BY Argie Simonis
When the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, he asked his servants to bring him
"children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans." Daniel 1:4
"Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:" Daniel 1:6
Daniel is one of the prominent figures in the Bible. A godly and humble man, he was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament and received revelations from the Lord similar to those described to us by John in the book of Revelation. A key reason he achieved this is the fact that he was a man of prayer and fasting:
"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Daniel 1:8
"Prove your servants, I beseech you, ten days; and let them give us vegetables to eat, and water to drink." Daniel 1:12
"And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat." Daniel 1:15
In chapters 9 and 10 we have two incidents of Daniel fasting and praying:
"And I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:" Daniel 9:3
"Yes, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation." Daniel 9:21
Daniel began to pray from verse 3 up to verse 19. It only takes a few minutes to read these verses, and Daniel said that while he was praying, the angel Gabriel came and gave him the answer to his prayer (Daniel 9:21). So, in less than three minutes or so, the answer to Daniel's prayer was already given. The angel Gabriel even tells him:
"At the beginning of your supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show you; for you are greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." Daniel 9:23
This is an awesome revelation. God sent Gabriel at the beginning of the prayer, but it took about three minutes for him to appear to Daniel. This is completely contrary to the theology of many people. They believe that when God gives a command to an angel to do something, there is no factor of time, space or distance. From this story, however, we see that some time is required for the spiritual to manifest in the natural.
Daniel repeats the fast in chapter 10:
"In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled." Daniel 10:2-3
Gabriel comes again:
"Then said he to me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that you did set your heart to understand, and to chasten yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I am come for your words.
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, see, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia." Daniel 10:12-13
Both times Daniel prayed, the command to the angel Gabriel was given immediately. In the first case it took the angel 3 minutes, in the second 21 days.
Many times we get dissapointed when we fast, pray and seek the Lord but the answer does not seem to come. But what we see in Daniel's story is that the Lord responds immediately from the moment we begin prayer. There is a spiritual war going on (Eph. 6:12) and the resistance caused by the enemy sometimes delays the manifestation of the answer to our prayer. This should not discourage us. Rather, we must persist in fasting and prayer,
"for He is faithful that promised" Hebrews 10:23
Amen 🙏
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