The title of God I want to look at today is Jehovah-Nissi found in Exodus 17:15. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner,
Banners / flags have been common place in warfare for millennia. It signifies who you are fighting under. In this case it was a reminder who actually gave the victory to the Israelites. Jehovah-Nissi IS the One who brings the victory. God is still our Banner.
We first must realize the cause in which our King has called us to .. in this cosmic war. Each of us has our duties given specifically by our King to us personally via the Holy Spirit. We must continually remind ourselves what His commands are to us. These will only come via direct instruction through the Holy Spirit. Adopting someone else’s directives will not give you heavenly rewards. You must seek Him out directly to receive your ‘orders’. Often times those ‘orders’ are daily. We then must only carry out those ‘orders’ and instructions via the power of the Holy Spirit. Without Him we can do nothing in the spiritual realm. We must have Him leading our way, empowering us to do what He has asked us to do WITH Him.
MacLaren’s Expositions Commentary says.. about this verse in Exodus…
“‘The Lord is my Banner,’-no Moses, no outward symbol, no man or thing, but only He Himself. Therefore, in all our duties, and in all our difficulties, and in all our conflicts, and for all our conquests, we are to look away from creatures, self, externals, and to look only to God. We are all too apt to trust in rods instead of in Him, in Moses instead of in Moses’ Lord.
We are all too apt to trust in externals, in organizations, sacraments, services, committees, outside aids of all sorts, as our means for doing God’s work, and bringing power to us and blessing to the world. Let us get away from them all, dig deeper down than any of these, be sure that these are but surface reservoirs, but that the fountain which fills them with any refreshing liquid which they may bear lies in God Himself. Why should we trouble ourselves about reservoirs when we can go to the Fountain? Why should we put such reliance on churches and services and preaching and sermons and schemes and institutions and organizations when we have the divine Lord Himself for our strength? ‘Jehovah is my Banner,’ and Moses’ rod is only a symbol. At most it is like a lightning-conductor, but it is not the lightning. The lightning will come without the rod, if our eyes are to the heaven, for the true power that brings God down to men is that forsaking of externals and waiting upon Him which He never refuses to answer.”
Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6
Have your got your ‘orders’ today from your Commander and King?