Pressing Through Delay: The Daniel Prayer Model

In this episode of The Press Movement Podcast, we dive deep into the power of pressing in prayer—what it means to apply force when life is applying pressure to you. In this final prayer from the book of Daniel, we shift our focus to Daniel 10–12, exploring how one man’s prayer and sacrifice stirred spiritual warfare and angelic intervention.

Daniel didn’t just pray—he set his heart to understand, fasted, and positioned himself to hear from God. This episode teaches us how to seek God with urgency, discipline, and expectancy. We’re reminded that when we truly press in, heaven responds. The war in the heavens may delay the answer, but God sends it the moment your heart turns toward Him.

Now is not the time to be silent. Cry out. God is listening.

📖 Daniel sought, God answered—will you seek too?

#PressToPray #PowerOfPrayer #PrayerWarrior #DanielFast #FaithInAction #SpiritualWarfare #TMYouthCamp #HolyGhostFire #BibleStudyPodcast #EndTimes #SeekGod

Transcript

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the Press Movement Podcast. Thanks for joining us.

We've been somewhat alternating weeks instead of publishing every week right now. During the summer, it has been incredibly busy. If you've not heard of TM Youth Camp, let me tell you, the Lord has been moving all summer.

TM Youth Camp is a camp that my mother started 45 years ago with my father. And it has been such a blessing to tens of thousands. And this year was absolutely no different from the miracles the Lord did to how many were saved.

So many were baptized in Jesus' name. Most of the camp actually came baptized in Jesus' name. But we were able to baptize six, but 38 got the Holy Ghost.

It was being poured out. It was being poured out seemingly to whomever asked. It was an amazing time where hundreds came together for a week from various states.

We grew together. We cried together. We sought the Lord together.

And he did not disappoint us. With that said, we were so busy. I did not get to release the podcast, but we're glad to be back on track as summer's coming to an end.

And we're finding ourselves today in Daniel chapter 12, verse 8 is where the prayer is. It says, And I heard, but I understood not. Then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? This prayer, this conversation is really jumping in the middle of a time where Daniel had been seeking God.

Daniel chapter 10 lets us know that there was something revealed to Daniel in verse 1. It says that it was true, but it was for an appointed time. And that time was way in the future. It says he understood and had an understanding of the vision.

But as you look throughout, and even as in the prayer we just read in chapter 12, he was still seeking God for more concerning this. The Bible says when he saw this vision, he went into mourning three full weeks. And it also lets you know in verse 12 that he set his heart to understand and to chasten himself before God.

So Daniel went into this time, a sacrifice of 21 days. He didn't eat any pleasant thing, the Bible says, but he also positioned himself to get answers from God. So while he understood, it seems through the scriptures that there was another level of understanding that he wanted from God.

He could see the vision, he could write the vision, but he went into intercession and sought the Lord and wanted more clarity. It is here where if you've studied prayer at all, the famous Daniel was praying for 21 days and the angel came and said, day one, the answer was sent, but I was withstood by the Prince of Persia and wrestling to get you your answer. And Michael came to help me to get me free.

And he describes a whole picture of the war in heaven in response to Daniel's not only seeking God, but him setting his heart to understand and to chasten himself before God. I think it is a easy thing to say Daniel just prayed and his answer came, but it just was delayed. That is not what the scripture says.

He set his heart to understand and he chastened himself before God for 21 days. This is important because there is a difference between praying and really seeking God. There are levels to this and going after God for his will, his direction.

You can do that with just your mouth, but there are times when you have to seek God and put some action to your request. That means you're not content just using your mouth. You also couple it with sacrifice.

You also couple it with determination, determination that God, I have to get an answer from you. That is what we see from Daniel. He's making a sacrifice to God in his 21 days.

I'm not taking any pleasant bread, but he's also determined I'm going to get an answer. Though his sacrifice took 21 days, the Bible does not let us know anywhere that he was prepared to stop before he had an answer. You see, that is seeking God.

That is urgent. When you determine in your heart, God, I have to know you. I have to know more, even more than what you've already shown me, even more than what you've already given me.

God, I have to have more. I need you and I cannot be complacent. I appreciate your answers.

I appreciate your response, but I need you. Open my understanding, open my eyes, speak to me again. Whatever you got to do, I just want you.

It's not even about telling him how to do it. It's just positioning yourself so he can do it and find you waiting on him. I am waiting right here.

