“And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed.” – Exodus 17:11

In Exodus 17, the people of Israel were fighting a desperate war against the Amalekites. Moses took the high ground to watch over Israel and pray for them. As long as Moses kept his hands up and prayed, the battle would go well. If his hands fell, the Israelites would start to lose. So to help the army of Israel, Arron and Hur helped lift up the hands of Moses to keep him praying. In the end, the Israelites won the war.

This story held a lot for me personally as a Christian in today’s world. Our first obligation is to keep in close contact with God to know more about His will and what He thinks is right rather than what this fallen world defines as good. We come close to God through prayer, which is a dialog between us and our Lord. It’s where we find out more about Him and thereby find out more about the life we were truly meant to have. Unfortunately, we all get tired sometimes. We may even hit some dry spells in our prayer and our walk with Jesus Christ. That’s when the rest of us need to be lifting those weary people up in prayer, and in doing so, we can all continue to fight the battle.

When we feel led by the Spirit to pray and talk with God, we are blessing those we pray for. However, when we feel dry and walking through a kind of spiritual desert, our prayers mean even more. It is those times that we don’t quite feel like praying that we have the most power in our prayers. We aren’t being led to pray, we instead do it because it’s what we ought to do. Those times when we are free to pray or not are the times that we really strike back at the devil the most. True freedom is not just doing whatever we want; it is being able to do what we ought to do.

You can’t have it both ways. Either we are working for God or the devil. The devil wants us to use our freedom for the wrong things in order to tear down the kingdom of God. If we instead use our freedom to further the help and healing of the nations, we deal a serious blow against his wicked ways. With every prayer, we can help change the story for another lost soul. We don’t always pick the right way for ourselves from day-to-day, but other good and faithful Christians lifting us up in prayer can make all the difference. So go forth and do the same for others, no matter what your day has been like or whether you feel like doing it or not.

Some people are concerned about what to pray when talking to God. I say that if you can’t muster up what you think is a solid prayer, then pray about praying. God likes honesty and knows what’s in your heart. And if you are in a situation that knocks you to your knees and all you can get out is the name of Jesus, take heart. The precious name of Jesus is one of the most powerful prayers there could ever be. He is our stronghold in times of trouble. Run to Him, no matter the circumstances.

Also, just because you had a rough day and maybe made some sinful choices, don’t think that God isn’t listening to the pleas of His children. Although you fail sometimes, that doesn’t make you a failure. God will never see you as a failure, even if you yourself do. God knows His own and is ready to be a good father to us, even when we aren’t necessarily ready to be good children for Him. No matter how strong we are or how holy we think we have become, we can always backslide if we aren’t careful. The devil is a tough opponent, but one we are promised we will defeat as long as we stick close to Jesus.

So don’t give up and don’t give in to the devil. And just because you and I may be preachers, pastors, or good professing Christians, don’t you think that it can’t happen. We can all fall now and then. It takes the prayers of the faithful to keep the rest of us in the battle. So please, you pray for me and I’ll pray for you. Together we shall be victorious.

God’s blessings to you.

DH