The Reward of Alone Time and an Empty Stomach

So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision, I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless - Daniel 10:8

I got up this morning and having read my devotional fixated on this particular part of the Bible. The reason? I had felt like God was trying to get a message to me. What I believed He was saying to my spirit was troubling. I somehow, today, just now, felt like Daniel felt.

I was having a “Daniel” moment.

In this section of scripture Daniel received a vision that troubled him greatly. He didn’t like what he saw but he also didn’t get it completely. He wanted understanding of this vision. We then read what he was willing to do in order to understand what God was attempting to get through to him. Check this out: “He set himself out to understand the vision by fasting for three weeks.”

Three days after his three weeks of fasting, a messenger of God appeared to Daniel. The messenger explained that Heaven had heard his prayer from the first day, but the angel was temporarily prevented from coming by the prince of Persia, a demon angel, who sought to thwart God's messenger from coming to Daniel.

I realize some would suggest this is a mere fable or perhaps more deeply an allegory with a simple obvious meaning and then a more complex or secondary meaning. That secondary meaning, as with me this morning, might be something God shows you personally. We should read the Bible expecting the plain truth to provide us with personal truth. That is how the Holy Spirit works in a Christians life and aren’t you glad?

But nothing in the Bible suggests this was pretend. This was an historical event. Or, as my agnostic friend Bruce Brown would say, since it occurred in time and space a natural event.

My point this morning loved ones is this: when we are troubled in our spirit by something or when we are confident that God is really working on us to deliver a personal message to us specifically we must set ourselves to seeking God with all our hearts. It is in these times that we hear from Heaven in ways we may never have experienced before.

Daniel's resolve took him beyond mere contemplation. He went beyond prayer. He read, prayed, fasted and anticipated God would reveal the fullness of the message. He was rewarded with a personal encounter from a heavenly messenger.
But there was more.

If you read this section rightly (and I encourage you to do so) in order to receive from God, Daniel had to choose solitude, have his strength removed, and be placed in a condition, that, in the natural, appeared completely helpless.

Why?

When we have no ability in our own strength to move Heaven on behalf of our cause (or even a really good cause) or the events around us, we are in an attitude to hear God clearly. It is the recognition of our humanity and our true helplessness that positions you and I to receive a personal encounter with the one who then becomes Abba Father to us. Dad comes to meet with us and explain what it is that only He knows and we need to hear and act upon.

What God is working in me to reveal is not important to you. What is important is this: do you need a personal encounter with our Heavenly Daddy today? Do you need God to reveal more of the story to you? Daniel had to add fasting and seclusion to prayer. DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO! Get there from here. Seek Him with all your heart. Show Him you’re serious. I suggest you start by figuring out how you will get alone with Him that you can establish, verbally your helpless condition before Him. Jesus died for this next part: Abba Father will reward you with His presence. You can take it to the bank!

I remain…

InHISgrip,
~J~