal conflict, which we can be honest in here, right?

This is just us, right?

We family.

If that's you, you're not alone.

In fact, we go to a place in Daniel, Daniel chapter number 10, where this guy named Daniel, everybody say, Daniel, ready?

Y'all remember this, Daniel?

This is the Lion's Dengai.

Okay.

If you don't know Lion's Denguy, you can Google it later.

It's pretty cool.

You can read the read the book, Daniel.

This guy, Daniel, prayed and did not have an answer to prayer.

And the reason why he didn't have an answer to prayer was something that I think a lot of us can be short-sighted about.

He didn't get an answer because of something called spiritual warfare.

Spiritual warfare.

And Daniel experienced his prayers were not, they were heard, but they were not answered because of spiritual warfare that happened for 21 days.

But at the end of 21 days, there was a breakthrough in the life because there was a individual that fervently sought the Lord.

And I want you to see it this morning because this is gonna inspire us and really launch us into the next 21 days.

Because I believe this in the next 21 days, some of you are gonna see the first answer to prayer you've ever had in your life or you've ever had in a really long time.

Some of you are gonna see some things happen in your families and in situations in your life, and you're gonna be like, oh my goodness, like I didn't even know God can do this because we are gonna take 21 days and set them aside to say, we are going to seek the Lord.

So let's pick this up in Daniel chapter 10.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

If you're ready for it, would you say amen?

Amen, amen, amen.

Daniel chapter number 10 and verse number one.

It says this in the third year of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar.

The message was true and was about a great conflict.

He understood the message and had understanding of the vision.

So verse one tells us Daniel is receiving this message.

Verse two is gonna verse two in the rest of the chapter is gonna tell us everything that led up to Daniel receiving the message.

Okay, in those days, I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks.

Three weeks.

How many days is three weeks?

Daniel was mourning.

Why was he mourning?

He was sensing that he was gonna get a vision that was not gonna be great news.

It says in verse number three, to prepare himself to receive this that God had for him.

Watch what he didn't do.

He says, I didn't eat any rich food, no meat.

He fasted from meat.

He said, I'm not going through the in-and-out drive-thru for 21 days.

Man, that's tough.

He says, I'm not having any T-bone steaks for 21 days.

No meat or wine.

He's like, I'm staying away from Napa.

Entered my mouth, and I didn't put any oil on my body.

He didn't bathe until the three weeks were over.

Daniel, he did something called fasting.

Now, over the next couple weeks, we're gonna talk more about that.

But what fasting isn't is fasting isn't about earning God's favor, but humbling ourselves and focusing our hearts.

Daniel or fasting isn't, well, if I fast, then God's really gonna love me.

He's gonna love me more than them over there.

No, no, no.

Fasting is humbling ourselves and focusing our hearts.

It's an expression of dependence and desperation.

We fast to seek clarity and wisdom from the Lord.

What fasting is, it's I'm starving my flesh and I'm feeding my spirit.

I'm starving my flesh from this thing over here that may not be bad.

This is a good thing, so I can feed my spirit.

And Daniel fasts for 21 days.

And watch what happened at the end of this fast on verse 4.

On the 24th day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up, and there was a man dressed in linen with a belt of gold for Mufas.

This is a town known for its gold around his waist.

Now, verse six, get this image.

This is an angel, get this image.

Like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze.

You st you still with me?

You still there?

And the sound of his words, like the sound of a multitude.

What a sight.

Goes on when we learn more about this.

Only I, Daniel, saw the vision.

The men who were with me, they didn't see it.

But a great terror fell on them and they ran and hid.

He was like, I'm out of here.

I was left alone looking at the great vision.

No strength was left in me.

My face grew deathly pale.

Have you ever experienced something or seen something where you just went pale?

Or maybe somebody you're with experienced that, and you're like, whoa, you are pale right now?

This is Daniel right here.

And I was powerless.

He had no strength in his body.

He became completely weak.

And verse 9, I heard the words he said.

