A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Daniel 10 - Understanding the Invisible Battles
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Have you ever pondered the unseen battles that shape our reality? This episode will guide you through the depths of spiritual warfare as we navigate the teachings of Daniel, Ephesians, and Corinthians. We unearth the historical narratives and prophecies of Daniel chapter 10, deciphering the mysteries God reveals about the future and the forces at play beyond our physical world. The Apostle Paul's words in Ephesians chapter 6 serve as a stark reminder that our true conflicts aren't with flesh and blood but with spiritual entities. I invite you to armor up with us, as we contemplate the metaphor of spiritual armor and grasp how it prepares us for the intangible struggles we all face.
Embark on a journey through a 21-day fast alongside Daniel and witness the profound spiritual awakening by the Tigris River. As I recount Daniel's encounter, we open the floor to debate: Was it a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, that he witnessed, or merely an angelic presence? The intensity of divine encounters and their impact on our physical existence get a closer look, stirring a conversation that stretches our understanding of the divine. In this segment, we discuss the potential of fasting and prayer not just as religious rites, but as catalysts for transformative spiritual experiences.
Our exploration culminates in the assertion that the spiritual battles defining our existence require faith and prayer, our most powerful armaments. As your host, I share insights into the unseen struggles, bringing to light the roles of angelic beings and the supremacy of God's power over all earthly forces. We reflect on the encouragement found in scriptures like 1 John 4:4 and Nehemiah 4:14, which embolden us to face our battles with courage. Join us in a heartfelt acknowledgment of our reliance on God to confront the eternal truths, and learn to articulate the hope that sustains us through the trials of life.
Music. Hey, I know this is the wrong way to start a study here tonight, but can we do something confusing in turn to three places? Daniel, chapter 10. Three places. You have to have ribbons to do this. If you don't, well, you'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:Ephesians, chapter 6. Second Corinthians, chapter 10. I don't know why we have to turn all at once now, but let's just do it. Second Corinthians 10. Daniel 10 and Ephesians 6. How about that? I'll read a few things, I think it'll work.
Speaker 1:So Daniel 10. Second Corinthians 10 and Ephesians 6. We'll get to those in a second, but let's pray. I thank you for this time that we have together, just to consider your word and know there's a lesson to be learned, there's a perspective to have, and I just pray that you would help our minds to be attentive, that we would hear what you want us to hear and, more than just some knowledge, we would have something in our heart over what we hear from you tonight. Just work in us and your spirit would work in us tonight as well. We give you this time. Thank you for it In Jesus' name. Pray, amen. All right, so those three places. But we're in Daniel, chapter 10.
Speaker 1:And in chapters one through six you know by now is its narrative, its history of the life of a guy named Daniel, taken to Babylon, survived through the Babylonian Empire and into the Persian Empire. God uses him in lots of different ways there, in chapters one through six and in chapters well, seven through 12, seven through the end. There they are a lot of prophecy. Now we still get some narrative here, but it is a lot of prophecy God predicting things that would be in the future. Now chapter 10, we'll see tonight is kind of a little bit of a setup for a final prophecy in chapter 11 and a little bit of 12 there. And this final prophecy is so detailed that it's really what leads a lot of skeptics to say that Daniel couldn't have been written by a guy named Daniel during the time that our Daniel lived, because it's so specific things that were future for his life, but yet so specific, and the skeptic would say, well, how can Daniel know those things? Well, obviously we don't have a problem with it because, as Daniel says in chapter two, there's a God in heaven who reveals mysteries there in chapter two, verse 28, that God knows the future, god is eternal and sees it all. So this fact of prophecy is something that makes this book, the Bible, unique more than any other book that through it God tells the future, and so it's a book written by God, inspired by God, and not by man. So chapter 10 is the setup.
Speaker 1:Chapter 11 is a detailed prophecy that I'm really still kind of wondering how to cover it. I always struggle with how to cover it because it's so much for us history now that it just reads like kind of dry history. You know facts, and not times and dates, but just facts and these things that for us it's like history. So we'll see how we do it. But chapter 10 is the setup, and in it we get a really distinct picture of something known as spiritual warfare. Now, I know last week we talked about the Antichrist and it might have left some of you in nightmares. It's a little uneasy. Tonight, you know another great Wednesday night study we talked about spiritual warfare and the battle that goes on behind the scenes. But it's where we are. So let's start, though, with a little bit of basis for this in Ephesians, chapter 6. Don't let go of Daniel, because we'll be there. But Ephesians, chapter 6, little background on really the stuff we're reading tonight.
Speaker 1:Chapter 6, verse 10,. Paul says this Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For now, this is key here in verse 12, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. So Paul here lets us know that life is a battle. Right, life could be a race.
