Psalm 9:10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
God cares about our earnest prayer. Being earnest is more than repetition or how long we pray. It’s our sincerity, concern and honesty in our offering to our Father. This kind of prayer is believing who God is and that He does reward those who seek Him.
Courageous Prayer
Daniel heard the edict signed by the king which said if anyone prayed to any god or man other than king Darius, they would be thrown into the Lion’s Den, and the Bible says he went to his room as always three times a day, knelt towards Jerusalem at his opened window and prayed. Now, that’s courageous prayer (Daniel 6:10). In our world today that grows increasingly secular, where people scoff at the name of God and prayer, we must have the same courage as Daniel. We must walk by faith in God, continue in prayer and be a witness for Him in everything we say and do. After all, if God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)?
Spirit Filled Prayer
We want our prayers to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Be filled is what Paul tells us. “Be filled” here in this scripture is in the present tense, not a once-for-all experience. We are given power to worship, witness and testify by God’s own Spirit. What could be better than praying each day to be filled with the wonderful working power of God?
Praying in the Spirit
We absolutely need help in our prayer life. Our Lord Jesus told us He would pray to the Father and He would send to us another Helper in John 14:16. Thank you Jesus for sending help that will abide within us forever! Thank you Jesus that your first intercessory prayer for us was a request for help. Because we don’t always know what we should pray as we ought, we can know the Holy Spirit is there (Romans 8:26-28). He will take these prayers and turn them into ones that are “according to God’s will”.
Effective Prayer
Being washed in the blood of Jesus Christ makes you righteous in the sight of God. Therefore, you can go to the Father in confidence of an effectual prayer to the One who hears and will answer. James 5:13-18 says, the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. When you continue living in righteousness in Christ by faith and grace, you are offering effective prayers to the Father!
As we begin the new year of 2018, let us resolve a closer relationship with Jesus through His renewal in our inward self. This renewal will only come when we meet with our Lord and Savior each and every day. As a new Christian this is especially important. Our fellowship with Jesus on a daily basis is our sustaining victory over the world who does not understand our love of God. Let us resolve to make time for Jesus everyday without exception. This will take great planning on our part. Without a plan, we cannot expect to succeed. We may need to even “fast” sleep. Set your alarm 30 minutes earlier. I know through my own experience, God will sustain and give you all the rest you need if only you will “Come to Him”. Read Matthew 11:25-30. “Come to me…and I will give you rest…Learn of me…and ye shall find rest unto your souls”. In these verses we can also learn how meek and humble Jesus is. Learning to be humble is truly a lesson in love and one learned only through fellowship with Him.
In your morning time with Jesus, pray and bow before Him asking for His love and He will pour an abundance into your soul. Jesus’ love in your heart will help you to share his love to those who have yet come to know Him. When we were forgiven our sins…when we were accepted into the family of God…when we were filled with His Holy Spirit, this was God’s grace given to us and this grace can only be preserved by daily renewal in fellowship with Him. At the time of our salvation, we were also instilled in our inner self the “want” to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. Through precious time with the Father daily in prayer and through the reading and listening to His word, will we be renewed day by day. This is the promise given in 2 Corinthians 4:16. Our daily renewed souls, will allow us to humbly “Preach Jesus”. You see, our faith in Jesus will come under attack daily and we must strive to learn from Him. Going to His word every day without fail. Not allowing the pace of this world to keep us from His word.
His truths will bear witness to all.
Read 2 Corinthians 4. Paul is teaching us….this world will wear you down! Unbelievers and the god of this world will come against you on every side (vs. 8-9). Paul teaches that the world cannot see the Light of Life (John 1:4). The world cannot understand the light of Jesus within you and your favor of God will be envied and ridiculed.
Go to Jesus each day. Learn from Him. Be filled with his love.Be humbled.
