Month: August 2023

¹¹ AS LONG AS MOSES HELD UP HIS HANDS, THE ISRAELITES WERE WINNING, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. Exodus 17

⁸ I WANT MEN EVERYWHERE (For all people) TO LIFT UP HOLY HANDS IN PRAYER WITHOUT ANGER OR DISPUTING. (Anger and DISputing block God’s Spirit) 1 Timothy 2

(Many words beginning with ‘DIS’ are NEGATIVE AND FAITH QUENCHING e.g. DISease, DIScouragement, DISappointment; be careful not to use words beginning with ‘DIS’!)

The Connection between Moses’ upraised hands, while holding the Staff of God and Israel’s victory on the battlefield was an UNFOLDING TRUTH.

⁸ The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Exodus 17

Israel’s first battle after leaving Egypt was provoked by the Amalekites and Israel had no option but to fight. Sometimes it’s the only option God’s people have. Ephesians 6 urges us to, ‘Put on the FULL ARMOUR OF GOD, so that when (Not If) the day of evil comes we may be able to STAND OUR GROUND. This unprovoked attack wouldn’t end well for the Amalekites, because God Himself would fight against them and, ‘blot them out from under heaven’.

¹⁰ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 

Joshua fought the Amalekites, but Moses, Aaron and Hur stood on the hill overlooking the battle. They soon realised that it was the position of the Staff of God in Moses’ hands that was the decisive factor in the outcome of the battle. The Amalekites were capable of defeating Israel, but the UPRAISED HANDS of God’s servant ensured victory for Israel. Moses couldn’t hold up the Staff by himself, but Aaron and Hur stood with him until complete victory was won.

Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. ¹³ So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. 

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll AS SOMETHING TO BE REMEMBERED and make sure that Joshua hears it …

All Israel’s victories came from God and we are just as dependent on Him today. He wanted this victory recorded so that His people would know to look to Him in the ‘day of evil’.

When Paul spoke to his spiritual son Timothy about the Ephesian Church, he didn’t just tell them to pray, but to ‘LIFT UP HOLY HANDS IN PRAYER’. Derek Prince said that every word for ‘Worship’ in the Bible relates to a position of the body. When we worship our bodies should in some way reflect our homage to God. I believe that the LIFTING OF OUR HANDS WILL ALSO HELP LIFT OUR HEARTS TO THE LORD. God does not intend for His Children to be defeated in this world but to walk in victory. LET’S LIFT OUR HANDS TO HIM TODAY IN A VICTORY SALUTE TO OUR MIGHTY GOD.

God bless and keep you today.

 

¹³ MAY THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE AS YOU TRUST IN HIM, so that you may OVERFLOW WITH HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15

³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, HOPE. ⁵ AND HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT US, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. Romans 5

The word ‘Hope’ is mentioned 14 times in the Roman letter, Paul’s Greatest exposition of the Gospel of Christ. Hope was and is an important theme for Believers, in the earliest days of the Church and definitely in these days. It comes from the Greek word ‘elpis’, which can mean, ‘AN EXPECTATION OF WHAT IS GUARANTEED’. The root word ’elpo’ means, ‘to anticipate with pleasure and to welcome’.

The commonest definition of Hope among Believers is ‘the Confident expectation of Good’. Another fuller description is, ‘the Confident expectation of what God has promised and its STRENGTH IS IN HIS FAITHFULNESS’.

HOPE CAN BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GIVING UP AND HOLDING ON. HOPE CAN KEEP US GOING! Don’t give up your HOPE, trust in the Lord and He will guide and help you.

²³ Kings will be your foster fathers,
    and their queens your nursing mothers.
They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground;
    they will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
    THOSE WHO HOPE IN ME WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’ Isaiah 49, Speaks of the restoration of Israel 

I have shared before that the last part of this verse from Isaiah 49 has a special significance for me. The enemy spoke to me as I awoke one Saturday morning with a negative thought, concerning a hotel booking. It was a short time before our wedding and I’d written to a hotel in the English Lake District, but hadn’t received a reply. At the beginning of the following week I received a phone call from the hotel, agreeing to let us have one of their superior rooms for slightly more that I’d offered them. The Lord was Faithful and my wife to be was very relieved.

¹³ MAY THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE AS YOU TRUST IN HIM, so that you may OVERFLOW WITH HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15

Don’t give up your Hope, keep looking to God!