He Wins Victories

This is a bit delayed, but church on Sunday was a huge blessing for me. We did a bit of a study on God as our banner and what that means. Pastor Tim gave us a list of a bunch of passages that use this term... (Numbers 21:8, Numbers 26:10, Psalm 60:4, Isaiah 5:26, Isaiah 11:10-12 Isaiah 18:3, Isaiah 31:9, Isaiah 33:23, Isaiah 49:22, Isaiah 62:10, Jeremiah 4:6, Jeremiah 50:2, Jeremiah 51:12, 27, Ezekiel 27:7, Luke 2:12, Matthew 12:39-40, John 2:11). Anyway, Exodus 14:13-14 as well as Exodus 17:9-11 really stuck out to me as we studied the character of God.

Exodus 14:13-14--But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent."

Exodus 17:9-11--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." Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.

This is very interesting. In both of these situations, it was clear that only God could win the battle. I love how He does things in such a way that we cannot take credit for them. He must receive all the glory! The interesting thing is the differences between these two situations. The first one, the people didn't need to really do anything. In the second one, the people had to take action! Pastor Tim pointed out how the second can be a picture of prayer in that Moses was not at all directly involved in the battle and yet God chose to have Moses put his hands up and when Moses did, they started winning the battle. In the same way, while we are not at all directly related to many situations that people face, we ought to lift them up to Him in intercessory prayer. Another thing to note is that intercessory prayer is difficult. Ever tried praying for an hour? If you haven't, I highly encourage you to do so. I have not had the opportunity lately to do so... or rather have not made the opportunity to do so, but it really sets your mind on things above as Colossians 3:2 commands us to do. I am reminded that He is the one that fights and wins battles... I must do my part, but He ultimately produces the results. As I go to in this interview on Friday at 8 am, I must do my part, but ultimately, it is completely up to Him. If He wants me to have this job, I will have it, and if He doesn't, I will not have it. Pray that His will be done and that I would be diligent in doing what He has me do.