As believers, we have a ministry to share the Light of Life, to share Jesus! By the renewal of your inner self, you can share His light. Others must see His love before they can begin to understand. Renew you inner self with His love. Sow the seed of love and God will do the growing. Just as you carry your cross every day, the dying body of Jesus, the life of Jesus — His resurrection, may also be shown in you (vs. 10).
So, as we begin 2018, let us be renewed daily. And not only for our ministry to share the Good News, but to also strengthen our faith. Remembering from God’s word through the work of the Holy Spirit within us, that we are only passing through this world. When trials of life come, when the road gets bumpy, and cumbersome on our soul…we can know there is a better time coming…a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, … for things which are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal. (vs. 17-18).
9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”10 Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.12 But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.
We are to praise God for who He is. Being a child of God surely rewards us many benefits, but when our hearts are truly submitted to Him and we walk in His image, praising Him is what we do because we love Him. Hands up! Praise God! Continually praising and thanking Him for everything we have. When Moses’ hands were up – there was VICTORY – and when our hands are down – there is LOSS. Lives today are filled with spiritual warfare. We will have roller coaster days. We will have many challenges, we will begin to feel like Job. But no matter the roller coaster we’re on, we should just PRAISE GOD. You see God is faithful! And keeping our faith in Him, we will be victorious, we will rise against our problems and our challenges will turn into opportunities to praise Him!
In verse 9 of our Scripture, Moses told Joshua (the spiritual leader and the army leader – we need both) to go down to Rephidum and fight against Amalek. The name Rephidum means “bed or place of rest”. The Amalekites were enemies of the Israelites and were the “first of the nations” to make war against Israel (Numbers 24:20). At the time of attack, the Israelites were thirsty, worn out and weary from their journey through the wilderness. You see, the Amalekites had no fear of God and an unrelenting brutality towards God’s people. It was said they were plunderers and harassers, dwellers of the valley, cavemen and war-like.
Our enemy today is the same! Satan wants us down and out in the valley, overwhelmed, beat down and thirsty. As mentioned above, Rephidum was a “place of rest”. Here God miraculously provided water from a rock for the Israelites. And even though they were complaining about this journey in the desert, I believe the people were feeling a bit over confident. After all, they had made it through the Red Sea unharmed and had been provided manna for food. Yes, God tells us to rest physically but never spiritually because the devil will strike us when we’re “at rest”. We’ll be caught off guard and won’t see his subtle attack on our life. He wants to plunder and harass us at every turn and yes, he like the Amalekites is unrelenting against God’s people. We cannot become lackadaisical! Just about the time we think everything is all set and we’re confidently moving forward, Satan will attack!
In verse 9 we see that Moses didn’t stay in the valley. He said, “I’m going up on the mountain”. Here we can see a future glimpse of Calvary! As we seek God, looking to the power of God through the work of Jesus on the cross, we as followers of Christ, should remember His work with our “hands up” in praise and prayer, surrendering our lives to Him and allowing our brothers and sisters in Christ to help us! That is exactly what Aaron and Hur did for Moses during the battle! In verse 11 Aaron and Hur saw that when Moses’ hands were up, the Israelites were winning the battle, and when his hands fell, Amalek started winning. The verse then goes on to say Aaron and Hur found a stone and set Moses upon it, they positioned themselves on either side of him and held his “hands up”!
Psalm 5:11-12
11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. 12 For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.
Jesus is the rock and our brothers and sisters are our help! We need to keep our “hands up”, praising God” and when needed, use our church support group! Just praise the Lord and praise Him continuously. There is a battle going on in each of our lives. We can praise God for WHO He is, what He’s already done, what He’s doing right now and what He’s going to do! Heaven is awaiting!
Joshua and the army were physically fighting. We too must do the same thing every morning, putting on the whole armor of God.
Moses’ burden was heavy for his people. We also carry burdens for our family and church family. We will need to help and be helped along this journey. But with our hands up, praising God, we can know and trust our battles to be VICTORIOUS in the name of Jesus!
