THE NEED FOR PREVAILING PRAYER
TEXT - Exodus 17:8-16 8 While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek came to fight against them. 9 Moses commanded Joshua, “Call the Israelites to arms, and fight the army of Amalek. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
10 So Joshua did what Moses had commanded. He led his men out to fight the army of Amalek. Meanwhile Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of a nearby hill. 11 As long as Moses held up the staff with his hands, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites gained the upper hand. 12 Moses’ arms finally became too tired to hold up the staff any longer. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side, holding up his hands until sunset. 13 As a result, Joshua and his troops were able to crush the army of Amalek.
14 Then the Lord instructed Moses, “Write this down as a permanent record, and announce it to Joshua: I will blot out every trace of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 Moses built an altar there and called it “The Lord Is My Banner.” 16 He said, “They have dared to raise their fist against the Lord’s throne, so now the Lord will be at war with Amalek generation after generation.”
INTRODUCTION
Often because I grew up on Bible stories at home and Sunday school etc., I think I know them all pretty well. This is one of those stories until recently.
God recently brought me back to this story and as I read it, words of v12 leapt out at me. “Moses’ arms finally became too tied….” They struck me because I had always assumed that tiredness was the (only) reason Moses put his hands down. But God said to me, “Moses lowered his hands before v12 and it was not tiredness. Moses held up the staff and when Israel had the advantage, he thought it would be OK to put his hands down. When he did of course the Amalekites gained the upper hand. So Moses put this hand and the staff of God up again. The battle turned in Israel’s favour again.”
How many times Moses did this I don’t know. I believe it must have been a least a couple of times for Moses to begin to see the pattern and understand he had to keep his hands and the staff of the Lord up. Then Moses finally get tired and Aaron and Hur, stood along side Moses to help.
God said to me, Moses lowered his hands for the same reason many of my people stop praying - they see in the natural
things improving,
the battle turning their way,
positive change in circumstances etc.
and think it is OK to lower the prayer commitment. They fail to realize that in their prayers, like in Moses hands, is my staff, my banner, my insignia, my standard, my authority.
Like Moses, my people need to learn to prevail in prayer. To pray until I give my people total victory. My people need to see the need for prevailing prayer.
OTHER EXAMPLES
• Negative Example - King Jehoash and Elisha
2 Kings 13:14-20 When Elisha was in his last illness, King Jehoash of Israel visited him and wept over him. “My father! My father! The chariots and charioteers of Israel!” he cried.
15 Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” And the king did as he was told.
16 Then Elisha told the king of Israel to put his hand on the bow, and Elisha laid his own hands on the king’s hands. 17 Then he commanded, “Open that eastern window,” and he opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” So he did.
Then Elisha proclaimed, “This is the Lord’s arrow, full of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek. 18 Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. 19 But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until they were entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.”
20 Then Elisha died and was buried.
The arrows in this story carried the symbolic authority God has the staff in Moses hands. When the king was told to strike the ground with them he thought 3 times is enough. Again like many of God’s people today, we can not see the significance of these things in the spiritual realm. The king would have 3 victories but would not prevail and ‘entirely destroy’ the enemy.
• Positive Example - Naaman the Leper.
2 Kings 5:10-15 Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of leprosy.”
11 But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would surely come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! 12 Aren’t the Abana River and Pharpar River of Damascus better than all the rivers of Israel put together? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.
13 But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply to go and wash and be cured!” 14 So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his flesh became as healthy as a young child’s, and he was healed!
15 Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “I know at last that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.
I use to love this story in Sunday School too. I remember one teacher going through Naaman washing himself in the Jordan, emphasizing the need to it to be 7 times.
The total victory came as Naaman prevailed through to the 7 time. Not just 3 or 4. The total healing came in fully obeying and prevailing.
Christians and the church only see partial breakthroughs. The victory appears to be there, so they stop praying. For a while it seems like battle is won and then enemy gains the upper hand again. “I thought I got the victory in that area?” Friend you received A victory but not THE victory.
Matthew 11:12 ….. the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people attack it.
At times we are too passive with our spiritual enemies, too gracious. God wants to totally crush and utterly destroy those enemies that keep us from Himself and fulfilling what He has destined for us.
We need to prevail in prayer for TOTAL VICTORY.
THE ENEMY
Let me take you back to Exodus 17. I would like us to note a little about the enemy that Israel have to fight this day - The Amalakites.
The Amalakites are very interesting. Israel as representative of us God’s people, had to do battle many different nations and ‘ITES’, through out the OT. They all have lessons to teach us. But the Amalakites teach us the need for prevailing prayer.
Firstly let us note their attack. In Exodus 17 it says ‘that while the people were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek came to fight against them.’ Not a lot of detail here but now read …..
Deut 25:17-18 “Never forget what the Amalekites did to you as you came from Egypt. 18 They attacked you when you were exhausted and weary, and they struck down those who were lagging behind.
Now let us piece some things together here. Rephidim was where the people grumbled and complained about having no water and God told Moses to strike the rock and water was supplied to the people. Yet even with this water it would appear that many remained exhausted and weary and lagged behind.
That tells us that even though the water of God’s Spirit is flowing, people that grumble and complain can miss out on the refreshing and remain exhausted and weary and lag behind and be targets for the enemy.
