Day 6 (Saturday 28th of August 2021) -2021 Festival of Fire

Bible Reading: II Samuel 11

Topic: Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Memory Verse: Lead us not into temptations but deliver us from evil Matt 6:13

David was God’s battle axe which God used mightily in the old testament. He won about sixty-six battles for God, but there was a particular battle which he failed to win. This battle took place within him, unlike the one outside him, which he always wins. No physical arrow was shot, no sphere nor sword but the great battle-axe of God (David) was on his back defeated when he had to fight the lust of the eyes and that of the flesh.

He lacked the wisdom to adapt the training he got from God in Psalm 144:1 for this type of combat. The enemy did not put the Goliath at the front this time but a naked woman. David, who was able to kill two hundred Philistines soldiers and removed their foreskin could not defeat the devil because the devil came in the form of a naked woman who is also beautiful. The naked woman is not even the problem, but the problem is the uncrucified members of David life.

James 4:1 KJV 

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

Col 3:5 KJV 

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

To get saved and become a battle axe in the hands of God, all that is needed is to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and confess that He is the son of God. After this, all sins are forgiven at that very point, and you become a new creature. Indeed, we have to fight the devil till we breathe our last, and the only resource we have is the fact that he was defeated on the cross by Jesus Christ.

Rom 6:12-17 KJV

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

As God’s battle axe, we are instructed not to allow sin to reign in our mortal body. We need to begin to yield ourselves to God. David had the option to yield to God. Remember it was in the same old testament Joseph refused to yield to Potiphar’s wife advances. The difference between you and a moralist is that even if the moralist is not doing evil and ungodly things, sin still has dominion over him, but a God’s battle axe lives under grace (not to yield to sin).

Devil wants us to assume that the only option is to sin, but it is not a valid assumption, for we are dead already to sin. Sin was defeated on the cross, and it has no dominion over any children of God. It is the grace of God that is in charge now. This does not mean that God switches off our human physiology and emotions but it means that our crucifixion in Christ Jesus gives us the capacity not to yield to sin.

Tit 2:11 KJV

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

After the grace of God appears to us, and we become the battle-axe of God, the next thing which the grace of God teaches us is to deny ungodliness and worldly lust. The Grace of God also teaches us to live righteously, godly and soberly.

I remain teachable under the grace of God in the name of Jesus Christ.

As an undergraduate at the University of Lagos many years ago, anytime I see a lady dressed seductively, my members will begin to react like David’s member reacted in II Samuel 11. I was born again, but I did not know how to handle such. I never committed fornication externally, but I committed several mentally. I prayed and repented back and forth until I understood Romans 6:1-7

Rom 6:1-7 KJV

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Know ye not that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death?

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Continuously the word Know and Knowing were used in this scripture. Thus, a battle axe of God that desires victory over the flesh and lust must know the following:

1. That you were in Jesus when he died and buried. Your sinful nature has been buried already
2. That you are dead to sin
3. That you are raised from the dead to glory with God the father
4. That our member called the body of sin is already destroyed
5. That we now walk in the newness of life
6. That we are dead to sin

I made this scripture my confession until the reality of the scripture became my reality. A battle axe of God must also do the following to overcome the internal battles

1. Flee from all the appearance of evil. A battle axe does not engage in pornography and wild parties. A battle axe of God does not stay around the opposite sex in an ungodly way. Moses was a battle axe in the hands of God but the sexual temptation was never a problem for him because everywhere he went, Joshua and other supporting staff were with him. Sexual sins thrive in secrecy. You need more than scriptures to fight this. You must put your body under the grace of God, which empowers us to say no.
2. Next to this is that a battle axe must recognise their weakness. At the age of thirty, David already had six wives. He took Abigail without any dowry and any arrangement (I Samuel 25:44). At his old age, nothing could keep him warm except a beautiful woman. Tell God about the weaknesses you have with the expectation that he will make you strong. Apart from sexual weakness, others may be the inability to bridle the tongue, anger issue (Moses), love of Money (Judas and Gehazi), impatience, being too scientific and logical and much more. God will make himself strong amid weaknesses.

• Inform a trusted brother or sister about your weaknesses. They may help to supervise you in love. As you are accountable to the Holy Spirit, you are also accountable to them. It may be a pastor or any leader in the church.

1. Be aware that the gift and calling of God are without repentance. Do not assume that God is still with you when you are living a life of ungodliness. The fruit of the spirit and the gifts of God are not the same.
2. God did not spare David even though he is God’s battle axe. The connection with God does not make him not discipline us. On the issue of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, David was not spared. He lost the throne for a while. He lost two of his sons. Absalom defiled the concubine while all the Israel look at him.

Prayer Points

1. Oh Lord, give me victory over every battle that is taking place within my members
2. Every arrow of lust that is operating in my life jump out in the name of Jesus Christ
3. If you are already trapped in immorality, cry out Jesus Christ of Nazareth, have mercy on me and deliver me from (Mention the specific thing) in the name of Jesus
4. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live. Yet not I but Christ that lives in me, next time any temptation comes, the Christ in me, do the fighting in the name of Jesus
5. I receive the grace to say no to all forms of ungodliness in the name of Jesus Christ
6. Oh Lord, take away my attention from the ungodly things of this world in the name of Jesus Christ
7. I am a vessel unto honour, and I purge myself from whatsoever that will make God not to use me
8. Any demon behind any bad habit, loose your hold upon my life by the blood of Jesus
9. I receive the grace to conduct myself like Joseph anytime Potiphar’s wife comes my way in the name of Jesus Christ.
10.  I withdraw from any company that approves lukewarmness and ungodliness in the name of Jesus Christ
11. Oh Lord, set a guard at my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips and let me not speak evil words in the name of Jesus Christ
12. Do not let me be persuaded to do anything evil or to become involved with wickedness in the name of Jesus Christ
13. Let the meditation of my heart and the words of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord, my redeemer.
14. Whether it is a movie, or music or friendship, Oh Lord, let me not taste the delicacy of the ungodly and Sodom in the name of Jesus
15. If a Delilah has shaved the glory of my Samson, Oh Lord let my restoration start now in the name of Jesus Christ
16. Make yourself strong, Oh Lord, in all the areas of my weakness in the name of Jesus
17. Every ungodliness built within me that is waiting for the opportunity for expression be destroyed in the name of Jesus Christ
18. Henceforth, I follow the suggestion of the spirit and not that of the flesh in the name of Jesus Christ
19. Holy Spirit, anoint my vessel for wonders in the name of Jesus Christ
20. When it is time to manifest that I am a child of God, I will not disappoint God in the name of Jesus Christ.
21. I pursue holiness and godliness all the days of my life in the name of Jesus Christ