Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of a life dedicated to God through the example of Daniel, who positioned himself in prayer and fasting to receive a profound vision from God. Daniel's commitment to prayer, even amidst challenges, reveals the spiritual dynamics at play between angels and demons, particularly in relation to the prayers of the saints affecting the outcomes in the earthly realm. The sermon highlights that our prayers, though seemingly weak, have immense power in the spiritual realm, influencing both angelic and demonic forces. Bickle encourages believers to adopt a lifestyle of prayer and dedication, as it not only impacts their lives but also the broader spiritual landscape, especially concerning the nation of Israel and the end times.

And most of you, we have that down by now. I've said that over and over. And Daniel 7 is the first vision. Daniel 8 is the second. Daniel 9 is the third vision. But Daniel 10, 11, and 12, three entire chapters are dedicated to the final vision. And this vision is actually called, in verse 8, a great vision. It had an unusual impact on Daniel and its meaning for the generation that the Lord returns. And so there's so much relevant information in this vision. Paragraph A, Daniel 10, is the context. So we're going to see what Daniel was doing. He doesn't get the vision until actually chapter 11 and 12. So chapter 10 is what he's doing to position himself in order to receive the vision. And the vision he receives, Daniel 11 and 12, is the longest and most detailed prophetic vision in the whole Bible. It has to do with the Antichrist. It has to do with the Great Tribulation. It has to do with the ultimate victory of Israel and the saints over evil as well. This is a glorious way to end the book of Daniel. Paragraph B, one of the things that's so remarkable about Daniel 10, and it's a favorite chapter to intercessors. You know, Lou Engel has told me, this is my favorite chapter in the whole Testament related to prayer, because what happens is that God draws back the veil, and he lets us see what is happening in the realm of the Spirit when we're offering our weak prayers on the earth. I mean, we offer our prayers in weakness. They ascend in power because of the blood of Jesus and because of the kindness of God. But our prayers, even Daniel's prayers, when he offered them, I assure you, he thought, oh, well, that was kind of a rough prayer meeting. But we can't imagine the impact that's happening in the realm of the Spirit when godly people pray. And that's what Daniel 10 does. It gives us a snapshot as to the impact and the effect in the realm of the Spirit. Daniel 10, I'm still in paragraph B, reveals the conflict between high-ranking angels and high-ranking demons. Now, over every city of the earth, there is a high-ranking angel that's representing God's purpose. But there's also a high-ranking demon over every city, over countries, and even smaller geographic units than that. And the conflict between the angels is dynamically related to the deeds of the people in that region. If the people are more involved in immorality, there is an empowering in the demonic realm for more spirits to be involved in that. So the demons incite more immorality. And the people that say yes, they invite the demons and give access to them. And so there's this dynamic tension between what the demons can do and what the people on the earth do. It's like the more sin, then the more access to the demonic realm and the more energizing the demons are. That's why it really matters that our cities repent and not just our family and a few of our friends. Because the whole city is affected by what happens in the city. But the same thing happens in the angelic realm. The deeds of the saints and the prayers of the saints, what I mean by deeds, acts of righteousness, lives committed to godliness, there is a relationship to our prayers and angels going forward. Now god the father could just wave his hand and just dismiss the whole demonic kingdom and say, I'm finished with you. But he doesn't do that. He says, I'm going to release the angelic at a greater level related to the way my people on the earth claim the authority of Jesus and remind me of my promises and declare my word and ask me to break in. And power. And so we don't see the angelic and demonic conflict, but it's happening. Right now in this room, there's plenty of angels, there's plenty of demons. And the angels hold back the demons, but the demons want to do more. It's all over the earth. If our eyes could see into the realm of the spirit, we would be amazed as how much of the heavenly host, good and bad, is involved in the affairs of what's happening. One guy said, well, you don't want to see a demon under every trash bin, you know? And I said, that's right, you don't. You don't want to see a demon under every trash bucket. You want to see two, because there's two of them, not one. It's far more intensive than we imagine. I mean, honestly, we really minimize the truth of this. If we pray, more happens. If we pray, the angelic is more involved. If we don't pray, the angels are still there and still things happen, because there's things that are going to happen anyway, but there's an increase of the glory of God. And that's what Daniel 10 is all about. So let's talk about political leaders, because in a minute, we're going to talk about the clash between the king of Persia and what's happening with the Jewish people. So there's a human king. And the human king, he's just going on business as usual. All the presidents of the nations, the kings, the prime ministers, the governors of states or provinces or whatever the title is, because there's different high-ranking demonic and angelic related to the stature or the sphere of authority of the man or the woman in the natural realm. So the king, he's just thinking he's having a bad day, and he gets in a real bad mood. He's, ah, today I'm just in a funk. And he doesn't know there's a demon breathing fire down on his mind inciting him to anger. And he's just in this real intense mood. So he makes laws and gives his decrees under the influence of demonic power that he doesn't even believe exists. He just thinks he's having a bad day, and he's fed up with people. And that's how it is. And at the key moment that he's making his legislation, that's when he's in that strange heightened mood that's negative. And I'm telling you, many times, there's demonic powers inciting that kind of feeling. The saints pray, and what happens? The angels drive back the demons. And that same ungodly king, all of a sudden, he's like, you know what? I just feel