The Weekly Diner

Dear Weekly Readers! God’s Peace and Blessing be with you this week! Today our article is written by Pastor Wayne Juntunen. Please enjoy what the Lord has revealed to our brother!


Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, whoever you are and wherever you are, a word from the Lord has been brought to my mind that He wants to share with you. I pray that it will be written as He desires. The actual words are recorded in Ex. 17:12, “…Moses hands were heavy…”

There was good reason for Moses’ hands to be heavy. Israel was locked in battle against the Amalekites. This battle occurred after the Israelites had left Egypt and were traveling through the Wilderness of Sin. The Amalekites must have first attacked the stragglers—the weak and weary who were farther back from the main body of the Israelites. We read in Deuteronomy 35:17, 18, “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.”

Another battle with them occurred when Israel had pitched their tents at Rephidim (Ex. 17:8). Moses counseled Joshua to choose men to fight with Amalked and he would stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand (Ex. 17:9) Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill with Moses and as long as Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed (Ex. 17:11). So in this see-saw battle that lasted throughout the day, Moses’ hands became heavy. So Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a stone and they “stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword” (Ex. 17:12, 13).

So what does this mean? Let us remember when the Israelites prayed, they lifted up their hands to the Lord. Here are but a few examples—(Gen. 14:22; Dt. 32:40; Ps. 25:1; 28:2; 63:4; 134:2) I believe Moses was in the spirit of prayer during this battle with the Amalekites. And so long as he was praying, Israel prevailed. When Aaron and Hur held up his hands, Israel was victorious! In essence, all three were engaged in prayer throughout the duration of this battle.

This is the word the Lord has brought across into my heart. We cannot expect to win any battle against any foe, no matter how great or small the foe may seem, if we are not faithfully engaged in prayer. It is the spiritual leadership of any family, congregation, mission field, ministry, or religious institution who are to be ceaselessly praying! I have this saying posted on the door of my study—“You can do more than pray after you prayed. But you can not do more than pray until you have prayed.”

To ceaselessly pray means we must begin our day with prayer. This time of morning prayer is to be given to spending time with the Lord. It is during this time that we are enjoying his presence. It is basically what James tell us in his epistle—“Draw nigh to God and he will draw night to you” (Ja. 4:8). This is a time of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving, confession, reading and meditating on God’s Word, letting him speak to us through his Word to receive food for our soul, a time to spend in intercession for others, and making our requests know. Then throughout the day, we need to be briefly requesting the Lord to guide and help us in every conversation, every task that needs to be done, every emergency that comes up, every need that we may have. Thus throughout the day we are in constant communication with our Lord.

So long as our hands are lifted up; that is, we are praying, the Lord will be in charge and we can be resting in him for “in quietness and confidence will be your strength” (Is. 30:15). There will never be revival in our own hearts, our families, congregations, or ministries so long as we are unwilling “to give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name” (Psa. 29:2).

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, begin now to spend more time in prayer! The radiance of Moses was due to the 40 days he had spent on the mountain with God. But that radiance was disappearing in time. But in the Acts of the Apostles, we read that when Peter and John had been arrested for preaching about the resurrection from the dead through Jesus, that Annas and Caiaphas and many of the family of the high priest “took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:1-13). It is as plain as the nose on our faces, that the more time we spend with Jesus, the more he will become visible to others. Help us, dear Jesus, so that your love for us will radiate through us to draw multitudes to you!

May God Bless your week!