Well before you answer those questions, maybe I should fill you in on what we are asking you to do. It all starts in Daniel chapter 10. Daniel has received a message from God that he is supposed to pass along to the people of Israel. There must be something he doesn’t quite understand because he started praying to God for an answer to his questions. In verses 12-14, we find the following response,
Then he (God’s Angel) continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, the arch-angel, came to help me, because I was detained there by the prince of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you…Daniel had a need and immediately went to God in prayer. But he waited three weeks and had not received an answer. The answer that the angel gave him is amazing. The veil was pulled back and we got a glimpse into the spiritual battle that is raging all around us. The angel told Daniel that his prayer was heard the very first day that he prayed, and that he was dispatched that very first day with a response. Along the way, the demonic prince of the Persian kingdom detained him and he had to send for reinforcements. It is not until God’s arch angel, Michael, showed up that he was freed to deliver the message. I don’t know about you, but this passage makes me realize that there is a lot about the Spiritual world that I don’t understand. If Daniel would have stopped praying, would the angel have ever made it to him with the answer?
I am reminded of Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Sometimes I get so consumed with what is going on around me that I forget that behind all of this there is a spiritual battle raging for the souls of men/women. I get so wrapped up by the ongoing violence in México, and how that affects our teams, that I forget that this drug war is just the outward semblance of the spiritual battle that is going on for the very souls of those innocent people living in the shadow of these drug wars.
So, instead of just wishing that the violence would end, we acknowledge that there is also a spiritual battle going on and we want to challenge you to pray like Daniel. For 21 days we want you to join with thousands of other Casas por Cristo followers and pray for the effectiveness of this ministry. We realize the stakes are high, and we want all of you to join forces for 21 days to make a strategic strike against the enemy.
HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED
We want you to take up the Daniel Challenge: 21 Days of Prayer.
The dates will be September 12th – October 2nd. We will start on Monday and end on a Sunday. Each day we will bring you a new video and blog explaining the topic of prayer for that day. You can subscribe to our blog below this post to get an e-mail update each day.
If you can't follow online with us here daily, click on the "21 Days of Prayer" logo on our website for a printable calendar with the prayer topics for each day. We want you to put this wherever you will see it most, as a reminder to pray with us daily.
We are asking you to become part of this movement and get everyone around you involved. No passport or airplane ticket necessary. We want you to take this to your churches, your Sunday school classes, your youth groups, small groups and families. Add this twibbon to your profile picture on Facebook and Twitter. Link this blog and our YouTube videos on your social media pages daily. Invite your friends on FB to this event.
You will be joining our pastors in three different cities and two different countries, all of our staff, churches and volunteers from around the world in this challenge over the next 21 days. On the final Sunday, October 2nd, won't it be amazing to know that churches from all over will be joined together in prayer, that no borders or language barriers can separate?
We want this to be huge. We want to turn Juárez, Acuña, and San Raimundo upside down for the kingdom of God. We want families living there and the teams that come to serve to see Christ moving so clearly that it cannot be denied. Join us in this fight as we come together united, submitting these prayers to the creator of the universe that "no power in the sky above or in the earth below, nothing in all creation" can stand between.
Become part of the Daniel Challenge: 21 Days of Prayer!
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