POWER OF PRAYER

 POWER OF PRAYER  Prayer is powerful. The “earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results” (James 5:16, NLT). Individuals’ lives have been transformed; families and communities have been changed; destinies of nations have been influenced through prayer. John Knox, an influential, “fiery leader of the Scottish Reformation in the 16th century, was known for his uncompromising stance and his legendary clashes with Mary, Queen of Scots”— famously quoted as saying: “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe”. Knox is said to have spent nights in agonizing prayer” and to have been heard crying out: “Give me Scotland, or I die!”  Today’s message shows how, through prayer, individuals can powerfully influence affairs in the spiritual realm, which is accessible to both the angels of God and spiritual powers of darkness or evil (various hierarchies of evil creatures and spirits—Ephesians 6:12). Reading Daniel 10:1-6, 10-14, NLT)In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) had another vision. He understood that the vision concerned events certain to happen in the future—times of war and great hardship. 2 When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. 3 All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.4 On April 23, as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, 5 I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. 6 His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people…10 Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. 11 And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.12 Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13 But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. 14 Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.” The Prophet Daniel is on a 21-day prayer and fast. An angel appears to him in the portion read above and explains how he was dispatched on the day Daniel began to pray but was blocked by a spiritual evil force described as the “spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia” from delivering a heavenly message. However, “Michael, one of the archangels” comes to help and enables the other angel, the messenger to deliver the message to Daniel.        i.          Life is spiritual—the physical realm is influenced by what happens in the spiritual or heavenly realms       ii.          Prayer mobilises heavenly activity     iii.          Answers from heaven can and will be resisted by evil powers in the heavenly realms. This is the essence of spiritual warfare—I learnt long ago that the world of darkness fights for domination of human souls and territory.     iv.          Though this is not directly mentioned in the text, observation shows that continuity and persistence in prayer activates heavenly angelic