As I was rummaging through a storage drawer, I found an old patch from my days as a cop. The patch was a recognition gift for the participants on our pistol team at the CHP Combat Match in Sacramento in 1975. That event was over 50 years ago. 

It wasn’t by accident that I got a Top-Gun award on our team that year at that event. I began my training from boyhood. I thought of the years I spent target-practicing and learning to hit the bullseye. Our backyard fence was my backstop, and over ten years, I shot thousands of pellets into those boards. One day, after my first shot, I heard a loud creaking sound—and watched in wonder as the whole fence slowly collapsed backward into the orchard behind us. With good humor, my dad proceeded to build a new fence—with my help.

The patch reminded me that one meaning of intercession is to “strike the mark.” God looks for willing participants to train for spiritual warfare. He fills His hands with glory, power, and light to empower us and command our prayers to “strike the mark.”

If even a remnant will respond to God’s mandate to intercede for our families, communities, nation, and this world, we will experience breakthroughs and turnarounds (see II Samuel 5:17-25). Under the anointing of Jesus, we will enforce what He won for us on the Cross. 

Like King Jehoshaphat, we too don’t know what to do except to keep our eyes on the Lord. We can’t depend on our strength or understanding to deal with those who come against us. When we believe in the Lord our God and keep focused on Him, we will be able to stand firm. When we believe His prophets recorded throughout Scripture, we will succeed. 

God Himself will fight for us and judge the injustice our enemies have perpetrated. Our valley of trepidation and dismay will be named the Valley of Blessing. All the people on the face of the Earth will know that God is with us, and He gives us rest on every side (see II Chronicles 20:5-30).

Jan and I ask for fortitude to remain persistent in our practice of waiting on God. To intercede is to participate with Him, move at His word, and “strike the mark.”