THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2
Scripture: Ephesians 4:7-11, 11-13

When Jesus descended into the depths of the earth and faced hell itself for three days, He stripped principalities and powers of their keys of Hades and Death. Jesus ascended victorious! Once He was ascended, Ephesians 4:11-13 says, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect/tel-i-os man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;,…” the Greek word for pastor is poy-mane. Poy-mane is the noun that identifies the office of the pastor. Poy-mah-ee-no is the verb defining the actions of pastors. Revelation is revolutionary because Jesus pastors with a rod of iron. The rod of iron does not fit with the cultural concept of pastoring! How did the cultural concept of pastoring become so passive? One burst of the Holy Spirit can change this concept. Only tradition can steal the reality and force of a biblical shepherd and what they did. We stand today in a culture who sees the most passive person on the planet as the one who occupies the position of the pastor. Jesus is committed to changing that concept. Whenever the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, the Lord comes by His Spirit and authorizes a flood to restore what has been stolen and what has been lost. I suspect the most militant pastors in the history of the church are about to emerge. The creative God is about to anoint His pastors with a take no prisoners, no holds barred mindset proclaiming, “Here is what the Word says and here is what my God does!” Resist the Lord at your own peril. When shepherds strike with a rod of iron in prayer, I expect the angel of the Lord to visit and put Herods in the grave. Pray for power on pastors!