Day 7 - 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting 2026

Day 7: The Church, the mouthpiece for God

Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29)

The story of the Israelites is one of extreme highs and extreme lows! One of these lows came earlier in Numbers chapter eleven during a period of “intense craving.” The people of Israel were complaining about the manna from heaven and longing for cucumbers and melons! This makes no sense to me since I don’t like cucumbers to begin with!

After this, Moses gets frustrated with the people and asks God for some help. He says, “I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me.”  

So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. (Numbers 11:14,16-17)

Now we move to an extreme high! In verse twenty five God takes the Spirit that is on Moses and “placed the same upon the seventy elders.” What happens next is absolutely incredible! It says that these seventy elders began to prophesy! They began speaking the word of the Lord! Isn’t this incredible!? I believe this is a foreshadowing of a future event. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost! 

If we continue reading in Numbers, we find that there were two men who didn’t make it to the tabernacle of meeting but they were part of the seventy elders. God put his Spirit on them as well! They were still in the middle of the camp and started prophesying. Apparently Joshua, Moses' assistant, was upset that these two hadn’t gotten to the tabernacle in time for the outpouring of the Spirit and asked Moses to forbid them from prophesying. Moses' response is so prophetic! Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29) 

This is exactly what God intended to do! Hundreds of years later God spoke through the Prophet Joel, 

“And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.

And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28-29)

The Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost quoted this exact passage in order to explain what was happening! God’s Spirit had been poured out on the church! And the church was proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ!

It has always been God’s intention to give us His Spirit! Listen to what Peter says as the end of his sermon in Acts chapter two.

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”(Acts 2:38-39)

My prayer today is the same as Moses. “Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” God wants to pour out his Spirit on the church! The church is his mouthpiece in the world! Lord, fill us with your Spirit! Help us to proclaim your words of truth and love in this world! May the church stand in the power of your Spirit against the darkness of this age! Help us to march your kingdom forward in the anointing of the Holy Spirit! To the glory of Jesus Christ, fill your people with yourself! Amen!