It used to be that two armies would line up, then they would plunge into combat, and the best army would win. It was simpler then. Today it isn't necessarily the fellas with the best army who win; it's the ones with the best air force. It happened in World War II, it happened in certain Vietnam engagements, and it happened dramatically in the Persian Gulf War. I mean, the air force went in, they immobilized Iraq's capacity to respond, and then they kind of softened up the opposing forces, and there was an air war before anybody moved on the ground. And then once the troops started to move, the planes provided that vital air cover for their operations. Saddam Hussein had a big army, but he lost because his air cover just didn't function.
I really enjoy picking out gifts for the people I love; thinking what they like and what they need. Well, and then I enjoy giving the gift. I don't enjoy wrapping the gift. In fact, they wouldn't enjoy the gift I wrapped if I wrapped it. In fact, it's tempting just to hand them the present, but it just isn't really special to get a gift in a K-Mart bag, you know. It's nicer to have it wrapped in wrapping paper and bows, right?
OK, here's a quick sports quiz: How many men on a football team? Okay, I see that hand. Eleven? Yes, that's right! If it's the home team with the support of their fans on their field, someone said there are twelve players on the team. Oh, you won't find the twelfth man anywhere on the field. It's all those noisy fans cheering for the home team and trying to demoralize the opponent. In sports, those fans are literally called the twelfth man. There's one big reason at least why teams play to have the best season record so they can play at home during the playoffs. The twelfth man is a big part of that home field advantage. Those supporters never go on the field, but their influence; it helps every man there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of Your Prayers."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Exodus 17. It's a true story out of the wilderness experiences of God's ancient people. Moses tells Joshua to go and fight the Amalekites who have ambushed them. In verse 9 he says, "I will stand on top of the hill. And as long as Moses held up his hands the Israelites were winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning."
The Bible says there were two men here who held up Moses' hands when he couldn't. And because of the symbolism of his upraised hands and what it really meant, which we'll look at in just a minute, it says here, "Joshua overcame the Amalekite army." What was this that was going on as Moses held up his hands? He explained it. He says, "Hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord."
That's what Moses was doing on the hill. He was fervently praying for God's warriors, and probably against the enemies of God's children. Moses was interceding on the hill. He was standing between God and God's warriors, bringing their need and their battle into the very Throne Room of Almighty God. Moses was like the twelfth man in football. He never set foot on the battlefield, but what he was doing was helping every person in the battle.
For me, this might be the most revealing passage in all the Bible as to what's actually going on when we are fervently praying for someone and praying against what the enemy is trying to do in their lives. Literally, when we are faithfully interceding for someone, they win. When we stop praying, they stop winning.
Which leads me to ask if you are the faithful prayer warrior for the members of your family, for some servants of God that He's laid on your heart, for your pastor, your church leaders? So often people will say, "Well, I guess all I can do is pray." What? All I can do is go into the very Throne Room of Almighty God and pray down His unbeatable power. All I can do is pray? There is no more powerful, no more decisive position you can play on God's team than being a prayer warrior.
And anyone can play that position anywhere: close by, far away, from a hospital bed, a nursing home, a prison cell, a room alone. Time after time I have been in situations where God's power seemed to suddenly flood in at that moment, overruling my weakness, overruling Satan's opposition, overruling impossible obstacles, discouragement, and I have seen miraculous results.
I've been on dark reservations where the battle is so intense with supernatural forces with a team of young Native Americans - our On Eagles' Wings team. And I've often said, "Lord, those people who said they'd pray for us; have them pray now." And we have seen incredible break-throughs. I know what's happening in those moments. I'm living the answers to somebody's prayers somewhere. Those people who promised to pray for us are making all the difference and actually deciding the outcome.
As you support God's home team from the stands of prayer, get excited about the decisive position you're playing. The victories are ultimately not just won by the warriors on the field, but by that prayer warrior on the hill.
I met a man from St. Joseph, Missouri, and I surprised him with my trivia knowledge when I said, "Oh, Pony Express country, right?" He confirmed my recollection that his town was the beginning of the famous Pony Express. What guys those were! Man, they rode their way right into the history books. They're practically legends of the Old West. I mean, they rode endless hours through hostile territory, risked their lives to deliver the mail to the West Coast. You knew that part. What you may not know is how many guys we're talking about here in this legendary operation-just 80 riders, and only one mail delivery was ever lost. How long did the Pony Express run? Only 18 months! It only took a few people a short time to make a great impact!
It's been over 100 years, but there's something about the sinking of the Titanic that fascinates us. The latest evidence, newly unearthed photographs and stories, the incredible success of the blockbuster movie, "Titanic". I mean, they've kind of refocused us on it. I've always found the story of the last hours of this supposedly unsinkable ship to be a haunting story. The people on the Titanic represented just about all the kinds of people that there are. Then I start thinking about how most of them died. At best, only a few hundred of them got into lifeboats. Many more of them went down with the ship only wearing life jackets. And, you know, there were different ways people handled those terrifying hours on that sinking ship, and it tells us a lot about what we're really like.
Over the years, our family's had the chance to see Christmas from many different perspectives: Christmas in Manhattan, in Chicago's Loop, a mountain Christmas, a colonial Christmas.
But it's a man named Nate Saint who, better than anyone else I know, may have captured Christmas from heaven's perspective. He was one of five American missionaries, called by God to the jungles of Ecuador to introduce the Gospel to one of the "lostest" people groups on earth, the primitive Auca (Waorani) Indians.
These days it's rare to have a happy, happy, happy week in Washington.
National leaders usually try to cool the rhetoric so we don't panic over things. But sometimes it seems like they've given up, especially the closer we get to the next Presidential election. But the leaders in Washington have been more candid than ever before saying things folks like that usually don't say.
When you visit Washington, D.C., you're bound to see the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building. But there's this one side trip to Northern Virginia that's probably the most humbling stop you'll make. It's Arlington National Cemetery where this endless sea of white crosses reminds an American of the high price of freedom. That price is beautifully dramatized every hour at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier-with the Changing of the Guard.
It was always so much fun when we stuffed all five Hutchcrafts into the car for a long trip. And, of course, we had turf wars in the back seat. You remember that? Especially as our kids became bigger. We had three kids trying to figure out who gets which third or more, of the turf in the back seat. Of course that was only one of our problems.
I think I remember when I first heard the word "guru". That's g u r u. It was way back in the 1960's when the Beetles went to see that Hindu mystic. I think he was called the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Not someone I would want to trust with my future, but that's who they went to. Now the term is used a lot more broadly today of a spiritual leader that people listen to, and follow, and quote all the time. Guru - that's supposed to be a Hindu concept. Oh, Christians have theirs as well.
