Why Pray?
What do you do with that voice in the back of your head when you're praying that goes, “Is anything that I'm saying actually matter? Because I have more prayers in my unanswered prayer box than in my answered prayer box.” So why pray?
1. You are treasured by God.
Daniel 10:10-11 says…
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. 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.
So we know from Daniel 10, earlier in that chapter, that the person talking to Daniel is an angel.
Look at Daniel 10:5-6. It says…
I looked up, and there was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.
You are treasured by God. Church, do you believe that you're treasured by God today? And I think our people who have been walking with Jesus for a long time can say it with so much belief and enthusiasm. And that's awesome. And that's why you need the, just the body of Christ.
But for some of us in this room, I think we know it conceptually. But sometimes the furthest distance to believe it is from your head to your heart. So I'm not asking you if you know you're treasured by God. We're in church. You're gonna politely nod your head and say, “amen.” I'm asking you: Do you believe you're treasured by God? Because for some of you in this room, you believe God is annoyed by you perpetually. He is constantly disappointed in you. And if he could redo you, he would.
And that is the greatest lie that you are believing this morning, that God is annoyed, frustrated and disappointed in you, and would want to redo you. If you would get that God treasures you, it would flip everything when it comes to your relationship with God, and how much your prayer life. How how much belief you have in your prayer life. And I'm not asking you to agree with me, I'm asking you to take God at His word.
I'm not saying you're treasured by God. God's the one saying it. An angel sent by God told it to Daniel. We're like, “Yeah, that's Daniel.” Daniel was not a perfect person. Daniel did not die on the cross for us, so he obviously had some sins going on.
Daniel was an obedient man. Yeah, he had a tough life. He got thrown in the lion's den. We put him on as a super Christian almost, but make no mistake, the reason he was treasured by God is because he was a follower of God, he was made in the image of God, therefore he was a child of God, and that made him treasured by God. Church, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are treasured by God.
There is no question about that. It's not up for debate. Disagree with me. Go argue with the angel that talked to Daniel. So why pray? Because we are treasured by God.
And that doesn't mean we get what we want. That doesn't mean we have God wrapped around our finger. But it does give us confidence, as Hebrew 4 16 says, to boldly approach the throne of grace.
Daniel 10:12 says…
“Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers.”
So an angel came to Daniel as a response to his prayers. Now, that was not the norm in the Bible. It is certainly not the norm today, right? But this principle is true. When we pray, God responds. When we pray, God responds. Bob Russell used to say this, God answers prayer in 1 of 4 ways - Yes, no, wait, or you gotta be kidding me.
The angel said, “From the first day Daniel prayed.” Beloved, God does not put your prayers on hold. You don't call the Heavenly hotline and get, “Hi, you’re caller number 32,” puts you on hold, and then you get some Heavenly elevator music playing. That's not how it works.
Sometimes it feels closer to that, if we're honest. God does not put your prayers on hold. That doesn't mean he won't tell you to wait. That doesn't mean he won't tell you no. That doesn't mean your prayers can't be delayed for some reason or another.
And we'll hop into that. But further on it says, Daniel purposed to understand and to humble himself. Church, this morning I ask you this question. Have you begun to humble yourself before God? What does that look like practically?
It's a fancy word. What what does that mean? It means, “God, I want what you want over what I want. I want your will over my will. I want your desires over my desires.” And that is so much easier to say from a platform than when you have to wake up tomorrow morning and do it.
Show me a person who that is their goal. That is what they are fighting every day to seek the will of God above their own interest. That is a person who God will use in mighty ways. And they'll probably never know about the mighty ways until they get to Heaven. It will be simple ways, beloved, but it will be mighty.
Your prayers matter. Your prayers beckon the response of God.
2. Satan doesn’t want you to pray.
Satan doesn't want you to pray.
Daniel 10:13…
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia.
Let's not act like this is just normal jargon, but let's take a step back with Daniel and see, because I think actually it makes more sense than the initial, well, that's unusual, we give it credit for. So Daniel is talking about supernatural things with natural language. There's bound to be a disconnect. He is trying to describe the indescribable.
So the best thing he has is what he has to offer us here. And so Daniel, chapter 10 verse 5 through 6 tells us that Daniel was talking to an angel, an angel sent by God. That means if Daniel is talking to an angel, the Prince of Persia, who is stopping this angel, who is engaging in this conflict, must also be some kind of angelic being. But the one when talking to Daniel was sent by God. So what's opposing this angel?
Well, something that was not sent by God, something that is against the will of God and opposed to the will of God. This is some kind of demonic being. And you're like, Okay, that's weird. But check this.
Think of that time in history. We went from Babylon to now we're in Persia. Think about the idol sacrifices that were happening every day. The pagan sacrifices, the rituals, the witchcraft, the divination, the incantations, the sorcery, is it really any wonder that there were some demons hanging around the area? I would pose to say it would be more weird if there wasn't.
