October 12, 2009

I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of [our enemies]. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” Nehemiah 4:13, 14

Perhaps, like me and other members of my family, you’ve been collecting the state and territorial commemorative quarters that have been issued over the last eleven years. If so, then you might have heard that the U.S. Mint will be starting the America the Beautiful Quarters Program next year. The coins will honor 56 units of the National Park Service, one for each state, as well as the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories. The locations featured on the quarters’ reverse side will be in the order they were designated as national parks, forests or historic sites, with five issued every year and the final one in 2021.

First up is Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. Surprised? Congress set aside Hot Springs Reservation (the park’s first designation) in 1832—forty years before Yellowstone. That Wyoming park will be on the second quarter issued in 2010, followed by Yosemite (California), Grand Canyon (Arizona) and Mt. Hood National Forest (Oregon).

The honor of being chosen to appear on the quarters didn’t come by chance. When I was at Homestead, which will represent Nebraska in 2015, I found out that it took some campaigning to win the coveted spot. After all, there are four other national park units in the state: Agate Fossil Bed National Monument, Missouri National Recreational River, Niobrara National Scenic River and Scotts Bluff National Monument. The rangers at Homestead were happy their effort paid off.

In Scripture, Nehemiah was a man who knew how to fight for something. When he first heard about the trouble and disgrace of the returned exiles in Jerusalem, he wept, fasted and prayed (Nehemiah 1:3-10). Next he seized an opportunity, prayed some more, and pleaded his case before his boss, King Artaxerxes (vs. 2-9).

But he was just getting started. The rest of chapter one and the next five chapters detail the opposition he faced in rebuilding the city’s broken down wall. Things got so bad that “those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked” (4:17, 18).  But the job got done in record time, because the people were motivated to protect what was dear to them—their families and their property—and because, as Nehemiah adjured them, “Our God will fight for us!” (4:20).

Today, we still need to wage war on behalf of the most important people in our lives. Since “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12), our weapons must be able to stand up to these invisible foes. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3, 4).

Our most powerful weapon? Prayer. It’s also the most difficult one to handle. Taking time to pray regularly and deliberately is undoubtedly the hardest discipline of the Christian life.

How to do it? Through much trial and error and habitual practice, I’ve found a system and a method that works for me—if I keep at it! My greatest resource has been my Moms in Touch prayer groups, which I’ve attended for over fifteen years. There I learned a terrific model of Scripture-centered intercessory prayer that, while specifically targeting my daughter, is applicable to prayers for anyone and any situation.

Even if you’re not a mom, I hope you, like Jerusalem’s long-ago wall builders, will commit to doing your work with one hand and wielding your prayer weapon with the other.

And remember–the great and awesome God fights right alongside you.