\u201cChoose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites.\u201d\u00a0 These words from Moses to Joshua gave instructions of what he was to do in full military aggressive action.\u00a0 Then Moses said, \u201cTomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.\u201d\u00a0 This was a promise of what Moses \u2013 the man of God chosen to lead \u2013 was going to do as well.\u00a0 The second part, as we\u2019ll see, was most significant.<\/p>\n
Joshua goes into battle and he and his men are winning the battle \u2014as long as Moses (who is up on the mountaintop), keeps his posture aimed towards heaven, imploring God and seeking His favor and strength!\u00a0 As you might imagine, Moses gets tired of holding up his hands to heaven and wearily puts them down.\u00a0 The Bible tells us \u201cAs long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning\u201d (Ex. 17:11).\u00a0 After this amazing phenomenon occurred before his eyes, Moses recruited some help!\u00a0 He cried out to God, found a rock to sit on, and eventually two men, Aaron and Hur, helped to hold up his arms on both sides.<\/p>\n
Can you picture this scene?\u00a0 Moses cries out to God for victory, and the two men beside him are listening and alternately crying out in prayer for God to give the victory.\u00a0 We lose sight of the fact that they weren\u2019t competing in an Olympic game for a medal –they were fighting, wounding, and killing!\u00a0 There were extreme consequences.\u00a0 God was teaching them a lesson about dependence and prayer.\u00a0 God desires our prayers and dependence even when we are \u201ctoo tired.\u201d\u00a0 How many times have you heard, \u201cWell, surely God knows my capabilities and He certainly wouldn\u2019t expect\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
This account challenges me to go beyond my personal comfort or aching body\u2019s natural limitations.\u00a0 God wants me to pray fervently, when I feel like it AND when it is inconvenient.\u00a0 Can you and I pray for God to work that way in our lives and at Grace Christian University?\u00a0 I am committed to this year being a year of greater devotion to prayer (and not just talking about prayer<\/em>, but praying<\/span>)!\u00a0 What difference will it make in your family, church, or class if you devote yourself to prayer?<\/p>\n ACTION POINT<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Don\u2019t think about it more–pray about it!\u00a0 COMMIT yourself to prayer.\u00a0 SET ASIDE TIME while you are driving, cooking, bathing, waiting, or before going to bed, or after waking up to PRAY\u2014God desires to communicate with us!<\/p>\n KBK<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cChoose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites.\u201d\u00a0 These words from Moses to Joshua gave instructions of what he was to do in full military aggressive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[103,43],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"class_list":["post-20695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-presidents-blog","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n