His prayer was answered by a prophetic word like the one Moses had issued at the Red Sea, and Joshua’s experience on the verge of Jordan, ‘Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord’ (verse17; compare Exodus 14:13-14).

Encouraging his army to believe the prophets of the Lord and they would succeed (verse 20), he then appointed the ‘church choir’ to lead the march against the allied troops (verse 21). And when they began to sing their hearts out in true faith, the Lord send an ambush against the enemy who then proceeded to kill each other off, leaving behind so many spoils of war that the Jewish army needed three days to gather up the booty (verses 23-25). The choir then led the march of triumph back to the capital city where the fear of God fell on everyone and peace prevailed for the rest of Jehoshaphat’s reign (verses 26-30).

That’s a great way to wage war, don’t you think? We too are called to fight, not ‘flesh and blood’ but spiritual forces arrayed against us. But let’s not overlook the beautifully lyrical way in which Jehoshaphat launched his prayer vigil (verses 5-12). The words flowed poetically from his heart in the form of three matching questions:

[] ‘Are you not God in heaven? You rule over all nations…’ (verse 6, in the present tense),

[] ‘Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham … for ever…?’ (verse 7, in the past tense), both questions were words of praise; then, finally,

[] ‘Will you not execute judgement on them?’ (verse 12, in the future tense, a prayer).

We really can’t improve on this king’s straightforward style of praying in a crisis. Jesus, after all, taught us to begin our praying by focusing on who God is: Are you not ‘our Father in heaven’? ‘Hallowed be your name.’ Did you not redeem us through the covenant of the cross of Christ? And did not our Joshua (Hebrew equivalent of Jesus in Greek) return to your right hand having procured the inheritance promised to our spiritual forefathers? ‘Your kingdom come, on earth as in heaven.’ On that basis we ask, Will you not ‘give us this day our daily bread’(as that foreign woman once prayed for her daughter’s healing as bread from their masters’ table for these ‘family pet’, such as she and her daughter, Matthew 15:21-28)? For, as Jehoshaphat concluded his classic prayer, ‘we [too] are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you’ (verse 12), as his were in all three of his simple questions.

Stop analysing your praying. Just do it!

 Hugh Thompson (Weston Supermare England)

‘Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.’ (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Here’s a wonderful example of that superabundance of God from the experience of the early church.

King Herod had executed the apostle James, John’s brother. Realising that this made him popular with the non-Christian Jews in Jerusalem, ‘he proceeded to arrest Peter also.’ This apostle was next for martyrdom, ‘but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.’ The whole story takes up chapter 12 of the book of Acts.

How often have we heard some preacher say, ‘They were crying to God for his release, but when he turned up at the door they thought it must be his ghost, because he was surely already in glory with the Lord.’ But where in the text does it say they were praying for his escape? Nowhere does it tell us that!

Hey, come on now! Were they really as daft as that?

Surely, it is much more likely that, recalling how he had once panicked and denied ever having met Jesus of Nazareth, they were praying fervently, ‘Please, Lord, if he must be executed, let him exit with all his lights blazing. Don’t let him deny you again’ And if that was their prayer, no wonder they were shocked to find him knocking on the door of their gathering. And what celebration would result when they realised that God had answered far more abundantly than all they had asked or thought to ask.

So, let’s not get all analytical about whether we are praying properly in 2012. It is reassuring to know that we just need to be real. The text of our story here is full of basic instruction on how to pray effectively. Like them, let us also pray:

[] passionately: ‘earnest’

[] specifically: ‘prayer for him’

[] directionally: ‘to God’

[] corporately: ‘by the church’

[] honestly: ‘You are out of your mind,’ Rhoda, ‘it’s his [guardian] angel ’interrupting our session.’

A prayerless year will be an unblessed year. But, let’s go for gold and see God do platinum.

Hugh Thompson (Weston-super-Mare, England)