The Man of War

Tuesday 21 February
READ: Psa. 24: 7 -10
MORE LESSON: Exo. 15: 3 - 11

A warrior is a fighter that is known for his prowess in battle. There are professional warriors who do nothing but fight. There are also mercenary fighters that can be hired to fight on your behalf when the battle gets tough. No matter how skilled and powerful a fighter is, there is no warrior or warring nation that has never lost a battle before. The most respected warring nation in the world today is perhaps the United States of America. As militarily powerful as America is, she will not dare to fight many nations at the same time. It takes exceptional prowess for a warrior to fight more than one battle at a time. Only Jehovah Sabaoth can fight in different places at the same time without standing from His seat. Only the Lord of Hosts has never and will never lose a battle.
God is a warrior; He is an expert at fighting and winning battles. Throughout the Scripture, there are accounts of the mighty battles that the Lord fought and won. In Exo. 14, when the Israelites were at the Red Sea, the sea was in front, the host of Egypt was behind them and the desert was to their sides. It looked like they were in the midst of a lost battle. The Lord who is mighty in battle showed up for them, and threw the forces of the enemy into confusion and dealt with the battle coming from the rear and the one in the front. The Lord fought against the Egyptians and destroyed them with the wind that He blew from His nostrils. After the children of Israel were delivered from the battle, they sang praises to the Lord, saying, The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name: Exo. 15:3. The greatest warrior of all times is the Lord God Almighty.
David was talking about Jesus in Psa. 24: 7 – 10 where he introduced Him as the ...King of glory....The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.... This scripture is about the resurrection of the Lord where Jesus faced all the hosts of hell, defeated them all and rose victorious from the dead. He introduced Himself as the Lord who is strong and mighty in battle. The Lord is the undefeatable man of war. He defeated death; all the forces of hell could not defeat Him.
Whatever battle you are facing today, I want you to invite the Lord of Hosts. Engage Jehovah the Man of War to intervene on your behalf and all your enemies will drown like the armies of Pharaoh. You will win every battle of life, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Let the God of war arise in battle for me today, in Jesus’ name.
* Jehovah sabaoth, teach my hand to battle, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, today I spread the force of light over my entire family, both nuclear and extended and I command the glory of the light to shine upon us, in the name of Jesus.

God's Weapon of War II

Monday 20 February
READ: 2 Kings 6: 7 - 22
MORE LESSON: Exo. 15: 3

Jehovah is a man of war and He does not lose battles. Life is a battle field as believers confront principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12). The battle also includes the fight against human agents of wickedness that have committed themselves to making sure that children of God are brought down by all means. Being alive is going to war, every man is in battle, whether one is aware of it or not. Even living day-to-day, trying to make impact and move forward, already involves a lot of spiritual warfare. This is because the person has to contend with the forces of retrogression, poverty, limitation, disadvantaged background and resistance of nature to his progress. Saving souls and expanding the Kingdom also puts the child of God in constant battle with the forces of hell for the souls of men. Life is full of battle but the good news is that, as a child of God, Jesus has won the victory for you and you are fighting from the standpoint of victory and not defeat.
God has many weapons with which He fights for His children in the battles of life. In addition to those listed yesterday. A weapon and strategy that God uses in fighting for His children is putting their enemies to shame. In the text, when the enemies of Israel surrounded Elisha and wanted to arrest and disgrace him, the man of God prayed and the Lord struck the enemies with blindness. After being blinded, the enemies walked to Samaria in the midst of the Israeli garrison. They became blind and they made a huge mistake. It is a mistake for an army to walk by themselves into the enemy’s stronghold and be surrounded with no hope of escape. The Syrians were blind so they committed a military blunder. In the same way, Jehovah will fight for you by making your enemies to commit blunders that will make them nail themselves, in Jesus' name.
The Lord is a man of war and He chooses to fight and win battles any way He likes. It is important however to know that one of the most powerful strategies and weapons that Jehovah uses in battle is love. Jehovah fights battles by love. Love is a potent weapon that disarms enemies. In the text, after the Syrians committed a blunder and walked into the midst of the Israeli garrison, the king of Israel immediately wanted to kill the Syrians. However, the prophet told him to feed them, take care of them and release them. It was this show of love that disarmed the enemies and thereafter they stopped raiding Israel (2 Kings 6: 23). From today, your enemies will submit and stay away forever, in Jesus' name.

Prayer/Action
* Father, reveal to me through Your Word the right weapon to fight my enemies, in Jesus’ name.
* In the name of Jesus, I command blindness upon all my enemies monitoring my progress.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
There is hope for my destiny even in the midst of adversity, I shall thrive and shine, in the mighty name of Jesus.

