Text: Exodus 4:20
What is a rod of fire? It is simply the rod of God. According to Hebrews 12:29, our God is a consuming fire. The rod of God is the rod of consuming fire. Therefore, it is the rod of fire that’s in the hand of Moses.
When you go further into the scriptures, you will find another rod of fire and that will be the mantle of Elijah. Elijah is a classic example of a fireman of God, a fire carrier of God because in 1 Kings 18:35-39, he prayed for about 2 minutes and fire came down from heaven. In 2 Kings 1:9-12, two times in a single day, he commanded fire to come down from heaven and fire came. He’s a man who praised and fire fell. He had something peculiar to him and that is his mantle. You will remember very well that when he was about to leave, and he asked Elisha what he wanted and Elisha said I want a double portion of your spirit, what he handed over or dropped for Elisha to pick up was his mantle.
When you move into the New Testament, you will find that the rod of fire is a name and that name is Jesus. Isaiah 11:1-5 tells us that out of Jesse will come a rod and according to Matthew 3:11-12, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the one who baptizes with fire. Just like Elijah dropped the mantle for Elisha, before he departed, Jesus Christ said after He has gone, He will send down power. ‘I will drop my mantle on you,’ and that mantle of course, is the Holy Spirit. So, the rod in the hand of Moses was a shepherd rod that became the rod of God. In the case of Elijah versus Elisha, it was a mantle and in the case of you and I, it is the Holy Spirit, dropped for us by Jesus Christ.
Now, what can the Rod do?
According to Exodus 7:10-12, when Moses dropped his rod in the palace of Pharaoh, it became a serpent. The magicians of Pharaoh also dropped their own rods and their own rod also became serpents but one thing followed, the rod of Moses swallowed the rods of the magicians; the serpent that came from the rod of Moses swallowed the serpents that came from the rods of the magicians and then when Moses picked it up, it became a rod again. The first thing the rod will do for you is to swallow the rods of your enemies. In 2 Kings 6:8-23, because Elisha had the mantle of Elijah, when a king sent an army to go and arrest him, a whole army, Elisha arrested the army. The mantle enabled him to arrest the arresters and he took them to the enemy’s territory, opened their eyes, got them fed and returned them to their sender.
In Acts 12:1-25, there was a king that was determined to stop the work of God. He got one of the Apostles (James), killed him and then decided to make progress. He grabbed Peter and he was going to kill Peter but, Peter was rescued. But by the end of the story, you’d discover that this fellow who was raising himself up as the enemy of the church was eaten by worms and the Bible says after he died, the work of God prospered. So, I have good news for you, anyone who has been waging war against you, trying to stop the work of God through you, very soon the ground will swallow them up.
Prayer Point 1
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, let every plan against me be consumed by fire.
When I visited my village in Ifewara shortly after I became the General Overseer, there was a need for direct road between Illesa and Ifewara and the people requested for divine intervention. Well, I did the only thing I could do, I said show me the direction you want the road and they showed me the direction and I lifted my right hand, pointed in that direction and cried unto my God, “Father, let there be a way”. Six months later, and I’m talking about 1981, at a time when nobody knew me at all. Somebody woke up in Abuja and said there is a federal road here, though it is small. Within six months, the work began.
Prayer Point 2
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, every obstruction on my way, clear by fire.
All that the rod of fire can do is that it can close the door against your pursuers. The rod that opened the Red Sea for the children of Israel is also the same rod that closed it against the Egyptians.
The Lord asked me to tell someone, He says the recurrent crisis in your family is over now.
In Exodus 14:23-28, after the children of Israel had passed through the Red Sea on dry ground and Pharaoh and his host followed them, the Lord told Moses to turn in the other direction, and asked him to raise his hand again and the sea closed on the enemies.
In 2 Kings 4:1-7, when the creditors came to the widow of one of the sons of the prophet and they said if you don’t pay the amount you are owing us by tomorrow, we will sell your children. She cried to Elisha, the man who had the mantle. In the morning, tremendous embarrassment was coming into the life of this widow but by the evening, the door has been shut against the embarrassment.
In the name that is above every other name, anything that causes you embarrassment, the fire of God will shut the door against it.
In Acts 3:1-8, when Peter and John were going to the temple to pray, they saw this man who was born lame by the Beautiful Gate begging for alms. When the man asked for alms and Peter said unto him, “silver and gold I have none, but I have something; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”. The lame man must have been seriously embarrassed as how. Probably saying in his mind, “sir, what kind of joke is this? If you have no money to give me, go. You see me here lame from my mother’s womb and you say ‘get up and walk’. If I can walk, will I be here?”
But then Peter grabbed his hand; like I told my children not too long ago, the head is the citadel for anointing. In Acts 2:1-4, when the Holy Spirit came, He came as cloven tongues of fire and sat on the heads of those who were there. The fire landed on the head of Peter but while the head is the citadel of the anointing, the hand is the conductor that will cause the anointing to flow from the source to where it is needed.
