Prayer Warriors – Really
2023 is a microwave year. Things are happening fast.
The current Israeli/Hamas War is certain to be devastating as previous wars have been. In World War II 30,000 civilians died in an air raid in Dresden Germany. Eighty thousand died in one night in Tokyo. War is devastating.
Well-trained and well-equipped, highly motivated young Israelis using sophisticated high tech weapons have undertaken an effort to purge the Gaza Strip of Hamas. Smart weapons, military genius, and dedicated personnel are the means of achieving victory.
Regardless of how skeptical you might be regarding prayer it has often been the essential component for victory in past events.
Historically, the Lord has turned more than one major battle by the weather. Deborah’s victory over the ancient Canaanites, Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, Lord Nelson’s victory at sea over the Spanish Armada, and Washington’s victory over the British are classic examples.
A great concern is that the present generation might presume on the grace of God and inadvisably depend upon sophisticated weaponry. Our gratitude for past blessings should not be replaced by complacency regarding prayer.
Pray for Israel. The potential of Iran, Syria, and Lebanon joining to attack them is real. The forces now in Lebanon pose a real threat. Having the others join with them would be a significant threat.
Pray for America. There is no telling how many threatening forces have crossed the border and are poised to carry out omni destruction weakening us for further destruction.
Here is a third group for which to pray. That is, the innocent Palestinian people in Gaza. There is no nation of Palestine, only a territory. Hamas has taken them over without them having any desire for conflict.
Abraham had one son too many. Hagar bore a son by Abraham. She and her son Ishmael were banished to the desert, though God promised that through Ishmael would raise up a great nation of his own. To them God said, “And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation” (Genesis 17:20). The Palestinian people are his heirs. Their oil rich home lands are their blessing. Pray for the innocent ones in Gaza.
It appears America has a farmable armada poised to aid Israel if needed, and they are sure to be needed if Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq join the fray. Compounding the complexity is the potential of our own homeland made vulnerable by unknown numbers of likely terrorists who have entered by crossing our open border.
Likewise, let’s not become self-critical. There is a tendency in America for some to be self-condemning of America.
President Bush said it well in his address to the nation, “War has no certainty, other than the certainty of sacrifice.” Foremost are the lives sacrificed.
As an aside, when Joshua and the Jews crossed into the promised land they killed the inhabitants of the land. From our perspective that poses some questions. God has a different perspective. He knew the inhabitants of the land and that they all had a mind set opposing His will that would never change; it was permanently fixed. He had Joshua purge the land and provide a homeland free of spiritual and moral contamination. The purpose was for Israel to become a model for all nations. They did for a time before they began to fail in their role.
The present war is for the same reason, a homeland for the descendants of Abraham through Sarah, Isaac.