Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
August 25, 2010
Why do men pray when in danger? They pray because they are seeking power from the Spirit of God. Even our corrupt government leaders are reduced to prayer in times of national crises.
Were the elected members of Congress not seen congregated on the steps of their government building, praying publicly to God for all to see at the time of the 9/11 crisis in New York? What hypocrites they were after having just legislated God and His Word out of the classrooms for the children while, at the same time, granting themselves the right to pray publicly to Him in the open marketplace!
Perhaps it is because of God’s wonderful sense of humor and sense of justice that we see the stock market figures soaring up and then falling to rock bottom on the stock exchange as banks and corporations fail. Perhaps God is saying, “Call on your multicultural gods you love in this country and I will let you see how good they are to you in times of crisis. Try fighting your own battles without praying to Me, if you don’t want Me involved in the affairs of your nation.”
Let us take a look at some of the battles of history to see exactly where the power for victory lies. Eve came face to face with the serpent into which Satan had entered. Instead of trusting in the Spirit of God who was her Commander-in-chief, she rejected Him and lost the battle before it ever got started.
Noah chose to listen to the Spirit of God when mankind mocked him and, for over a century, he built an ark in obedience to the leading of His Spirit, in the presence of his mocking enemy. As a result of God’s power, he and his family became the only survivors of a flood that destroyed all of mocking mankind.
Moses was raised in the palace of Pharaoh, the religious, Napoleon/Hitler type of would-be-world-emperors of his day. Yet, Moses chose to listen to the Spirit of God who led him to confront Pharaoh and demand that he let His people go. Now, Pharaoh had all the evident power of the day with his army, chariots, horses and copious amounts of gold. Moses had nothing but the rod in which the power of the Spirit of God rested.
He raised his rod and the sea parted. Yet, ready to attack from behind was Pharaoh with all the military might of Egypt. Moses had no doubts about the power, which was lodged in that rod, with an army of angels surrounding him, compared to the power of Pharaoh and his worldly army. Of course, the victory belonged to God. Moses knew that without the power of God, he was nothing more than a shepherd of flocks, who was neither eloquent nor quick of speech.
Joshua followed in the foot-steps of Moses to become a great military leader over the new nation of Israel. He would lead God’s people into the Promised Land, again under the guidance of the Spirit of God who would give the land to them. Joshua was unable to advance until God’s power piled up the waters of the Jordan River, allowing His people to cross over.
The first battle at Jericho did not see a sword raised until God prepared the victory and the people obeyed the voice of the Spirit. The armed men, the priests bearing the ark of the Lord and the rear guard, marched around the city blowing the trumpets, but it was not until the seventh day that they shouted and the walls of their enemy came down flat, all because of the obedience of Israel to the commands of the Spirit of God. For God declared the victory before it ever took place and the spoils of victory belonged to the Lord.
Judges came and went. Deborah, a prophetess, listened and obeyed God’s call to battle when, at the same time, her commander, Barak, was too frightened to obey the Spirit. And God gave the victory into the hand of a woman who knew the Spirit is where the power lies and that her victory came from Him, before the battle even began.
Then, there was Gideon, the coward, who became a great warrior in the camp of Israel, because he knew that the Lord declared the victory before the battle ever began with the Midianites. How was the battle won? It was not won by the sword, but rather with a trumpet in every man’s hand and an empty pitcher with a candle inside it. For it was not by might but by the Spirit of the Lord that Israel had the victory.
And who can ever forget the tragic figure of Samson who had to learn the hard way that victory came, not in his great might, but in a prayer to the Lord that he be strengthened by the power of the Spirit to bring down the palace of the gods of religious idolatry. And for one last time, when he at last saw his power come from God, the Spirit empowered him to take his enemy to its death.
Then, along came a simple young shepherd boy called David, anointed by God to one day become king, who dared to take on the giant of Israel’s enemy when his king, Saul, and his army were afraid to do so. He challenged them for not trusting in the Spirit of the Lord.
Without armor and only carrying a sling shot and stone with him for a weapon, he walked in defiance toward the giant who mocked him. But he challenged the giant in the power of God and slew him before the very eyes of a weak nation and its weak, disempowered king. David demonstrated to Israel and his brethren, who rejected him, once and for all, that victory lay in the power of the Spirit and that God and one man alone are infinitely more formidable than a strong leader and a strong army without His power.
America, wake up! It is the dawn of the seventh day and the walls are all going to come tumbling down. On which side of the wall do you plan to be? Are you going to raise your voice in a shout for the Lord in victory on the outside, or are you going to be trapped with the cults on the inside, depending on your secularism and your Political Correctness in which there is no truth or power at all?
It is decision time, for the judgment is at hand. Are you, as a nation, going to see victory in a land under the Spirit and power of God or will you forsake Him to become just another religious, powerless nation? Choose wisely, for the Lord has already declared that the victory will be His, with or without you.
This is the beauty of the prophecy of the Bible. The end is declared from the beginning before history ever begins. The first chapter of Genesis is an architectural design and declaration that creation is about to begin and the Kingdom of God will come to earth just as the architect’s plan in this chapter declares it. And the victory lies in the power of the Spirit of God who gives breath to man for life and for history to begin.