How to Pray: Is This MY Fight?

There are frankly some things that are just worth fighting about! In Judges 19 & 20, we find the story of one of those things. Still, even when we have a right to be angry and fight, we have to do it God's way. Lord, help us to fight right! We must learn how to pray even when we want to fight because PRAYER REACHES EVERY SINGLE SITUATION! #PRESS

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Transcript

Press means to apply force when God said press prayer reaches every single situation He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through And in this podcast we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us Welcome to the press podcast. Hope you're having a beautiful day We're going to dive in today to judges chapter 20 But we're gonna do some background work with judges chapter 19 so that we can Get a hold on the story and what's happening here before we get to the prayer This particular story is probably the worst story in the bible almost It is about Some of the worst of humanity And I believe you'll see why I say that So judges chapter 19 The bible says there was a levi and he was journeying on the side of mount ephraim And he had a concubine who was also his wife. We know in judges 20 and 4 She cheated on him In verse 2 of chapter 19 and she went back to her father's house for four months And after that her husband went to go get her And when he went to go get her He met his father-in-law there.

He saw him. He rejoiced to meet him and his father-in-law Asked him to stay longer. He planned to leave but his father-in-law talked him into staying So he ended up staying for five days before he told him in judges 19 I'm not gonna stay anymore.

I want to go ahead and go he refused to wait in verse 10 And he arose and departed though It was evening and he got close to jerusalem or jebus as it's called in the old testament The day was almost done and his servant said to him Let's stay here for the night Let's stay in the city of the jebusites But the levite said to him we're not gonna go into that city. That's the city of a stranger We want to be amongst the children of israel. So we'll pass over to gibia He made it a point to say hey, we're going to go where our family is Where if you would the church people are he didn't want to just hang with anybody He said no i'm going to stay with the people I know at this time jerusalem was not a city that belonged to the children of israel like that And so he wanted to be where his brethren were the levite arrives at gibia And there an old man finally meets him after waiting In the streets having no place to go the older man invites him in now The levite says I have both straw and propane for our asses and there is bread and wine also for me and for thy handmaid And for the young man, which is with thy servants There is no want of anything and the old man said in verse 20 of chapter 19.

Peace be with thee Howsoever, let all thy wants lie upon me only lodge not in the street So in other words, he was telling him you don't have to worry about anything. You don't have to pay for anything Just come on in my house and don't spend the night in the street So the older man brings him into his house and he takes care of him and they began to eat And to drink in their hearts for mary but In verse 22 the bible says behold the men of the city certain sons of belial We set the house round about and beat at the door and spake to the master of the house The old man saying bring forth the man that came into thine house that we may know him And they meant the biblical sense of the word. No, they don't mean we want to be familiar with or hi What's your name? They mean they want to have sexual relations with him This is very similar to the story of sodom and gomorrah in genesis where the men Came looking for the angels that were lodging in lot's house It is exactly the same scenario where they noticed there's a new guy in town and we want him But the master of the house went out unto them and said unto them nay my brother may I pray you do not so wickedly Seeing that this man has come into mine house.

Do not this folly Please don't do this. That's what the older man said. Do not do this You can't do this and just like lot did in genesis 19.

He offers them an alternative He said here is my daughter a maiden and his concubine Them I will bring out now And humble ye them and do with them what seemeth good unto you but unto this man do not so vile a thing But the men would not hearken to him so they didn't quit They kept persisting even though he eventually just took his concubine brought her forth Unto them and they knew her and abused her all night Until the morning she was raped repeatedly. That is what this story is saying She was given in place of the levites to these men and they Abused her the bible says all night and it does use the word abuse Then came the woman in the dawning of the day in verse 26 and fell down at the door of the man's house Where the lord was till it was light And her lord rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way And behold the woman his concubine was falling down at the door of the house and her hands were upon the threshold this picture to me is so vivid of a woman who has been offered as a substitute to men who are abusive all night And she almost makes it home. She makes it just to the threshold of where she should have been able to sleep peacefully And she was falling down her hands up on the threshold And this man still looks at her and says up and let us be going But she didn't answer Then the man took her up upon an ass and the man rose up and got him into his place And when he was coming to his house, he took a knife and laid hold on his concubine and divided her She was dead at this time When he realized she was dead He took her body back to his house He cut it into 12 pieces and sent her into all the coast of israel And it was so That all that saw it said there was no such deed done nor seen from the day That the children of israel came up out of the land of egypt until this day consider of it Take advice and speak your minds.

That's what the author says here The author at the end of it. They're saying nobody's ever done anything like this. They had never seen anything like this.

This was an atrocity to them And they said consider it remember this don't let this just be a waste Take advice take it to heart pay attention And speak your minds. In other words call out about this Don't let this go easy. We're not going to accept treatment of anybody like this And so the children of israel gathered together in chapter 20 and they're ready to go to war against benjamin Remember it is the tribe of benjamin the gibiites That he had lodged with he thought he was safe He thought he was staying with his brethren and when he stayed with his brother and he ran into these vile men Who killed his wife by raping her repeatedly? We do find out in judges chapter 20 that his life was threatened as well You can't see that in chapter 19, but in chapter 20 in verse 5 He said they thought to slay me and my concubine had they forced So he was not in a position where he was happy about what happened either The way it reads you can't tell that in judges 19 That is why when we're reading the bible we want to read it as a collective He was in a position where his life was threatened.