God's Weapon of War I

Sunday 19 February
READ: 2 Kings 6:10-22
MORE LESSON: Psa. 24: 8

A really great warrior thrives both on might and strategy. For anyone to be mighty in battle, he must have power to subdue his enemies. A great warrior must also have wisdom, which has to do with strategies and tactics with which the warrior out-wits and defeats his enemies. Every proven warrior has 'the-how' of his art; and his victories are always imbedded in his strategies. Jehovah is a man of war; He is strong and mighty in battle. Not only is He mighty, He is also all-wise and has infinite strategies and tactics with which He fights battles. The Mighty One does not struggle to defeat enemies because He has different ways and strategies with which He can finish them.
In 2 Kings 6: 8, the king of Syria wanted to war against Israel and the Lord fought for Israel by revealing every plan and strategy of the enemy to Israel. When all an enemy is planning and how he hopes to achieve them has been known to you, then they are helpless at fighting you. God fights your enemies by giving information about them to you. One of the challenges that our nation has faced in fighting terrorism is the challenge of information. If all the information about the terrorists is known, then it becomes easy to defeat them. God frustrated the Syrians by giving Israel divine information. Divine revelation is one of the time tested strategies of Jehovah. The Holy Ghost is God's agent of revelation and information. He can always give you high class information about your enemies that will enable you to finish them off. The information that you need to fight accurately might seem to be hidden from you but it is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit as you pray in tongues. God will expose your enemies by the Spirit of revelation, in Jesus’ name.
Another strategy that God uses in war is giving instruction. In the text, the prophet sent instructions to the king of Israel on where to camp and where not to go. As long as the king obeyed the prophetic instructions, he won the battle. Prophetic instructions are not to be received as advice; they are commands that are to be obeyed promptly. Your prophet is not your adviser; he is your instructor. This is why you must make sure you do not submit your life under a fake prophet. When a genuine prophet that God has set over you gives you an instruction, your victory in the battle of life is hinged on that instruction. From today, every instruction that you need to win all battles of life will come your way. You will always be a victor and never a victim for the rest of your life, in Jesus’ mighty name.

Prayer/Action
* By divine instruction Lord reveal the plan of the enemy to me today, in Jesus’ name.
* When I go to the right or left, let me hear a voice of instruction, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I release the ravens to bring my provision in 2017, and I command that my river cherith shall not run dry, rain or no rain, in the name of Jesus.

Personal Decision to Praise

Saturday 18 February
READ: Psa. 89: 1 - 2
MORE LESSON: Psa. 101: 1

In the text, we see David, the beloved of God, speak to himself. He said, I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. The first thing to note about this scripture is that it shows personal decision. Before the actual praising and singing, the first thing that David did was to say, ‘I will . . .’ He further said, 'with my mouth will I . . .' and 'for I have said . . . .' These statements show a strong personal decision. It can be inferred from this scripture, therefore, that praising God is a personal choice after all.
Thanking Jesus is foremost an individual decision before a corporate decision. If you have not made a personal decision for thanksgiving even if the church organises a praise service, you will be present but you will not give God praise from your heart. A person who has not made the personal decision to praise God could be in the house or in church where everyone is standing and praising and he stands with them in appearance but actually he is seated in his heart. He might even be singing with them but his heart is not praising God. Acceptable praise is when the praise you give actually flows directly from your heart. This starts with the choice to praise. Dancing is good and singing is important but the foremost thing is the decision to praise God
.
David made the choice and you also have to make this choice. He didn't only make the choice to praise God, he also chose to make known the faithfulness of God to all generations. You also have to make the decision to make God's faithfulness known to all your generation. Parents should learn to gather their children and tell them what God has done for them in times past. When these children grow up they should tell their children what God did for them and also relay to their own children what their parents told them that God did for them. By so doing we can have generational testimonies of God's faithfulness. At family altar, time for sharing testimonies should be allowed so that we can be aware of family testimonies to pass down our generations.
A life of thanksgiving and testimonies starts with a personal decision to praise God and tell of His faithfulness to all your generations. Personal decision is about you as nobody can use another person's mouth to sing or testify. So, make that decision for yourself today and then go ahead and give Him praise.

Prayer/Action
* Lord, no situation will take away my personal decision to always praise You for all things, in the name of Jesus.
* Father, thank You for creating me for Your praise, I shall not live less than that purpose, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I activate the covenant of peace and wellbeing to begin to function in my destiny unhindered from today, in the mighty name of Jesus.