I inculcated myself into the culture of that region, that people group, and that family. My Satan’s work becomes easier because he no longer has to actively influence us. The culture is—don’t wish it was easier. Satan is not a Creator, guys; he’s a counterfeit. All his demons are fallen angels; all evil spirits are fallen angels—angels that defected with him. They got thrown out of heaven, so his kingdom, in a sense, mirrors God’s Kingdom because he’s a counterfeit. Just like there is rank among the angels, there is a rank among the fallen ones. In Daniel 10, we see what’s called an archangel; Daniel calls him a chief prince, Michael. Daniel prayed and said, «I didn’t hear anything. I fasted for 21 days.» An angel came because the Holy Spirit wasn’t living in people then, so angels were messengers for God. Daniel said, «An angel came and said to me, 'Hey, God sent me the first day you prayed. God sent me.'» Yep—Daniel, chapter 10. Y’all, we have to get this. I promise you I’m going somewhere.
In Daniel, chapter 10, verse 12, I want y’all to see this. This is the angel; we’re going to pick up mid-conversation. This is what the angel says to Daniel: «Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before God, your words were heard. Now, I don’t even have time to deal with that, Allen, because that says a lot about prayer. Sometimes you ask for answers you don’t really want. Yet he said, but the angel said to Daniel, 'When you really got serious and set your mind to understand and humbled yourself, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the Persian Kingdom resisted me for 21 days.' Now let me ask you something: How can a literal prince hold back an angel? That doesn’t even make sense, does it? Keep going.
It says, 'The prince of Persia resisted me for 21 days, then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia.' Am I making sense now? All right, so what the angel is saying is this: 'I was coming to give you your answer, but the principality assigned to accomplish Satan’s agenda in the region of Persia withstood me because he didn’t want you to get the answer.' Where was Daniel? He was serving Darius, King of Persia. Do you understand? Are you hearing what I’m saying?
This principality represents satanic entities that can be assigned to regions, people groups, families—to oppose God’s agenda for that region, people group, or family, and to accomplish Satan’s agenda. Regions can have principalities, nations can have principalities, people groups or ethnicities can have principalities, and families can have principalities. They manifest themselves in the form of strongholds, which isn’t a principality but is evidence of the influence of one. It’s Satan saying, „I’m assigning you to this family. I’m assigning you to this city. I’m assigning you to this people group.“ And the way you accomplish my agenda is by influencing them to act in a way that comes into agreement with what I want, as opposed to what God wants.
Once I inculcated myself into the culture of that region, that people group, and that family, my Satan’s work becomes easier because he no longer has to actively influence us. The culture becomes your family. Y’all not here! The culture now is in the now. Satan doesn’t have to tell you; he did. People groups will start owning dysfunctional behaviors as if it’s their identity. They’ll start saying things like „CP time.“ How dare you attach dysfunction to your identity when you’ve been made in the image and likeness of God? When you are a child of the King, and he’s the King of kings and the Lord of lords!
So, he influences a culture because he knows culture influences people. Now he sits back and says, „I don’t have to do the work because culture is doing the work for me.“ Principalities, am I making sense? The one assigned to Persia was opposing that angel bringing Daniel an answer. See now, let’s just stop and look at this, y’all. You see spiritual warfare right here in Daniel 10. The enemy is using spiritual warfare to stop a man, Daniel, from getting the clarity he needs. See, sometimes we are confused because we are confused, and then there are times we are confused because the devil’s fighting your clarity.
I hear you! So, Daniel said—excuse me—the angel said, „This is the angel of God who recognized that if I don’t get an angel higher in rank, I won’t be able to overcome this fallen angel.“ So, he said, „I had to call for one of our chief princes.“ He said, „Don’t make me call Michael now.“ Gabriel is associated more with messaging; Michael is associated more with warring. The devil disputed with Michael over the body of Moses.
See, y’all, I can’t talk! God sent Michael on 007-type stuff. Oh yeah, he needed a body moved. He said, „Michael, go handle that.“ When Moses died, God looked at Israel and said, „I know them. I need them to grieve and move, but if I don’t help them, they’ll grieve and never move.“ So, I can’t let them…
