And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. —Luke 22:31-32

On the top of the devil’s hit list are those who love the Lord and walk according to His plan for their lives.

The devil wants to sift you as wheat, but you do not have to be afraid, because he has to contend with the next verse: “But I have prayed for you.” Who prayed? Not Abraham, David, Peter, nor Paul. The One who prays for you is the resurrected Son of the living God, the One who conquered death, hell, and the grave. He pulled the keys of your bondage out of the defeated hands of your adversary.

Take hold of this revelation: Jesus is interceding at the right hand of your Father, calling your name aloud and praying, specifically, that your faith won’t fail. Then rejoice that you have made the devil’s hit list. He cannot touch or harm you. At least, you are a problem to him. At least, he has noticed your work in the kingdom of God. Rejoice when he attacks. You are doing something right, and the enemy hates it.

God, empower me to withstand the
attacks and fiery darts of the evil one.
I know that Jesus is interceding for me,
and I walk in the power of His intercession.
Amen.

Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” —2 Kings 5:13

Perhaps you have gone to church or to a Bible study hoping for a word from the Lord, and you have sat there thinking, Well, so far God hasn’t spoken to me. I don’t know why I even came.

Second Kings 5 tells the story of Naaman, who suffered from leprosy. He hears of the famous prophet Elisha through his wife’s little Israelite servant girl. He makes all kinds of arrangements and finally goes to where Elisha is. But Elisha won’t even come out to meet him! Naaman feels insulted. Here he is—a commander and an officer—and Elisha won’t even greet him. Instead, the prophet sends a message (which Naaman doesn’t like at all): “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed” (v. 10).

Naaman goes away angry: “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy” (v. 11). “How dare he insult me? Go to the Jordan and wash seven times?!”

Naaman’s servants persuade him to believe that this really is a word from the Lord. Naaman goes into the Jordan once and comes out just like he was. The second time—still no change. When he goes in a third time, he thinks, Well, I’ll start getting better now. But no. Even after the sixth time, there’s no difference. But on the seventh time, lo and behold, he is healed completely!

It may be that God has given you a word and you don’t like it. You want something else, some other word. Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10). Accept what God has given you, and who knows what will happen in the end?

Excerpted from When God Shows Up (Renew Books, 1998).

Rod Blagojevich. It’s a name that will go down in Chicago political history as scandalous, especially after he was convicted Monday on a variety of corruption charges. He becomes the third Illinois governor to go down in legal flames.

Despite Blagojevich steadfastly and very publicly denying all the charges against him, including the allegation that he tried to sell then President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, he now faces up to 300 years in prison.

Blagojevich’s book The Governor hit store shelves in September 2009. In it, he said his accusers are lying. After deliberating for 10 days, 12 jurors felt otherwise.

Jurors convicted the 54-year-old former Illinois governor on 17 of 20 counts, according to the Associated Press. He was acquitted of soliciting bribes in the alleged shakedown of a road-building executive. The AP reports the jury was deadlocked on two charges of attempted extortion.

“Patti and I, obviously, are very disappointed by the outcome,” the New York Times reported Blagojevich as telling reporters in the lobby of the courthouse alongside his wife. “I, frankly, am stunned. There is not much left to say other than we want to get home to our little girls and explain things to them.”

Operation Rescue is calling on President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Steve Six to the Federal Appeals Court.

“Based on the lack of support by Senators from Six’s home state and Six’s proven willingness to allow political and personal biases influence his professional decisions, President Obama should spare the nation a protracted and divisive battle over this nominee and withdraw his name from consideration,” says Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

Kansas Senators Jerry Moran and Past Roberts have each issued statements opposing the Six nomination. Votes on his confirmation have been delayed several times in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Six is a pro-abortion Democrat who was appointed by former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who now serves as Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, to finish a term as Kansas Attorney General after Paul Morrison was forced to resign in disgrace amid an unseemly sex and abortion corruption scandal. Six was defeated last November in his own bid for Attorney General.

Even though Morrison had attempted in every way to subvert and obstruct investigations into Kansas abortion clinics, Six maintained and even advanced Morrison’s flawed legal strategies. Operation Rescue reports:

•Six sought and received a gag order on evidence that Planned Parenthood “cooked the books,” committing felonies to cover up for misdemeanors in a case where Planned Parenthood was charged with 107 criminal counts.
•Six sued Judge Richard Anderson, the records custodian in the Planned Parenthood case, to keep him from testifying about manufactured evidence in his possession.
•Six entered into a pre-trial stipulation agreement in the criminal illegal late-term abortion case against George Tiller that virtually assured Tiller’s acquittal. The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts disagreed with Six and pursued their own case against Tiller, which was ongoing and advancing at the time of Tiller’s death.
•When asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee about his involvement in abortion cases, Six gave implausible answers that called into question his honesty.

“It has become crystal clear that Six is too biased to serve,” says Newman. “It’s time for Obama to cut his losses and move on.”

