Title: Power to the Powerless/ Topic: Spiritual Battle

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 13; 2 Chronicles 14; Philippians 4

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 14:11, 1211
Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you."12 The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah.

Observation: I love Asa's prayer as he faces war with an army that is much too large and well-equipped for him to have any chance of winning. In the face of those odds he chooses not to give in to fear and despair but to call on God in prayer. His battle is in the physical realm against a very real enemy that he can see, but he knows that behind it, the battle is a spiritual one and he calls on the only power that can help him. He admits his own powerlessness and calls on God to fight in the battle with him. Notice Asa still has to fight; he doesn't get to just do nothing and watch God take care of it all. But he engages the enemy knowing that God is fighting with him and that this fact is his only hope of victory.

Application: I need to call on the strength and power of the Lord to help me in my times of need and weakness. I will still need to engage in the battle, but I will do so with the knowledge that God is the source of my power. And the church needs to engage in prayer and ask the Lord to fight with us against the onslaught of the world and all the fiery darts of the enemy.

Prayer: Oh heavenly Father, help me to pray all the more when life gets hard. Let me recognize when the enemy is at work so that I am not surprised by an ambush attack. And let your Church rise up and call on you together so that the enemy will not defeat us. We need to stand as the army of God together so that we don't get isolated by the enemy and picked off one by one. Thank you for being our Source, Protector, and Defender. I praise you for being greater than any power or enemy we face.This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.