Soon after the Israelites were miraculously released from slavery in Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them. Following Moses’ direction, courageous Joshua led the Israelites into battle. In the meantime, Moses took Aaron and Hur to a nearby hillside from which they could see the battlefield. Moses put into action a plan that proved to be the key to their success. Moses kept his hands and the rod of the true God lifted up toward heaven. As long as Moses did that, Jehovah empowered the hands of the Israelites to fight successfully against the Amalekites. However, when Moses’ hands became heavy and began to drop down, the Amalekites started to win. Acting with decisiveness, Aaron and Hur “took a stone and put it under [Moses], and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur, one on each side, supported his hands, so that his hands remained steady until the sun set.” Yes, God’s mighty hand enabled the Israelites to win the battle.​—Ex. 17:8-13. w16.09 1:5-7

Paul had full confidence that he could win his internal battle by prayerfully relying on Jehovah and exercising faith in Jesus’ ransom sacrifice. What about us? As we struggle against giving in to our own fleshly weaknesses, we can succeed. How? By imitating Paul, by fully relying on Jehovah and not on our own strength, and by having faith in the ransom. There are times when God may allow us to demonstrate the depth of our concern about a matter. For instance, what if we (or a family member) were stricken by a serious illness or we were faced with some injustice? We would show our full trust in Jehovah by supplicating him in prayer to give us the strength to keep faithful and not lose our joy and spiritual balance. (Phil. 4:13) The experience of many, both in Paul’s day and in ours, proves that prayer can help us to renew our power and build up confidence to continue enduring. w16.09 2:14, 15

As the early Christian congregation grew, a situation that apparently involved discrimination arose. Greek-speaking Jews complained that their widows were not being treated fairly. To settle this issue, the apostles appointed seven men to make sure that nobody was neglected. These men all had Greek names, which seems to indicate that the apostles wanted to ease any tensions over background that might have existed among the early Christians. (Acts 6:2-6) Whether we realize it or not, we are all deeply influenced by our culture. (Rom. 12:2) Moreover, we likely hear neighbors, fellow workers, or schoolmates make derogatory remarks about those of another background, tribe, or skin color. How deeply are we affected by such biased views? And how do we react when someone makes fun of our nationality​—maybe by exaggerating some feature of our culture? w16.10 1:7, 8