a little bit different today. And so he has his cabinet meeting, and he has a whole different tone, a whole different posture. It says in Proverbs 21 that the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, and he turns it like channels of water. And all of a sudden, we're praying. I mean, we're praying, and all of a sudden, an angel drives that demonic power back. Even the ungodly king just fills this kind of lightness. It's because of the prayers of the saints. It really matters if we, 1 Timothy 2, verse 1, Paul said, pray for those in authority. He goes, it will affect your lifestyle, and your family, and your economy. It really will, because those ungodly men or women, believers or unbelievers, they are both affected by the angelic and a demonic in a way they don't understand, and that the impact is dynamically related to the prayers of the saints. It's not only related to prayer, but prayer really does matter in the whole mix. Here we have in Ephesians chapter 6 that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we wrestle against powers, and principalities, and rulers of darkness in the heavenly places. That's who we're wrestling against. Let's go to Roman numeral 3. Let's look at the context. In chapter 10, verse 1, it says, in the third year of King Cyrus, or he's king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel. And the message was true, but the appointed time was long. And he understood the message and had understanding of the vision. Now, Daniel at this time, he's in his mid-80s. And for those of you that have been to the earlier eight sessions, you know that this is two years. 536 BC is the timing. It's two years after Persia has conquered the empire of Babylon. And the Jewish captives have been set free and liberated to go back to Jerusalem, and to build the city of Jerusalem, and to build the temple there. And so 50,000 of the Jewish captives have already gone back. And they're back in Jerusalem, and it's year one, and they're being resisted by everybody. I mean, they might have thought they were going to go back, and it was just going to go good, because God was sending them, and his power was on them. But they had enemies at every turn. And so Daniel, it says here in paragraph B, it says, in those days, I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks, meaning he was fasting in prayer. I ate no pleasant food. I ate no meat, drank no wine that came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all for three whole weeks till they were fulfilled. So he's mourning over the condition back in Jerusalem, and the resistance, and the opposition that the Jewish exiles, the newly liberated slaves, are back in town. I mean, they've walked the four to five month journey back to Jerusalem from Babylon, which you know is modern day Iraq. So they do this long five month walk. They get there, and it's trouble, trouble, trouble. And Daniel is receiving the report, and he says, I'm laboring in prayer for you. That's the context. Top of page 86. Well, Daniel goes on a fast, and I've just got a little bit here on the Daniel fast. We just went on a 21-day Daniel fast. Many of you did. I don't want to go through that again. Got a few details on that. Paragraph D, but I do want to say this. Fasting doesn't earn us anything, but it positions us to receive more from the Lord and to receive it quicker. If we fast, our heart is more sensitized. Our heart is tender. We receive more, and we receive it faster when we fast. And so that's really what's going on. We don't earn anything, but we position ourselves to receive more of what God wanted to give us all along. Roman numeral 5. Daniel then suddenly, on the 21st day, here he is just praying and crying out, this mighty angel visits him. Verse 5 and 6 describe the angel. It says, and behold, a certain man, and often when an angel appears, they will, the Old Testament will use the phrase a man, because angels have a human appearance, although they have a radiance and they have different features as well. So this heavenly angelic being comes to him, and he notices his face is like lightning. So he knows it's not a man. He's just letting us know that there's a resemblance, you know, arms, legs, face, eyes, mouth of angels to humans. Face like lightning. Can you imagine a being standing in your bedroom one night, late at night, you're saying, oh, God, give me a visitation. You go to bed, and all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, this angelic being with a face like lightning. It says, eyes like fire, staring right at you. I'll tell you, it'd really wake you up. Paragraph B. Well, Daniel gives his response. Because of this mighty angel. Now, this is an angel of great stature. And the reason it's important to note this, because the stature of the angel speaks of the importance of the vision. Because the angel was a high-ranking angel, we know that the vision the angel's bringing is commensurate to the stature of the angel. Paragraph B, verse 7. I, Daniel, alone saw the vision. The men with me. So he's got a team of men in this fasting and prayer mode with him. I tell you, it's such a blessing to have marvelous comrades, those that will stand with you in the gap, that are kindred spirit, that have the same vision, the same values. I mean, so many in the body of Christ are finding arguments not to pray and fast. And they're saying, well, the grace of God, we don't need to do this, we don't need to do that, we don't need to do that. And they just live their life in spiritual barrenness and spiritual boredom, claiming the grace of God. But there's a whole other group in the body of Christ. They're claiming the grace of God to empower them to be radically devoted to the Lord and to go as far as the Lord will allow them to go with the deep things of God. And Daniel had some guys around, some comrades of like spirit. Beloved, if you have a few people in your life that are in unity and they want to go deep and they want to go full blast and wholehearted with God, you are blessed among men or women. You're blessed if you have three or four of them. Well, these men were with them. Now, Daniel sees the vision, the men don't see it. So his eyes are opened. He sees this angel, lightning coming out of his face, fire coming out of his mouth. Sound like, his voice was like the sound of many waters, just absolutely terrifying. Daniel, the men don't see the vision, but the terror of the Lord falls on the man. Now, look at this. They're having a prayer meeting. They're all in there in unity. The men run out of the prayer meeting. They don't see anything, they just start running because the terror of the