Back in my old school days, we used to do an experiment in science class. When I told my then teenage sons about this, they were very surprised to find out that there was a science class when I was in school! But there was and we used to dissect the triceratops and the tyrannosauruses.
There was this little experiment we would do for real. Maybe you remember it. There's this little hand crank. You know, sort of a generator. And you'd crank it as fast as you could, and it would make a light bulb slowly light up. If you cranked fast enough, you could get a pretty bright light in that bulb. But as you started to wear out, you slowed down and the bulb started to dim and go out.
That little hand crank method was okay for the limited demands of a light bulb, but, man I'd hate to run my whole house that way, huh. I mean, there's the stove and the microwave, the computers, and the TV. Fortunately all of those are not plugged into some little hand crank system when we're trying to get as much juice out of it as we can. That would make you cranky for sure. We plug into this tremendous current and voltage that flows through our house; into a much bigger source really. Now, it's amazing how many folks are trying to run everything in their life by a hand crank.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Prayer That Wins Battles."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Exodus 17; we'll begin at verse 8. "The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 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.' As long as Moses held up his hands that day, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning."
Now, that's interesting! The difference was made by the leader holding up the staff of God. What's the deal with the staff? Well, it represented and in a sense contained the power and the presence of the Lord. What it really means is given to us after the battle is won and in later verses where it says, "Moses built an altar and called it 'the Lord is my banner.' He said, '...for hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord."
See, Moses standing on that hill holding high God's power, represents a leader interceding for his troops. And when he is, there's victory, and when he isn't, there's defeat. You're probably in a leadership role of some kind; I mean you've got influence in your family, or maybe with a group of friends, or in your church or at work. Your number one responsibility is to hold high the power; to keep the focus on prayer, on intercession as the way to win the battles.
Now, our tendency? Well, it's to trust in hand-cranked power; yeah, the power of planning, committees, money, and the power of good ideas and experts, and how smart we are. But human generators cannot meet all the demands of our complex lives. We need the kind of voltage that only prayer generates. We tend to feel that we're not doing anything when we pray. It may seem like it's kind of passive.
Well, Moses might have said, "Well, you know, I'm not fighting the battle. I'm not doing anything." But intercession determines whether all the other weapons will win or not. Prayer doesn't make a difference; it makes the difference. It's not just a glancing prayer. No, you keep at it relentlessly until that battle is won. You don't stop; you don't give up.
Look, are you leading the people around you to make prayer their first resort; not their last resort? Are you modeling for them, asking big with great faith in a great God? Do you model that prayer is a power lifestyle for your family? Do you model to your family that prayer is your primary method of getting things done? Do you pray with people; not just for them, but with them?
Stand like Moses stood above the fray; interceding, reminding your troops regularly where the voltage comes from, and hold high the power!