DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG?



photo source ©simoendli

“What is taking so long?!”

New week. New month. New series.
And that’s the big question we’re asking this month at our bible fellowship on Sundays.

When I planned the preaching schedule at the beginning of the year, for July, I settled on a 4-part series called Sex & the Summer, which would’ve kicked off yesterday. But last week, I begin to feel a heavy burden for the dream chasers and dream makers we’re called to. It seemed like our artists were hemmed up, under the gun, and backs against the wall, so to speak.

Ever feel like that?

You’re doing all you can do, you’ve got faith, you’ve got works with your faith, you’re praying and waiting and waiting and praying… what in the world is taking so long for the answers to come? Jobs, finances, health, relationships… You’re in the 11th hour and time is up!

You need help. Now.
You need hope. Period.

Well, hope is on the way!

There’s nothing like actually hearing the preached word (and we’re working on trying to get our videos up and running soon for our out-of-town fam), but if I can try to sum up yesterday’s message in a nutshell, it would be: Stay the course.

Stay the course, Fam. The answer is on the way. Sometimes, it’s held up in the spiritual battle that is waging invisibly above us.

As we discover in DANIEL 10, answers to prayer can sometimes get re-routed in the spiritual realm. This may not be the case in all situations, as we’ll discover in the next few Sundays, but it could be the case in some circumstances.

Daniel sees a vision that is so disturbing that He decides to fast and pray for understanding from the Lord. He decides that he will not eat meat, regular food, drink wine, use lotions/bathe until he hears from God. He needs an answer. NOW!

Anybody been there?
Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I remember a similar time when everything started collapsing around me, and I got on my face before the Lord and said, “I won’t eat ’til I hear from You.” This was no liquid diet to lose weight. I went on liquids out of pure contrition of my soul. I needed the Creator of the Universe to intervene and stop the earth from caving in up under me.

If you haven’t experienced that kind of turmoil yet, as my wise father would say, “Keep living.”

Daniel finally gets an answer, 21 DAYS LATER.
21 days, Fam.
He fasted and prayed every day, not knowing when the answer would come, but he kept praying. Day in, day out, he prayed.

When the angel finally showed up to deliver Daniel’s answer from God, 21 days after Daniel started specifically asking for an answer, this is what the Bronzed One said:
Daniel 10:12
“Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. 14 Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.”

21 DAYS LATER

From the first day Daniel gets on his knees and starts praying and fasting, God hears him and dispatches an answer. The angel with the response is met mid-journey by a demonic opponent who fights him for 21 days. Then, Michael, God’s Big Gun Archangel, comes to help overcome the enemy so that Daniel’s angel can deliver the answer. Upon delivery of the message, the angel returns to finish the battle with the enemy.

Daniel has no idea this is going on behind the scenes.
Sometimes, neither do we.
We don’t know what’s holding up our answer.

But just like Daniel, we should not let up on the prayers. He is relentless.
He doesn’t know it will take 21 days. He just keeps praying each day.
We may not know when our answer is coming, but we can keep praying. Stay the course.

I hope this encourages you as much as it encourages me.
We can be certain that God hears our prayers and our answers are on the way.
Hang in there.

Stay the course,
Naima

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