Our friends at One for Israel share an article on the war room of prayer in the spiritual battle we face as Christians.
I had a friend who would say: “The real battle is in prayer. The rest is just a mopping up operation”. When we take a step back and remember the greatness of our God, we better grasp the fact that the victory is in God’s hands, in the end. He is over all global events. When we pray to Him, we are wielding weapons in a spiritual battle that can change the world.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4)
THE WAR ROOM OF REES HOWELLS
Good intercessors are those who know their God and take Him at His word. Rees Howells was such a man. He led many in prayerful determination to see the world reached with the Gospel during a time of huge international upheaval in World War II, and provides a great example for us today.
“The first battle of prayer on this international scale was in 1936 when Germany sent her soldiers into the Rhineland, and broke the Locarno Treaty. “We knew that France would be on fire in a day,” said Mr. Howells, “and it meant nothing less than a European war, and the consequent hindrance to the spread of the Gospel. Only those who were in the College can realize the burden the Holy Spirit put on us. ‘Prevail against Hitler’, He said to me, and it meant three weeks of prayer and fasting.”” (Norman P. Grubb, Rees Howells – Intercessor)1
Howells and his school of intercessors in Wales, UK, vowed to give their lives over “to fight the battles of the Kingdom, as really as if called to fight on the Western Front”. The whole Bible college prayed and fasted regularly throughout the whole war, taking a stand of faith in order that the Gospel might not be hindered. Howells declared,
“The Lord has made known to us that He is going to destroy Hitler and the Nazi regime, that the world may know that it was God and God alone who has scattered the dictators. Three and a half years ago, the College prayed this prayer for weeks and months, and we firmly believe He will now answer it… He will deal with the Nazis as He dealt with the Egyptian army in the time of Moses.”
Rees Howells was a man who knew the power of prayer, and knew that they could affect what went on in the battlefield in Germany from his own “War Room” in the United Kingdom.
In one incident, the Germans were advancing rapidly and the intercessors prayed that they would be stopped in their tracks and not be able to proceed any further. That night a lot of rain fell, producing mud, which rendered the German tanks literally stuck in the mud, and stopped right in their tracks. The stories of how their prayers really influenced battle situations over those terrible years are breathtaking.
We have the same access to the same God. We can go into the “war room” of prayer with God, going into spiritual battle with prayers and petitions to the One who holds king’s hearts in His hands.
SPIRITUAL BATTLE IS THE REAL BATTLE
Even though there are Israeli troops battling in Gaza, even though there are terrorists firing missiles without ceasing, the truth is that the real action is not on the ground. Army generals and Hamas leaders may think they are calling the shots, but as we see countless times in the Bible, the battle belongs to the Lord. If God decides that one side will lose, there’s no military might, not genius strategy that will help. He can confound troops and make them turn on each other. God can create illusions to scare off thousands, as He has done many times in the history of Israel (2 Kings 7 for example). He even made the sun stand still one time (Joshua 10), giving Israel victory in their battle against the Amorites! However, we do have a part to play. Consider Gideon and the his vastly outnumbered army. Those who stayed to fight had chosen courage and faith, but it was God who gave the victory.
When fighting the Amalekites who had attacked the Israelites leaving Egypt from behind, it was Moses standing in prayer that governed whether Israel was winning or losing. When his arms sank, the Amalekites got the upper hand, but when his arms were lifted up to heaven, God gave Israel the victory to Israel. God is not a warmonger but He has got plans and purposes. As His people we can join Him by praying. In doing so we are like Aaron and Hur who held up the arms of Moses at Rephidim—our prayers support and lift up those fighting against the evil manifesting in Hamas, by prevailing in the spiritual realms.
So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. (Exodus 17:9-13)
In the same way, we see God’s handiwork in Israel’s more recent history, through the many miracles of 1917, 1948, and especially 1967. Against all odds, God has preserved His people and put an end to all attempts to undo His work of regathering Israel.
God has said that Israel will never cease to be a nation before Him (Jeremiah 31:34-35) so when evil regimes rise up threatening to annihilate God’s people, it is right for us to stand in prayer for Israel, even as we also pray for salvation for Israel’s enemies.
The real battle is against the spiritual powers and principalities at work in the heavenly realms, and your prayers are a very important part of that battle.