And when I heard them, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground.

So Daniel is saying his experience when he's receiving this vision, he's receiving the end of this 21 days of dependence, of fasting.

Now he's getting this.

This is what's happening.

Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees.

He said to me, Daniel, you are a man treasured by God.

Let's just stop here.

Some of you walk in the room with baggage.

In fact, if we're honest, all of us have a little bit of it in some form or fashion.

Some of us walk in the room and we walk into a new year and we don't think we're worth very much.

Can I just say something very clearly, unapologetically?

You are valued and you are treasured by God.

You are treasured by God.

It doesn't matter what happened in 2025.

It doesn't matter what happened in 1995.

It doesn't matter what your experiences are.

You are treasured by God.

And like Graciella was reminding us of communion and Jesus dying for us.

You are so treasured by God that he sent his son Jesus to come and die on the cross for you.

And I just want to give a little news flash.

Jesus didn't die for junk.

Jesus didn't die for somebody that's worthless.

Jesus didn't die for trash.

Jesus died for you because you are treasured by God.

And isn't it interesting?

When the angel first goes and speaks to Daniel, the first thing he tells him, you are a man treasured by God.

And let that get not just in your head, but let that reality rest in your soul that you're treasured by God.

The angel says, Daniel, this is who you are.

Understand the words that I'm saying to you.

Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.

After he said this to me, I stood trembling.

Don't be afraid.

Daniel, he said to me.

For from the first day that you purpose to understand and to humble yourself before your God.

Sorry, Antonet.

Your prayers were heard.

Your prayers were heard.

I have come.

The angel has come.

Why?

Because of your prayers.

Hold on, hold on.

Day one, Daniel prays.

Nothing.

Day two, nothing.

Day three, nothing.

Day four, nothing.

Day five, I'm getting a little frustrated.

I'm praying, nothing.

Day six, nothing.

Day seven, nothing.

Day eight, I want an In and Outburger.

Day nine, um I want some meat.

Like I'm a meat eater.

Come on.

Day nine, day ten, day eleven, day twelve, day 13, day 14, day 15, day 16, day 17, day 18, day 19, day 20.

If I'm Daniel, I'm like, I'm giving up.

I this has been focused prayer.

I haven't even taken a bath for 20 days.

Everybody's getting mad at me because they think I smell bad.

Because I do.

And then came day 21.

And in day 21, he got the revelation from God.

And here's the here's what here's the thing, too.

These 20 days, he was praying for God's will.

He was praying for something that God wanted.

And the reason why the angel came was because of your prayers.

And this is what we learned is that a delayed answer does not mean an unheard prayer.

A delayed answer does not mean an unheard prayer.

This is how we know that God hears our prayer.

Is because when Jesus died on the cross for our sin, the veil was rent in two that separated us from God.

So now we could go directly to God's throne.

Now we have access to God.

And Hebrews tells us that we can come boldly before the throne of grace so we can obtain mercy.

God hears your prayer.

And Daniel, a prophet, Daniel, a man that that we look at as literally a spiritual giant, had his prayer not answered immediately.

And sometimes it seems that we're praying and ain't nothing happening.

You ever feel like your prayer is hitting the ceiling?

I know I do sometimes.

Friend, just like the song goes, even when we don't feel it, he's working.

Even when we don't see it, he's working.

You never stop working because he is a way maker.

And the reason why Daniel's prayers were not heard is because of what are they not answered, is because of something we see in verse 13.

Which verse 13 gets pretty intense.

Y'all thought like the the angel, what he looked like was intense.

We're about to go into the deep end here, okay?

You ready for the deep end?

You're okay.

Here's right, right?

The prince of Persia.

Now, this is the angel saying this the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for 21 days.

Then Michael, one of the chief princes, Michael, an angel, the archangel, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

This here is not a human prince.

Okay, this prince is a demon, a demonic entity that's fighting against the angel because an angel is coming down to deliver the message to Daniel, and this demonic entity, this prince of Persia, had been fighting against this angel in the spiritual realm for 21 days.

