Prayer: Our Most Dynamic Weapon
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TEXT: Exodus 17:1-13
TOPIC: Prayer: Our Most Dynamic Weapon
FBI, Sunday Morning, February 22, 1998
Bobby Earls
One of the most amazing true stories I’ve heard lately comes from the life of one of our missionaries. Although I may not have all the details I do remember how the story blew me away as I heard it for the first time.
It seems there was a missionary who happened upon a certain village, somewhere in Africa. There he saw two men fighting. The missionary stopped the fight and provided medical assistance to one of the men who was badly injured. Sometime after this the missionary was told by the man he had helped how he had been a part of a group of bandits who had plotted to attack the missionary at his camp. He said they knew he had medical drugs and money. They had intended to kill him and steal the drugs and money.
When asked why they had not done so, the man replied because the night we came to your camp there were twenty-three other men guarding your camp. The missionary laughed because he knew he had been alone the entire time. He said, “there was no one with me.” The man grew serious and said yes there was. My friends and I counted them and there were twenty-three men.
Sometime later back in his home church in America, the missionary began to share this story with the congregation. Before he could finish a man stood up in the congregation and asked the exact date and time this event occurred. When the missionary told him of the time he grew pale.
He then began to tell how on that very day while preparing to play golf he suddenly felt an extreme impression that he should pray for this missionary. (It was evening in Africa.) So the church member called several other men in the church who called several others and they all gathered to pray at the church for this missionary not knowing just why they were praying.
Then the church member said, “I want every man who was here on that day praying for our missionary to stand.” Twenty-three men stood to their feet.
I don’t know what that says to you. But to me it says God hears and answers prayer. It says there is power in prayer. There is a dynamic in prayer that too few Christians and too few churches are experiencing today.
Please hear what God wants to say through this message today. I am totally convinced that if we as a church are to go any further in ministry, if we are to experience
any additional growth, both numerically and spiritually, if we are to see the hand of God upon us in days to come; then we must realize the tremendous dynamic of prayer!
(Read Exodus 17)
Just as Moses, Aaron, Hur and the army of Israel realized prayer as their most dynamic weapon against their enemies the Amalekites, so too must we recognize the important dynamic of prayer as our most important weapon against Satan and all the enemies of God’s people—the church!
I. THE POSITION ASSUMED BY MOSES, Exodus 17.9
I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.
A. HIS AUTHORITY, the rod of God
The rod of God represents the power of God, and the victories of the past., i.e. the Red Sea and the rock at Rephidim,
Exodus 17.5-6 “5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.”
We too have experienced the power of God at work in our church in days gone bye.
B. HIS APPEAL, Exodus 17.11
11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
The rod held in the uplifted hands of Moses represented a prayerful appeal toward God for direction and victory. Moses stood as an intercessor before God and the people.
But Moses could not do it alone. Moses was one of the greatest leaders who ever lived. He spoke face to face to God yet he needed assistance and encouragement.
C. HIS ASSISTANCE, Exodus 17.12
12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Moses in his spiritual service as intercessor grew tired. Ministry is never a one-man show; it requires teamwork.
Aaron and Hur were committed and aggressive prayer partners for Moses.
1. THEY SAW THE NEED
2. THEY SEIZED THE MOMENT
3. THEY SHARED IN THE VICTORY
If we as a church have any hope of continuing in the blessings and victories of God, we must have members who are willing to stand with the pastor and staff as prayer partners in ministry.
If you want a better pastor, surround him with better members. If you want fire in the pulpit there must first be fire in the pews. If you want an excited pastor and staff, you must have an excited people.
II. THE PURPOSE OF AARON AND HUR, Exodus17.10
10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
Aaron and Hur went up
Why did Aaron, Moses’ brother and Hur, a layman, go up with Moses?
(Illustrate by having Bob Ramsey and Terry Adkins come and help hold the rod)
Aaron and Hur were more than moral support to Moses. They served in several ways:
1. THEY STOOD WITH MOSES
2. THEY STAYED WITH MOSES
3. THEY SUPPORTED MOSES
4. THEY STRENGTHENED MOSES
Aaron and Hur stood with Moses from the beginning of the day until the setting of the sun In so doing, they provided the necessary strength and support he needed.
Notice the last two verses, Exodus 17:15-16
15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner,
16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
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. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation." (NIV) Thank you fellows.
In Prayer Shield, C. Peter Wagner wrote, “I’m personally convinced that the following statement is true, ‘The most under-utilized source of spiritual power in our churches today is intercession for Christian leaders.’”
APPLICATION FOR OUR CHURCH
As your pastor I believe God is saying to us that we must focus more on our prayer ministry. One pastor in South Carolina said it well. “With each passing day,” he said, “I recognize God’s plan for prayer in my life personally and in my church. But neither I nor my church are where we should be in our level of commitment to prayer. We have made great strides, but we have so far to go.”
I feel the same way. That’s why I believe God is calling us today through this message to refocus our commitment to prayer, both personally and as a church.
LIST OF PRESENT PRAYER MINISTRIES AND PRAYER MINISTRIES WE NEED TO BEGIN.
1. WE NEED TO BEGIN A PASTOR’S PRAYER PARTNERS MINISTRY.
2. WE NEED TO STRENGTHEN OUR UPPER ROOM PRAYER MINISTRY
3. WE NEED TO BEGIN WORSHIP AND PREACHING INTERCESSORS MINISTRY.
4. WE NEED TO STRENGTHEN OUR PRAYER CHAIN MINISTRY.
5. WE NEED TO REFOCUS THE PURPOSE OF WEDNESDAY NIGHT PRAYER MEETING SERVICE
6. WE NEED THE PASTOR AND STAFF TO SET THE EXAMPLE IN THEIR COMMITMENT TO PRAYER AS THE SOLE SOURCE OF OUR CHURCH’S SUCCESSFUL WORK AND MINISTRY.
Prayer is the greatest dynamic the church possesses. John Wesley recognized this power when he said,
Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire
nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy
or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up
the kingdom of Heaven on earth. God does nothing but in
answer to prayer.
If we truly believe that God does nothing but in answer to prayer, then it’s time to pray!
God’s hand moves when people and pastors pray together. Through prayer, God makes the impossible possible. C.H Spurgeon said, “Whenever God determines to do a great work, he first set His people to pray.”
The story was told that on a certain day Spurgeon gave a few close friends a personally guided tour of the great Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. After showing them the massive theater-like sanctuary where thousands heard Spurgeon preach each Sunday, and where hundreds first gave their lives to Christ, Spurgeon asked if his guests would like to view the church’s heating apparatus. Expecting to see a boiler room Spurgeon opened a door revealing several hundred members of the Tabernacle on their faces before God crying out to Him for His continued blessing upon their great church.
I wonder how many hundreds of our members are willing to commitment themselves to the dynamic of prayer today?