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Faith and Prayer Pt. II
Heroes of Faith and Prayer
There is no greater evidence for the Existence than the lives of His faithful servants who developed a close relationship with Him based of a continuing
dialogue with Him through the Holy Spirit and through obedience to His word.
The apostle Peter states in his book that God will try our
faith so as to bring about a deeper, stronger and more abiding faith- in other
words, to build us up in the faith. (1Peter 1:7) In this session, we will
reference to a number of Bible characters whose entire lives demonstrated faith
in the word, and particularly, in the promises of God, and who prayed fervently in
times of crisis.
First is Moses with the children of Israel at the Red Sea.
(Exodus 14) With the entire multitude of Israel under his leadership halted at
the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army thundering across the Plain, there was no way to
run and hide. To all human reckoning, their capture was a foregone conclusion.
However, the Spirit of God spoke to Moses to encourage the people to believe in
God's power, and through a series of outstanding miracles God halted Pharaoh's
army, opened a path through the Red Sea, and led the people through. Pharaoh,
through arrogance and presumption, followed the Israelites into the opened sea,
and thus was drowned with his entire force. If Pharaoh, seeing the awesome
nature of these miracles, had recognized the the power of the Most High, and had
returned home, himself and his army would have been spared.
These great miracles were only the beginning of a series of
miracles wrought by God on behalf of the children of Israel through His faithful
and prayerful servant, Moses. There were miracles of providing water in the
parched desert, sending them food from heaven, providing a cooling shade in the
day, and warmth at night. The key ingredient in all these miracles was the deep
connection between Moses and Our God.
Next let's consider Hezekiah, king of Judah. During the
period of his reign, the kingdom faced a great threat to their existence by
Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, who sent his envoy to demand tribute from
Hezekiah. He complied even to stripping the gold from the doors of the temple.
However, the spokesman for the Assyrian king, one Rabshakeh, came with a force of
men and demanded that Hezekiah submit his nation to Sennacherib, or the nation
would face destruction from the Assyrian forces. (2Kings 18:13-37)
The Bible records that when Hezekiah heard these dire threats
he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and went into the temple and prayed
(2Kings 19:16-19), and sent for the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah gave words of comfort
and strength to Hezekaih in assuring him that God has taken up Israel's cause and
that Sennacherib was not warring against the children of Israel, but against God
Himself, and that Sennacherib would be powerless before Him. (2Kings 20:32-37)
The key thought in this section on Hezekiah is that any evil
planned or prepared against God's people is seen by God as directed to Himself,
and God will take up the cause for the honor of His Name and for the vindication
for the faith and trust of His people.
--Next time: Heroes of Faith and Prayer Part III
This article is © J. Edwards, 2008.