癤풥old Your Hands Up in Prayer
(Ex 17:8-13)
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?€Prayer is the greatest gift from God to every Christian. The prayer enables us to overcome all trouble and difficulties we face in the world. Even Jesus, the Son of God exerted himself to pray to God. Our prayer should be what sustains our lives. Exodus chapter 17 contains an event that teaches us about the importance of prayer.
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1. The attack of the Amalekites on Israel
?€When did the Amalekites attack the Israelites? The Israelites were attacked when they grumbled against God for water in the place called Massah (Ex 17:8). Grumble and complaints give way to the attack of the devil, our enemy. The devil attacks us when we are spiritually lethargic and weakened (Dt 25:18). The devil always wants to take advantage of our weak spot. Whether it is money, the opposite sex, or your short temper, anything that you are susceptible to can be a target of the devil?셲 attack. That is why we should spiritually stay awake and alert (1Pe 5:8).
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2. The Moses in prayer
?€The authority of the spiritual leadership stems from the example that they set through their prayer in times of trouble (Ex 17:9). Common leaders may get lost in bewilderment when they come across an overwhelming problem. However, spiritual leaders in the same situation kneel down to pray to God, the Almighty, asking for His Help. While Moses was leading the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years, every time he faced problems, he sought help from God in earnest prayer (Ex 15:25, 17:4). When we call out to the Lord in prayer, God performs wonderful miracles for us (Jer 33:3, Php 4:6-7) As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. Prayer should not stop. We should cling to the Lord in persistent and tenacious prayer (Ac 2:42). As Moses continued to pray with Aaron and Hur holding his hands up, the Israelites had victory over the Amalekites.
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3. Yahweh-Nissi
?€After he defeated the Amalekites, Moses built an altar and called it Yahweh-Nissi (Ex 17:15), which means the Lord is my Banner. God promised to be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation (Ex 17:16). We have the Amalekites that hound us throughout our lives. Through prayer we must defeat the Amalekites of grumble, complaints, and unfaith in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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?€Do not shrink back in fear from the obstacles in life, our Amalekites. I pray that you live a victorious life through unceasing prayer to God, who becomes the banner of victory for us just as He did for Moses and the Israelites.