She was taken or given Negotiated however that played out. He was not happy She was dead and the levi is making this point To the rest of the children of israel because they came together when they got the pieces of her They're saying we have to consider this we have to take note of it and we have to speak out against it We have to fight this And so he asked in verse 7 to the children of israel Give here your advice and your counsel the bible says and all the people arose as one man saying We will not any of us go to our tent. Neither will we any of us turn into his house But now this shall be the thing which we will do to gibia.

We will go up by lot against it They decide we are going to fight them. We're going to fight gibia So we're going to draw names to see how we are to fight them But what we're not going to do is rest And there'll be this kind of foolishness and they just get away with it So they came up with a plan that will take 10 men of 100 throughout all the tribes of israel And a hundred of a thousand and a thousand out of ten thousand to fetch ritual for the people that they may do When they come to gibia benjamin according to all the following that they have wrought in israel So they gathered together against the city and the tribes of israel sent men through all the tribe of benjamin because remember Gibia is just one city So they're asking the rest of the tribe of benjamin. What wickedness is this that is done among you what's happening with you guys? Now therefore delivers the men the children of belial which are in gibia That we may put them to death and put away evil from israel They're saying we're not trying to fight all of you right now.

We don't know what's happening with y'all right now but Give us the children of belial that are in gibia Give us the ones who did this the ones who allowed it the ones that are comfortable with it Benjamin get out of the way. We're going to handle gibia But benjamin the bible says would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of israel They refuse to give up the bad guys They're more poised to fight everybody and they gather themselves together to go out to battle Now at that time though the children of benjamin they were serious warriors verse 15 and 16 tell you about some of their skills That they had twenty and six thousand men that drew sword Beside the inhabitants of gibia which were numbered 700 chosen men among all these people there were 700 chosen men left-handed Everyone could sling stones at a hair breadth and not miss in other words. They were assassins They were the assassins of the day Benjamin is feeling good about their chances of fighting their brethren.

The first prayer is judges 2018 where the children of israel say and they ask counsel of god which of us shall go up first to the battle against The children of benjamin and the lord said judas shall go up first And the children of israel rose up in the morning and camped against gibia and the men of israel went out to the battle against benjamin and the men of israel put themselves in a Raid to fight against them at gibia And the children of benjamin came forth out of gibia and destroyed down to the ground of the israelites that day twenty and two thousand men So they prayed who goes first in verse 18, but we find out In verse 21 that they got beat down How interesting they ask god who's going first? He tells them and then they lose big and the people verse 22 The men of israel encouraged themselves and set their battle again in a ray in the place where they put themselves in a way the first Day, so they just go back to do what they already had done and they are talking to themselves saying it's going to get better But they're weeping and they're asking counsel the lord saying shall I go up again to battle against the children of benjamin my brother And the lord said go up against them And the children of israel came near against the children of benjamin the second day And benjamin went forth against them out of gibia the second day and destroyed down to the ground of the children of israel 18 000 men Again, they go to battle god says go to battle they lose again So verse 26 Then all the children of israel all the people went up and came into the house of god and wept And sat there before the lord and fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the lord And the children of israel inquired of the lord for the ark of the covenant of god was there in those days They're finally doing this process, right? They had already determined they were going to fight They had already determined how they were going to approach day two the same way as they approached day one They're just asking god to fill in the details in their prayers in verse 18 and verse 23 They're not really willing to hear the strategy of god because they already know what they want to do They just want his blessing and what they plan to do How many times do we pray like that? Even when we're in the right it is important that we stay in line with the will of god We cannot let our emotions and our ways get the best of us And that's what they did until battle number three when they're like, hold on we're going before the ark of the covenant We're going to fast. We're going to pray. We need direction from god in god alone The bible says in verse 27 and the children of israel inquired of the lord For the ark of the covenant of god was there in those days And phineas the son of eliezer the son of aaron stood before it in those days saying Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of benjamin my brother or shall I cease Lord, do we go forward or do we just stop? We're not even talking about our little details.

We don't have our own plan Do we go forward or do we stop? And the lord said go up for tomorrow. I will deliver them into thine hand And so israel sets and they go into this battle and this is a fight for them but when we get to verse 41 When the men of israel turned again the men of benjamin were amazed for they saw that evil was come upon them Therefore they turned their backs before the men of israel unto the way of the wilderness But the battle overtook them And them which came out of the cities they destroyed In the midst of them israel finally won the battle When they asked the right question god, do you even want us in this fight? And it wasn't that the lord was against the fight Because we see that they want it, but you need his permission to fight his children You need his permission and his instruction Whenever you go to war because there's nothing like god's timing or god's strategy We can have all the right causes we can have all the right ideals. We can have all the right visions But we have to follow god we're not here to lead him we're here to follow him I want you to know today that god will fight for you that he loves you that he sees you But don't take matters into your own hands Ask him first.

Is this my fight? And then ask him. How do you want to fight? I guarantee He can answer both questions Because prayer reaches every single situation Join the movement join the community like share and subscribe to this podcast Visit us at press to pray.com or find us on instagram or facebook Did you know that when you are quiet your voice is missing to god's ears I know some of us have prayed and we're wondering how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if god already knows? How will I know god is answering and what do I do when I feel like god's not listening But god is listening for your voice. It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have You have to raise your voice and god wants to hear from you It's too quiet a book about prayer is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith visit press to pray.com

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.