Now, think about this too.

It says that this is the prince of Persia.

Persia is an empire and it's also a nation.

So, in other words, this demonic entity is the the it sent from Satan over a specific empire.

It is the prince of Persia.

Here's what this shows us is that there are demonic spiritual powers influencing earthly regions, earthly systems, and empires.

And for some of us that come in this morning, maybe a little spiritually sleepy, or maybe a little spiritually apathetic, I want to remind us of something.

Is that spiritual warfare is a very real and active thing happening in our world today?

I don't know if y'all like me, but I'm a I'm a pretty positive dude.

I'm optimistic.

Glass is always half full.

Things are gonna be okay.

Could be super optimistic.

In fact, is there anybody, anybody else in the room like me, always optimistic?

Okay, come on, let's go.

So y'all, y'all get me.

Y'all can't faith.

Faith.

Faith, right.

Here's what my optimism can do for me.

It can cause me, this is a negative thing it does, and cause me to be blind to very real realities that are happening in the world.

Because I'm like, everything's gonna be okay.

Everything's fine.

It's all good.

And I'm like, no, no, no, I don't, like, I'm I'm okay.

I know it's gonna be okay.

And and this is what my optimism can blind me to.

This right here.

Spiritual warfare.

That's happening in our world.

Spiritual warfare is active on the political level in our world, trying to undermine God's design for the family and for gender.

Spiritual warfare is active in homes where the enemy is trying to divide and destroy families.

Spiritual warfare is happening on the hearts of individuals, on the hearts of Jesus followers, where he's trying to get us to doubt if we can trust God, if God's plans are the best, if we really are who God says that we are.

Spiritual warfare is happening on the heart of the person in the room that has not yet believed in Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.

Maybe you're religious, maybe you're an atheist.

None of it, none of it matters because if you don't have Jesus, you're lost forever, separated from God in a place called hell.

And the and the Bible says that the devil has blinded the minds of those that believe not, so you will not see the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is spiritual warfare on the heart.

It's not something to be played with, it's not something that it's just like, oh, it's not a big deal, no friend.

Like, like we are a church that we will pray and we will seek God for your souls because there is a real heaven and there is a real hell and there is a real battle, and by the grace of God, we we are going to see light come into our community and light come into families, and light come into individuals, and we are going to see Jesus do what only Jesus can do.

And though the world can do what they want to do, and the world can can have their rhetoric, and they can say this, and they can say not this and that.

There's only one way.

He is the truth, he's the life, and his name is Jesus Christ, and he is high and lifted up, and we will be a people that will lift him up.

We will be a people that will let this be our light, our path, our guide unapologetically.

Unapologetically.

And we are we are a group of people that are seeing lives change, we are a group of people that are seeing people come to faith in Jesus.

We are people that are seeing what God can do in lives, and we will not stop being those people.

Why?

Because God is real and God is alive, and spiritual warfare is too.

But guess what?

We're gonna do we're gonna keep praying and we're gonna keep seeking God.

Can I get an amen in the room?

Amen.

That was only for the 10 a.m.

service.

We didn't do that at 8:45.

Some of y'all sent me a video that was pretty good.

It was uh it was where somebody asked Chat GPT.

Y'all ever use chat GPT?

Some of y'all are scared of it.

Y'all like, that's the devil.

I ain't some somebody asked Chat GPT, if you were the devil, what would you do?

Pretty fascinating, is what it said.

ChatGPT said this.

I wouldn't waste my time trying to get you to worship me.

Now I just convince you to not worship God at all.

I tell you, truth is relative.

Your truth, my truth, until nobody knows which way is up.

I'd whisper, as long as you're happy, it's right.

I'd keep you busy.

Too busy for prayer, too busy for church.

Too busy to ask eternal questions.

I'd fill your hands with a phone.

Come on.

So you have no time to pray.

