
The final three chapters of Daniel contain one last vison and its message is about a great conflict that God's people would in the future find themselves immersed. This vision was not given to Daniel in order to bring him or God's people down - it was given to forewarn and prepare God's people and to ensure that when these dark days came God's people would be able to stand firm because they were relying on His power. It is a call to prepare for battle.
The message of chapter 10 is also designed to equip and prepare God's people in 2022 to stand firm in the challenging days of conflict we are facing.
There are four important lessons we want to learn today:
- Faithfulness May Be More Difficult Than We Suppose
- God Is More Awesome Than We Often Recognise
- History Is More Complicated Than We Realise
- Prayer is More Crucial Than We Usually Demonstrate
Application Questions:
- What current issues in the world or in your own induvial life are causing you to struggle to remain faithful to God and His truth?
- Is your image of God shaped primarily by Scripture or are there ways that you can recognise you have allowed it to be shaped by our society?
- Where today do you think can you see the evidence of the spiritual conflict that Daniel 10 and Ephesians 6 reveals to us?
- Do we like Daniel, 'pray always with all kinds of prayers and requests' or do we tend pray rarely with all kinds of requests?
- If prayer is as crucial as Daniel 10 shows what practical change will you make this week to show that you belief the truth of this? Begin now by handing over to God those issues you identified in question 1.