Most of us know the story of Daniel. He was one of the Jewish exiles carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. He turned down the fancy food to have plain vegetables and water. He and his friends thrived on the simple fare.
The rest of Daniel's life was lived in that simple but faithful way, and God honored him for it. God spoke to him through dreams and visions.
One night, Daniel had a particularly terrifying vision filled with beasts and horns and arising kings and the flaming throne of God. There was one king that waged war against the saints of God and steadily overpowered them.
It was a discouraging, frightening vision of things to come. What did it mean? Daniel wanted to know, so God sent him an interpretation that included these beautiful verses:
"But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.
Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Holy One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him." Daniel 7:26-27 nasb
There's a fair amount of spiritual warfare in this job of "Director of Intercessory Prayer and Outreach". The dread of it threatened to keep me from doing what God had called me to do. I've experienced "warfare" (as described in Ephesians 6) many times, and I don't care for it. I didn't want to do it again.
The enemy of our souls does not want us to pray and he'll do whatever he can to stop us. He especially does not want us to talk to our Lord about helping those on the front lines of evangelism, about spreading the light of the gospel in the darkest places on earth.
Those are the kind of prayers God loves and answers. Those are among the requests that move God's heart. Our enemy knows that, and works steadily against them.
But God.
God knows all about our enemy, and He maintains dominion, even over the evil one. He uses the warfare waged against us to strengthen us and draw us ever closer to Him.
It's not wasted.
One day, God will put an end to our enemy's reign on earth. He will end the dominion of evil, and annihilate it forever.
That's what Daniel saw. The war was terrible. The beasts were terrifying. The lead up was awful. The end of evil, however, was so glorious that all that went before was worth it.
If you're facing a spiritual battle (and who among us is not?), take heart.
God sees.
God knows.
At just the right time, in just the right way, God will intervene.
There will come a time when all pain, and suffering, and evil pass away. There will come a time when the enemy's dominion is annihilated forever.
Once, the evil one seemed to have won the victory. For three long, terrifying days, he probably gloated. One early morning, though, the tomb was opened and Christ arose. He conquered sin and death. He defeated the enemy.
We serve a risen Savior.
We serve a conquering King.
We serve a victorious Lord.
So no matter what we face today, let's remember Who we serve.
Our enemy will fight against us, but the victory belongs to the Lord. Knowing that, we cling to Him. Take our needs to Him. Rest in the assurance that God is on the throne. And He always will be.
No matter what we face, He will never leave us or forsake us. He is still God.
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photo above is of the traditional tomb of Jesus that now stands empty, a reminder of His great victory.
In case you missed it, here's the link to yesterday's post: Wading in the Deep Water
Here's the link to the prayer guide: The Prayer List
Here's the link to my Global Outreach page: Leanna Hollis MD
#Jesus
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