So you'd have no time to fold them in prayer.

I'd break families.

I get fathers absent, marriage is bitter, kids confused.

If I can fracture the home, I can fracture the future.

And through it all, I wouldn't even try to prove I exist.

My greatest trick is to convince you that I'm not real.

Because if you don't believe I'm real, you'll never resist.

Friends, spiritual warfare is real.

Ephesians 6 says, our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

Let me stop for a second.

People are not your enemy.

People are not.

Now you don't understand what they did to me.

They're my enemy, but they're not your enemy.

You don't understand how they said this about me and they did this, and my blah blah.

People are not your enemy.

And if you will think people are your enemy, you will lose sight of who your real enemy is.

We're our struggles not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens.

And this is what prayer is.

Prayer is spiritual warfare, guys.

Asking for God's kingdom to come, asking for God's will to be done.

And the angel says, Daniel, your prayer hasn't been answered because there's been spiritual warfare that you have no idea about in until now.

Sometimes we will pray and God will for sure say no.

Sometimes he will for sure say wait.

Sometimes he will for sure say, nah.

Your prayer is messed up.

I got a different plan.

But there are some times where God wants to answer your prayer.

You are see, you are seeking.

This is God's kingdom going forward.

This is God's purposes.

And there can be spiritual warfare happening in the unseen realm.

So the angel in verse 14 says, Now I've come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days.

For the vision refers to those days.

While he was saying these words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and I was speechless.

Suddenly, one with human likeness touched my lips.

I opened my mouth and said to the one standing in front of me, My Lord, because of the vision, anguish overwhelms me, I'm powerless.

How can someone, verse 17, like me, your servant, speak with someone like you, my Lord?

Now I have no strength, and there is no breath in me.

Then the one with a human appearance touch me again and strengthen me.

And I wish I had more time to dig into this.

I will say this though, if you want a really interesting study, compare this with Isaiah chapter 6, when Isaiah gets a fresh vision from God.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

It's a wonderful study.

Verse number 18, then the one with a human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.

He said, Don't be afraid.

You who are, here it is again, you who are treasured by God.

Peace to you, be very strong.

As he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, Let my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me.

He said, Do you know I've come why I've come to you?

I must return at once to fight against the prince of Persia.

And when I leave, the prince of Greece will come.

I'm giving you this message.

Angel says, I'm going back.

I'm fighting spiritual warfare.

More spiritual warfare is what he says.

However, I will tell you what is recorded in the book of truth.

No one has the courage to support me against those princes except Michael, your prince.

And if you want to read the revelation, you can read that in Daniel 11 and Daniel 12 and what the angel said.

But that's for you to do, because we don't have time to do it this morning.

I'm sorry.

And as we start these next 21 days of prayer, here's what I invite us to do.

I invite us to do, take three steps when it comes to prayer.

One, to pray specifically to name it.

My question would be: what is a prayer request that you have?

Can you just pray for it and can you pray boldly for it?

Can you pray believing for it?

Before the 845 service, I was talking to somebody leading a deeper group, and they said that there's been a specific prayer request that they have been praying for a long time in this group for months and months and months in this group to happen to for one of the men in the group, and one of the men just had, he just received that direct answer to prayer in his life.

And and and the leader, yeah.

The leader in the lobby is like, I don't know, like that's a God thing right there.

Guys, what you won't need to pray for, pray for it.

Pray specifically, pray clearly.

Number two, pray together.

Don't just pray alone.

Something that I think some of us can really grow in and take a step of growth.

This growth happens one step at a time, is for us to learn to pray with other people.

I think one of the things that prevents us from praying with other people, let's just be honest, it can be a little awkward or uncomfortable.

Or maybe like a little bit weird.

It's like, okay, so I'm gonna walk up to somebody after the services at the prayer and next steps banners and ask them to pray with me or for me.

Like that's kind of uncomfortable or kind of weird.

Or it's like, so in my home, like I'm gonna, we're sharing something and I'm gonna say, let's pray about this right now.

