Scripture 1 Samuel 12:23
When someone is in danger, Christians are obligated to become a shield for them. During the sermon at my ordination, Steve Harvey called me a soldier for Christ. The reason a soldier does what he or she does is not to kill, rather to defend. The shield is the greatest symbol of military defense. So, let’s see what this soldier’s shield looks like in scripture -in history and what that means for us.
Our text today is set in the time when the prophet Samuel is giving his farewell speech. In this speech Samuel confronts the people with evidence of the righteous acts performed by the Lord for the people of God. (1 Samuel 12:7) Samuel tells the people, “If you fear the Lord and serve and obey Him and do not rebel against His commands and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God – Good! But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers.” (1 Samuel 12:14-15)
It was harvest time and Samuel called upon the Lord to send thunder and rain so they would know what a great evil they had done in the eyes of the Lord when they asked for a king to rule over them as the other nations had kings (1 Samuel 12:17). The same day Samuel prayed, the…Lord sent thunder and rain and all the people stood in awe of the Lord. (1 Samuel 12:18) Listen to the response of the people to Samuel, “…Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to our sins the evil of asking for a king.” (1 Samuel 12:19)
After a few more instructions, Samuel tells the people, “For the sake of His great name the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own.” (1 Samuel 12:22) These words of promise lead us to our key verse: 1 Samuel 12:23, “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord for failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.”
When those whose lives are in danger ask for prayer, it would be a sin to fail to pray for them. Christians can take their rightful place among such giants of intercession like Moses, (Exodus 32;30-32) Daniel, (Daniel 9:15-17 Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary) the apostle Paul (Romans 1:9-10) And Jesus. (Romans 8:34 who is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.)
Are Christians called to pray for each other and for those who risk their lives for their country? Absolutely. I would add that we must not only pray for those who serve our military but those men and women in blue who now must defend us from terrorists on our own soil. This week at a country bar in California Sgt. Ron Helus, a 29-year police veteran, was among the dead, Helus, 54, was one of the first on the scene and was struck multiple times when he entered the building. What makes this even worse today is that the shooter, 28-years-old, was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
The Christian’s call is to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We sin when we restrain prayer in general, and in particular when we cease to pray for those who ask for it.
Even though Samuel would no longer have political leadership, he still had spiritual influence through prayer. Christians do not need to have authority over those who serve in the armed forces and who are in harm’s way, but they most certainly can have a spiritual influence through heartfelt prayer. James 5:16 says: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
Christians cannot forget the nation the Lord has led them into or called them to serve Him in. Nor should they fail to intercede for the men and women whom God raises up to protect the freedoms He has given them.
Christians must resist that temptation of omission in prayer because they become weary of the nation’s continued descent into sin. The prophet Samuel saw the sins of the people, yet committed to pray for them because he did not want to sin against the Lord. The most influential work done for the Hebrews was the teaching of God’s Word and the prayers that came from great intercessors such as Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and King David. These powerful intercessors did not just leave the people of God to their own course – to sow as they pleased and reap as they had sown. They did not withdraw from their responsibility, but interceded with all their hearts before a merciful God who could bring a people to repentance, protect them from their enemies and empower them to accomplish His perfect will.
The Holy Spirit moved the church to pray for Peter when he was in harm’s way before King Herod. (Acts 12:5) The Bible records the Apostle Paul’s intercession in prayer for Timothy night and day, for he would face godlessness and (2 Timothy 3) false teachers (2 Timothy 1:3; 1 Timothy 4 and 6) The Christians in Colossae were in great danger of heretical teaching and the Bible says Paul never stopped praying for them. (Colossians 1:9)
I can’t help but wonder about all those who spend much time complaining - in the past about Obama, Bush, Clinton and now Trump would instead spend that same time on their knees acting as a shield for them in prayer - how different our country might be today. They serve as commander and chief for the greatest military in the world and make decisions about our military men and women that can put them in harm’s way to defend us. It makes sense then for us to become a soldier’s shield for them by praying for them. The same principal applies to those who are in harm’s way on a spiritual front. The Bible says Samuel cried out to God on Israel’s behalf. (1 Samuel 7:9) We must do the same for people who are dying without Christ in their lives because the world is working diligently to harm them. The Israelites found victory after Samuel’s prayer. Many will be saved because you are willing to pray for the souls of those who do not yet know eternal victory in Christ.
History records powerful truths of God’s intervention for armed forces as people take time to pray for those in harm’s way.
In May of 1940, Germany was on the move and it was unbelievable how much control Hitler got over Europe. Hitler had backed up nearly all the remaining Allied troops to the beach at Dunkirk, France. Our Allied troops were surrounded. Ten miles to their rear was the German army. In front of them the English Channel.
An evacuation by water was their only hope however, it would not be easy. The English Channel was known for her terrible tides and treacherous winds. She was full of German mines and down the beach was Nazi artillery. The only other direction to go held German U-boats. 400,000 Allied troops were at Dunkirk and one English General said, “Nothing but a miracle could save them.”
It was at this time the Holy Spirit moved upon Reece Howell and a group of 100 students in a Welsh Bible College to become intercessors for those who were in harm’s way of Hitler’s armed forces. They prayed from 7:00 P.M. to 12:00 Midnight. While those Welsh Bible students prayed, the British Royal Navy rounded up practically everything that floated in England to go rescue the troops.
During the rescue attempt there were several miracles. First, Hitler, for some mysterious reason stopped the Panzer tanks just 10 miles away. If he had kept moving he could have done great damage to our Allied Forces or destroyed them completely. Second, for an unheard of 9 days, the English Channel was perfectly calm, smooth as glass. Old-timers said, “We have never seen it like this before.”
Heavy fog sometimes moved in and at other times smoke from burning oil fields drifted calmly towards the beach, thus, keeping the German air-force from seeing anything from the air during the evacuation. When the evacuation off the beach was finished, 338,000 Allied troops were rescued. The other 62,000 soldiers gave their lives, so their fellow soldiers could get off the beach. They fought the oncoming Nazi Armed Forces when they finally made their move to attack again.
It is because of that kind of sacrifice we take time to observe Veterans’ Day. It is because of God responding to the prayers of great intercessors that we enjoy the freedom that we have in America today.
President Abraham Lincoln, in a National Proclamation of Prayer and Repentance in 1863 wrote, “We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
Veterans’ Day was set aside for us to remember the cost of those who gave their lives and time for the freedoms we enjoy in America. This is right because many of our Veterans bear the scars of war, some physically and mentally. It is our hope that no one would take for granted the cost paid by those who sacrificed so much so we can live as we do.
As we take time to honor our Veterans may we not forget the cost paid by the perfect Veteran, of the worst foreign war, Jesus Christ. He bore public shame and His sacrifice got victory over the physical, mental and spiritual wounds of the war for people’s souls. The weapons of the flesh, and the lies of the devil were afflicted upon the sinless Christ who in that moment became a soldier’s shield as he prayed “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
That is our example - if Jesus would pray for those who are enemies of the cross as he is dying on that cross, how much more should we at least pray for those in harm’s way defending our country overseas and right here in our community?
Ephesians 6:16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
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