Exodus 17:8-13
Have you ever felt like life is throwing at you everything but the kitchen sink, and then (pow here comes the kitchen sink)?
It feels like your theme song is (when it rains it pours) and nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen?
Let me take it a step farther: Have you ever felt like there’s a target on your back and like there must be a neon arrow pointing at you saying (He’s over here, she’s over here)?
One more question: Have you ever felt like (this is more than just natural everyday life’s problems, and like this is getting ridiculous, and this is not normal, and this is unusual, and weird?
Well let me Introduce you to the Spirit realm (You have just entered the battlefield where every battle is won or lost).
The truth is we are always in a battle, and the truth is (it is spiritual) and the truth is there are always demons that are at work trying to draw you away from God, trying to destroy your families, and steal your health, and your peace and your joy, and ultimately trying to kill you.
That’s what Jo 10:10 Says (The thief cometh for no other reason but to steal to kill and to destroy).
The thing is that: He often gets by with it, and he is often effective in his work because he is an expert at getting you to focus your attention on the natural.
The devil knows if he can get you to expend all your energy on fighting and struggling and warring in the flesh, that you are already defeated.
Spiritual battles can never be won on natural grounds
Spiritual battles can never be won on physical grounds with physical weapons.
Spiritual battles must be fought with spiritual weapons
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Our battle (Our warfare is Spiritual).
Your enemy is not your neighbor, and not that person that makes your life miserable, and your enemy is not the irs, or dmv, or the dhs or the gov.
And your enemy is not drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and your enemy is not homosexuality or lesbianism, or fornication or adultery.
And your enemy is not sickness and disease, and poverty and lack, (Yes all these things may be manifest against us but they are just masks the devil wears.
Your real enemy and mine is the (d-e-v-i-l).
The good news is: We Have been given Spiritual weapons to fight this battle.
2Co 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Ex. 17:8-13
Fight with Amalek: Note that Joshua and the children of Israel are in a very real physical confrontation, (The amalakites are not imaginary, that are a real enemy that hated the Children of God and wanted to destroy them.
This symbolizes how the enemy uses the natural (The visible, and tangible) things to war against us.
Let me give you an Illustration: No doctor will examine a person and diagnose them with Cancer or With Tuberculosis, or arthritis, or deafness and say to you (It’s a demon) No because they can only see the natural.
But we know that disease may manifest itself in the natural but its roots are spiritual (That’s why sickness is healed spiritually through faith in the stripes that Jesus bore, and by the power of the HolySpirit.
Sickness and disease came with the fall
Sin and Sickness are the double curse
But the blood and the stripes are the double cure (The blood for our sins, and the stripes for our Sicknesses)
Moses said: I will stand on top of the hill
The hill = prayer, It’s called a hill for two reasons
#1 Because real prayer is hard work.
#2 Because the mountain represents the Higher realm, higher than the natural, above the natural.
The rod of God in my hand
What is the significance of the rod of God?
#1 It represents the word of God. ( prayer receives it’s intensity and power through the word of God.) < To pray with power you must pray the word.
#2 It represents the authority we have as the children of God.
When Moses hands were raised with the rod of God the children of Israel prevailed, but when his hands and the rod began to fall Amalek prevailed.
If you see that the enemy seems to be gaining ground in your life, the first thing you need to do is ask the questions
#1 How’s my prayer life?
#2 How’s my Word life?
I mean serious prayer (not now I lay me down to sleep prayers)
and I mean serious word: and not just reading a few verses before bed time, I’m talking about a steady consistent flow of the word of God pouring out of your mouth.
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.
Jesus defeated the devil with (It is written, and then he vocalized what was written)
It is not what is written that defeats the devil in your life: It’s what is written that lives in your heart and fills your mouth that defeats the devil.
The sword of the spirit that defeats the devil is the word of God spoken with authority from a believing heart.
The church and (the cause of Christ universally) advances in the earth through prayer. As the ark was carried upon the shoulders of the priests, so also has God committed his presence and power to the shoulders of praying saints.
On praying ground everyone is equal. The greatest calling of God is not Apostle or prophet evangelist, preacher or teacher but (prayer warrior.) It is prayer that makes the Apostle or prophet.
It is through prayer that we put on and activate and hold in place every piece of the christian armour.
Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
There is no such thing as a victorious christian life without prayer: It is by and through prayer that we wage war. It is through prayer that we receive our provisions for the battle, and through prayer that we receive power for the battle
It is in the closet of prayer that the christian, is dressed for the battle, and for life, You are not dressed until you’ve prayed,
Before David defeated Goliath publicly he had already conquered the lion and the bear privately ( this is symbolic of the prayer battle,)
All public victory owes it’s accomplishment to private prayer.
Jesus Said He that prayeth to his father secretly shall be rewarded openly.
Your Christian life can be easily diagnosed by your prayer life; your prayer life is the
thermometer of your spiritual life.
