The victory over the Amalekites (Ex 17:8-16) reminds us of the importance of working together and the value of corporate prayer. There is great value in praying individually, but God clearly expects His people to come together to pray.
So often, we treat prayer as something inconsequential, something insignificant, ‘a walking stick to help us through the uneven journey of life’ (Bill Versteeg), when actually it is a powerful weapon that can smash warped philosophies and tear down barriers erected against the truth of God.
It’s time for us to change our perception of prayer from something common to something extraordinary, from a simple walking stick that helps us hobble through life, a crutch or a prop, to something which can change cultures and lives and communities. I’m old enough to remember the threat that Communism was felt to be to the church: how believers were imprisoned and tortured because of their faith and how organisations such as Open Doors set up a seven-year prayer campaign in 1982 against the Communist bloc. How could praying lead to the downfall of political regimes? The fact remains that seven years later, in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, Glasnost became the political order of the day and Communism fell in Eastern Europe. Today, the threats may seem very different to us, but again, prayer will always be our best weapon against every philosophy, religion and culture which sets itself up against God.
We do well to understand that prayer is about much more than asking God to bless us and protect us; it is His weapon to us to defeat every enemy. Prayer is transformative, powerful and the means to victory, but it looks ordinary and is time-consuming and hard work. It has to be done in faith, because there seems to be nothing to it. How could two men holding up another man’s hands and keeping a staff in the air bring about victory? It seems an utterly ludicrous battle strategy, but we see here again the powerful results of prayer.
Moses couldn’t win the battle on his own, and neither can we. It’s crucial that we realise prayer is a powerful spiritual weapon, but it’s also crucial that we realise we need to pray together. There is power in corporate prayer. We need to come together regularly – far more regularly than we are currently doing, I have to say – and seek God’s face together. If we are to defeat the wiles of the enemy, if we are to be a blessing to our community, we have to be equipped with God’s word and we have to pray. There is no other route to blessing and to victory. We have to be prepared to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing (1 Tim 2:8), understanding that as we raise our hands in the sanctuary and praise God (Ps 134:2), we are offering ourselves wholly to God, which is the only thing God really wants from us. Lifting our hands has no magic significance in itself, any more than the staff of Moses had any power in itself, but as we do this, God sees our hearts and accepts our offering, using it – and us! – in ways that are truly remarkable. Let’s pray in faith and let’s pray together!