Lord, that wonderful, glorious, terrifying sense of the weightiness of the presence of the mighty God. I believe that this Old Testament episode in Daniel's life is a picture of the kind of prayer meetings and angelic encounters are gonna be happening more and more as we approach the coming of the Lord. I don't think that the angel that delivers the message is gonna be more powerful or mighty than the angels that visit when the message is fulfilled. I mean, if the giving of the message is this mighty, what is the walking out in the nations of this message going to look like? I believe there will be men and women that have the heart of Daniel, the radical commitment to prayer. They will fast, they will lay hold of the word. There'll be people of understanding and there will be angelic visitations that will be of this level and even greater because the fulfillment is greater than the promise. I mean, what would you rather have, the promise or would you rather have the fulfillment of the promise? Well, the fulfillment has a greater manifestation of power. Well, he goes on in verse eight and describes the great vision and he calls it in verse eight, I saw this great vision. Now he's had four, but this is the one he calls the great vision, which is interesting, that he identifies this one of the four and he doesn't mention this, describe the other three like this. He said, I had no strength in me. My vigor, I lost my strength and my vigor, et cetera. Okay, let's go to top of page 87 in the syllabus, in the teaching notes. Okay, so now the mighty angel comes in response to Daniel's prayer. So the angel with a face like lightning and eyes like fire, verse 11, he says to me, I mean, the shock of his life, he's trembling. He has no strength. He's on his face, it says in verse eight. He's completely overcome by the majesty of God. The angel says, oh, greatly beloved. I mean, what a statement. Can you imagine a high-ranking angel straight from the Father's presence coming to say, before I give you the message, the Father wants you to know this. You, in a particular way, not just in a general love of God message, you are greatly beloved to your God. He is moved by the way that you live. He's moved by your hunger for him. His heart is moved by your lifestyle choices to be in agreement with his word and his purpose. He's moved by the way that you're moved by him. And when it says that you're greatly beloved, we know that God so loved the world. God loves every human being, believer and unbeliever. But God does not enjoy the relationship of the people out of the world. He loves them, but he doesn't enjoy relationship with them. But there are those in the body of Christ, he enjoys us in relationship, but there are those that God takes special delight in the choices they make, and he takes special delight in the communication they have with him, and in this sense, it's a unique sense. It's a different sense that God loves the world, even though they reject it. He loves the whole body of Christ, but he has great enjoyment over those that with all of their heart are seeking to obey the Lord in the way that Daniel did. And so the angel says, understand the words that I speak to you. Verse 12, this is a very important point. He says, from the very first day, 21 days ago, you set your heart to understand. What the purpose of God was for the saints back in Jerusalem, because the 50,000 had left about a year earlier, and they have arrived in Jerusalem, and they're having trouble, and Daniel's saying, Lord, you promised in my third vision, the one that we looked at earlier today, you promised you would restore Jerusalem, you'd restore the temple, and it's not, there's resistance, and things aren't going in the way that we wanted them to go, and there's resistance, and there's setbacks. And so Daniel was crying out to God, and the Lord says this, he says, from the very first day, that you set your heart to understand what I'm doing, and what the resistance was, to understand what my will was in the matter, and from the very first day that you humbled your heart. Fasting is a statement of humility, because we're taking legitimate pleasures of life that are godly legitimate, we're laying them aside to position ourselves to receive more, to go deeper, quicker, and the Lord calls that humility. He says that my purpose is more important to you than just your routine of life, God says that is called humility in my presence and in my sight. But notice that it was from the very first day, from the very first day that Daniel began to pray, 21 days later, the angel said, I heard you. And I just can't hardly imagine this next phrase in verse 12, he says, I've come because of your words. And the meaning is clear, if you would not have prayed and fasted, I would not have come. Beloved, there is a dynamic relationship between what we do and how God visits us, we don't earn it. You can't earn God, I mean, earn anything from God by skipping a meal. But you can position yourself in unity with his heart and declare to him the hunger of your heart and he says, I'll give you on the basis of hunger, you don't earn it just because you're hungry, but you value the things that I value and that matters to me. He says, I've come because of your words. In other words, if you would not have prayed, I would not have come. Verse 13, now here's this really unusual verse here. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia, he withstood me for 21 days. And Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. I mean, what an unusual verse. Verse 13 gives us insight what's happening in the realm of the spirit. Now when he says the prince of Persia, there's a human prince and there's a demonic prince. The demonic prince, in the New Testament, they're called principalities. They're the highest ranking demonic powers. And Daniel's talking about the demonic principality over the king of Persia. He's not talking about the king himself, but rather he's talking about the enemy that wants, I mean, the demon that wants to inspire that king. Now that king is King Cyrus, by the way, just so you know. He was the king that liberated the Jewish people to go back, that actually had a heart for the things of God. But even though he has a heart for God, the demonic power over him was wanting him to shift his policies and to shift his moods and to shift his perception of what's going on in the nation of Israel. He goes, well, the demonic power, this mighty angel with a face like lightning, eyes like fire. He goes, this very powerful demon stood against me for 21 days. He goes, on day one, when you fasted, I came to you. The father was moved