The Amalakites attacked from behind. Not the front. They were calculated and sneaky. Our enemy sneaks around, ‘seeking whom he may devour’.
Deut 25:19 Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies in the land he is giving you as a special possession, you are to destroy the Amalekites and erase their memory from under heaven. Never forget this!
Because of their method of attack God says – erase their memory. Another reason we need to prevail in prayer and obtain total victory is so we can erase the affects of the devil from our minds. This is arena of battle.
Their Allies - Now go with me to Judges 6:33 Soon afterward the armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east formed an alliance against Israel and crossed the Jordan, camping in the valley of Jezreel.
Amalek had joined forces with Midian and were coming in every harvest season and taking all the crops and cattle etc and leaving God’s people empoverished.
What I want to highlight here is the meaning of the names of our enemy.
Amalek / Amalakites - means dwellers of the valley or keepers in a valley. The goal of the Amalakite enemy is not to allow you to get too strong, to be able climb above and out of a valley, to rise to the heights God has for you. He does not want you to know that you can ARISE!!!!! He wants to keep down, dirty, destitute, depressed, despondent, desperate and diseased.
Here in Judges he has joined forces with Midian. Midian means strife, contention and discord.
One of the keys that the enemy used to keep us in the valley is to sow strife, contention and discord into our life. It maybe around us, within our close relationships and it can even be within us.
Prevailing prayer is a key to keeping that strife and discord out of our life.
Notice this now.
Moses fights the Amalakites and gets the victory by prevailing.
Gideon fights the Amalakites who have joined the Midianites with 300 men. The battle is theirs however notice Judges 8:4 Gideon then crossed the Jordan River with his 300 men, and though they were exhausted, they continued to chase the enemy.
The Answer - Now let us go to the time of King Saul. 1 Samuel 15:1-3 One day Samuel said to Saul, “I anointed you king of Israel because the LORD told me to. Now listen to this message from the LORD! 2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. 3 Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, camels, and donkeys.’ ”
Saul’s mission is clear – completely destroy the Amalekites. For those who know the story, Saul does obtain a victory but not fully obey the commands and keeps some of the plunder.
A key to prevailing prayer is obedience – 100% obedience. Remember the words in our examples - The king did not fully obey he only went part of the way. Naaman washed the full 7 times to receive his healing. He fully obeyed. Saul obeyed only 99% and it had drastic consequences for his reign and kingdom.
Prevailing prayer is to obey God all the way until the end, until there is total victory.
As we continue to read the word of God and arrive at Esther, we find the enemy of God’s people here is Haman the Agagite. The Bible commentators say Haman was a decendant of King Agag of the Amalakites that Saul was suppose to completely destroy.
We need to prevail in prayer to obtain TOTAL VICTORY!
RAISING THE STANDARD
We need prevailing prayer because that is what keeps the staff of the Lord raised.
As I said early the staff is representative of God’s authority.
Listen to this scripture - Isaiah 59:19 When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.
Another word for standard can be banner, insignia.
Illust - When armies of old went into battle there would be person who would hold aloft the standard, the banner, flag the insignia of the army. It carried the seal of the king. It was representative of his authority.
In battle the soldier hold this standard may fall. Another soldier would take the standard of lift it again. As long as that standard remained lifted the army kept fighting. To longer the standard was surrender. Or for the standard to fall into enemy hands was defeat.
Imagine if that soldier saw his army winning the battle and thought I don’t need to hold this up any more, we are winning, I’ll put it down. What could happen. His fellow soldiers see the standard lowered and assume they are surrendered and so stop fighting, giving the enemy again the upper hand.
Friends, the church needs to prevail in prayer. Even if in your arena the battle is going well, don’t lower the standard of God’s authority in the heavenlies.
TOTAL VICTORY
How do we know when there is total victory? One of two things happens.
• Obtain a Revelation of who God is.
After Israel defeated the Amalakites in Exodus 17, Moses receives a revelation of God as Jehovah Nissi - The Lord our Banner. The victory was not in the seeing the need met, but in seeing the ‘need meeter. ‘
As we have been hearing and learning from Heart Ablaze the desire of God is for us to be ‘brought to Himself.’ He wants to reveal Himself to us.
Because we are so orientated to what God can do for us, rather than who He wants to be to us. When we begin to see the answer to prayer we stop praying. God’s wants us to prevail beyond the answer to a need through to total victory over our enemy who has keep us in the valley and from arising to the mountain to see His glory and revelation of Himself.
• Obtain a Revelation of who we are in God.
Many people are praying and having a victory or two. But they are not changing themselves and it gives the enemy the ability to keep coming back at them, keeping them in the valley.
Genesis 32:24-30 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn. 25 When the man saw that he couldn’t win the match, he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is dawn.”
But Jacob panted, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.”
28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “It is now Israel, because you have struggled with both God and men and have won.”
We need to prevail in prayer, because the issue is not a blessing, a healing or answer to a need. Our wrestle is not with a problem but with ourselves. God is trying to change us. Show us what He sees in us. God changed Jacob whose name means deceiver to Israel – a prince of God or with God.
Genesis 32:28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” NKJV
CONCLUSION
