The Prayer of Asa

Asa: The Message "Follow me " roared Asa, repeating his historic prayer. LORD, there is no one like You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your Name we have come against this vast army. LORD, You are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against You. -2 Chronicles 14:11 TNIV And his men did follow. Why? Why would they do that? Five-hundred-eighty thousand in the army of Judah facing an army of 1,000,000 Cushites. For every one of me, there are two of them. I'm in the ring, and I see in the opposing corner TWO mad, muscular, and frothing hulks. I say, "Time out, ref. this is not fair. I'll come back tomorrow when it's fair. First thing, they're a lot bigger than me. Secondly, there's two of them." Not Asa, not his men. they didn't say that. They marched forward. "And the army of Judah triumphed as the Cushites fled." How did they do that? That's the message of the prayer of Asa: GOD LOVES TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE, FOR MEN AND WOMEN WHO MAKE THEMSELVES AVAILABLE. And act on faith. These are people we call tough. Courageous. Conquerors. That's you and that's me when we claim God's power to do the impossible through us. Conquerors act in spite of fear or feelings. It's clear that Asa did not "feel" courageous when he appealed to God. The Hollywood depiction of courage is wrong: the Rambo-type who smashes any danger without fear or hesitation. Wrong. Courage is acting in spite of fear. That's you, claiming the power and repeating the Prayer of Asa. Leaders look to God rather than to circumstances. That's the whole point of the Asa prayer. Charles Stanley loves to tell his story as a young pastor coached by an 80-year old matron of his church. She guided him into her parlor to show him that classic painting of Daniel patting the head of the now-docile lions. "Notice, Brother Stanley, the reason Daniel patting the head of the now-docile lions. "Notice, Brother Stanley, the reason Daniel was delivered was because he looked up at God, not down at the lions." Leaders repeat the fundamentals. when Vince Lombardi took over the fledgling Green Bay Packers decades ago, he gathered them into the locker room and held up the object of their attention. "Gentlemen, this is a football." Leaders begin with the fundamentals. The text says that Asa commanded that the people follow God's commandments and that they enter into a covenant with the Lord. It's fundamental: People want rules-People need rules-that are TUF: