OLD TESTAMENT: Daniel 10
POETRY: Psalm 139
NEW TESTAMENT: John 11:38-57
For most of the modern era, we lived in a world that was unabashedly, even arrogantly, anti-supernatural. There were a number of early American founders who believed the respectable form of belief was Deism; God existed and created the world, but has not interfered. With the rise of modern science, the theory of evolution, the splitting of the atom, more and more people claimed that God was in the gaps of our knowledge, and when those gaps shrunk, so did our God. Soon, there would be nowhere left for him to go.
In the time since the 1950s and 1960s, especially in the West, we have seen a continual decline of religious adherence (those who “go to church/mosque/synagogue” or believe in the doctrines of a major religion) but we have seen a marked increase in those who believe in God or gods, the supernatural, crystals, “manifesting”, life after death, angels, ESP, and more.
As Christians, our beliefs should not be tied to the beliefs of our day or of our world, but on the words of scripture. Of course, we are not called to deny God or say he only lives in the gaps of knowledge, nor do we believe in every form of supernatural experience. Daniel gives us something more than Deism and something less than delusion.
In Daniel 10, Daniel is told that he has been heard by God, and that he has been answered, but the reason the angel was delayed was because “the prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days.” Read again the description of this powerful angel. This is not a being who will be withstood by human forces. Nor is Michael merely a human prince, but a Chief of the Angels.This is an angelic messenger delivering news about the future.
According to this passage, places like Revelation 12, and a small selection of other texts, there is a war in heavenly places, and we are called to be soldiers. Not against flesh and blood, not for any country or flag, but for our King against the common enemy of mankind. In a world that denies the supernatural, there are those who deny not only the angels, but deny the demons and the devil. If we deny the existence of the devil, how can we be prepared to stand against him and his schemes? Satan prowls about looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). We have to resist the devil, and only then will he flee from us (James 4:7). We are called to put on the whole armor of God, especially the shield of faith to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Today’s chapter is short. This devotion is also short. Just remember, you are called to fight against the evil of the devil and his angels, but you are filled with the power of God, wearing the amor of God, backed by the people of God and the angels of God, all for the glory of God. Satan is not more powerful than our God: “greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) That is a battlecry to get behind.
-Jake Ballard
Reflection Questions
- What effect did getting a glimpse of the spiritual warfare being fought have on Daniel?
- What does the Bible teach about spiritual warfare in the past, present and future? How often do you consider the spiritual battle being waged right now? How does it affect you when you do?
- Where do you see Satan at work? What has God given you to stand strong against Satan/the devil?
Seek Grow Love 