09/03/2026
ASSEMBLIES OF GOD SALVATION WORSHIP CENTER PRESENTS ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
DAY 1: 6/3/2026
Theme: Mantle to Dismantle
Bible Text: Zachariah 4:6-7
Speaker: Rev Oga Ikpe
Key Lessons
Every mountain has a mantle required to address it. If you use the wrong mantle, the mountain will not answer you. We notice that the angel of the Lord, speaking to the prophet, said that what Zerubbabel was facing would not happen by might nor by power, but by the Spirit. At that moment, the power of the Holy Ghost was the mantle that was available.
However, in Mark 11:22–23, Jesus shifted the mantle at that moment from the Holy Ghost to what people would say. Therefore, every mountain in your life has a mantle for it.
✓ Knowing or identifying the right mantle to use at a given time is what makes the difference.
✓ There is no single mantle that fits every situation. The only mantle that works for every mountain is your ability to hear what God is telling you to do. Therefore, every mountain has a mantle. The question is: which mantle are you using at a particular time concerning the mountain confronting you?
✓ Before God releases His mantle to address a mountain, He requires one thing—the carrier of the mantle is very important.
✓ In 2 Kings 4, Elisha gave his staff to Gehazi. Gehazi carried the staff and went to the woman’s house to raise the dead child. He tried to raise the child, but nothing happened.
When Elisha arrived, he saw that the staff in the hand of Gehazi had produced no result. This shows that the person who carries the mantle is more important than the mantle itself.
✓ The reason it did not work was because the heart of Gehazi had never truly been for the ministry; it had always been for what he could gain from it.
✓ We need to deal with the person who is carrying the mantle, rather than focusing only on the mantle itself, because the mantle by itself does not carry anything or power.
✓ We notice that after Elisha crossed the Jordan River, the same mantle he received from Elijah and used to cross the river was no longer mentioned again until his death. This shows that the material itself does not carry the power; it is the bearer of the mantle that matters.
✓ Jeremiah 18:6
The person who carries the mantle is very important. God only releases a mantle after He has dealt with the person who will carry it.
✓ God’s mantles are treasures, and He does not place them in the hands of careless people. Until God can secure the heart and attention of the person who will carry the mantle, the mantle will remain withheld. This is because the mantle that is meant to solve problems and move mountains can become a disaster in the hands of the wrong person.
✓ God needed to break, reshape, dismantle, and reassemble Jacob before He could place the mantle in his hand. This was necessary because Jacob was to become a patriarch of faith, and God’s eternal agenda was at stake. If that man’s life remained crooked and was not straightened by God, it could affect the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Similarly today, a man whom God has not yet dismantled and refined can become a terrible weapon—an agent of oppression and harassment.
✓ Without a man, there is no mantle. Until God finds a man, the mantle will not come.
✓ God dismantles people in the place of encounter, reshapes and reassembles them, and then places the mantle in their hands. Jacob represents men of faith—people who are not content to let the mantle die with them, but are willing to transfer it to the next generation. Until God dismantled Jacob, reshaped him, and brought forth Israel, that continuity would not have been established.
Similarly, until Isaiah encountered the holiness of God, he did not recognize his own unrighteousness. God dismantled and reassembled him.
✓ Before God releases or places the mantle in your hands—the mantle that can level your mountains, whether family, community, or personal mountains—can you allow Him to dismantle you?
✓ Some of us think we are wise and try to outsmart God, giving excuses for the very things He is drawing our attention to. But your “smartness” can position you behind the point of breakthrough, preventing God from releasing the mantle into your life.
✓ There may be something in your life that God is pointing His finger at—something He wants to dismantle. As long as it remains, it stands between you and God. He cannot take you into your breakthrough, break the barriers, or release the mantle into your life. For Abraham, it was the traditions and practices of his people. God drew his attention to them in Genesis 17. God made it clear: you cannot follow Me and continue the practices of your people at the same time. Either you leave them and follow Me, or you leave Me and go with them. Likewise, some of us may have left our villages years ago, but our old practices and traditions are still holding sway in our lives.
✓ Sometimes, what God is putting His finger on may not be the big things we often think of, like immorality, lying, or murder. Even some traditional practices that we hold on to need to be dismantled.
Just as Israelites came out of Egypt, Egypt was still ruling them in their hearts. God had to deal with that influence by leading that generation around in the wilderness for 40 years until Egypt was eliminated.
✓ Your tradition can prevent you from standing out because there is a spirit behind every tradition. The moment your hand touches it, you awaken that spirit. And when that spirit comes, you cannot deny it.
✓ God is saying: for you to receive the mantle, you must give Me access—let Me dismantle you.
✓ For some of us, it is our traditions that stand between us and God, and He wants those traditions dismantled. But know this: you cannot dismantle a tradition without facing backlash. The custodians of that tradition will come after you.
✓ In the place of encounter, God takes His time to dismantle us. But how do we come to that place of encounter?
1. Desperation and distress - Genesis 32:7; Matthew 5:6
✓ If you are going to have the encounter that will dismantle you, you must hunger, be desperate, and thirst enough for God. The question then is this: what is your level of desperation for God?
For some of us:
a. God is like a monument
b. God is not a living reality
c. The One who solves our problems only.
d. God is like a magician.
But if you hunger and are desperate enough for God, He will meet you at the place where He will dismantle.
✓ Philippians 3:10
When you become desperate for God, you will encounter Him.
2. In the place of separation* - Genesis 32:24
✓ We live in a generation that is afraid of being alone. People always want others around them. But until you learn to separate yourself and set everything aside, encounters will not happen.
✓ Encounters that dismantle, reassemble, and release mantles happen in the place of separation.
✓ Separate yourself once in a while from everyone, even from your gadgets, and be alone. Though it may be difficult, that is where encounters that deliver mantles happen.
✓ Do not be afraid of being alone. Be afraid of being lonely.
3. Desire - Proverbs 18:1
✓ When you have a desire that is greater than your present situation, you will encounter something that will give you an answer.
✓ Desire is a powerful thing. If we are going to encounter God, we must develop a desire for Him that is greater and stronger than anything else, an urge to meet Him, encounter Him, and receive from Him.
✓ When your desire for God becomes deep, you will begin to draw from the deep things of God. But if your desires are shallow, you will not be able to stand the test of time.
✓ Shallow desires are desires that focus only on material things.
✓ If you want to receive the mantle that will dismantle the mountains around you, increase your desire, your hunger, and your thirst for God. Then learn to separate yourself. When you encounter God in that place, He will release the mantle. You may not even need to ask for it, just like Gideon, who never asked for a mantle when God met him.
✓ When your desire for God becomes very strong, God will release something into your spirit, and that will be enough.
Prayer point(s)
1. Lord, I present myself to You unqualified today. Whatever You need to break, dismantle, remold, or reassemble in me, Lord, do it. Break, dismantle, remold, and reassemble my life. Whatever is needed to qualify me for the mantle, Lord, I hold nothing back.
2. Lord, increase my hunger and thirst for You. Let my desperation for You be so great that it drives me to separate myself. Let my life never lack Your desire.
3. Lord, if there is anything You need to handle or accomplish before the mantle is released, oh, do it in my life. If there is a Jacob spirit or tradition in me that is limiting me from producing results like Gehazi, deliver me from myself.
THE MEDIA TEAM SALVATION WORSHIP CENTER, MAKURDI.
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