The Victory Is His

This . . .
Two men are in a boat. The boat begins to take on water and sink.
One man starts bailing water, the other man begins to pray.
Sometimes, bailing water is required.
Prayer is always a wise thing to do.
So if you are one of the men in the boat?
I would advise you to pray and bail.
.
That being said . . .
I am one who tends to do first and pray later. When something goes wrong; when I encounter trouble; when evil threatens; when I anticipate a storm on the horizon . . .
My natural tendancy is to formulate a list of things I could do to improve my position.
.
This is That . . .
What should we do as evil and sin are on the rise?
.
God's holy prescription for our diseased state in times of national crisis and moral collapse is in Joel 2, which is a solemn assembly of united fasting and prayer:

"Now, therefore," says the Lord, "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.
.
Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from His chamber, and the bride from her dressing room.
.
Then the Lord will be zealous for His land . . .
.
And in II Chronicles 7:13-14
When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
.
It's interesting that there is no mention of irrigation or pesticides. That could be the answer to our prayer, but the answer could just as easily be to dance in a dry ditch on one foot as we hoot and hollar seven times with a large bug net over our heads.
The point being, that God wants to be sure that we know . . .
that the victory is HIS.
.