DAILY FIRE: THE BANNER OF GOD

THE BANNER OF GOD  TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: “Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands" (1 Samuel 17:47).  DAILY FIRE! His banner over me is love.  Roman soldiers used ensigns for signaling in battle, occasionally perfuming them with oils, and decorating them with flowers. Jews considered these ensigns to be spiritually offensive. Nowadays, we do not regard ceremonial objects with the same appreciation or revulsion as did the Romans or Jews of centuries gone by, but we can learn a lot by understanding how people revered banners in Bible times: “You have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because of the truth” (Psalm 60:4).  During the exile of the Hebrews in Egypt, they had no banner. They were unknown, unorganized, and without distinction. As slaves, they had no identification, no flags, and no rights. When the tribes finally escaped, they were as refugees, united only in huddled fear—a mixed rabble. Only Moses and Aaron kept them together, and even then, some of them probably suspected them of being religious fanatics. The tribal families clung to each other for mutual support. The first few days were critical. Then murderous bands of Amalekite plunderers began to harass their flanks, picking off stragglers and stripping them of their meager belongings. Joshua had to muster what men and arms he could. It was a pitiful show, since they did not have so much as a rag raised on a pole to rally them. However, Moses had his own bare hands to raise to the God of heaven… and the Amalekites were routed. “And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; for he said, ‘Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation’” (Exodus 17:15–16).  God gave Israel a name and nationhood, but no national symbol. Moses surveyed Joshua’s Israelite force—primitive but victorious, undistinguished by a single fluttering pennant or token, an army without pageantry— and said, “Yahweh Nissi—the Lord is my banner.” He replaced heraldry by reality.  Taken from Daily Fire Devotional: 365 Days in God’s Word by Reinhard Bonnke. Copyright © 2015 by Reinhard Bonnke. Use by permission of Whitaker House. www.whitakerhouse.com

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