Welcome back!
For most of us, this is our first week “back” after the holidays. I hope you’ve had a great Christmas and New Year. I know you’re glad to get back together and get started again!
This is a really big deal… Not only are we celebrating our 11th birthday, but Super Sunday is our yearly opportunity to re-partner together! Partners are people who say “I Will.” I hope you are planning to be with us to party together as we celebrate the past, and look toward the future!
One last thing about Super Sunday… We’ve had to change locations from the Ellijay Elementary School Auditorium to the High School Gym. Sorry… They just rerouted us this week.
We love our Tower Road community. Most of you know that we created a “happy place” out there for families to play together. It is beautiful! Thank you, church!
This playground quickly gets messy, and frequently needs trash pick-up, leaf blowing, hedge trimming, and swing tightening, etc. Up till now, our deacons have been managing this, but they have asked that all our life groups share this responsibility.
Your Lifegroup leader already knows about this. They got a little coaching from me on it with this weekend’s video. Why don’t you and your group have a look at the “needs request” that your leader has, and pick a month?
THANK YOU for having a vision for being “FOR GILMER.”
Visionary Questions
Have you ever been totally overwhelmed by an encounter with God?
Have you ever truly been desperate to understand more about God and what He was doing? How did you approach God in this time?
Have you ever fasted from something? If so, what was that experience like?
In times of uncertainty, trial, and chaos, we often find ourselves desperate to understand what God is up to—what His plans are and how the happenings of our lives fit into the “big picture.” Yet many times, that desperation leads us to throw more of a spiritual temper tantrum than it leads us to fervently seek the Lord. We serve a gracious and personal God who desires for us to seek Him. He desires to open our eyes to see and our ears to hear. He has spoken through His Word and He continues to speak to His children, but we must seek and listen. The life of Daniel is one of the most beautiful pictures of faithful persistence in seeking the face of God.
In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) had another vision. He understood that the vision concerned events certain to happen in the future—times of war and great hardship.
Daniel 10:1-3 NLT
When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.
What does Daniel’s posture in these verses tell us about the message that is to follow?
Have you ever wondered why Daniel was mourning with fasting and praying?
Here’s the story… By the third year of Cyrus’s reign, he had already given the edict for the Israelites, who had long been in captivity, to return to Jerusalem. Daniel and others chose to stay behind in Babylon. Daniel had been in captivity for about 70 years by this point—now a man in his mid-eighties—and was still faithfully serving and seeking his God. Daniel was found in a posture of humility—ready to listen, ready to receive whatever God might have to give him. The word which Daniel was to relay was about a great conflict, and he made clear that he understood the message and its meaning.
On April 23, as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, 5 I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. 6 His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people.
Daniel 10:4-9 NLT
7 Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. 8 So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak. 9 Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground.
Why do you think Daniel described the messenger in such vivid detail?
What happened to Daniel upon this encounter?
\After describing the majesty of his messenger’s appearance—one of human likeness—Daniel noted that he was left alone because his companions could not bear the encounter. Alone, drained of all his strength and vigor, Daniel fell on his face at the sound of the messenger’s words. Before any details of the message were conveyed, Daniel was already at the end of himself. While this may not have been a pleasant experience, it certainly was a holy one.
Have a volunteer read Daniel 10:10-14.
Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. 11 And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.
Daniel 10:10-14 NLT
12 Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13 But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.
14 Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.”
What do we understand about the effectiveness of prayer in these verses?
What do we learn about supernatural beings through Daniel’s encounter?
At a single touch, Daniel was revived from unconsciousness. Trembling on hands and knees, and then at the instruction of his messenger—most likely the angel Gabriel, Daniel was strengthened enough to stand to his feet. It is clear that Daniel was favored by God (as evidenced here and throughout the book), and that his humility, prayer life, and desire to understand had allowed him to receive this heavenly vision of what is to come.
Daniel’s prayers had been heard. Not only had they been heard, but also they would elicit a direct response. Having come to speak directly to God’s servant, Daniel, the angel explained what had prevented him from coming sooner. Here we are given a brief, but rare glimpse into the workings of God’s heavenly beings. For twenty-one days, the angel was prohibited from getting to Daniel because of the actions of the “prince of the kingdom of Persia,” who was likely a formidable supernatural presence, but ultimately no match for the angel Michael. Though much is unknown to us about angels and supernatural forces at work, a few things remain. Angels are real, God uses and instructs angels in order to carry out His will and aid His people, and spiritual warfare is a reality that believers cannot ignore. Ultimately, nothing would mess up God’s message being given to Daniel concerning what was to come for Israel.
Have a volunteer read Daniel 10:15-11:1.
While he was speaking to me, I looked down at the ground, unable to say a word. 16 Then the one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing in front of me, “I am filled with anguish because of the vision I have seen, my lord, and I am very weak. 17 How can someone like me, your servant, talk to you, my lord? My strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe.”
Daniel 10:15-11:1 NLT
18 Then the one who looked like a man touched me again, and I felt my strength returning. 19 “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!”
As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, “Please speak to me, my lord, for you have strengthened me.”
20 He replied, “Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece will come. 21 Meanwhile, I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one helps me against these spirit princes except Michael, your spirit prince. 11:1 I have been standing beside Michael to support and strengthen him since the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede.)
What can we infer about Daniel’s continual lack of strength in this situation?
What do these verses tell us about God’s protection of Israel?
Daniel was physically undone. He was rendered speechless after the messenger’s first words. He could not fathom how he could find the strength and ability to talk with the heavenly being that stood before him. Once again, he was drained of any strength he previously had. Just as before, the angel’s touch—and now his words of encouragement—revived Daniel and strengthened him once again.
The angel wanted to make sure that Daniel was ready to hear what was to come, according to the “book of truth,” God’s ultimate plan for His people, Israel. The angel Gabriel seemingly was to return to fight against the prince of Persia until the rising of the prince of Greece. Gabriel would explain in more detail in the following chapter, but at this point Daniel knew that God would not leave Israel defenseless, but would provide both Gabriel and Michael—especially appointed to protect Israel—to contend on her behalf. Most scholars agree that Daniel 11:1 should be included with the preceding chapter. The angel concluded his initial words with the confirmation that he had previously aided the angel Michael in the first year of Darius the Mede (Cyrus).
What can we learn from the physical descriptions and responses of Daniel in this chapter? How does it inform our view of God? Do we live in a posture of prayer? Are we overcome by His glory? Why or why not?
How does Daniel’s experience in this chapter inform how we seek to understand God’s Word and direction? What are some ways that we currently seek wisdom and understanding?
What are some practical ways that we can continually posture our hearts and minds before God? What are ways that you can better seek God in your daily life and posture yourself to hear what He has to say?