A federal court on Friday handed down an order that temporarily suspends a provision of an Indiana law that defunds abortionist organizations like Planned Parenthood. That’s the bad news.

The good news is the order also upheld a key provision that requires women to be informed that “human physical life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm.”

Specifically, the order explained that “the language crafted by the legislature in this provision supports a finding that the mandated statement refers exclusively to a growing organism that is a member of the Homo sapiens species.”

“No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless. Abortionists have done this by telling women that a pre-born baby is just a batch of cells instead of what he or she actually is: a human being. This law ends that deception in Indiana,” says Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “All the court did was recognize the indisputable fact that a biological human life begins at conception. It is false to say anything else.”

The court also disagreed with Planned Parenthood’s argument that the statement is “misleading.”

“Here, the mandated statement states only a biological fact relating to the development of the living organism; therefore, it may be reasonably read to provide accurate, non-misleading information to the patient,” the court wrote. “Under Indiana law, a physician must disclose the facts and risks of a treatment which a reasonably prudent physician would be expected to disclose under like circumstances, and which a reasonable person would want to know.”

The injunction against the defunding provision issued in Planned Parenthood of Indiana v. Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health is likely to be appealed. In April, ADF sent a letter to Gov. Mitch Daniels in defense of that provision.

His words struck a chord. Maria felt chills run up her spine when Franklin Graham talked about the temporal nature of the human body on this final night of the Festival de Esperanza.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association hosted the Festival de Esperanza, the first-ever American Hispanic festival, Saturday and Sunday at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles.

“The body is made out of dust of the ground,” said Graham. “Your soul is the real you and it will never die. What should it profit a man to gain whole world but lose his soul?”

Death was on Maria’s heart. Several miles away, her 89-year-old father was resting at Memorial Hospital of Gardena in preparation for open heart surgery.

“I am worried about my papa,” she said after coming forward to recommit her life to Christ at The Home Depot Center in Carson. “The message about eternal life—I hope to share with him tomorrow. I want to know for sure he understands about salvation.”

Maria, a native of Mexico, understood Graham as he preached in English, but when Festival Director Galo Vasquez translated the message into Spanish, it resonated in a deeper way.

Carlos understood only the Spanish translation.

A recent arrival to the United States from El Salvador, he told a bilingual festival advisor that he is grateful to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for bringing the festival to the greater Los Angeles area.

“I needed this,” he said with a tear running down his cheek. “I carried so much guilt. I did bad things at home for money when I was very young, but now I can have a brand new beginning in Jesus.”

Yolanda committed her life to Jesus in 2004 at a Billy Graham Crusade held at the Rose Bowl in nearby Pasadena. But then the pressures of raising a child on her own led her back to the bottle. “Tonight I feel strong to live again for Jesus after listening to the son, Franklin. I will be filled with the Holy Spirit instead of wine.”

Miguel also rededicated his life to the Lord. The 24-year-old was baptized as a baby and attended church as a child, but when he entered his teen years, he wanted to enjoy an intimate relationship with his girlfriend. “I didn’t want to follow what the Bible says, but I heard what Franklin said about sin and burning in hell.

“I didn’t believe that just trusting in Jesus could save me—until now,” said Miguel. “I am glad for this festival.”

And so are local pastors and church leaders. For months they have joined together in prayer for the Hispanic community in greater Los Angeles. “We pray the Lord will heal this city, heal our schools and heal our families,” said Pastor Roberto Moreno. “We have been praying this festival will begin a revival, especially in the hearts of pastors.”

Carlos Quintero, president of the Festival Executive Committee, presented Franklin with a plaque at the end of the evening, thanking him on behalf of Hispanic churches in Los Angeles for “the seeds of love and compassion you have planted in our city during this first Hispanic Festival.

“We say, ‘Muchas Gracias.'”

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Rod Blagojevich. It’s a name that will go down in Chicago political history as scandalous, especially after he was convicted Monday on a variety of corruption charges. He becomes the third Illinois governor to go down in legal flames.

Despite Blagojevich steadfastly and very publicly denying all the charges against him, including the allegation that he tried to sell then President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, he now faces up to 300 years in prison.

Blagojevich’s book The Governor hit store shelves in September 2009. In it, he said his accusers are lying. After deliberating for 10 days, 12 jurors felt otherwise.

Jurors convicted the 54-year-old former Illinois governor on 17 of 20 counts, according to the Associated Press. He was acquitted of soliciting bribes in the alleged shakedown of a road-building executive. The AP reports the jury was deadlocked on two charges of attempted extortion.

“Patti and I, obviously, are very disappointed by the outcome,” the New York Times reported Blagojevich as telling reporters in the lobby of the courthouse alongside his wife. “I, frankly, am stunned. There is not much left to say other than we want to get home to our little girls and explain things to them.”

Operation Rescue is calling on President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Steve Six to the Federal Appeals Court.

