Day 5: More with us than with them!
I love this story from 2 Kings. King of Aram had been attacking the Kingdom of Israel but every time he attacked he found that they knew his battle plans. He called together all his military advisors because he was sure there was a mole. Wisely though, one of his advisors told him that there was a Holy Man in Israel that God told the King's battle plans and that he was in Dothan. So, the King went to snuff out the source!
2 Kings 6: 15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.
16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
The prayer that changes everything, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” Notice what Elisha does not pray. He doesn’t pray:
“Lord, remove the army.”
“Lord, change the situation.”
“Lord, fix this immediately.”
He prays for vision, not escape, and suddenly the servant sees God's reality. The hills are full of horses and chariots of fire. Here is the thought that I love: Heaven’s army was always there. The servant’s fear wasn’t because God was absent, it was because he couldn’t see what God was doing.
How many times in our lives are we worried, fearful, or doubting because we cannot see what God is doing? Confident prayer is not about pretending problems aren’t real. The Aramean army was real, but so was heaven. Elisha’s calm didn’t come from denial; it came from perspective. He had the eyes to see God at work! When we doubt in prayer, it’s never because God has failed us, it’s because we are measuring the visible instead of trusting the invisible. If we are going to pray confident prayers, it’s going to take us reminding ourselves every now and then that God’s working even when we can’t see it… especially when we cannot see it!
Elisha didn’t pray like a man trying to convince God to act, he prayed like a man who already knew God was present. “Lord, open his eyes.” Honestly, that’s a wonderful prayer for us today. “Lord, open my eyes to see you at work!” That is how we will remove doubt and fear!
Fear says: Look at the army. Doubt says: We’re surrounded.
Faith says: Look again. Faith says: They’re surrounded.
When we pray confidently, we don’t pray from desperation, we pray from position. We don’t pray trying to earn God’s intervention, we pray trusting His nearness. The servant’s environment didn’t change. His eyesight did… And once he saw correctly, fear lost its grip.
Prayer Focus
Father, you are never absent. You are never outnumbered. You are never surprised. Forgive me for the moments I measure my problems more than I measure Your power. Forgive me for praying from fear instead of faith. Open my eyes.
Help me see what You are doing behind the scenes. Help me trust what I cannot see. When anxiety rises, remind me that heaven surrounds me. When doubt whispers, anchor me in Your promises. Teach me to pray with confidence, not because my circumstances are small, but because You are great.
Let me walk into every battle knowing that there are more with us than with them.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.