God Needs Our Prayers

I am re-reading the "Love to Pray" book study we did at church a few years ago--hoping to get a little better at it. I read this today and thought it was really good in light of the condition our country and community are heading---just thought I would share.

God Needs Our Prayers
9Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight hte Amalekites...I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."...
11As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. Exodus 17:9, 11

God sometimes teahes us in surprising ways. When Israel faced a serious military threat, Joshua and the army went out to fight, but Moses went up on a hillside to pray. When his praying hands were up, Israel was winning. But when they were down, the enemy was winning.
Why, we may ask, would God allow his people to suffer defeat when there was no prayer? The answer is that God was teaching his people that he chooses to move in RESPONSE TO PRAYER and that He WILL NOT MOVE WITHOUT IT. Though he is almighty, all-wise, and fully able to work without us, God chooses to work throught our prayers. He calls us into a working partnership. Without us, he won't work.
When God first taught me this important principle of prayer, it had a simple but pointed application for me. It was as if God said, "Alvin, when your children go to chool each morning, they are heading into battle. If you as a parent keep your hands uplifted (like Moses) they will be winning. BUut, if your praying hands come down, they will be losing." I have never forgotten that lesson.
Since that time I have come to see that as church leaders and faithful Christians "lift up holy hands in prayer", the church grows strong and is able to break down the gates of hell. When believers in neightborhoods and workplaces lift up praying hands over those around them, the powers of darnkness are pushed back.
The most common testimony of Lighthouse keepers as they pray over neighborhoods is that of transformation. They speak of crack houes closing, crime rates falling, marriages being restored, families coming back together, and people being converted. WHat's happening as God's people pray over their neighborhoods is the same thing that happend as Moses prayed over the battlefield. The forces of evil go into retreat.
What we need most for solving the problems in our society is not more money, more education, more ideas, books, or strategies. Our prime need is hands lifted up in prayer. "We can accomplish far more by our prayers than by our work. Prayer...can do anything God can do! When we pray, God works" Where are your hands right now?

from Love To Pray-A 40 day devotional for deepening your prayer life:by Alvin Vandergriend