Charles Spurgeon said of prayer:
send to all the churches of Great Britain, first of all, the power of prayer,and then shall there come conversions of multitudes of souls through the outpoured energy of the Holy One of Israel!
The real battle is Spiritual and the greatest weapon in that battle is Prayer:
But it is not just any prayer that secures the hope and the help of the almighty God
James 5:16
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
EFFECTUAL
Means: "powerful"), full of power to achieve results.
FERVENT,
"to be hot, to boil" speaks of "fervency" of spirit,
It’s a little old fashioned: But I’m not embarrassed to say (I still believe in Holiness, I still believe in purity in word, in deed, and thought, in mind, and I still believe that Holiness is as holiness does) That means that if your heart is holy your life will be too, you will walk holy, and talk holy and dress holy.
I shouldn’t have to see your church affiliation to know you’re a Christian (I should be able to tell it by the life you lead and the company you keep.)
It’s not any old prayer that secures the victory (It’s the prayer of the righteous) and it’s the prayer of the fervent.
A man of prayer once said: "As a painted fire is no fire, a dead man no man, so a cold
prayer is no prayer. In a painted fire there is no heat, in a dead man there is
no life; so in a cold prayer there is no omnipotency, no devotion, no blessing. Cold prayers are as arrows without heads, as swords without edges, as birds without wings; they pierce not, they cut not, they fly not up to heaven.
Cold prayers do always freeze before they get to heaven.
E.m. Bounds said:
God can, and does, tolerate many things in the way of infirmity and error in His children. He can, and will pardon sin when the penitent prays, but two things are intolerable to Him - insincerity and lukewarmness. Lack of heart and lack of heat are two things He hates.
*God does nothing except in answer to prayer. (ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.
You have not because you ask not.
When Moses hands dropped the enemy gained the advantage, When your hands drop, satan gains the advantage, Look at your own life, and ask yourself this question, Have I lost ground? If the answer is yes, then it is due to our weakness in prayer,
This is where the real battle is and this is where it is won or lost.
It has been said (He stands tallest who kneels the most.
I love this story in the bible because it shows us the power of prayer and the inner workings of prayer.
Note that when Moses hands dropped the enemy gained the advantage.
That tells me that no matter how powerful or how anointed a man or woman may be (we need help).
Moses Hands got Heavy: That means he grew tired under the burden, under the weight of the need, that means he felt the weight of the burden.
If you have ever been under a real prayer burden then you know exactly what that feels like.
There is such thing as a prayer burden that weighs on you, and presses upon you.
(Let me add, this is never a bad thing, the burden of the lord is a blessing, it’s an honor to get under the load of prayer, but it can get heavy).
We were never meant to carry the load alone
Aaron and Hur became Moses helpers in Prayer:
I know that we have helpers in prayer in this church, and I know that many of you pray in your homes, but I just want you to know that we have been having prayer mtg here every Thursday at 10:00 am for at least 6 months or more, and we have a faithful core of believers that meet with us here.
And I want you to know that when I look around and see them, and then I hear their voices crying out to God for his presence and his power, for Revival, for souls, for signs and wonders and miracles) I feel their strength in the spirit, I feel their energy, I feel a lifting of the burden as the load is shared.
We appreciate the prayers of every person in this church, and I have special friends that are in other places that pray for us, and I can feel your prayers, and I can feel their prayers, and I can feel that we are not alone in the fight, and I can feel your strength.
If we are going to win the battles that we are fighting we can’t do it alone: We are fellow laborers, and we are comrades, and we are partners, we are a team.
They took a stone and brought it for Moses to sit on: This represents two things:
#1 It represents stabilizing, supporting, establishing, strength
#2 It represents (rest) even though you are in a battle you can rest now because you are not in it alone, (no you can’t quit fighting, but you don’t have to carry the load all by yourself) You can breathe now.
Exe 17:12-13 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword
And his hands were Steady until the going down of the sun (His hands represents his strength, his spiritual power, his effect in the spiritual realm).
I believe today this is the message that God wanted me to bring to you today
#1 We are in a Battle
#2 The Battle is not Imaginary (the battle is real)
#3 The real Battle is Spiritual not physical
#4 We must fight it in the Spirit with spiritual weapons
#5 We cannot win alone
(We need each other)
Every prayer prayed by every person is an integral part of the victory that we win.
I Just feel today that there are some that have felt like you have been up on that mountain alone, and you’ve been trying to hold off the hordes of hell all alone.
I just feel like somebody today needs to feel the strength of this body.
And I feel like somebody here needs to be reminded: You are important (We need you, we need your prayers, we need to hear your voice, your presence strengthens us, your presence adds to us).
We are not complete without you.
We are comrades
We are Co-workers and Fellow laborers.
Where are you this morning? You need prayer right now (You need the strength of this body) You need to be able to relax, not quit the fight, but you need to know you’re not under this burden alone) You need to be able to breathe.
I know you’re here, and I know God gave me this message for you.
