Prayer: A Force That Causes Change

I was once a football coach. I coached the defensive players of the high school where I taught classes. One year we played a very good team from the Denver area. In the first half of the game, they scored nearly every time they had the ball, putting up 35 points. However, as we came off the field there was a feeling among the coaches that something had changed. During the half-time break, we always made a few adjustments based on what we saw the other team doing and this night we did that. Then we gathered to talk with the entire team about what we should do in the second half. We were ready to tell them that things had changed, when the team began to talk about it. Sure we had given up a lot of points; but we had taken the other team’s best shot and we were still standing. The team was convinced that something had changed and we could, not just play better, but win the game. We went out and played well. The offence was great, making long drive after long drive, most of them for a score. The defense played well, stopping the attacks of the other team. With seconds left in the game, we scored a final touchdown to win 36-35! The same thing happened to Joshua. No he did not play for the Jerusalem Rams or for the Israeli Eagles football teams. He was the new leader of Israel and had been given the task of leading the people in their conquest of the land God had given them. For forty years Israel had wandered in the wilderness, waiting for a generation of doubters to die off. Finally the time had come, finally things had changed; now God was telling Joshua and Israel to go in and possess the Promised Land. Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you. Deuteronomy 4:1 (NKJV) Things had not gone well in the first half. God had brought them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, but when the spies came back with a bad report, doubt, fear, and unbelief, ruled the day and that entire generation would not enter the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb were exceptions to this lack of faith and trust in God. For forty years Israel had wandered in the wilderness. Obviously Israel was not winning; not a single man, woman, or child had entered the Promised Land, not a single acre of land had been taken. But things changed. Now a new generation began to trust God and was ready to do great exploits. Joshua, Caleb, and the people, were strong in the Lord and knew and trusted in the power of God’s great might. They saw the situation, all they faced, armies, cities, walls, and obstacles, through the eye of faith in God. They agreed with God and began to say what He was saying. They walked in obedience to God and His commands. They became a force that could not be stopped and they won, they took the Land! but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. Daniel 11:32b (NKJV) It is time for the same thing to happen to us. This generation must trust God and do great exploits. We must be strong in the Lord and know and trust in the power of God’s great might. We must see the situation, all that we face, through the eye of faith in God. We must agree with God and say what He is saying. We must walk in obedience to God and His commands. We must pray and be a force that will not be stopped and we must win, and take the land! In that football game I wrote about in the beginning of this article, at halftime there was a change, the coaches felt it and planned to talk to the team about it, but the players felt it too. So they decided to go out and win the game, and did so! The game has changed for us as well. The world has expected the demise of the Christian faith for centuries and has not gotten their expectation. The gods of this world, money, power, science, ideas, philosophies, governments, technology, organizations, and the panoply of other gods that were going to meet every need of man, have all failed. People continue to follow in the wake of these failings because they do not know the score or they do not know where to turn for help. For a long time Christians have stood, like a fighter with his hands down, taking punch after punch, but most of the time we have continued to stand, though battered and bloody. But no more, now is the time for all of this to change. It is time for us to go in and possess the land. It is time to remove the blinders from the eyes of people so they can see their need for redemption and it sole source, Jesus Christ. It is time to pull down the walls that have held people captive to sin, destruction, and death. It is time to do battle and win!