Sharpen through prayer and fasting - God assures VICTORY!

For the third time, the children of Israel went up to the house of God and wept. This time they did a few more things they did not do before:

- they fasted that day until evening
- they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord

It would mean one thing - for the first 2 battles they did not fast and they did not offer burnt offerings and peace offerings.

Judges 21:28 "and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?" 

Did they ask the same question of the Lord? Yes
Did they spend the same amount of time in prayer? Yes
In fact the children of Israel were ready to give up fighting against the Benjamites.

How could they keep on losing and suffer casualty? They could not afford to carry on the war against the perversion committed by the wicked men of Benjamin.

Today there is much perversion in the spirit in the lives of our children and young adults. We pray and we pray and we see that they fall more and more into sin. The attack of the enemy continue unabated. More and more of our loved ones are backsliding. Should we continue to battle in prayer or should we just give up 'fighting in prayer'?

Why did they fail the first 2 times? It's not because they did not pray or seek the Lord. It's because the enemy was too strong for them! The children of Benjamin was a formidable tribe.

There were 26,000 men who "drew the sword" and "seven hundred select men who were left-handed; everyone could sling a stone at a hair's breadth and not miss. Israel had 400,000 men.

26,700 v 400,000 = on sheer numbers alone, Israel should win but the skill of the children Benjamin exceeded that of the children of Israel.

Overall casualty on Israel's side = 40,000.

We can get just as discouraged as the children of Israel who became casualties of war.

This time the preparation was intensified. This time they did something different.

They fasted and prayed. They cleansed themselves before the Lord. They did things that pleased the Lord. They surrendered themselves to the Lord. They got their lives right before the Lord. If there was any unforgiveness they forgave those who hurt them. If there was any sin in their hearts, they repented of it. If there was any pride, the prayer and fasting broke it. 

This time they heard the Lord SHARPLY & CLEARLY in Judges 20:28 "And the Lord said, "Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand".

The rest of Judges 20:33-48 reads like a war novel and "the battle was fierce" - Judges 20:34. What happened after that was exactly as what the Lord had said "The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day 25,100 Benjamites; all these drew the sword" Judges 20:35. 

Only 600 survived and they hid in the wilderness of Rimmon for 4 months. 

From reading this story, I realise that when we are fighting a losing battle (even while doing God's will) there is only thing left to do - to sharpen our prayers through fasting. 

There is nothing more intense than adding fasting to your prayers. When facing a very tough work situation, retreat to your War Room and commit the situation to the Lord in fasting and prayer. Confess your sins to the Lord. Ask God to purge us and cleanse us of any covetousness, greed, pride, lasciviousness, lethargy, complacency. Ask God to help us forgive all who have hurt us!

We have prayed the right prayers.
We have spent sufficient time interceding.
We have sang warfare songs.
But one thing is needful - fasting and prayer to guarantee the 100% breakthrough!

When the enemy is too strong for us, we need to fight in fasting and prayer!