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GOG - 20 - 294 - Set For Exploits
Set
for
Exploits Pa s t o r C h a r l e s O m o f o m a h
Being set for exploits is like getting ready or getting prepared for great things. You set great standards when you are set for exploits. I would like to share with you certain truths that I believe will position you for great exploits this year and beyond. Exploits mean deeds, achievements or feats. When you carry out heroic feats, achievements or deeds, you have done exploits. However, when you do what every other person is doing, that is no exploit. If there is a heroic act to what you have done, then it can be described as an exploit. 1 After a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with a young goat. And he said, “Let me go into my wife, into her room”. But her father would not permit him to go in. 2 Her father said, “I really thought that you thoroughly hated her; therefore, I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead”. 3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them!” 4 Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 When he had set the torches on re, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. 14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like ax that is burned with re, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it. 18 Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”
19 So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore, he called its name En Hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. Judges 15:1-5, 14-15, 18-19
Samson had gone to visit his wife with great expectations of their time together. You can imagine how he felt when his supposed father-in-law told him he had given her to his best man. Maybe Samson didn't return early or the lady's father thought Samson had divorced her. He even gave him the option of marrying his younger daughter who was more beautiful. It is also safe to assume that the younger daughter was there when Samson chose the elder. This implies that she was the woman he loved. Samson in his rage decided to hurt the Philistines to avenge the injustice done to him. In carrying out vengeance against the Philistines, he carries out some exploits and there are a lot of things we can learn from him about getting set for exploits. We begin to see from verse 4 the steps he took to achieve this. Let us identify some vital steps needed to get set for exploits.
You Need To Get The Fire! Verse 4 says: “Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails” (Judges15:4). Also, King Solomon speaking said: “Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes” (Songs of Solomon 2:15). Foxes are dangerous to the vine and plants generally. If you leave even the little ones, they will destroy the vine. Yet, Samson tied up three hundred foxes tail to tail and put rebrands or torches where their tails met and set them on re. Foxes alone will do enough harmful exploits on a vine or vineyard, let alone when re torches are tied to their tails.
God has given the believer all the necessary equipment to do exploits, but if you must do exploits, you must get the re. Half-hearted people cannot do exploits! The Scripture says you must be either cold or hot because lukewarm people cannot do exploits (Revelation 3:15-16). If you must do exploits then get the re. Let there be a burning and a heat in your heart to go forth and do exploits. Even if you can do a lot already, the truth is that you will do greater than you are doing now if you get the re. Your mouth will be open and you will talk about what God has done for you; how good and how faithful He has been to you. When you catch the re, there would be no empty seats in your church. There will be an overow on Sunday. This will be because you have caught the re and it is burning inside of you. The Bible says: “A re shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out” (Leviticus 6:13). If the re is forever burning on the altar of your heart, you will be moved and not compelled to invite people to church. Nobody would tell you to try and win souls because there will be a re in your soul for the unsaved! It took the re of God burning in my heart for me to leave the north for Port Harcourt because God called me to go and set up a church there. With neither hope of accommodation nor money, I set out for Port Harcourt. Why did I move? I caught the re! So get the re! When Samson set the foxes on re, they ran with urgency and caused so much damage to the grain elds. They were trying to save themselves but there was no way out. In their confusion, the damage was greater. Putting it positively, when you are on re for God your exploit is greater! I pray as you read this article, your heart will be stirred up by the re of God's Word and you will not be stopped just like the re could
The Carpenter’s Church, Greenville, Port Harcourt. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other form, without the prior permission of the above.
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GOG - 20 - 294 - Set For Exploits not be stopped because the foxes were burning and running for their lives and at the same time destroying or carrying out what they ought to do. So also, when the re of God's Word burns within you, you will not sit around singing, “I am married to Jesus, Satan leave me alone…” That re will cause you to pursue after the devil and he would be the one shouting: “Leave me alone”. Friend! Serve God with re in your heart!