I am cleansing myself so that I'm ready to hear whatever you got to say. I'm chastening myself and my heart is positioned where you're the sole focus of it. Today, there's times we still need to do that, where we need to position ourselves accordingly, where we have to act like when we really want something from God, we're really going to seek him until we get it.

This is not a day of great discipline. Most of us can get what we need fairly easily. You have food, you have clothing, you have shelter.

It may not always be what we want, but we have access to something. But to take the time, especially being in the king's house where Daniel would have had access to the finer things of life and being in the king's favor, he would have been able to get X, Y, Z. To take the time to say, No, Lord, I just want more of you. Help me to set my heart right so that when you come, I'm in position to receive whatever you're going to give me.

Not putting the time on it, but putting the mission first. I'm going to seek you until I find you. This is the position of not only prayer, but sacrifice and discipline that Daniel finds himself in.

And the Lord does. He speaks to Daniel about our times. He speaks to Daniel about what's to come.

And I do not have time to teach on this, nor do I honestly feel totally qualified. But I love what we learn here in Daniel chapter 10. And in looking at what's to come, we're not going to dive heavily into the Lord's response this time, because chapters 10, 11, 12, he really is opening Daniel's understanding.

And there is so much to be studied and so many varying viewpoints on these chapters, because they are still forthcoming. We are still living on the cusp of what Daniel saw. I think we can see better how it's going to come to pass and even see where I believe it's going to come to pass in our lifetimes.

But we're still living on the brink of Daniel's prophecy. What we're taking from the scripture today, though, is the posture of a man who gets answers from God for even somebody else, for understanding to know him. What kind of man gets favor with God? He, in this instance, a man who gets understanding, who gets favor is Daniel.

And you see in chapter 10 really the response to Daniel's seeking of God. The Bible says in verse 10 that a hand touched him while he was seeking the Lord. And at this point, he's broken.

He has spent 21 days taking no desirable food, not eating what he wants, not eating anything that would have been tasty or satisfying to his flesh. And the Bible says there's a quake. And the men around him, they did not see the vision that Daniel saw, but they did feel the quaking.

And they ran and they hid themselves, the Bible says. And so Daniel's alone and he has this great vision. But he said he had no strength.

He said, for my comeliness was turned into corruption. And the Bible says he heard the voice of the words. And when he heard the voice of the words, he fell into a deep sleep on his face toward the ground.

And a hand touched him and said, Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I will speak to thee and stand upright. He goes on to tell him, fear not. For from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard.

And I am come for thy words. He said, but the prince of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.

And I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now am I come to make thee to understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days. For yet the vision is for many days.

The Bible says that when he had spoken such words to me, I set my face to the ground and became dumb. Daniel is laid out. He's speechless at this point.

That's what he's saying. But we cannot overlook the fact that when we go to prayer, sacrifice and setting our heart to seek the Lord, there is a spiritual warfare that's happening. And it's not up to us to fight.

It's up to us to trigger it, to say, God, we're here. We're ready for the other side of this war and the heaven's fight, the heaven's war. I don't get caught up in angels and all of that more than the fact that the Lord uses them as messengers and he sends them at his will.

I don't celebrate the angels is what I'm trying to say. That's kind of like celebrating the one who delivers the mail over the one who wrote the contents of it. But I'm grateful God uses whatever he has to use to get you an answer.

But you have to understand that we are in a spiritual fight. And when we cry, it triggers God to fight for us. And we don't see the whole process.

We don't always know how he's going to do it. But here in Daniel 10, we get just a little glimpse of how God is fighting for us. And yes, he's using an angel to do it, but it's God fighting for us.

And when this angel appears and Daniel's kind of freaked out, which you really can't blame him, kind of going like speechless and face on the ground and just overwhelmed. And he's weak. He said, I don't have any strength.

There's no breath left in me. Like, I'm just about to check out of here. The Bible says that this angel touched him and strengthened him, told him to be strong.

And the Bible says in verse 19, when he told him to be strong, he was strengthened. And that angel's job was done. Bible actually says, he said, Knows thou wherefore I come unto thee, and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia.

When I am gone forth, though the prince of Gratia shall come, but I will show thee which is noted in the scripture of truth. And there is none that would hold it with me in these things, but Michael, your prince. So he references actually other angels and that this is a whole network in heaven.

God has fighting for us. Chapter 11, it really does describe the rise and fall of kingdoms and alliances. It talks about the king of the south coming with riches and the king of the north, who's a raiser of taxes and destroyed not by anger or in battle.

