Gabriel Brings an Answer

                                                                     Daniel 9:20-23

 

April 3, 2024

 

Gabriel Brings an Answer

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.  He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.  At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision.

 

When and only when we as a people cry out to God, first confessing our sins of a love affair with the world, or anything above Him, and the sin of our Nation, and seek God’s face and not His hand, will we see the answer to our prayers.  I have also come to the understanding that when we call things what God calls them, we experience a closer walk with our God.

 

 To my knowledge, I have never had a vision, I’ve had a few bad dreams, and I‘ve never had God send Gabriel to me.  But God has sent both men and a few of their wives to help me understand many things.  My first mentor was Jack Archer, an independent oilman, who was known as “Dry Hole Jack” in that his first 19 wells were dry holes.  But number 20 was a winner that made him a millionaire.  Jack and 11 men, all high rollers, bankers, lawyers, and successful men in Corpus Christi, were invited to Laity Lodge in the Texas Hill Country.  That weekend, all of them entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

 

It is interesting how I came to meet Jack; it was at a bar in Corpus Christi.  My friend Johnny Anderson asked if I would like to have lunch with Jack and a guy named Hayes O’Quinn, with the Billy Graham films.  I told you it was a bar with good barbecue, but it also had Playboy's best picture above the bar.  While Jack was asking God to bless the meal and our time, I was scoping out the center flows.   Yes, I had Christ living in me, but I was just a baby in Christ with a lot of the patterns I had learned in 27 years of life on Planet Earth.

 

That is how I met Jack, and Jack was not that far ahead of me in his walk with the Lord.  But Jack knew something I needed to know; it was the Key to a relationship.  He told me I was greatly loved by God, showed me that in the Bible, and introduced me to some great books like “Faith is the Victory” and many others.  Jack had a sign at the Ranch in Johnson City, Texas that said “Smile, you Rascal, God knows all about you and loves you anyway.”

 

Daniel was faithful and blessed, but I am sure that what Gabriel told Daniel was, “and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.”  Daniel needed that, and so did you, and so did I.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

A great Quote: 

 

“You can’t, but God can.  You’re weak, but God is strong.  You’re tired, but God does not sleep.  You’re confused, but God is all-knowing.  You’re limited, but God is limitless.  You can’t see how, but God is how.