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Lesson Text: Jeremiah 51: 20-23
– God is a warrior and He is mighty in battle.
– Every warrior goes to battle with weapons of warfare; trusted, effective and reliable.
– No warrior goes to battle without a weapon to fight.
– Being God’s battle axe means you are His weapon of warfare.
– He intends to fight battles through you. Consider David’s battle with Goliath. It was God Himself that fought with Goliath by making use of David as His battle axe.
– A battle axe is a weapon in the hands of the warrior that can bring down the enemy. It has the capacity to cut down, root up and break into pieces the strong holds of the enemy.
– Ex 7:1; Whatever God would have done to Pharaoh; He will do it through Moses. Pharaoh did not see God, but he saw God’s power working through Moses.
– The Lord wants to destroy many Pharaohs today, and He looks for the Moses’ of our generation to serve as His instrument of battle. Many Christians have died untimely due to attacks from the powers of darkness and some are in hell because they ‘refused’ to be the battle-axe of God. I pray that every hold of Satan and his kingdom over your life shall be broken in Jesus name.
1. Characteristics of a good battle axe:
– A good axe must be sharp, strong, powerful and easy to use; the one that has capacity to cut things easily without getting damaged.
– God expects every Christian to be His battle-axe, a weapon he would use in destroying the kingdom of darkness. Mark 16:17
– He has therefore invested and entrusted His power to us, so that we can achieve this purpose effectively without fail.
– The devil is aware of this fact so he is vigilant. He is battle-ready at all times with a well organise agents of darkness in his kingdom
– Acts 19:13-16. It is very painful that some Christians are lukewarm and some are living a deceptive life. The truth is that the devil knows the stand and the worth of every one.
– Some Christians are tools and toys in the hands of the devil, but that is not the will of God. I challenge everyone of us to rise up to the task of living according to the will of God so that we can actually be the mighty instruments that God intends us to be.
– The devil is occupied 24hours of the day and he fires arrows at people, day and night. The Bible says he goes around looking for who to devour; that is while we must never relax in battle against the powers of darkness.
2. Characteristics of God’s battle Axe:
1. Must be sharp Heb. 4:12
– What sharpens you is the word of God. Every believer in Christ must be skilful in the use of the sword of the Spirit for both defensive and offensive actions.
2. Must be free of rust
– An axe must not get rusted; otherwise, it becomes blunt and will not be able to chop anything.
– Rust in our lives could be:
• Addiction to food, sleep, etc. all of which can make us to be cold and inactive spiritually.
• Disobedience to the word of God. We can see the case of the young prophet who was disobedient to the instructions of God after doing exploits for God. He was abandoned and even the old lying prophet was used to deliver the judgment against him.
• Pride in our lives can serves as rust. We see the case of Peter who became proud about his stand with Christ, and latter found himself denying Him. God will always resist a proud man and make more grace available to the humble man.
• Sexual impurity. We see how Solomon and Samson gave up themselves to sexual impurity and as a result could no longer be mighty in the service of God. To be effective as God’s battle axe, you need to free yourself from all forms of sexual sins and live in purity unto God.
3. Must pass through fire.
– An axe is made of metal; it passes through fire to get its shape. It might not be pleasant, but makes a person a better vessel.
– Trials, temptations, afflictions and tribulations are the various ‘fires’ we need to pass through, so that we can come out as sharper and stronger instruments in the hands of God.
4. Must be available and easy to use.
– Availability is very important to be useful by God. No matter how strong an axe may be, if it is not readily available for use, it is good as if it is not there at all.
3. Why does God want you to be a battle axe?
– The battle axe is required:
1. To break nations into pieces: Jehoshaphat was used in destroying many Nations according to the will of God
2. To destroy the kingdom of darkness: This is the mission of the church of Jesus. We are expected to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the powers of the enemies without being hurt.
3. To destroy demonic agents: We can see the exploits that some men like Elijah, Elisha and Paul did against the powers of darkness and gave glory and honour to the name of the almighty God.
4. To destroy satanic principles and practices: Peter was able to rebuke the magician in Samaria when he was trying to use money to buy the gift of God. We must be ready to confront and condemn all forms of satanic practices going on today in the name of Christianity and in the quest and demonstration of power.
Conclusion:
– God intends that you as a Christian should live a holy life so that you can be used as vessels unto honour, as instrument of warfare to bring victory and glory to His kingdom continually.
PASTOR YINKA ANIBABA
Resident Pastor
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