Speaker 1:We see in some parts of the Bible other parts of the Bible, like Ephesians, chapter 6, we see that life is a battle and we get it right. Life is difficult, but Paul here says the battle is not against flesh and blood. We're all made of flesh and blood. People are flesh and blood. But Paul says the real battle isn't against people. The real battle is against Principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly Places. So the real enemy in this battle although people have their decisions to make and people make selfish choices, that that hurt other people but the real battle is a spiritual battle. The real weapons are spiritual weapons. If we were to go through Ephesians, chapter 6, the real weapons are prayer and things like that. We see that really demonstrated in Daniel, chapter 10, but one more verse that kind of says this for us 2nd Corinthians, chapter 10. 2nd Corinthians, chapter 10, starting in verse 3. 2nd Corinthians, 10 3.
Speaker 1:For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, and this is key verse 4. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God, for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. So what we're told there in verse 4 is the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, right, they're not fleshly. So Again, we don't fight this battle in the flesh. You can have arguments and you can have reasons for what you believe, to speak to people. We can battle in that sense, we can have a reason for the hope that lies Within us, as Peter says.
Speaker 1:But the real battle ultimately is Spiritual. It's something going on behind the scenes now. That's a little strange for us to to hear, but what we understand from reading the Bible is that there is Not only a battle, but there is a another dimension. Right Now that automatically puts me off the edge. Right now everybody goes what Spiritual dimension that we can't see? And that's really what we're gonna see here in Daniel chapter 10. The battle is spiritual, not fleshly, just just kind of. For our own thoughts here, the prize of this battle is Primarily souls Right, it's people. It's, it's not just the argument, but it's, it's the lives and souls of people. So let's keep those things in mind as we look at Daniel, chapter 10. Daniel, chapter 10. Let's look at verse one.
Speaker 1:In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a Message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called belt of Shazzard. The message was true and the appointed time was long and he understood the message and had Understanding of the vision. In those days I, daniel, was mourning Three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came to my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled. So here in verse one through three, we see that Daniel is, we could say, fasting.
Speaker 1:Fasting is is Really where the, the spirit and the flesh, kind of meet Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. This is something probably not many of us care for, but in the Sermon on the Mount, jesus talked about fasting and he talked about how, when you fast, you know, don't let your face be all sad, don't? You know, let your hair be all messed up and everything. But you know, clean yourself up and don't let anyone know, let it be between be between you and God, that you would have a reward. And we go lots Neat. But the part that really hits us and what Jesus says there in the Sermon on the Mount, is when you fast and I'm gonna admit right out I don't fast very often, but Jesus says it should be part of the average normal Christian life To fast. Fasting is saying no to the flesh and yes to the spirit.
Speaker 1:It's denying a primary drive which we see kind of God has made us with some primary drives. Really, simply, we have a drive for air. There's a good reason why we have a drive for air. When Somebody holds our head under water, we do whatever we can to to get some air right. We have a primary drive for it because we need it. You have a primary drive for things like water right. When you get thirsty, you know a glass of water is just all you want, but if you get thirsty enough, you'll drink just about anything, because God's built us with a primary drive for it. Food would probably be the third primary drive that we have and you can live a few minutes without air. You can live a few days without water, but you can probably live about a month without food. It's not gonna be pleasant, but you could. You could live without food for probably about a month. Well, god doesn't have us fast from air. That wouldn't be good.
Speaker 1:He rarely, rarely in the Bible, do people fast from water Only in times where it's life or death. Like in the book of Esther, they fasted from food and water to seek God. They said no to those primary drives. But fasting from food is Is is is a stronger possibility. You can do that. You know, of course we miss one meal and we go. I'm starving, but you're not really starving right. So fasting from food is saying God, I want you more than Then food right now, and it always goes hand in hand with prayer. There's no point in fasting without prayer. So it's saying no to the flesh and yes to the spirit. I don't even want to suggest that we fast, but it would be a good idea sometime right To say no to the flesh, even in food, and say God, I really just want to seek you. That's what Daniel was doing. Now, daniel, really quickly here, daniel has got a partial fast going on because he just says there in verse three I ate no pleasant food, nor meat or wine came to my mouth, and we get the idea here that he just ate maybe vegetables and water. He kept it very simple and and so that's fine. You know, god doesn't say well, daniel, what kind of fast is that? Daniel, in his own way, maybe for medical reasons, who knows? He just sort of said God, I'm going to not eat the fancy food, I'm just going to keep it simple and I'm going to seek you.