You Need To Develop A Strategy!
mightily upon him. The anointing is the manifestation of divinity, it is the manifestation of the power and the grace of God in an area or the “what” He has called you to do. You need to get and stay under the anointing. Operate under the anointing. Recognize and be sensitive to the anointing of God and you will do exploits. When the anointing of God came upon Samson, he took the jawbone of an ass or a donkey and he began to ght and with that, he killed a thousand people at once (Judges
From our text, we read that all these things happened at the time of the wheat harvest. Harvest often time is during the dry season, which means everything around is combustible or susceptible to re. That was why Samson put re on them. Samson used a strategy! You need to develop a strategy if you want to do exploit. The word “strategy” is a military term which means the science or act of conducting a military campaign in its large scale or long term aspect. The application of skill in achieving a purpose is also referred to as a strategy. There are two vital elements required to carry out a strategy and Samson applied those elements in his day. The rst element is wisdom. Wisdom is the true application of knowledge. For you to use wisdom, it means you ought to know. Samson knew the fact that wheat time is a time that is susceptible to re. For instance, if you want to begin to sell a product, you need to rst get knowledge about it and then begin to apply the knowledge. The second element is equipment, instruments or gadgets. In this particular case, Samson used the instruments of foxes and re. However, the wisdom in what he did was that he tied them “tail to tail”. He didn't just set each of them on re, he tied them opposite the other. If you want to do exploits, you need to develop a strategy or strategies. A strategy involves wisdom and equipment! Your strategy differentiates you. That is what denes your individuality, your style and your uniqueness.
You Need To Get The Oil! After you've got a strategy, you need to get the oil. This is what will help you to carry out what you have planned. Judges 15:13 says: “…Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like ax that is burned with re, and his bonds broke loose from his hands”. Even though it is important that you get the re and have a strategy, if you must do exploits, you must get the anointing too. The Bible says after he was handed over to the enemy, they sang and rejoiced but the Spirit of the Lord came
15:15). This was possible because of the presence of God upon him. When there is a ow of the oil and the anointing, you won't tell people to be healed before they are healed by the presence of the anointing. If the oil is not owing, you will be trying to achieve for one hour what you ought to achieve in a minute. “…Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts” (Zachariah 4:6).
You Need To Recognize The Power Of Prayer! Know that when you are set for exploits, you will meet with difcult situations and oppositions in your life. What do you do when that happens? Verse 18 says: “Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the Lord” (Judges 15:18). Those who will do exploits must stay in the place of prayer. “En Hakkore” means the spring of the caller or the spring of the one who prays. The Living Bible calls it “the one who cried out” while the Amplied Version says it is “the spirit of him who prays”. No matter how sophisticated we get, what separates the natural from the supernatural is the element of prayer. Prayer separates the church from a natural town's meeting. A church that does not pray is as worthless as a village gathering. Prayer separates the men from the henchmen. It separates the ordinary from the extraordinary.
prayers! Depending on the situation; you may need to pray the prayer of faith, the prayer of intercession, or the prayer of commitment. That could just be the prayer that God is waiting for. Jesus prayed the prayer of commitment in the Garden of Gethsemane because that was what was necessary at that time. When it is necessary for you to pray the prayer of commitment, then pray the prayer of commitment. When it becomes necessary for you to intercede, then intercede. Are you set for exploits? Then start praying. You've got to pray, communicate and touch the heart of God. When you pray, the stream will ow towards you, and the water will come out. The light will shine on you when you pray. All kinds of miracles will happen to you. Samson was in a dry place, there was no sign of a river or a stream there, but as he began to pray God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he was revived (Judges 15:19). Water will come out of your desert today and the miraculous will take place if you will learn to pray. God is tired of ordinary men and women who complain about their weaknesses and how feeble they are. “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). “In their land, there will be exploits,” says the Spirit of grace.
You Need To Get The Word! If you must do exploits, you need the water of the Word for refreshing. Verse 19 says: “…Water came out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived” (Judges 15:19). You can die without the Word and the devil will give you all kinds of deaths. You just might be walking to your death while you live without the water of the Word. There is a limit to what you can do without the water of the Word. If Samson didn't get water and died, all the other exploits he did, would not have been done. There is a limit to what you can achieve without the water of the Word because having done all, you've got to stand (Ephesians 6:13). It is by God's Word you will stand. Know this: God is ready to do anything and any kind of miracle to make the water of His Word available to you. The question is; are you ready to drink?
You need to learn to pray all kinds of
The Carpenter’s Church, Greenville, Port Harcourt. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other form, without the prior permission of the above.