When Peter grabbed that man by hand, the Bible said his ankle bone received strength. Anointing flowed into that man and the man who was feeling embarrassed before suddenly got up and found out that he can stand. He tried to see, can I really walk? I can walk. Can I jump? He found out that he could jump. That lame man never begged again.
Prayer Point 3
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, if there is any embarrassment coming my way, let your fire consume it.
There was an herbalist somewhere in Akure, very powerful. Top forces in the military, Police, etc., came to him for charms and he had his habitation under a huge Iroko tree. He was so powerful; whenever he kidnapped anybody and used them for rituals, nobody could touch him. One of my sons built his factory almost directly opposite that grove. Maybe he didn’t know what was going on. So, my son was producing his product and nobody was coming to buy because they were afraid to pass through where this herbalist was reigning.
I was visiting Akure and my son said, “please, daddy, come and help me bless my factory”. He then told me the story and I said show me the grove and he did and I stretched my hand and I commanded the fire of God to consume the grove. Whether that day or the next, I cannot remember, but there was thunderstorm and the thunder struck the Iroko tree, broke it into pieces and that man fled because his magic met with superior power.
The Lord asked me to tell somebody, your next miracle will be spectacular, and He said it will be a miracle that cannot be hidden.
Exodus 15:22-26 tells the story of what happened when the children of Israel got to a pool of water called Mara and they couldn’t drink the water because it was bitter; but God showed Moses a tree that was by the poolside and he took a bit of the branch, threw it into the water and the water became sweet. In 2 Kings 4:8-37, the Bible tells us about the story of the great woman of Shuman who became very hospitable to the man with mantle and as a result, she got a son at a time when she had lost hope that there will ever be a son. Then the son died and the woman went to Elisha and said, “sir, I told you I have settled for a life without a son. But you, prophet, you came into my house, you changed my story. I was great before and then I became complete. Now, the child is dead; how come that instead of leaving me the way I was, contented with my problems, you brought joy into my life, only to snatch it away from me?” But the man with the mantle followed her. When Elijah raised that child back to life, the woman didn’t say anything; she just went in, took her son and came out.
Prayer Point 4
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, let every source of sorrow in my life be consumed by fire.
What can the rod do again? The rod can produce something out of nothing. In Exodus 17:1-7, the children of Israel were thirsty, they cried and Moses cried unto God and God showed Moses a rock and told him, “go and strike the rock and water will come out”. Everybody knows that a rock has no water hidden inside it but when the rod of fire hit the rock, out of nowhere water began to gush out. In 2 Kings 4:42-44, somebody brought some food to Elisha and he told his servants to prepare the food for all the sons of the prophet. The man said, “do you know how many of us? The food they brought for you is probably for you alone. How can this food feed everybody?” But the man with the mantle said just do what I have said. The people ate and had leftover.
In Acts 19:11-12, the Bible says God performed special miracles by the hand of Paul so much so that from his body, handkerchiefs and aprons were taken to the sick and the diseases departed from them and evil spirits went out of them. 1 Timothy 1:15. Paul himself, the chief of sinners, the Almighty God took him and turned him to somebody whose handkerchiefs can heal the sick; that tells you that the rod of fire called Jesus Christ can make something out of nothing.
Anytime I hear some testimonies, I tremble particularly when it has to do with handkerchiefs that are blessed because I know who I was. I’ve told you before, I was so bad that if I were Jesus Christ, I won’t save Adeboye; but He saved my soul by His infinite mercy. He started doing some of these unbelievable miracles. That is why I laughed when I heard that one joker said I was faking miracles. There is no need to fake miracles because some of the miracles God has been performing in our midst are difficult to believe.
What can the rod of fire do? One of my sons have said that it is a symbol of authority, power, etc. But you see, when we are talking about the rod, the best way to explain it to you is what happens when a king has been enthroned and the governor of the state comes and hands over to him what they call the staff of office, a symbol that here comes a king. The rod of fire gives you dominion. It is a combination of authority and power. Psalm 45:6 gives us another name for the rod, it calls it sceptre – Psalm 110:1-2, Psalm 23:4-5.
Prayer Point 5
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, empower me to rule in the midst of my enemies.
How do I get the rod of fire?
Ordinary hand cannot hold the rod of fire. The hand that will hold the rod of fire must be a changed hand, a transformed hand, a hand that has surrendered all. In Exodus 4:1-8, when God asked Moses what is in his hand and he said, a rod. The rod that is in the hand of a shepherd is what makes the shepherd a shepherd. So, when God said, “throw it down”, God was saying surrender all; and when Moses threw down the rod and the rod became a serpent, he fled from it. If you want to be able to have the rod of fire manifesting regularly in your life, you must not only surrender your life to Jesus Christ, you must also forsake your previous ways.
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