March 28, 2013 Hands for War

Read Psalm 144 Hands for War Psalms 144:1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. 2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. WHEN you read, “who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle”, you likely think of a soldier raising a sword to attack and defend himself or a man raising his bare hands to fight. Certainly those are appropriate images of this scripture. But let’s consider raising your hands and fingers to do battle in another way, the way of prayer. The image of God’s people raising their hands to praise the Lord and to pray for their safety and strength is, of course, central to God’s story. Jesus certainly prayed often, and he taught us to pray and to battle evil with prayer: Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” The Apostle Paul also urged prayer in the battle to defeat sin and to declare the Gospel to the world: Ephesians 6:18 and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. God’s commands and urgings to pray are relentless. Then what keeps you from raising your hands and using your fingers to pray? Why is it such a challenge? Could it be you don’t know God well enough to feel comfortable talking to him? Could it be you don’t know God well enough to feel sure he’s listening to you? Do you not know you’ve been given the most powerful weapon in the Kingdom of God? It’s True! You must pray.