Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that prayer is the essential weapon of the Messiah. Not a sword. Not an army. Prayer.
The teaching begins with a striking image from the Zohar: the Mashiach draws his life-force from the "nose," the breath. "He shall breathe of the fear of God" (Isaiah 11:3). The nose represents prayer, as in the verse, "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of God" (Lamentations 4:20). When Jacob told his sons, "I took this with my sword and my bow" (Genesis 48:22), the Targum Onkelos translates: "with my prayer and my supplication."
But this weapon of prayer can only be received through guarding the brit (ברית), the covenant, which is the spiritual legacy of Joseph. Joseph, who resisted the wife of Potiphar and maintained his purity, earned the birthright. And the birthright corresponds to prayer, because prayer itself is twofold: praise of God and requesting one's needs. This "double portion" of the firstborn mirrors the "double-edged sword" of (Psalms 149:6).
Yet possessing the weapon is not enough. You must know how to aim it. Rabbi Nachman connects this to the attribute of mishpat (משפט), justice, which is the "center pillar" of the sefirot (the divine emanations). A warrior of prayer must be able to "strike at a hair and not miss" (Judges 20:16), neither veering to the right of excessive mercy nor to the left of excessive severity.
Every blade of grass below has a star above that strikes it and tells it, "Grow!" (Bereishit Rabbah 10:7). Through prayer, each of the twelve tribes arouses its corresponding constellation, causing the material world to flourish. Prayer is not passive. It is the force that makes things grow, the weapon that makes the world move.