FRIDAY, AUGUST 10
Scripture: Psalm 2:6-9, Revelation 2:27, 19:15, Isaiah 11:1

If we look at the Scriptures that outline the importance of the rod of iron, we start in Psalm 2:8,9 where we are told, “Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Nobody is going to break their own harvest. The rod of iron is for the resistance to our harvest. We are the ones who have to break it – we must dash it! We must use that rod of iron and strike. Most people are very hesitant to pick up God’s rod of iron and strike anything, yet that is a key we must learn. Part of gaining and preserving the harvest is the willingness to strike the enemy with the rod of iron in prayer. We are not asking people to yell, scream or fight, but to pick up the biblical rod of iron in prayer and to apply it to our opposition, asking God to remove it. Isaiah 11:1 says, “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” That is by the Holy Spirit. The restoration of David’s tabernacle is the rising of the rod of iron in the church to function spiritually as David operated physically. Revelation 2:26,27 says, “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’” Revelation 19:15 says, “Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron…” The Greek Word for ‘rule’ is the word poy-mah-ee-no, but this same word is also the word for ‘pastor’. Are we ready to pastor our harvest field with a rod of iron? If we are not then we do not even approach the biblical definition of a true shepherd. No biblical shepherd allows the lion, bear and wolf to steal their sheep. With a rod of iron, the shepherd defends his flock to the death. Where is that mentality in the church today? Church shepherds protect their flock with a rod of iron. We cannot find a truer shepherd than David or a bigger heart for war than his. David was a man after God’s own heart – are we? The question is, are we ready to access that rod and stop playing church?