Like that's I don't ever do that.

It's kind of uncomfortable, it's kind of weird.

I have somebody in my my growth group, which groups are starting up in a couple weeks.

I have somebody in my group and they share something, and I like stop and like pray with them right now.

That's the leader's job.

That's not my job.

But once you get used to praying with other people, it isn't weird or uncomfortable at all.

And you will learn it's part of following Jesus in community with other people.

And can I just encourage some of you in the room to be the one that initiates praying with other people?

Some of you guys have like stuff you're praying for, and we're gonna be praying for things over the next 21 days of prayer.

Can I just say, like, pray, go to the prayer next steps manners after services?

Ask people to pray with you.

Like ask people at the next steps table in the lobby to pray with you.

We want to be people that pray with other people.

And I'm praying as a church that some of us will grow in this area of learning to pray with other people.

Not to be weird, don't not be awkward, just hey, will you pray for me about this?

Or somebody share something.

Hey, can I pray with you about this?

Pray specifically, pray together.

And then lastly, number three, pray consistently.

Same time, same place.

For us to have a prayer life, it begins with having a prayer time.

We want to resource you with our 21 days of prayer prayer guide.

And if you would like a digital copy, there's a number up on the screen that you can text to get a digital copy of this.

We have a just a handful of hard copies out in the lobby.

And at the end of this prayer guide, what it will do is it gives you all types of tips about how to have a prayer life.

It gives you all types of things like how do you actually pray?

Some of you in here, you're like, man, I don't even know how to pray.

Guys, this right here, you text that number, you'll get a digital prayer guide in the back.

It will teach you how to pray.

It will give you resources of how to pray.

Tomorrow at 12 o'clock noon, myself and Pastor Edgar, we're gonna go live on Facebook and Instagram, um, on our on our on the church pages, and we're gonna talk a little bit more in depth about how do you maximize these next 21 days of prayer.

And every day during these next 21 days of prayer, we're gonna have a prayer prompt where we're gonna we're we're we're gonna invite everybody to pray for the same thing for us personally and then for us as a church community.

And what we're what we're gonna encourage everybody to do is to stop and pray at either 821 a.m.

or 821 p.m.

You say, why 821?

I don't know, it's just a random number.

But here's why is because if you'll stop and pray at 821 a.m.

or p.m., you'll have dozens of other brothers and sisters praying with you for the exact same thing all around the community, which is super cool.

We want to resource you.

Maybe you haven't uh gotten a little, we got these little prayer bracelets in the lobby.

Grab a prayer bracelet.

Why?

Because we just want you to when you look down at your watch or whatever it is, you remind yourself, hey, I'm gonna pray for that thing.

Whatever it is like, I'm gonna pray for that.

And the first day, and this is how I'm gonna we're gonna end the message and really end our service today, is I'm gonna invite you to pray for day one, the prayer prompt that we are going to pray.

And that is for corporate spiritual renewal as a church family, and for personal spiritual renewal.

And here's the prayer that I'm gonna invite us to pray.

And this is a brave prayer if you're willing to pray this.

Lord, over the next 21 days, will you spiritually renew our church family and myself?

Would you give me a greater passion, love, and heart for you?

Would you reveal things in my heart and life that are getting in the way of my relationship with you?

Would you have your way in my heart and life?

And would you do something great in my life over the next 21 days?

And then the last five words are so key.

I surrender to you.

Would you pray that prayer?

Would you pray it for our church family?

Would you pray it for yourself?

Would you pray it for your kids?

Would you pray it for your grandkids?

Would you pray it for your significant other?

Would you just pray that prayer?

And over the next 21 days, here's what we're going to see.

We're going to see God do great and mighty things starting in our lives.

Right?

Like, it starts with you.

God wants to do something in you because you are treasured by God.

But it doesn't end with you, it begins with you.

And we're gonna see God do something great in our entire church family as together we set the next 21 days aside and sing the Lord.