I find there is an interesting depth to the LORD and our relationship with Him. When you are young in the LORD and just starting out, it is a bit like a honeymoon. Things are wonderful, exciting! Then after some years together, there is a little less hand-holding and He lets you walk on your own a bit more. Oh, He is there, but He now expects more from you than He used to.

Each time you sail through a test, He raises the bar a little more. He intends to stretch your faith and pull on it to make it grow. Stress. There are probably gonna be a few "woe is me" moments. There may be some shouting matches when He will not do what you told Him to do. He is not your servant. We are supposed to be His. Stretch. Grow. Learn to overcome.

He will let you flail, and whine, and scream, and cry, and when you have exhausted every last bit of your strength, there He is. It is often at the end of your rope that you find God waiting there to catch you. The Apostle Paul knew this well.

(Ephesians 6:13 NKJV)  "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand"

When you have done everything you know to do, stand. Paul talks about putting on the armor of God, taking up the sword and shield, preparing for the worst, and praying for the best. The Shield of Faith blocks the enemy's attacks. The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God — the one offensive weapon in the list.

I have seen incredible things happen by simply speaking the Word of God into dark circumstances. I once got into a confrontation with a man who had multiple evil spirits. He spoke about himself in third person and referred to himself as "we." His wife locked herself in the bathroom with a knife because she was afraid of him. When things got heated, I began to pray out loud and bind the spirits in the name of Jesus Christ. Each time I said the words "Jesus Christ," his head would spin like I had slapped him across the face. Within a minute, the darkness that covered him lifted. The situation defused. Binding in prayer is real. Jesus said this:

(Matthew 18:18 NKJV) "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

There is real power in prayer and in speaking the Word of God. Not weak, watered-down, faithless prayers — but the kind that bring actual change. That kind of emergency prayer works when you are alone. But there are seasons when you have prayed everything you know to pray, bound everything you can think to bind, and you are still sinking. That is when you need the body of Christ. You were not designed to struggle on by yourself forever. God put other members around you for exactly this moment. Jesus said it this way:

(Matthew 18:19-20 NKJV)  "Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

In ancient Greek, it literally means to "symphonize" like musical instruments all tuned to the same key and playing the same song. That is a powerful prayer song going up to the LORD. That is why the prayer time during our live services is so important. We harmonize, fill in the gaps, and all together create a beautiful prayer song of unity that the LORD adores. It is like incense going up before Him.

Twenty voices are better than one. Though the LORD promises that even where there are only two or three gathered together in His name, there He would be. So a small church can be just as powerful as a big one. Often more so, because it is doubtful a megachurch would take the time to have the whole congregation to pray for just you. Well, unless you are related to the pastor... So there is strength in numbers, even small ones.

(Leviticus 26:8 NKJV)  "Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you."

Remember what our sword is? The Word of God. Combining group prayer with the Word of God is a powerful combination. Especially when you are sliding down the rope. Together, we make up the body of Christ. The Apostle Paul said it this way:

(1 Corinthians 12:12-18 NKJV)  "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased."

This is not a theory. Nearly every week at Refreshing Hope, someone types a prayer request into our live chat from a hospital bed or a hospice room. They are holding on. And when they do, everyone gathered here prays for them, in real time, over the live stream. That is the body of Christ doing what it was built to do. Nobody has to walk alone anymore.

This is real. This is now. We are here for such a time as this. Hold the line.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I have done everything I know to do, and I am still here, still holding on. Help me to stand. When my strength runs out, remind me that I am not alone — that You put the body of Christ around me for exactly this moment. Teach me to pray with real faith, and when someone near me is struggling, make me the one who reaches out to help. We hold the line together. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!