and he said, go. And I came, but this demonic power, he resisted me. And he resisted me. And it's like the Lord said to the mighty angel, if Daniel keeps praying, keep pressing in. Daniel stops praying, it's over. He keeps praying, keep pressing and stay resolved. And so this angel's doing it, but this principality is mighty. And he's strong and he's high ranking. You say, well, what about the authority of Jesus? Well, the authority of Jesus is why the mighty angel has power and it's why our prayers are effective. But the authority of Jesus is manifest with people who persevere in obedience and prayer. Because the Lord wants partnership with us. He says, I can do without you, I just don't want to. I so care for the relationship, I'm gonna do it with you. And I will do it to the degree you hunger for me to do it. And if you don't hunger for me to do it, I won't do as much. If you hunger for more, I'll do more. Beloved, settle the issue, and many of you have, it really matters if we pray and fast and obey and press in when nobody's looking. It really, really matters in the grace of God. The grace of God doesn't, Jesus doesn't fast and pray for us. He doesn't pay our taxes. He doesn't mow our lawn. He doesn't humble us, humble himself so that we don't have to. What Jesus did empowers us to do, to obey with all of our heart. And that's what the grace of God does. Well, this prince came and Michael, one of the chief princes, this is clearly an archangel. This is not just a human Israeli prince, but this is the archangel. He came to help me. So this mighty angel's resisting. He's pressing in to come to touch Daniel to give him understanding. This prince of Persia, which is, by the way, the prince of the same nation as Iran. And by the way, that same demon that was over Persia years ago, 2,500 years ago with this in Daniel 10, that same principality is operating in power in Iran today. It's the same one, and it's gonna be the same response of a corporate Daniel praying for the angelic to break through in a greater force that regions of the earth are actually shifted by the prayers of the saints. It's gonna be, we're not just seeing how amazing Daniel's one experience was. We actually are getting a model of what God wants to drive the prince, the principality of Iran, Iraq, Syria, to drive them back from wanting to disrupt the purposes of God in Israel and beyond Israel as well. Israel's our chief focus, but they have other things on their mind besides Israel, though that's the primary thing they're coming against. They wanna disrupt the kingdom in any way that they can. So this mighty angel tells Daniel. I mean, Daniel, he's just overcome this tremendous experience. God just said, I love you, you're so beloved to me, and he's recovering, and he says, Michael, the archangel, is helping me. That's why I broke through. But if you wouldn't have prayed, I would not have come, and if you wouldn't have prayed, Michael would not have come. If you would have drawn back, you would have had business as usual, and you wouldn't have had the visitation. Again, we don't earn it, but that participation with God matters to God. Don't let anybody steal that truth from your heart, because there's so many voices today wanting to take that fervency out of believers in the name of just chill out and lay back and do what you wanna do in the grace of God. I mean, it's already done for you. I mean, let boys be boys, and hey, isn't life fun? We're in the middle of a war. The nations of the earth are in a war zone right now, and God's looking for mighty men and women with the dedication of Daniel to posture themselves before him in the way that Daniel did. Well, he came to help, and now the angel says this, verse 13, he goes, I had been left alone. Like, what? He wasn't saying I feel a little bit rejected, I'm alone, nobody will talk to me, that's not what he's talking about. He says, I don't have the assistance of another high-ranking angel. I'm the only high-ranking angel in the battle, but your prayers, the Father, the Ancient of Days, he gave the nod, and Michael came to help as well, because you stayed with it. He goes, and now with two high-ranking angels, we can overpower the Principality of Persia. I mean, what a remarkable insight. I mean, it's ever so brief, but the implications are so significant, and they're so important. Now, verse 14, he says, I've come to make you understand what will happen to your people. He goes, I've come to give you understanding of why things are being disturbed over in Israel. I want you to see God's big picture, and I want you to see the conflict in the realm of the Spirit that's causing the resistance. And he says, but what's really I want you to see is not just the temporary conflict right now. I want you to see the big picture of what's gonna happen at the end of the age, because the conflict is going to escalate. The closer we get to the Lord's return, the more the Prince of Babylon, which is that demonic power over Iraq, the Prince of Persia, the demonic power over Iran, the Prince of Syria, over Egypt, over Saudi Arabia, the Middle East demonic powers, but there are Middle East angelic powers as well. Remember that? And Jesus is captain of the armies of heaven. He's captain over all of them. And again, we would prefer that Jesus waved his hand and everybody bad left, and everybody just got happy, but it doesn't happen that way. He goes, no, no, no. I want your dynamic involvement with me. We're doing this in partnership together. Okay, let's go down to paragraph F. I wanna touch this issue of being greatly beloved for just one more moment. I already mentioned God so loves the world. He doesn't enjoy relationship with the unbelievers, but he does love them and he's pursuing them. God enjoys all of his people because of the gift of righteousness in Jesus, we have access to him, and because we have a yes in our spirit, we're pursuing him. But God has a profound enjoyment of those that follow through in their obedience to him. It moves him that they care so much about the will of God in God's heart. And so that's what God is telling Daniel, I am especially moved by the way that you're moved for my concern and my glory and who I am. That touches me. Now, Jesus said the same thing in John 14, verse 21. It's a little bit mysterious at first reading. You think, how could this be? He says, he that has my commandments and keeps them, this is the person who loves me. Then he goes on and he says, the person who loves me will be loved by my father. And not only that, I will love that person. So at a quick reading, you said, wait, that sounds like you only love us if we love you. But the Bible says you love us first, and then that awakens us to love you back. What, Jesus? I mean, you realize Jesus knows the Bible real well, right? So he's not contradicting the Bible. Jesus is not talking about just that glorious introductory reality to the love of God. He's talking about a more specific thing here. He says, if you obey me, that means you love me. If you love me at that kind of level, you will move the heart of the father because he will love your choices. He will love the way you value the relationship. It will matter to him, it matters to him that he matters so much to you. That's what he's saying right here. And then he goes on to say, and Jesus says in verse 21, me and my father, we will manifest ourself to you. And that's what we're seeing here with Daniel. Because God's saying, in essence, Daniel, you don't deserve a glorious experience, but if you care that much about me, this experience, you will walk through it for my glory and for all the right reasons you were steward this experience. Some people just want an experience because they want to move on from a little spiritual boredom. They think it would just be so cool to have an angel appear and things get a little lively and my life wouldn't be so bored. Well, Daniel's far past that mindset. He wants a manifestation of God because it will empower him to obey more and cooperate more. And so that's what Jesus is talking about here. Okay, let's go to page 88, paragraph J. Well, now let's look at paragraph I because I have a mistake here on the page here. Came to help me. Michael, one of the chief archangels, came to help the mighty angel. I think the note says he came to help Gabriel. This is a mighty angel, this is not Gabriel, so just correct that. Paragraph J, an archangel. There's only two angels mentioned by name in the whole of the Bible. And Michael is mentioned five times in the scripture. And all five times that Michael's mentioned, he's mentioned in a warring context. Gabriel's mentioned four times and every time it's in a messenger context. Every time Gabriel appears, the four times in scripture, he appears in order to give a message related to the first or second coming of Christ or both comings together. Every time Michael appears, he's doing battle. That's why Gabriel is commonly referred to as the messenger angel and Michael is commonly referred to as the warrior angel or the warring angel. Now, again, to get a little snapshot of Daniel's life, Gabriel only appears two times in the Old Testament, both to one man. Doesn't appear to Moses, not to David, not to Elijah, to this man that's greatly beloved of God. Michael is only mentioned three times in the whole of the Old Testament, always in context to Daniel. So the two mighty archangels that appear, they only appear in the scriptural record to this intercessor named Daniel who dedicated his life for this radical pursuit of God's purpose, even while he's in a foreign land. I mean, that's moving. I look at Daniel and say, I wanna be like Daniel. I want this kind of lifestyle and this kind of dedication. Okay, let's look at paragraph K. Now, it goes on later on in the vision that we'll look at in the next session. In the end times, right before the appearing of the Lord, Michael will stand up and help Israel. Michael's going to involve himself in a very dramatic way in terms of supporting Israel in the spirit realm in his war against the demonic powers. This is a major point. Then it goes on and the mighty angel describes here, chapter 12, verse one. He goes, I want you to know, Daniel, Michael is watching over the people of Israel. His particular assignment is related to Israel, but he moves most when people like you pray. Of course, he only is mentioned three times, always in context to Daniel in intercession. He says, but he's gonna stand up at the time of the great tribulation. Now look at this. The angel tells Daniel about the great tribulation. We'll look at that in the next session. What I want you to see in this session is that Michael arises to activity involving the natural affairs of the nations to help Israel when people like Daniel are praying, Michael's gonna have the same response, but on a far more intensive level. Look at paragraph L, middle of page 88. Now the mighty angel's conflict continues. Verse 20, he says, Daniel, and I'm imagining Daniel's a little bit recovering, I mean, because he was completely wiped out in verse seven, eight, nine. He was completely overwhelmed. His friends left the prayer room, absolutely overcome by the fear of the Lord. And he says, I have a question for you. Do you know why I came to you? Why am I here? And Daniel doesn't ever put the answer. I think he did like, you tell me, Mr. Gabriel, you tell me why, or Mr. Mighty Angel is what I meant to say. He says, don't you know why I came? Well, number one reason, he said back in verse 12, I came because you prayed, I came because your words. He goes, do you realize this connection? I actually came, verse 12, I told you, I came because of your words, the mighty angel could have said to Daniel. But also I came to give you help, to give Israel help. I came to resist and make a shift in the realm of the spirit for the people you're praying for. But I came for another reason. I came to give you understanding of the purpose of God for the generation the Lord returns. And I believe the same three things are true today. The mighty angels will come because of our words. They will come to help the nation we're praying for because this principle isn't limited to Israel. This snapshot is how the realm of the spirit works. And he will come, angels will actually come. And I believe in the generation the Lord returns, there will be angelic involvement in understanding the end time plan, even the word of God. I'm not asking God for new information, I'm asking God for information of the ancient scriptures that's already canonized in the word of God. He said, goes now on, look at verse 20, this is interesting. He goes, I'm gonna come and give you a major open vision, which is gonna be chapter 11 and 12. We'll look at it in just a moment after the break. He goes, but I wanna tell you this, I have to go fight that principality of Persia right now. I have to go resist him because he's not relenting. Michael's here with me, but I gotta jump back in. So I'm gonna give you this major open vision that I'm jumping back into the battle. He goes, and then I want you to know this, Daniel, that when I have gone forth, the next demon prince that's coming after Israel is the Prince of Greece. And we find out that about 200 years later, a little less, Alexander