So, this angel comes, an encounter in this epicenter of this culture of time, this demonic presence that is hanging around. So the Prince of Persia comes and slows down this angel for 20 days. Daniel prayed for 21 days though. Every commentary that I read said there's a very symbolic application here. Don't give up praying on day 20.
Your day 21 may look like 21 years and then some. It is not the day that matters. It is not the number that is powerful. It's, don't stop praying, beloved. You do not know what is happening when you engage in prayer.
And so for some reason, God allows these demonic beings to delay answers to prayers, which by the way is still true to this day, despite the fact that God could just wipe them out completely. And by the way, one day he will. Satan and his demons are on borrowed time. And then this angel goes and gets Michael, who we know from the book of Jude and Revelation is one of the few angels we get a title of, and he's called an archangel.
Now, does that mean he's on, like, the Board of Trustees in Heaven? I have no idea. That's not important, but he's one of the top dog angels. Right? And so, this angel goes get Michael to help combat this Prince of Persia, this demonic force. And then he goes and delivers the message to Daniel.
So why on Earth do I bring this up this morning? When you pray, God hears instantly. But there is a very real spiritual battle going on that can delay the answer to our prayers sometimes. Therefore, keep praying, because God isn't delaying in hearing your prayers, nor is he withholding, telling you to wait. There is a real battle meant to distract, discourage, and destroy your prayer life.
Can I just say something, y'all? Where in America, we are distracted into oblivion. You're like, we don't have any demonic presence. Satan's greatest loss would be telling us he's there.
We have so much available to us, and that's not wrong, but we are so easily distracted. Satan wants to distract, discourage and destroy our prayer lives. Can I just say, in the Western church, he's doing a pretty darn good job?
Daniel 10:14…
“Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision refers to those days.”
So this angel gives Daniel the answer, and I'm not so much worried about the answer, answer. It's actually an end time prophecy. It was a now and later answer. But I wanted to look at the dynamics previously of what does it look like when we're praying, and sometimes God's not responding. So the answer to Daniel was delayed. Why?
We don't know. We see the workings of how it was delayed, but we don't know why that Prince of Persia came. We don't know why God did not wipe it out. We don't know why God did not answer it right away when he could. I have a feeling you can probably resonate with that.
But church, I ask you this question this morning: What makes sense? In light of reading the Bible, that God stopped answering prayer, that God stopped treating us like we are treasured and he ignores our prayers, or that there is a very real spiritual battle that we will always be, to some degree, ignorant to this side of Heaven because we are not privy to the spiritual realm of things happening. Did God stop answering prayer, or is there a real battle that is meant to distract, discourage, and destroy our prayer life?
There are only 2 options, church: God stop being good, God stop caring, or Satan's real and there is a real battle. You pick. What makes more sense?
Ephesians 6:12 says…
For our struggle is 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.
Paul could have just said, “Yo, see reference back to Daniel 10.” So what's our takeaway this morning? Like, how do we practically do this?
Specific prayer is an invitation to be excited and let down by God. And that's the tension, isn't it? Because when you hear of healings, when you hear of people being delivered, when you hear of breakthrough, and you get small encouragements, that makes you believe in prayer. And then someone dies, someone has a relapse, small discouragements, still struggles and relationships will make you question the power of prayer. When you pray for the cancer to go away, and it does, but it comes back worse than before, what do we do with that? When the attic gets clean, has a relapse, and spirals down worse than before, what do we do with that?
When that relationship that you start, you believe was starting to mend gets torn apart further than ever before. What do we do with that church? Why do we pray? General prayers generally get answered. General prayers generally get answered. Meaning this, I can pray for my cold to get better next week, but under the sovereignty of God where the rain falls on the just and the unjust, there's a 99.9% chance it's just gonna get better. Specific prayer. When you know whether God did or did not answer it, that's the tough battles y'all. Because now we have something to work with. So what's your response?
I'm asking you to this today to decide for yourself. Do you want to believe that God is still answering prayers, that he cares, and that you are treasured by God? So I'm going to pray with belief knowing that opens me up to heartbreak, disappointment, and confusion, but also bewilderment, excitement, and gratitude for what God is doing. It's your choice. Settle for a lifeless church where you never get disappointed by God because you honestly never had high expectations of God, if we're honest.
And that makes you feel safe. It makes for a really boring walk with God. But man, I'll tell you what, you'll still go to Heaven. That's not what questioning here. This is not about being a good Christian or a bad Christian.
I'm asking you, do you want to see God move in your life? Do you want to see him answer prayers? Then expect to be discouraged and heartbroken at times too. Do you want a spirit filled prayer life?