“Based on the lack of support by Senators from Six’s home state and
Six’s proven willingness to allow political and personal biases
influence his professional decisions, President Obama should spare the
nation a protracted and divisive battle over this nominee and withdraw
his name from consideration,” says Operation Rescue President Troy
Newman.

Kansas Senators Jerry Moran and Past Roberts have each issued statements
opposing the Six nomination. Votes on his confirmation have been
delayed several times in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Six is a pro-abortion Democrat who was appointed by former Kansas Gov.
Kathleen Sebelius, who now serves as Obama’s Secretary of Health and
Human Services, to finish a term as Kansas Attorney General after Paul
Morrison was forced to resign in disgrace amid an unseemly sex and
abortion corruption scandal. Six was defeated last November in his own
bid for Attorney General.

Even though Morrison had attempted in every way to subvert and obstruct
investigations into Kansas abortion clinics, Six maintained and even
advanced Morrison’s flawed legal strategies. Operation Rescue reports:

•Six sought and received a gag order on evidence that Planned Parenthood “cooked the books,” committing felonies to cover up for misdemeanors in a case where Planned Parenthood was charged with 107 criminal counts.
•Six sued Judge Richard Anderson,
the records custodian in the Planned Parenthood case, to keep him from
testifying about manufactured evidence in his possession.
•Six entered into a pre-trial stipulation agreement in the criminal illegal late-term abortion case against George Tiller that virtually assured Tiller’s acquittal. The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts disagreed with Six and pursued their own case against Tiller, which was ongoing and advancing at the time of Tiller’s death.
•When asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee about his involvement in abortion cases, Six gave implausible answers that called into question his honesty.

“It has become crystal clear that Six is too biased to serve,” says Newman. “It’s time for Obama to cut his losses and move on.”

A federal court on Friday handed down an order that temporarily suspends a provision of an Indiana law
that defunds abortionist organizations like Planned Parenthood. That’s the bad news.

The good news is the order also upheld a key provision that requires women to be informed that
“human physical life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human
sperm.”

Specifically, the order explained that “the language crafted by the
legislature in this provision supports a finding that the mandated
statement refers exclusively to a growing organism that is a member of
the Homo sapiens species.”

“No one should be allowed to decide
that an innocent life is worthless. Abortionists have done this by
telling women that a pre-born baby is just a batch of cells instead of
what he or she actually is: a human being. This law ends that deception
in Indiana,” says Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Steven H.
Aden. “All the court did was recognize the indisputable fact that a
biological human life begins at conception. It is false to say anything
else.”

The court also disagreed with Planned Parenthood’s argument that the statement is “misleading.”

“Here,
the mandated statement states only a biological fact relating to the
development of the living organism; therefore, it may be reasonably read
to provide accurate, non-misleading information to the patient,” the
court wrote. “Under Indiana law, a physician must disclose the facts and
risks of a treatment which a reasonably prudent physician would be
expected to disclose under like circumstances, and which a reasonable
person would want to know.”

The injunction against the defunding provision issued in Planned Parenthood of Indiana v. Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health is likely to be appealed. In April, ADF sent a letter to Gov. Mitch Daniels in defense of that provision.

AP Photo

Kansas may not be completely free of abortion clinics, but the battle is raging for God’s will there.

A new Kansas abortion law will close one of the state’s three remaining abortion facilities and is likely to force a second to discontinue providing surgical abortions. The Aid for Women clinic in Kansas City was denied a license by the state health department last week.

However, Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri President Peter Brownlie are optimistic following a 20-hour inspection of the organization’s Overland Park location. “The findings of the inspection indicate we will be in full compliance with the abortion facility license regulations when they go into effect on July 1,” Brownlie told the Associated Press. “Thus, I believe we should be granted a license.”

Personhood Kansas weighed in on the developments. “The legislature has passed every abortion regulation imaginable. No baby is safe from the grasp of the abortionists until the personhood of every human being is affirmed by law,” explains Committee Chairman Bruce Garren.

Meanwhile, Mila Means, a family practitioner who has been training to perform abortions, revealed plans last week to form a non-profit for the purposes of raising a million dollars and opening a new abortion facility in Wichita.

“The requirements are not discouraging,” she says. “There are so many redundancies that are not important for the woman’s safety that are built into this bill specifically to deny access, and that really makes me angry. That probably reinforced my decision to keep working in this direction.”

Similarly, a law enacted last year in Nebraska that restricts abortion after 20 weeks forced notorious abortionist, Leroy Carhart, to leave the state for the less restrictive laws of Maryland. The move prompted Planned Parenthood to announce their intentions to open six new locations throughout the state.

“Laws that regulate abortion may temporarily disable the abortion industry, but they do not end it. Anyone with the resources to do so can and will continue to kill children in our state,” continues Garren. “The people of Kansas deserve to have their voices heard, and we renew our call to recognize the God-given and inalienable rights of the preborn.”