the Great rises up in Greece, defeats the Persians, and then he comes after Israel as well. He comes to the Middle East with his mighty armies and the demonic power over Greece is now stirred up in power and now the saints need to pray again. But he tells Daniel ahead of time, 200 years from now is when it ends up. He goes, the Prince of Greece is going to manifest his superiority over the demonic powers of Persia. Someone says, well, what do you mean? Why would the demons are on the same team? The demons are on the same team, but they hate each other. They don't like have good fellowship. They have complete possessiveness. I mean, every demon thinks about the other demon. You've got a bad spirit. Demons don't like each other. They compete, they resist, they, I mean, not that it says it just that way in the scripture. All we know is that their father, which depicts the nature they have, is a liar and a murderer. And we know they have the same spirit and nature of their father. They're all liars and they're all murderers. And they don't have good fellowship. And they each actually, anyway, I'm going beyond where I should be going right now. But anyway, it's intense. Then he goes on in verse 21 and he says, nobody upholds me against these. He goes, no one is assisting me in this battle except for Michael. He goes, so in essence, he's saying, Daniel, I need you to stay involved in prayer. This is not a one-time, 21-day prayer vigil, Daniel. I need you to be involved in a lifestyle because without your prayer, I'm not gonna get the assistance. That's actually what he's saying here. He goes, you need to stay involved in this. Daniel's in his 80s. And I mean, he goes clear to the end. And then he goes on. This is a strange, this is a parentheses, a parenthetical thought. The angel says, oh, let me tell you how this works. I mean, like just pause for a second. Let me tell you something, Daniel. This is the strangest thing. He goes in the first year of Darius, now they're in the third year. So he goes, let's go back two years ago. Let's go back two years ago when Babylon was being overthrown by Persia and Israel was just about to be released. He goes, I stood up to strengthen and help Michael back then. Michael needed me back then and now I need him. Me and Michael, we work well together. So keep praying, Daniel. I need you to stay engaged. That's what he's saying actually here. Now, isn't that a strangest insight? That back when Israel was being released in King Persia, I mean, the King of Persia, King Cyrus, 536 BC, two years earlier, that this mighty angel actually had to come and stand with Michael for the King of Persia to make that decree. There's an angelic involvement. And the King makes the good decree in God's will, but there's warfare going on is the point. And Daniel 9 and his prayer in Daniel 9 was what's going on once we looked at the last session. And these angels were being dispatched, even related to Daniel's prayers. Let's look at, go back to paragraph K for just a second. I want you to see this verse in Revelation 12. Because in the final three and a half years before the Lord returns, John the Apostle is describing this event that's gonna happen in the spirit. War will break out in heaven. And Michael and his angels will fight against the dragon, which it says clearly in the scripture here, that's Satan. And Michael and all of his angels, not just the mighty angel, all of the angels will be involved. This will be a war far bigger than in the generation of Daniel. This will be not against the principality of Persia. This will be against Satan and every principality on the earth. I mean, whoa, it says that he's gonna fight against the dragons. High-ranking angels are involved in this. I tell you, when Satan takes a stand, Michael takes a stand with a host behind him. And look at what happens in verse nine. These demonic powers are cast from their superior position in the heavenly realm, because Paul tells us that the powers of principalities operate in the heavenly realm in Ephesians 6. They are grounded and they're bound to the earth where they're far less effective is the point. They have a superior position of power over the kings of the earth to influence them negatively, but bound to the ground, they have far less influence. And there's gonna be a mighty war and Michael's gonna go forth. Here's the point I wanna highlight. In what context will Michael go forth? Just randomly? No, God is gonna raise up a corporate Daniel across the nations and there's gonna be a global walking out of Daniel 10 and it won't be the mighty angel Michael against the prince of Persia only, it's gonna be Michael and all the angels with him against all the angels that are in the ranks with Michael here. They're fighting against Satan and all the principalities of the Middle East that are attacking Israel because all the nations of the earth will be converging on Israel to destroy and exterminate the city and Michael's gonna rise up and how's this gonna happen? But I tell you, there is going to be a corporate Daniel. The Daniel 10 is not just a cool story. So I go, wow, he was dedicated and he had some really neat experiences. No, this is about us. This is a model for the end time church. The Lord spoke to us some years ago that he was gonna raise up. It's not, this is not the limitation. This is just the number he gave us. A hundred million committed Gentile intercessors that are laboring together with Israel for the fullness of God's purpose in the nation of Israel. I believe there's gonna be a corporate Daniel of Jews and Gentile radical intercessors. Here's my question. What lifestyle will those intercessors have? Will it kind of be a casual, kind of check in with the Lord every now and then, you know, ask for a little more help, so a little more money, see if my ministry go better. No, we're talking about a far deeper level of engagement with God's heart that this corporate end time Daniel's gonna have. I wanna be a part of that if I'm alive at that timeframe, and I might be and I might not be, but I certainly wanna cast the vision. That's what God's raising up because when Michael goes forth, it's not in a vacuum. It's in context to the Daniel type praying, but it's not an angel against an angel. It's Michael against all the ranks of the devil and Satan himself, and he overpowers them because of the prayers of the saints and because of the power of Jesus who has all authority. Let's go to Roman numerals seven. We're just gonna take another minute here. We're not gonna spend a lot of time on it. I just wanna give you a tip off to it. Paragraph A, top of page 89. There's no