The Twenty First Day (Daniel 10:1-14) PRAYER

Then he 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. – Daniel 10:12-13

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Daniel had been in serious prayer for three full weeks (Daniel 10:2). God responded to Daniel’s prayer the very moment he made his request known and an angel was dispatched with the answer. This is just another reminder that prayer is powerful. 

But the Bible says, the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted him. Since this prince was able to oppose the angelic messenger to Daniel, we know this was more than a man. This prince was an angelic being, but evil, a demon of high rank who opposed the Word of God, opposed the answer to prayer. Jesus referred to Satan as the prince of this world (John 12:31). 

Since Daniel’s period of prayer and self-denial and the period that the prince opposed the angel was also twenty one days, we see there is a link between Daniel’s prayer and the angelic victory. We can surmise that if Daniel would have stopped praying on the twentieth day, the answer may not have come.

Prayer isn’t merely a therapeutic exercise. We are to persist in prayer even when answers are delayed. God forbid that we forfeit the answer because we gave up on the twentieth day rather than persisting to the twenty-first day.

Is there something you have been praying for long enough that you feel like giving up on? Would you persist, like Daniel.

Lord, help me to persist in prayer, I pray.

Extended Reading — Daniel 10-12


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