Speaker 1:Modern fasts are sometimes from the Internet, right, because we're so dependent. It's almost like a primary drive. Now We'll wake up in the morning, isn't it? And and and it's fair. It's fair to say in any sense God's not saying well, if you don't give up food, I'm not going to listen to you. You're not impressing God when you fast, but we're doing something by saying God, I really want you right now. I really want to know you more, I want to hear what you have to say, I want you more than food and we just decide to say God, I'm going to seek you over eating. And that's what Daniel does Now. He does it for 21 days, three whole weeks, and just kind of flashback at chapter nine that's that same word weeks. It's a group of sevens in this sense. We know it's not months or years. Daniel fasted for three weeks of days and he put those things off. Now let's move on Now.
Speaker 1:In the twenty fourth day of the first month, I was by the side of the Great River, that is, the Tigris. I lift up my eyes and looks and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of oof, as his body was like barrel, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnish bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I, daniel, alone, saw the vision. For the men who were with me did not see the vision, but great terror fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore, I was left alone when I saw this great vision and no strength remained in me, for my great, for my vigor was turned to frailty in me and I retained no strength. Yet I heard the sound of his words. And while I heard the sound of his words I was in a deep sleep, on my face, with my face to the ground.
Speaker 1:So here Daniel, after three weeks of seeking God and not eating, he sees a vision and the men who are with him, they don't see it, but great fear falls upon them. Maybe it was just Daniel's response that freaked him out. They all run away. Daniel is there and he sees this vision of a man. Now the man speaks to him, we find, but Daniel's kind of just overwhelmed right and there in the end we see him in a deep sleep with his face to the ground. So we kind of get from that that under all of this, you know, this intensity of what he sees, daniel passes out and just in human weakness he just can't take anymore. Now, as we kind of look at this, there's a little bit of a debate of who this man that he sees is, because he really looks like Jesus.
Speaker 1:In the book of Revelation, revelation, chapter one, verse 12, revelation, chapter one, verse 12,. John there turns to see the voice that spoke with him and, having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands In the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the son of man, clothed with a garment, down to his feet, girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, his eyes like a flame of fire, his feet like fine brass as it is refined in a furnace, and his voice the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars, out of his mouth one, a sharp, two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. So when you put these two descriptions together, a lot of people wonder if this person in Daniel, chapter 10, is Jesus, and it could be.
Speaker 1:It's known as a Christophany in the Old Testament. It's a before the major appearance of Jesus. There's a few times where you see that. You see the people in the Old Testament treating whoever's in front of them as God, and that person doesn't do anything about it. Fall down and worship, and that person doesn't do anything. Angels will not accept worship. These are things we look at and we go. Well then, jesus, who's eternal before the major appears.
Speaker 1:In the Old Testament there's some pretty distinct points. You know Jacob wrestling Abraham having three visitors. One of them is the Lord, we're told, the one in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, the one that meets Joshua there, and Joshua falls on his face and that angel you know, that captain of the Lord's host doesn't say hey, cut it out. That's a good indication that maybe it is God in the flesh that visited, and it's wild to see, it doesn't even make sense in our mind. But God's eternal, so it doesn't matter, he can do it.
Speaker 1:It's possible that this one that looks like Jesus is an angel that just happens to look like the same description that we have in the book of Revelation of Jesus, or it's possible that this is Jesus. But the thing we have to be careful with is, as we read on, there's an angel that is most definitely not Jesus, because he has difficulty fighting a fallen angel. We'll see in a second, you'll see it and that could not be Jesus, because Jesus would not have a problem. In fact, the Jehovah's Witnesses use this passage to show that, in their opinion, that Jesus is an angel, not God in the flesh. But as we look at this that's what we have to understand is, if this is Jesus, there's something else going on. But let's look on. We're not 100% sure who this is.
Speaker 1:But Daniel is definitely pretty wiped out by this vision. He's on his face, he's passed out on the ground. Spiritual things to a body of flesh can sometimes be overwhelming and that's where he's at Now. Notice verse 10, suddenly a hand touched me. Now this is kind of where we have to go. If this is Jesus, this is kind of we don't know. But if this is Jesus that we're seeing in the first part here, this hand that touches him is not the same person and that could make sense. That Daniel's on his face, on the ground, he's passed out this one, that Jesus is speaking to him. He hears the words but doesn't quite know what it's saying. And then a hand touches him, but it's not that same hand, because from here on we get a picture of an angel, not God, in the flesh. So hopefully that's not too confusing, but that's kind of the debate here in Daniel, chapter 10.
Speaker 1:So verse 10, if it's Jesus, most definitely not the same person that puts the hand on Daniel, and that makes sense. He says suddenly a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And he said to me oh Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you. While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. Then he said to me do not fear, daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days and behold, michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.