study on the book of Daniel that's complete if you don't mention Daniel's dedication. I mean, we could talk about the prayer model of Daniel 10, about how Daniel prayed, but I tell ya, the dedication of Daniel is dynamically connected to his effectiveness in prayer. Again, it's not about earning. It's about a deeper agreement with God's heart. So when we look at Daniel's dedication with an emphasis on his prayer life, but it's not only that. There's another couple points that are emphasized. His commitment to set his heart to not be defiled is also mentioned, and the way that he set his heart to gain understanding. Those are the three highlights that are, I mean, there's more than that. You could describe the character of Daniel beyond those three things. Look at Daniel chapter six, verse 10. Now here's Daniel. Oh, I forgot to mention this here in Daniel six, verse 10. This is the lion den. Daniel in the lion's den. That's happening in the same year as this vision. This Daniel 10 vision is happening right in the same time, right after the lion's den, just immediately after that, meaning the devil wanted to take Daniel out before this vision happened. He's in the lion's den after Daniel chapter nine. He ends up in a lion's den, you know, because in Daniel nine, Gabriel said, hey, you're gonna see all these things in troublesome times. We looked at that in the earlier session. Well, Daniel's in the lion's den a few months later, about to be devoured by lions. And the devil wants to cut him off, but the Lord's saying, Daniel, I have more to do through you. And he miraculously delivers Daniel. But here's an amazing insight about Daniel. It says that Daniel knelt down to pray three times a day. And he prayed and he gave thanks before God, as was his custom from his youth. It says early days, other translations say his youth. He's in his 80s. When he was 16 years old, when he was 22, 32, 42, we're talking from age 20 to age 80, 60 plus years, he has said, my custom has been to sustain a life of prayer. Think of how many setbacks a young man, a young woman can have in their 20s and their 30s that could make them give up on their vision for prayer. Daniel said, no, I'm sticking with it. Think of how many opportunities might happen in his promotion and his business in his 40s and his 50s, because he's in the king's court. No, he stays committed to his prayer life. Whether it's setbacks, whether it's pleasures, whether it's opportunities, whether it's resistance, Daniel said, all of my years, I stayed steady in prayer. Beloved, this is a key to why Daniel had the kind of prayer life he had in his 80s. Look at what it says in chapter one, verse eight. He's a teenager, maybe he's 15, maybe he's 18. We don't know, but he's in his teens. He purposed not to defile himself. Now you can look at the details of, it was related to food. The point isn't the food part. The point is he purposed. It's an 18 year old who said, I'm not gonna be defiled. I'm not gonna do it with food. I'm not gonna do the pornography thing. I'm not gonna do too busy to spend time with God thing. I'm not going in that direction. He's 18 years old, he's 16, he's 15, something like that. He sets his heart. I will not be defiled all of my days. Beloved, that's powerful. Look what it says in chapter 10, verse 12. The angel says, I saw it. You set your heart to understand the things on God's heart. Now the understanding in this context is actually understanding of the end time passages, the end time. It's more than general understanding of salvation truth, though those are more important than any truth. But in context, he's actually talking about, he set his heart to go after the understanding. Now I said this earlier, but there's 150 chapters in the Old and New Testament, 150. I have them on the website. I have them identified. Actually, there's over 150. That's a low number. I wanted to be conservative. There's 150 chapters in the Bible, which the primary focus is the end times and eternity, 150. You know, if you took the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, added them up, there's 89 chapters, so less than 90. So there's about 90 chapters about Jesus's first coming. There's 150 chapters related to the events that culminate with his second coming and what happens after he comes, 150. 150 chapters, that's more than the 90 related to his first coming. Same Jesus, same Bible, same Holy Spirit. I have people say, well, I'm just not really into that end time stuff. I go, if you're into Jesus, yeah, into the Bible, yeah, into the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit wrote it. It's about the Bible, it's in the Bible, and it's about the Jesus, but it's not his first coming. It's when he comes to show his dominance over all the nations of the earth. You're not interested. Well, I'm not really into that. I said, think about it again. It's not some kind of eccentric, out-there subject. Too many Bible teachers over the years have relegated it to a irrelevant, eccentric, off-the-side cup because of so many weird things that have been said, and it's caused fog to come in the eyes, beloved. This is about Jesus and his plan to transition the earth to the age to come. You wanna be involved in that. Whether it's your generation, whether it's your children, your grandchildren, or beyond, and I think we're sooner to that timeframe than some others think. I think we're moving into it. I don't know that I'll see it in my life, but I might. But if I don't, I believe my children or grandchildren will, or if not, theirs will. I believe that it might even be sooner than all of this. We are approaching a timeframe where we need people committed, setting their heart to get understanding, and that doesn't mean a one-time prayer, oh, Lord, give me understanding. It means taking time to study it. It means turning things off. It means turning things away. You can't study deep on the run. It takes time, and it takes turning things away to do this. So Daniel had a prayer life since his youth. Daniel, since his youth, determined not to defile himself, and Daniel was characterized by setting his heart to gain this understanding. Paragraph B, this is one of the most remarkable passages about Daniel. It's Ezekiel. Now, the reason it's so remarkable, because Ezekiel is on the other side of town, meaning Daniel is in the king's court in Babylon. As a youth, they put him in the king's court. Ezekiel is in Babylon in cap 52, just a few years younger. He's over in the slave camp. Ezekiel knows Daniel's in the court, and undoubtedly, Daniel knows about Ezekiel. So Ezekiel's with all the slaves in the slave camp, and he's having visions and revelations. Daniel's in the king courts having visions, revelations. They're men of like spirit. Here's what happens. Ezekiel's praying one day, and look what happens. God speaks to him. He says, when a land sins against me by persistent faithfulness, and I stretch out my hand, this is Ezekiel 14, verse 13. I stretch out my hand against that land, and I cut off its supply of bread, which means famine. Look at verse 14. Even, he goes, if a land is persistent, the majority of the people are persistent in their unfaithfulness to me, even if these three men prayed. Now, God picks three of the mightiest intercessors, Noah, Daniel, and Job, even if they prayed. I would deliver them, but I wouldn't deliver the nation that's persistent in their unfaithfulness until they repent. Then he goes on and says it again in verse 20. Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job, even if they prayed, I wouldn't save the nation until the nation repents. Here's my point. This is the only man in the Bible that God speaks from heaven audibly and makes him an example of intercession while he's still alive. I mean, this guy's alive still. I mean, could you imagine God appearing or speaking audibly and says, I wouldn't even deliver them if Corey Russell prayed, I wouldn't, not even if Corey prayed. He's one of our most faithful intercessors. Could you imagine what that would mean? A man's alive still, and God uses him as the prototype of what moves his heart. Beloved, that's the kind of man Daniel was. I can't imagine. You know, if the Lord visited me and said, if you would live like Alan, even then, this and this and this and this would happen or would not happen, I would go, wow, even like, that's amazing. That's the level of dedication. Do you want this kind of heart before God? I mean, Daniel was just a poor slave kid, 15 years old, taken into slavery. He was a poor slave kid who was brought against his will into slavery, and he had no possessions. He lost them all, left them all behind, and he said, I'm going for God. I'm not angry that I'm in this slave camp. I'm going for God. I mean, that's remarkable. Some people get offended so easy. They don't get the appointment on the worship team or the place in the marketplace or somebody took their boyfriend. I mean, they just get, how could God allow this to happen to me? I mean, it's so rough. I mean, it's like, oh, I'm in spiritual prison. Not exactly. There's another worship team. Just hang in there. It's not that big a deal. Oh, it is, because my heart really hurts, and I'm not trying to put down the hurt heart, but what I'm saying is Daniel's taken to a slave camp. He goes, I'm gonna not defile myself. I'm gonna be a man of prayer. I'm gonna be a man of understanding, and nobody is stealing this from my heart. Nobody is, and he did it his entire life. That's the miracle of this man. I've seen a lot of people stay dedicated for five years. I mean, in my 40 years of ministry, I've seen lots of people go really hard for five years. Mostly, they're in their 20s. By the time they're 35, they've got five biblical reasons why it's not the same season, and they need to draw back and be more practical. Some of them, they do that five years in their 30s. I have rarely seen, I have seen some, people stay consistent for 20, 30 years. This man stayed consistent 60 years later, not offended at all as to the fact that he's in a slave camp in a foreign company. He's going red hot for God. Page 89, I'm gonna end in 30 seconds. I'm gonna just advertise this session and the session following in the notes, because the session following is kind of a session nine, part B. The six chapters of Daniel's life, each one of them are a snapshot. I only give the briefest, briefest summary. There's pages to be written on every one of these chapters. Every one of these six chapters are a snapshot of issues that show Daniel's dedication or Daniel's friends, but all of them are snapshots that God's saying the end time church will walk in the dedication exemplified by these six chapters. So I just wanna leave that with you, because those six chapters describe the kind of person Daniel was that had the kind of prayer life he had. I wanna be like this. I want God to love my choices. I want God to love. Say, Mike, I love the way you spend your time and money. I love the way you obey me. I mean, I love everybody and I love all my people, but I love the way you love me. That's what Jesus said, John 14, 21. The Father will love you. He will love the way you respond to him. I wanna be like that. I know that many of you do as well. Well, go ahead and stand for just a moment. I'm gonna pray over you. Then we're gonna take a short break, 20 minutes. We have coffee back there. We're gonna come back and look at the vision itself, Daniel 11 and 12, but let me pray over you for a minute. Father, I wanna be a man like this. Just talk to him. Say, Lord, in my weakness, I wanna be steady. I wanna go after these things. I wanna be that kind of person that when I'm 80, you will say about me, be like her. Or he'll say, when you're 70 or 80, I love the way you love me all of these years, these many years. I mean, he loves you anyway, but I want him to love the way I love him. I want him to love the way I respond to him, not for a season, but for 60 years, 70 years. Lord, this is what I want. Just talk to him another few moments here. I tell you, a setting of your heart like this, I wanna understand the end time scriptures. It's about you, Jesus. It's not just some side thing. I wanna set my heart like Daniel. I wanna not be defiled by things just because my friends are. I'm not gonna go there. I'm gonna take a stand. I'm going the other direction. I don't care what they say. I'm gonna go after you hard. Talk another moment or two. Lord, I ask you just to release your fire in this room. Lord, I ask you for the power of the Holy Spirit to mark hearts right now. Lord, we wanna be a company of people that live this way, not for a summer, not for an internship, not for four years at IHOPU. We wanna live for 60 years this way. We want you to say this about us 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now. Now we're all weak. I mean, this is intimidating. You know, I think, oh. Lord says, take it one day at a time. Don't worry about the dedication in 10 years. Just be dedicated today. And tomorrow, if you blow it, confess it, push delete, sign back up. Every day, decide one day at a time. And when you blow it, don't give up and say, oh, what's the use? You got years left. Go hard again. Amen and amen. I'm gonna leave you with that. Bless you, bless you. Thank you. Woo!