It is wonderful that immediately after the children of Israel drank the living water, they fought against Amalek. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for service can also be rendered “warfare” (Num. 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 39, 43). Every spiritual work, every spiritual service, is a warfare. We must always remember that in the universe there is both God and Satan. God wants us to serve, but Satan wants to destroy the service. The goal of the children of Israel was to serve God, but they encountered problems on the way. These problems included Egypt and Amalek. Egypt signifies the world, and Amalek signifies the flesh. When we desire to serve the Lord, many of the problems we encounter come from “Amalek.” Often the Amalek we encounter is the brothers and sisters with whom we serve. This kind of flesh cannot be rejected by human effort or human methods.
As we are practicing district meetings and as we are serving the Lord in the districts, we will likely encounter men’s flesh; that is, we will encounter Amalek. The responsible brothers and sisters should never use fleshly methods to reject the flesh. Instead, they must learn one thing: We can never deal with men’s flesh by our flesh. This will only bring in problems. Rather, we deal with Amalek by fighting in prayer. Exodus 17 does not use the verb pray; rather, it uses the expression lifted his hand up. Moses told Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out; fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand” (v. 9). Moses asked Joshua to choose men for the battle, but he himself went to the hill to lift up his hands. This means that we should reject fleshly methods. Instead of laying our hands on other people, we should lay our hands on God. There is no other way to deal with the flesh. We cannot depend on our natural life or act in accordance with man’s views. There is no alternative. The only way is to put our strength, our hand, on God through prayer. “When Moses lifted his hand up, Israel prevailed; and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed” (v. 11). Victory or defeat depends entirely upon lifting up our hands or letting down our hands.
If we consider the portrayal in Exodus of a person praying by lifting up his hands, we will realize that it is altogether a picture of coordination. Joshua fought the battle with a group of chosen men, who were under his command; this was one part of the coordination. Meanwhile, Moses prayed by lifting up his hands; this was the other part of the coordination. When we put these two parts together, we see total coordination. In addition, when Moses lifted up his hands in prayer, he was not able to hold them up for long. He needed people to support him; that is, he needed others to coordinate with him. Thus, Aaron and Hur supported his hands with one on one side and one on the other side. Thus, Moses’ hands were steady (v. 12). This is proof that Moses lifted up not only one hand but both hands. When Moses lifted up his hands, he needed Aaron and Hur to support him. In the same way, when we serve together, we need both support and coordination.
Without the support of the brothers and sisters, the responsible ones in a district will not be able to do a good job. Often they may pray for the church to the extent that their hands become heavy, and they become exhausted and are unable to stand in prayer. At this point they need the support of the brothers and sisters. If the brothers and sisters support them, they will be able to stand and continue to pray with fighting prayers; however, if the brothers and sisters do not support them, they will fall down, and their prayer will not continue. Hence, these praying ones need everyone’s support. The brothers and sisters must not look at responsible ones’ weaknesses, shortcomings, and inadequacies. If these ones have any shortage, they need some to make up the lack and support them. Even God’s servant Moses needed others to support him in the warfare against Amalek. Joshua needed Moses’ prayer, and Moses’ prayer needed Aaron and Hur’s support. This is a complete picture of coordination. I hope that the brothers and sisters will see these three points: We need to receive the impartation of the Holy Spirit to quench our thirst, we need to receive the breaking of the cross in order to receive the impartation of the Holy Spirit, and we need to learn to depend on the Lord and support one another.
We should not think that we are a Moses and have no need of others. In fact, Moses needed Aaron and Hur. Moses, Aaron, and Hur needed to coordinate together. On the one hand, those responsible in the districts need the support of those responsible in the smaller groups. If those responsible in the groups merely look on as disinterested bystanders, it will be as if they are Amalek. Those who do not support others become the flesh. On the other hand, the responsible ones in the districts also need to learn to coordinate with others. They should not think that since they are the responsible ones, they can do everything by themselves. We should not forget that they need others’ support and that without others they will definitely fall down. There is nothing to be proud of in regard to being a responsible one, and there is nothing to feel lowly about in regard to being a supporting one. This is the key to coordination. Coordination depends on our submitting ourselves in the Lord’s presence to pursue Him, allowing Him, as well as others, to point out our deficiencies.