The Battle Overhead

        It was a great host of small birds against one giant hawk. Determined to beat the large predator threatening their nests, the little birds dive-bombed the hawk, and squawked loudly hoping to scare him away. I was glad to see that nothing was dangling from the beak of the hawk, or from the deadly talons that sat beneath the bird's belly. If you have been keeping up with my earlier blogs, you will know why I say I was glad about that particular thing. Yet, I was afraid that if I watched much longer I would see him grab one of the small birds attacking him, so I looked away. It was then that I noticed a lady walking along the sidewalk, calmly pushing a baby stroller. She seemed oblivious to the battle that raged over her head, never once glancing up to see what all the noise was above her. 
        I do not know the outcome of that battle, but it got me thinking:  how many time are there battles, such as the one I witnessed, that rage in the heavenly realm and we are completely unaware of them? In Daniel it says that he fasted and prayed for three weeks, waiting for the Lord to answer his prayer. An angel finally appeared and informed Daniel that he had been trying to reach him since the very moment Daniel had began praying, but the Prince of Persia had kept him from going anywhere. Michael, one of the chief princes of the angels had to be called in to assist the other one trying to break through. It took those twenty-one days to finally gain the victory. How many times do we pray and expect an answer right at that moment, and then leave our knees disappointed we did not hear anything in our own timing. We give up too soon. God's timing is not our timing, but His timing is always perfect. Be patient with Him; there may be a major battle raging over our head at this very moment. The devil does not want us to be victorious. He will do all he can to stop us from hearing God's reply. When God answers it only proves to make our faith that much stronger, and that makes the devil afraid and downright angry. Do not ever give up on Him - keep your eyes focused on His face, and He WILL be faithful to deliver you and answer you.

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