This story is a dramatic one. It was Israel’s first battle.
• They met the Amalekites at Rephidim.
• Joshua commanded the forces of Israel, while Moses, Aaron and Hur went up on the mountain to pray.
• Moses had the rod of God in his hands.
The encounter was a dramatic see-saw of prayer power.
• At times Israel would appear to be winning, and then the Amalekites; then Israel, then the Amalekites.
• Finally the issue of battle was decided.
• The soldiers on the field were not determining the issue of victory by themselves.
• Rather, the intercessors on the mountain were playing the deciding factor.
Imagine this beautiful picture of those intercessors on the mountain.
• Moses, an old man, held up his hands with the rod of God in them.
• But he grew weary. His friends Aaron and Hur took a stone and put it under him so that he could sit down on it.
• Then they stood on either side and held up Moses’ hands so that they would be steady.
• They did that all day long, “till sunset.” (12:17)
It is a stirring picture of God’s intercessor at work.
• Few on the ground might have noticed, but he was the deciding factor in this battle.
Do you want to do something great for the Lord?
• Be His intercessor. Pray and keep praying for God’s people and His work.
• God needs intercessors today. Why? Because the church needs His power.
Moses understood this right from the beginning.
• Ex 17:9 Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."
• While Joshua plans for battle – choose his men, organise them to fight.
• Moses plan for prayer – he chose his men, Aaron and Hur.
• While Joshua and his men fight on their feet, Moses and his men will fight ‘on their knees’, so to speak.
Do you plan for prayer, like the way you plan for your work, your project?
(1) To win the war, we need BOTH people to work, and people to pray.
• Not either-or but both.
• You cannot fight a war and not pray. You cannot pray and not fight.
Where was Moses’ confidence? In God. He took the rod of God with him.
• His trust wasn’t really on Joshua or the army, but in God.
• It was not about good battle strategy, or the skills of warfare.
• Moses was pinning his hope in God.
The rod of God was previously the “shepherd staff”, remember? An ordinary stick.
• God asked him to take it with him before he entered Egypt – Exo 4:17 “But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.”
• The rod represents the ‘authority of God’. He used it to confront Pharaoh, to split the Red Sea, and now he was going to bring God into the battle.
Today, do we have a rod with us? Yes, the unseen “rod” is the Name of the Lord.
• That’s the authority with have when we come into battle with Satan.
• Jesus says in John 14:13 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.”
• We are going to pray in Jesus’ Name, that the sick be healed, that the sorrowful be comforted, that the lost be saved.
• Without this, we are helpless against Satan.
(2) Get to a vantage point and know where the needs are.
Why take the trouble to climb up the hill?
• Can’t we pray at the foot of the hill? Better still, back in camp, or in the comfort of his tent?
• Will God hear his prayer, if he said it in camp?
• Yes. God hears our prayer wherever we are.
But Moses needs to see. An intercessor needs to know where the needs are.
• To be effective in prayer, you need to address the needs.
• Standing on top of the hill, Moses watched his people and knew their needs and dangers.
• 17:11: “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.”
• How did he know? He was watching over them.
The Bible puts these 2 words together: “watch and pray” (Mt 26:41).
• To watch is to be aware of your weaknesses, limitations, and your needs.
• A good intercessor needs to know where the needs are, where the problem is greatest.
• He is like the watchman on top of the tower, watching out.
(3) We need team prayers.
If we need to play like a team, we need to pray like a team.
• We see here that praying together as a team of 3 was critical.
• In fact, we read in the book of Acts that God’s desire is for the whole church to be praying.
• We need to SUPPORT one another. Moses cannot do it alone.
Even Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, asked the disciples to pray WITH Him.
• Think for a moment, the disciples were taught by Jesus himself how to pray.
• And now Jesus had to ask them to pray with him. He was disappointed they could not. Can we learn to pray together?
Each time Moses lowered down his hands (tiredness), the Amalekites wins.
• We believe God is more powerful than that. He does not need Moses’ raised hands to show His power, or that once they are lowered, He cannot work.
• Yet this event happened because God wants man to know – we need to rely on Him; prayer is important; God acts in response to prayer.
This experience was meant for man. Prayer is critical to the success of the task.
• God specifically asked that this event be recorded down on a scroll.
• Exo 17:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
• Joshua needs to hear it, so that he would not think that it was his own skills or good battle plan that won the war.
(4) We cannot stop. Our hands must be ‘raised’ until the end comes.
This spiritual war against Satan is an ongoing one, until the end comes.
• God can do miracles. Impossible situations can become possible through prayer.
• But we cannot stop. We cannot let go of our guard until the battle is over.
• Moses’ hands got to be raised; they cannot be lowered.
• Do whatever we need – get a stone and sit, get people to hold those hands up – but keep those hands up. 17:12 “so that his hands remained steady till sunset.”
Exo 17:15 Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. In order words, the Lord is my victory.
• It’s easy to say “The Lord is my victory”. We have many triumphant songs that talks about victory in Christ, He is the victorious One!
• But behind that triumphant chant, we usually forget the condition for that victory shout – it’s PRAYER.
• We are victorious today because we put in certain disciplines.
(5) Victory comes through Prayer
Many years ago, Bishop McConnell told a story of something that happened in a little fishing village on the New England coast.
One winter’s day a storm came up suddenly while the boats were out at sea. The men rowed desperately to reach the safety of the harbour. Everybody made it except of one old man named John. He had almost reached the mouth of the harbour when a great wave came along and dashed his tiny boat up against a rock. He managed to pull himself up on a tiny ledge and hang there for dear life.
His friends saw what happened. There wasn’t anything they could do about it. It was growing dark, and the seas were high. All they could do was wait. They built a bonfire on the shore and kept it burning all night. Every once in a while, someone would throw his cap up into the air, hoping the old man would see it.
At last dawn began to break and the winds began to die down. They put out their boats and were able to get close enough so they could bring him safely back to shore.
When the old man had been warmed by the fire and had been given something to eat, they asked what it was like out there. “Well,” he said, “it was the longest night of my life. I made out pretty well at first, but then a big wave came along and flattened me out and I felt myself slipping. I was worn out. I was ready to give up. My old father went down at sea, and I had decided my time had come. But just as I was ready to let go, I looked through the darkness and saw somebody’s cap going up in the air. I said to myself, “If there’s somebody who cares enough about old John to stay out on a night like this, I guess I’m not going to quit yet.” Just then the winds seemed to ease up, and I got a fresh hold, and well, here I am.”
That’s the picture. Connect that picture with Aaron and Hur holding up the hands of Moses, and know that that’s a picture of being connected with Lord’s people struggling at the foot of the mount, struggling in the sea of life.
We cannot afford to give up hope. Pray, and pray and keep on praying.
Will you be the Lord’s intercessor?