So he's just going to die, it seems like. And then there rises up this other guy. The Bible calls him a vile person, which means full of disdain, despicable, contemptible.

He's kind of the worst of the worst. But what he's going to do is show up peaceably and win the kingdom through flatteries. So it's the worst of the worst, but he's talking the best.

And strategically, he's going to take the kingdom. He's going to conduct an unprecedented scattering of the people. Verse 24 says he'll enter peaceably, but he's going to do something even his predecessors haven't done.

And he's going to scatter the people of Daniel among the prey. The Bible says he'll stir power and courage and go against the king of the south with a great army. And there's going to be more wars and all these things.

But he's going to go back to his own land eventually. The Bible says in verse 28, his heart shall be against the holy covenant and he shall do exploits in return to his own land. So he's out here, he's fighting everybody.

He's doing all these things. But as a leader, he talks really good game. Bible says in verse 30 that he'll have indignation, anger against the holy covenant, and he shall even go back where he came from and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

He's making alliances with people that have left God like him. I heard a podcaster recently say everything is theology. We look at the things that are happening in our world, the wars, the exposures of things happening in our governments, who's in power, who's not.

And we look and say, you know what, that's not right. But rarely do we understand how deep it is that everything really is theology, the study of God, the ideal of what they believe God to be. In so many areas, when we see people get really deep into achievement or people becoming notable, there's often a spiritual component to what they had to do to get there.

You see certain groups that seem to be in power that are ruling class. You look them up over time, whatever dynasty you want to name them as. I really don't want to be political, so I don't want to name too many names.

But if you look at the richest families or the families that have reigned in governments, even here in the United States, are those they're connected to. At the bottom of the pile, you almost always find the same things, that there's some sort of sexual sense. There's perversion.

There's cover-ups. There's lies. There's secrecy.

Why? Because at the bottom of the pile, there's something else operating here. It is anti-God. They institute things that are anti-God.

What you're seeing is the beginnings of the vision Daniel had coming to fruition, that this man who would step into power would be anti-God and anti-the holy covenant, the holy promises. He would bring together those that were against the promises, too, and scatter those to whom God promised things. In verse 31, it says, An arm shall stand on his part.

He's talking about power. And they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength. Again, the attack always ends up being against the church, against those who God knows, against his name.

It always comes back to that. That's why it's so important that those of us who follow Jesus Christ, don't try to identify first as anything but his. Whatever may try to get you to pick this alliance or that alliance, our true job is to look and see, where is God in this? Because that's the only alliance I want to make.

And the Bible describes as he stands up in power, and the powerful people are taking a stand on his part, and they're polluting the sanctuary, and they take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that make it desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries. Again, he's still talking a great game.

The way he's leading the people to rally against God is by flattery and power. He sounds like somebody they want to follow, and he has strength behind him. But the Bible says, The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

One thing that is trending throughout the entire Bible, is that when you're right before God, he does not forget it. You do not have to be weak. You do not have to fail.

Not in any dispensation do the people of God lose. But it's a war. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity, by spoil many days.

The Bible describes this time where there's another power. And this power is not hesitant to step into the place of God. The Bible goes on in chapter 12, and it continues what he's speaking of in chapter 11.

He tells Daniel, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Somebody's going to understand this one day, Daniel.

So close it. Keep it. So Daniel looks and he sees two additional angels, and one standing on one side of the river and one on the other.

And the one says to the man in the middle who was upon the waters, how long shall it be to the end of these wonders? Bible says, And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river. And he held up his right hand and his left hand into heaven and swore by him that live forever, that it shall be for a time, times and in half. And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

And I heard, but I understood not. Then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And the angel responds right away. Go that way, Daniel.

For the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. The only response to Daniel's prayer in this instance of what shall be the end of these things was Daniel write it down and seal it up, seal it up till it's all over. We get to see the response to Daniel's prayer.

When you set your heart to seek the Lord, to know him, to be right before him in seeking him, he's not going to disappoint you. He will respond. He may not tell you everything you want to know, but he will tell you what is profitable for you and for the future.

Today, I encourage somebody to dig deeper in God. We need people who will be holy and seek the Lord. Is that you? I pray so.

Because prayer reaches every single situation. Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears? I know some of us have prayed and we're wondering how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows? How will I know God is answering? And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice. It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have.

You have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you. It's Too Quiet, a book about prayer. It's designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith.

Visit PressToPray.com