Exodus 17: Battles Won in Prayer First

Introduction

"We are in a fight." That is how Anna Chapman opens her message at Trinity Cheltenham, in the new series "Fit For The Fight" that Tim launched the week before. For her, this is not an opinion to debate: if we are Christians, we are engaged in a spiritual battle. You only have to watch the news, but the fight also plays out closer to home, in our thoughts, our hearts, our relationships, our marriages, our workplaces and our schools.

So the real question is not whether we are in a fight, but how to respond to it. One of the Bible's great answers, she says, is to fight in prayer. She senses an urgency about this for the Church in the United Kingdom, and she counts herself among the learners: while preparing this message, she prayed, "God, I need to grow in this area."

Starting from Exodus 17, where Moses holds the staff of God on the hill while Joshua fights in the valley, she shows that some battles are won in prayer before they are won anywhere else.

Message Outline

1. Mary and Martha: Intimacy and Authority Together

Anna Chapman believes the Church in the United Kingdom, and probably Trinity too, is very comfortable with worship, intimacy, sitting at God's feet and receiving from him. It is far less comfortable with intercession, spiritual resistance and fighting in prayer.
This language of battle can seem reserved for a few special Christians. We like to sort ourselves into little "Christian boxes": the prayer people who get up early to go to the prayer room before most of us have even hit the snooze button (12 to 15 people do this regularly at the church, and she would love to see more), the lovers of the Bible and theology, the lovers of worship.
Two broad categories stand out: the "Marys," who love to sit at Jesus' feet and enjoy his presence, and the "Marthas," who are focused on mission, breakthrough and action. "We were not created to be only one or the other. We need both at the same time."
David is the model: he wrote songs of worship, stood in God's presence, was a man after God's own heart, and was also a warrior king.
She quotes James Aladiran, who leads a prayer ministry: "If we want to stay in intimacy, we must learn to exercise authority. And if we want to exercise authority, we must stay rooted in intimacy." It sums up the whole series: receive and then give, abide and then advance.

2. What Is Contending Prayer?

Not every prayer is a contending prayer. Anna Chapman holds on to James Aladiran's definition: "Contending prayer is an act of defiance against what is, in the name of what God has promised."
The Bible is full of it. Abraham intercedes for Sodom. Jacob wrestles with God and refuses to let him go until he is blessed. Hannah pours out her soul for a son. Samuel cries out to God for Israel. Elijah prays for rain. Daniel fasts and prays for the restoration of God's people. Nehemiah prays before rebuilding Jerusalem. Jesus is in anguish in prayer at Gethsemane. The early Church prays again and again to receive boldness and for the gospel to spread.
"This is not new." From one episode to the next, God chooses to act through people who pray.

3. Exodus 17: The Valley and the Hill

Israel has just come out of Egypt. The people have been miraculously delivered, yet they still struggle to trust God: they grumble, complain, groan and wonder whether God is really with them, even though they have just seen water come out of a rock in the middle of the desert.
Until then, God had been fighting for them. Suddenly, in this moment of weakness and uncertainty, Amalek attacks at Rephidim. It is Israel's first real battle, with an army that has received no training at all.
Moses sends Joshua to fight in the valley and goes up to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur, the staff of God in his hand. When Moses raises his hand, Israel prevails; when he lowers it, Amalek prevails.
Two battles are being fought at the same time: the one you can see, in the valley, and the one you cannot see, on the hill. Joshua holds a sword, Moses holds the staff of God. The text wants us to see that what happens on the hill directly affects what happens in the valley.
Hands stretched out to God are the Hebrew posture of prayer. The staff stands for the word of God, the promise he has spoken. "It is not that Moses has magic arms." What God teaches here is essential: "Some battles are won in prayer before they are won anywhere else."
After the victory, Moses builds an altar and calls it "Yahweh is my banner."

4. Standing Between Two Realities

Contending prayer lives between two realities. On one side, the present reality: what we see in front of us, the uncertainty, the fear, the pressure, the enemy at work. On the other, the reality of the Kingdom: what God has said and promised, victory, freedom, peace, his presence.
Faced with anxiety, the present reality says, "That's just how I am." God's word says, "Be anxious for nothing."
Faced with an addiction, it says, "Nothing will ever change." The Kingdom answers, "If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
Despair says, "It will always be like this." Jesus says, "Behold, I am making all things new."
Contending prayer stands in that gap, between what can be seen and what cannot yet be seen. Moses faces the valley with his arms raised toward heaven, standing on the promise God had made to Israel: the land, its gifts, his presence along the way. He refuses to let opposition have the last word.

