Days of Praise ~ Yahweh Nissi, The LORD Our Banner

How the Story Begins….

As the Israelites were coming out of Egypt, the Amalekites attacked the weak, sick and elderly from behind. The first nation to war against Israel, they raised a hand against the throne of God, choosing to become an enemy of Israel and God. The Amalekites must have heard about the victory God had given Israel over Egypt, yet they had no fear of God. Israel did not seek vengeance on their own, but God declared war against the Amalekites for generations, and would see to it that they were wiped off of the face of earth, erasing their memory from heaven.

We Praise You for the Victory You Gave the Israelites Against the Amalekites!

Banners were used as a rallying point and also used as an announcement of a victory already won. God instructed Moses to fight the Amalekites. Moses obediently lifted up the rod of God. (This is the same rod that miraculously parted the Red Sea and brought water forth from the rock, leading the children of Israel out of 400 years of Egyptian slavery.) He raised his hands against the Amalekites and defeated them. Moses built an altar and named it Yahweh Nissi, The LORD Our Banner.

We Praise You that You are our Banner,  You are the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!

The tribe of Judah led the Israelites in war. On their banner was a Lion. The Lion is symbolic of a King. Jesus Christ, Our King, is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

Your banner represents your presence, your deliverance and your mighty salvation! You make us victorious in all things, and as we look to the victory Jesus Christ achieved on the cross, not only are we MORE than conquerors through Christ Jesus, you ALWAYS  cause us to triumph in Christ. Not only do you enable and equip us through the power of your Spirit to defeat our enemies, but you also use us to fight on behalf of others.

We Praise You for You Instruction to us Through Your Word

Both Israel and King Saul demonstrated that serious problems will occur when we disobey you and do what we think is best. They acted according to their perspective, regardless of the specific instructions you had given them. Israel’s sin of not believing and trusting you wound up keeping them in the wilderness and out of the promised land for a long time.  Later, when Israel was near the land of Canaan, they directly disobeyed God by attacking the Amalekites when God specifically told them not to. Israel lost terribly to the Amalakites. King Saul, through his disobedience in taking on the priestly duty of offering a sacrifice, instead of waiting for Samuel to come fulfill that priestly duty, flagrantly disobeyed God. The Philistines won and this marked the eventual end of Saul’s reign as Israel’s King. In a battle against the Amalekites, Saul spared King Agag, and kept the spoils of war to sacrifice to God. He chose to disobey God because he was afraid of the people. Samuel killed King Agag with the sword. These examples teach us that obedience is better than sacrifice. All of these situations in your word are there for our instruction and benefit, because we are subject to the same mistakes in our own lives. It is vital that we understand your nature toward us. We must destroy the evil in our lives or it will come back to bite us.

In 1 Samuel 30, the Amalekites burned Ziklag. David asked for the ephod, was strengthened in the LORD, inquired of the LORD and was told to pursue, and that he would gain the victory. Later, the Simeonites warred against the Amalekites, fulfilling the words God spoke about destroying the nation of Amalek.

Finally, we see Haman, a descendant of an Amalekite King, rise up in Persia. His goal was to exterminate the Jews. God used Queen Ester and Mordecai through prayer and fasting, and wisdom from heaven, to save the Jewish nation. Haman wound up being executed by hanging in the gallows that he had built for Mordecai.

We Praise You that You Go Before Us and Equip Us!

You go before us to bring the victory.  You are our banner of victory and deliverance. You were victorious on the cross. You are interceding for us right now. Part of warfare is prayer, worship and intercession. We trust fully in the power and effectiveness of your prayers for us. The battle is, and always has been for our hearts.

Our struggle is not against people, but against dark forces in heavenly realms. With that in mind, we put on your full armor, so that when the evil day comes, we can stand firm with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, our feet fitted with readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, which extinguishes all the flaming arrows of the evil one, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying in the spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. We will be alert and pray for the saints, and for the gospel to be revealed. Our weapons have divine power to demolish strongholds against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.

We defeat the enemy by walking in obedience to you and trusting your words of instruction and the outcome you say they will have. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When we are in you will, you will deal with our enemies, because we belong to you. We will hear, obey, and join you in your plans and calling.  We go into strict training, compete according to the rules and receive the eternal crown. We are fighting the good fight, no matter what it looks like. Sometimes you will fight, and sometimes you will command us to fight, yet the battle is always yours. We will finish the race and keep the faith. You train our hands for battle. We will overcome the world by our faith.

Because we fear you, you raise a banner of love and victory over us. You are our banner. "In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the people…the nations will rally to him and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel. (Isaiah 11:10-12)

We Remember What You have Done and Rejoice!

You contend with those who contend with us. We rejoice with great joy in your strength and in the victories you bring. We will remember all of the victories you have given us and rehearse them, just like you instructed Joshua to do. Rehearse means to appoint people to positions, establish a new relationship, to assign someone something, to bring about a change, to set aside something for special purposes.

You want to give us the desires of our heart and make all our plans succeed. (Psalm 21)

Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God, we rise up and stand firm. We rejoice and shout for joy when you are victorious, boasting all day long in God as we lift up our banners in the name of our God. We raise your banner against all our enemies!

We Praise You for Overcoming the World, and We Will Take Heart!

From the very beginning, Satan has made many attempts to defeat Israel and the coming Messiah, but you saved Israel. Nothing can stop your plans. If you are for us, who can be against us? We are more than conquerors through him who loves us!