Is prayer by itself enough? Certainly we have not done all we can do until we have prayed.

The exercise of prevailing prayer is undergirded by so many other spiritual disciplines, including faith and perseverance. The prayer of faith is almost always accompanied by acts of faith. We can pray for the poor and needy, but until we share what we have with them, we have not exercised our full responsibility (James 2:15-16).

This concept is illustrated in the life of Moses as he led the Israelites out of Egypt toward the Promised Land.

In Exodus 17:8-13, the people of Israel are camped in the south end of the Sinai Peninsula. They were not threatening anyone, unless you consider the sheer size of their camp a threat.

The people of Amalek were nomadic people who traveled all over the Sinai. Amalek attacked Israel. It might have been to plunder the people or to make a statement about territorial rights. Whatever the reason, Israel needed to defend herself and join the battle.

Moses told Joshua to gather some men and go fight the Amalekites. Moses said, "Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands" (Exodus 17:9).

Why the effort to gather the fighting men? Had not Moses already decimated the entire nation of Egypt with just the staff of God? He raised the staff of God and parted the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21). He struck the rock at Horeb with the staff of God, and water gushed in such abundance that the multitude of Israel and their massive herds of livestock were provided a river of water in the desert (Exodus 17:5-6).

In past times the people of Israel were spectators to God's mighty works. Now they were participants. They were fighting, and Moses was standing on the hill with the staff of God, holding his hands up toward heaven and pleading for God's intervention.

Things started well. Moses was interceding; the men were fighting, and winning. As the day wore on, Moses grew weary and his arms drooped down. When his arms came down, the tide of the battle turned. Amalek now began to prevail.

Aaron and Hur were on the hill with Moses. They witnessed the dilemma and could have done two things. They could have run to help in the battle, or they could have entered into the pleading with God by Moses. They chose the best part; they stayed to help Moses.

Aaron and Hur found a rock for Moses to sit on, and then they stood with Moses, one at the right hand and one at the left hand, and held up his arms. It worked! The people were swinging swords against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur were praying to God, and they prevailed against the enemy (Exodus 17:13).

This is a pattern. We undergird our lives with prayer and have others join us in prayer, but then we must put feet to our prayers to go, to give, to do whatever needs to be done in advancing the kingdom of God on earth.

We must never neglect prayer, but the battle has two fronts. We are the hands and feet of God on the earth at this time.