5. Why Pray If God Has Promised?

"If God has promised, why do we need to pray?" The question is theological and legitimate. Her answer: the basis of contending prayer, and in fact of all prayer, is that God chooses partnership. He looks for children who align themselves with his will, with heaven, with his Kingdom.
In 1 Kings 18, God tells Elijah he is going to send rain. The matter seems settled. Yet Elijah goes up the mountain and prays seven times with intensity, his head between his knees, waiting to see that rain. God's promises are not an invitation to passivity, but to partnership.
In Acts 12, Peter is in prison, chained, under heavy guard, waiting to be executed. He is at peace: God had already told him how he would die, and it was not like this. The Church, for its part, holds an all-night prayer meeting. God sends an angel, the chains fall off, Peter walks out and the gospel keeps moving forward.
"God does not need us. But he delights to act through us, in us and with us." God gives the promise, and it is up to us to play our part in taking hold of it: possessing a land, praying for rain, believing for a child, fighting for the promises of the next generation. Giving and possessing are not the same thing: God does his part, and we do ours.
This partnership is woven into creation: from Genesis on, God shared responsibility with humanity, delegated dominion and made us bearers of his image. So we do not pray from a position of weakness, but of authority. "Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done" only makes sense if there are places where the Kingdom still has to break in.
You cannot fight for what you do not know. Hannah prayed for a son, while God was preparing a prophet who would mark an entire generation. Praying also means listening: the Holy Spirit shapes our prayers and tunes our hearts to his. Too often, she admits, we pray our own will and ask God to stamp his approval on it.
When someone is convinced of God's heart, will and promises, their prayer changes tone. It is not shouting for the sake of shouting; it is a tone of conviction, determination and ardent desire, a cry, a firm resolve in which something breaks deep inside.

6. Resisting From Victory

The enemy rarely says, "Oh, God said something, that makes sense, I give up." We face doubt, fear and uncertainty about what God has said.
James 4:7 says: "Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." The text does not say to ask God to resist in your place. It says: resist. Do not let anything stand against your family, your relationships, the calling God has entrusted to you and the promises he has placed in you.
If someone walked into your home and took your belongings while you were sitting on the sofa, you would not say, "Please come in, have a cup of tea." You would say, "Who are you? How dare you? Get out!" You would resist.
This resistance gives us confidence, "because we do not fight for victory, we fight from victory." On the cross, Jesus said, "It is finished." Sin, death and Satan were defeated. But the New Testament never suggests that the enemy has disappeared. "The cross won the war, but we are still fighting battles."
The finished work of the cross is the foundation of the Holy Spirit's present work. In Ephesians 6, Paul describes the sword of the Spirit as the word of God. That is why we need the Bible in us, close and within reach.
Praying this way is not begging a reluctant God or twisting his arm. It is aligning ourselves with heaven, standing with authority on his promises and refusing to let present reality have the last word.

7. A Hard Prayer You Do Not Pray Alone

"I'm not saying it's easy. It's hard work." Moses, a great man and a leader appointed by God, gets tired. If you struggle in prayer, it does not mean something is wrong with you: everyone struggles.
Prayer is hard because it opposes self-sufficiency. In the New Testament, the flesh refers to our fallen nature, which demands control, independence and instant results. To pray is to acknowledge that you cannot do it alone and that you need God. Like the disciples in the gospel of Mark, invited to watch and pray and who fell asleep, persevering is already a battle against the flesh.
Anna Chapman tells how she is "trying" to love running. This week, during a jog, it got hard, and she talked to herself: "Physically, you are capable of this. But it's hard, it's uncomfortable, you've reached that point. You have to find the resolve and keep going." She felt God say to her, "That's what prayer looks like."
You do not learn to pray by reading about prayer or listening to a message about it: you learn to pray by praying. The more you persevere and press into that discomfort, the more the resistance breaks.
Moses does not stop, but he needs help. Aaron and Hur place a stone under him and literally hold up his arms. They do not stop either, because the battle is still raging; they hold on to what God has said until the breakthrough comes. "What a picture of the Church!"
Hence her question: "Whose arms are you holding up? And who is holding up yours?" Prayer partners, house groups, youth, Alpha, Element: every group of believers who pray together serves this purpose. If you do not have one, pick someone and ask, "Would you like to pray with me regularly?"
She has prayed for years with others for someone very close to her who suffers from severe back pain. She admits it is easy to end up managing the situation instead of contending with it. That is understandable, and it is part of the weariness; but the point is to come back, to fight again and to say, "God, I really don't know how to pray about this anymore. I need you to lead me."

Key Takeaways

Contending prayer is "an act of defiance against what is, in the name of what God has promised." It refuses to let visible reality have the last word.
Intimacy and authority go together: we fight well only when we are rooted in God's presence, and that presence drives us to fight.
God's promises call us not to passivity but to partnership. God delights to act through people who pray.
We do not fight for victory but from the victory of the cross, resisting the devil with the word of God.
No one holds their arms up alone: perseverance in prayer is lived with others, like Moses with Aaron and Hur.

Personal Application

Do you feel more like a "Mary" or a "Martha"? Which side do you need to develop in order to live intimacy and authority together?
What situation in your life have you come to accept as permanent: a fear, a discouragement, spiritual lukewarmness, a broken relationship? What promise of God can you set against it?
What are you contending for in prayer right now? Do the people close to you know?
Whose arms are you holding up, and who is holding up yours? Whom could you invite this week to pray with you regularly?
Have you let God load your heart with what weighs on his, or have you grown used to the gap between what you see and what he has promised?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What is contending prayer?

Anna Chapman takes up James Aladiran's definition: "Contending prayer is an act of defiance against what is, in the name of what God has promised." It is a prayer that stands between visible reality and the reality of the Kingdom, and refuses to let the present situation have the last word.

Why pray if God has already made a promise?

Because God's promises are not invitations to passivity, but to partnership. God promises Elijah rain, and Elijah still prays seven times on Carmel. Peter has a promise over his life, and the Church prays all night for his release. God does not need us, but he delights to act through us.

What do Aaron and Hur represent in Exodus 17?

When Moses grows tired, Aaron and Hur place a stone under him and hold up his hands until sunset. For Anna Chapman, this is a picture of the Church: you do not persevere in prayer alone. She asks two questions: whose arms are you holding up, and who is holding up yours?