Speaker 1:And when he had spoken such words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless again, and suddenly one having the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke, saying to him who stood before me my Lord. And that's really not Lord, as in God that's like sir. Because of the vision, my sorrows have overwhelmed me and I have retained no strength. For how can this servant of my Lord talk with you, my Lord? As for me, no strength remains in me, nor is any breath left in me. Then again, the one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me and he said to me oh man, greatly beloved, fear not, peace, be to you, be strong, yes, be strong. So when he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said let my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me. And he said do you know why? I have come to you and now I must return to fight with the Prince of Persia. And then I have gone. When I have gone forth, indeed, the Prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is noted in the scripture of truth no one upholds me against these, except Michael, your prince.
Speaker 1:So a few things here. We see as Daniel is touched, he kind of pulls himself up there, he's trembling on his hands and the palms of his hands there and on his knees, and he's told he's greatly beloved. There's some really cool messages here from the Lord, through this angel, this messenger, to Daniel Daniel, you're greatly beloved. Isn't that sweet to know. As this Daniel right now is in this part is probably about 90 years old. He's up there and what does he know? He's greatly beloved. He also gets a little background here of what was really going on, so check it out. Daniel started praying, daniel started praying and for 21 days he was praying and fasting, but nothing happened. Now Daniel could have thought, like any of us have thought, when we were praying for something God doesn't hear me. I prayed and nothing happened. But we see here a lot was happening. Right, the angel there tells Daniel from this is in verse 12, from the first day you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before you got, your words were heard and I have come because of your words. So, in whatever kind of way, like you know, I don't really understand like the space between heaven and earth and whatever's going on here but he says I came to you when you first started praying, 21 days ago. 21 days ago when you said God, show me something. God work. The angel was sent. And yet he says verse 13,. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was stood me 21 days Now.
Speaker 1:When I was in high school there was a very popular book, this Present Darkness. It was a fictional book but it presented kind of life like that, that all around the characters in the book there are angels fighting these battles. Every time temptation goes on, there's demons tempting and it's that seems to be what we're seeing here Now as every temptation a demonic thing, not necessarily in our flesh. We have plenty of ways to tempt ourselves, right, Our flesh tempts us all the time. But that's kind of where this comes from. That behind the scenes, in whatever kind of way I don't know if it's swords or you know what there was some kind of battle going on. Now we can't read too much into it, right, it gets kind of wrong to read too much into it. What do these angels really look like?
Speaker 1:The descriptions of angels in Ezekiel and stuff aren't what we would normally think of, right, but there's some kind of battle going on for 21 days and he says he was facing off with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. Probably doesn't make sense for us to think of this prince as like a prince charming kind of prince. Obviously not. He's a demon, right, he's a fallen angel. But this goes back to what we read in 2 Corinthians there, that our weapons are against these principalities and powers. There's this kind of ranking of fallen angels and even non-fallen angels. There's some kind of government and ranking amongst them and there's some kind of relationship here between governments like Persia, and later on we see Greece in verse 20. There's some kind of relationship between the spiritual world and even these human governments.
Speaker 1:So, as Daniel begins to pray, there's this battle going on behind the scenes, this battle going on between angels. Now, why does it happen that way? Why doesn't God just step in and like I do what I want, because that's the truth? Right, god is way more powerful than any fallen angels. He could do whatever he wants. We have a wrong idea that God and the devil are in some kind of arm wrestling match. You ever kind of see that on Facebook. People post, you know there's a battle going on and there's Jesus and the devil, you know, and their arm wrestling. It's a picture, right, not even close to reality. God and the devil are not enemies in that sense. They're not equals in any kind of way. God created Satan, and that's, of course, another story for another time, but they're not equals. God could end it all whenever he wanted to, but why does he allow stuff like this to go on? So we pray, so we learn to maybe trust him.
Speaker 1:Prayer, for whatever reason, is the biggest way that God fights this battle that's around us the spiritual battle. Like Peter says, casting all your cares on him because he cares for you, in 1 Peter 5-7. God wants us to learn to trust him in this battle. God, my family, work in their hearts that person at my job. God, just show them that you're with and show them the truth, open their minds to know you. God wants us to look to him and bring it to him and cast these cares upon him. But we see that there's a battle.
