“Do not be afraid, Daniel,” he said, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.Then he said to me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel; for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come for your words’ sake.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.Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were heard: and I am come for thy words’ sake.
3 sermons cite this verse
… and an angel appears and tells Daniel this. Daniel chapter 10, verse 12. The angel says, since the first day you begin to pray, your request has been heard in heaven. Since the first day you cried out to God, he heard the cries of your heart. And the angel says, I have come in answer to your prayer. Man, that speaks to me because there's some things I've been praying for for a long time and haven't seen anything. And the angel, the messenger of God comes on the 21st day and says, on the first time you prayed, God heard your prayer and sent me as an answer to it. Now you may be going, well, why'd it take you 21 days to bring the answer, angel? And we actually see the reason in verse 13. The angel tells Daniel this, but for 21 days, the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, if you don't know who Michael is, just think of like, he's the goat angel. …
… an attitude of continuing to keep on, keep on. One of these attitudes is seen in the life of Daniel. There on your outline in Daniel 10, verses 11 and 12, God told this to Daniel. Daniel was in a situation where he was under enormous stress in his culture. And God says this to Daniel, oh, Daniel, greatly loved of God. By the way, you're greatly loved by God. Oh, Daniel, greatly loved of God. Listen carefully. Since the first day you began to pray and humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. He said, what? You've been praying for this for a long time. I heard the request. We answered it, decided to answer it instantly. But notice, he said, when you prayed and you humbled yourself before God, circle that word humbled. And then I want you to write down this next truth. The attitude that moves God to answer your prayers, are you ready for this? Is humility. humility. The attitude that moves God to answer your prayers is humility. God, I'm depending on you. I'm trusting in you. I can't do this on my own. I don't have the wherewithal. I don't have the emotional energy to keep on keeping on. That admission is humility. …
more about how does this dovetail into what we're talking about. Fast forward over to Daniel chapter 10, verse 12. Then he said to me, do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, isn't that amazing? The angel knew this. What about your heart? What about my heart? What about our passions to know God more? Apparently angels know about our passion, our zeal to want to know God more. They're aware of it. And he says, from the first day that your heart was set to understand and to humble yourself before your God. Your words were heard and I have come because of your words. That's amazing how we can pray and it will influence, it will operate spiritual activity. Verse 13, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days. The prince of Persia is not an earthly prince. The angel is being withstood by an opposing demonic power that in some way, shape, or form is strong enough to hold up Daniel's answer that he wants for how many days? 21 days in the atmosphere, a war takes place to our human eyes, invisible to our human eyes. Remarkable. And behold, Michael, I love Michael. He's always showing up and beating up other angels. He's the fighter. Gabriel's the announcer. Remember Christmas? Christmas. …