Speaker 1:Now it's important, I think, to realize this battle is real and that the key is to trust God in it. Notice, in a really strange kind of way Daniel begins to pray and there's this battle going on. And then notice, to make it even weirder, verse 13,. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia and I've come to make you understand. So this thing plays out as a stronger angel. Perhaps Michael joins the battle in whatever kind of way. That's how God works in this situation, but it's important to know that behind the scenes there's more than meets the eye. The key is to trust God and to pray. So in this chapter, as we get to chapter 11, next time. You know and God reveals this really detailed prophecy to Daniel that before any of that happens, that Daniel has a certain amount of battling, there are a certain amount of praying. We'll just leave it at this tonight.
Speaker 1:The truth there of Ephesians, chapter 6, to realize we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. Now, just to think about the issues in our life, that they're primarily spiritual, that our warfare is not with flesh and blood but against spiritual things, as second Corinthians says, it's not carnal, it's not something we can fight in our own strength. Know that. But also, I think it's good to just have a couple more places here. Let's turn to 1st John verse, chapter 4, verse 4.
Speaker 1:1st John is way towards the end, 1st John, 4. And so no, 1st John, chapter 4, verse 4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. So the first thing we realize is there is a spiritual battle. It's not flesh and blood, but it's spiritual. But here what John tells us is greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. That's important to remember in this battle because, like I said in the beginning like you feel, like last week we talked about the Antichrist, this type week we talk about spiritual warfare and demons in the battle all around us. But it's always important to remember that God, who is in us, is greater than he that's in the world. There's no spiritual force that's greater than God and God is for you, who can be against you. Right, as Paul says? Just remembering constantly how great God is, how much he loves us, how he never leaves us, he never forsakes us. We don't have to be scared because we know God is with us, even through these things. So, realizing we're in a battle, realizing that God is greater than the enemy, 100 percent. But then that leads us to one more place and you don't have to turn there.
Speaker 1:But the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah happens a little bit after Daniel's time, 100 years or so after Daniel's time, and Nehemiah has on his heart to rebuild the wall and Nehemiah faces some real enemies that are flesh and blood. Right, you read the book of Nehemiah and there's Sam, ballet and Tobiah and all these different enemies that come to try to stop the work of God and they threaten and they mock and they come against in attacks against God's people. Nehemiah he always hits it with prayer. That's a good reminder there in the book of Nehemiah. Always we find Nehemiah just moments. He prayed. He asked God. He says God see their threats, all these different things. He's always constantly praying. But I love Nehemiah, chapter four.
Speaker 1:When you talk about battles and difficulties in life, nehemiah, chapter four, verse 14, is one of my favorite passages because as the enemies of God are coming against the people and the people are complaining and they're in fear and they're like they're going to kill us, we're gone, we have to give up. Nehemiah, nehemiah, chapter four, verse 14, is a wonderful encouragement. He says this now, just soak it up, listen in the spiritual battle he says. And I looked and I arose and I said to the nobles, to the leaders and to the rest of the people do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.
Speaker 1:And so, nehemiah man, he gives this great patriotic message. You could say there is a people are ready to give up and they're scared and he says guys, don't be afraid. And that's a good word for the battle that we're in, as ugly as things get, as much as it feels like, is against us, the prince of Persia, satan himself, the whoever you know. He says don't be afraid of them, just don't be scared, don't give into fear. Remember the Lord. And that is probably one of the most important things we can do in this battle is to really remember who God is and how he feels about us. Remember the Lord, just keep taking time to remember the Lord in the battle.
Speaker 1:And then he says fight. And that's the bottom line with spiritual warfare is we got to fight, not against flesh and blood. Go vote, do all of that, you know. But you know and have a reason for the hope that lies within you. You know, be ready to give people an argument there in the sense of what you believe and why that's important. But we got to fight.
Speaker 1:And we find from Daniel, the biggest way that we can fight is through prayer, just bringing it back to God. God, I'm weak, you're strong. God, I can't do it. God, you can do it. God. Work in their lives, work in their hearts. You see our government, you see the situations. God, let truth be here. And I'd encourage other believers, whatever it is that fighting looks like at the moment. He says fight and read it one more time Fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.
Speaker 1:So that really is the bottom line with spiritual warfare. There's plenty more we could say, but probably good enough for tonight. So, god, just confess that I don't always do a lot of fighting until it gets desperate. God, I don't do a lot of praying until I'm just overwhelmed. And yet we're always overwhelmed, god, we're always at a loss. God, no good really comes from our life without you. You're our strength in everything. God, help us to look to you first. Help us to cast our cares on you, our family on you, our country. Help us to cast that on you. God, help us to be those that really battle and fight for what matters in this world, and just pray that you'd work these things into our minds and into our hearts, into our lives, that we would take time to remember you and really fight in the Spirit. God, help us to see these things correctly and use them to make us stronger in you. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen. God, help us to be those that really battle and fight for what matters in this world.