Tribute From Nephew Dr. Paul Williams

Joyce Arlene Wead Strader went peacefully home to be with Jesus last Monday, August 11, 2014 at 12:15 pm. She was surrounded by family who were quietly visiting while she rested. When she didn’t hear her granddaughter, Sterling, talking, she would open her eyes and with a whisper say, “keep talking.” She closed her eyes for the last time and her personal guardian angel, whom she believed was always with her, took her home.

Joyce was born on February 21, 1929, in Selfridge, North Dakota, to Joseph K. Wead and Dorothy Anne “Dolly” Wead. She was raised in the Dakotas with five siblings. Joyce was the “baby” with 15 years space between her and the next to youngest, Lloyd “Bus” Wead. Florence was the oldest, then Dorothy, Leora & Roy.

She was parented by Joseph & Dolly and her siblings. She was loved, protected and doted over, but not spoiled. Her father ran a general store and gas station on an Indian Reservation. She would help pump gas and would pass out candy to the children.

Joyce became an aunt to her sibling’s children in her pre-teens. Her nieces and nephews loved their “Auntie Joyce” and even though they are spread out all over the states, they always have kept close through the years by visiting, phone calls, & letters. Joyce loved and felt close to each and every one of them. Maryjo, Donna, Butch, Dolly who are here today, and I, can all testify we felt loved by our Aunt Joyce.

Joyce was in her late teens when her father died and the store was sold. She and mother Dolly or “Grandma Wead,” as everyone called her, moved from different states living with the brothers & sisters until Joyce ended up at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. This is where she met her future husband.  

This is Uncle Karl’s version of how he and Joyce met. He said he was standing on the side of the road just minding his own business when this little red Nash Rambler pulls up. It is Joyce and her mother and they asked if he needed a ride. He replied he was going the other way to the hospital to do visitation.  

He said Joyce offers him a ride anyway by saying he should “hop in.”  

Uncle Karl likes to tease, “I should have never crawled into that car!”

The Wead family was more than a little concerned about her choosing Karl to marry. He was from a town in Oklahoma with population of 30 people “including the town cows.” as Karl likes to say. Joyce had already traveled and lived in many states. He was a Methodist. She was a Pentecostal. Joyce was beauty and well, Uncle Karl …   

The point is she could have had her pick of several young ministers all who were vying for her attentions. But she picked you!

Karl & Joyce had a beautiful garden wedding at the Greenville Children’s Shriner’s Hospital where Joyce was working. Children were wheeled out on stretchers and in wheelchairs and were so happy to see “Miss Joyce” get married. It was very important to Joyce the children were there. She planned her wedding for them.  

That’s how Joyce was.  

Well, the Wead family finally accepted Karl and everyone got along beautifully … but just to make sure, Aunt Florence, one of her older sisters, takes it upon herself to show up really early the next morning on the doorstep of their honeymoon cabin … you know,  just to make sure Joyce was okay!

A few years later, Stephen came along, then Danny, Karla, and Dawn. The Strader’s were working for Uncle Roy in South Bend Indiana when the call came from J. Foy Johnson to take over as pastor for him in Lakeland, Florida.  

It was a smooth transition as Joyce stepped up as the lead pastor’s wife. She would have said she had a wonderful mentor in her dear friend, Aileen Johnson.

She grew in the Lord and used her ministry gifts and talents to the fullest in her lifetime. She was a writer.  She authored several articles for Charisma magazine and produced and wrote articles for the church monthly magazine called “Come Together.”

The writing she is best known for are her little notes. She reached out with words of encouragement and greetings up until her last days.   

Just curious, in this gathering today, raise your hand if you have ever received a note or card from Joyce?

Joyce was a teacher. She was a substitute teacher in many of the Lakeland elementary schools. She became a popular ladies ministry speaker and started the ladies “Outreach” downtown Lakeland with her dear friend, Nan Breathitt. The ministry was the first of its kind as it reached to women from many denominational backgrounds.

She was an intercessor. Joyce & Karl called out in daily prayer their family, church staff, and key leaders in the church. Joyce started a weekly prayer meeting 40 years ago, and intercessors from those early years continue those meeting today.

Joyce was a good interviewer for the radio station as well as on TV. She had for many years a radio talk show called “Heart to Heart.” Many of you sitting here today have been interviewed by Joyce for that program.

She loved beautiful music especially the harp. (Thank you Nancy for playing or us today). Joyce was responsible for many productions including the Gospel According to Scrooge and the Passion Play. She also spearheaded beautiful banners and worship dance being introduced as part of worship in the church.

Joyce loved people. She sat in the back of the church and connected with the congregation. She was given to hospitality. The parsonage was always open after church for Southeastern students and young adults to come for fellowship. Staff parties, Christmas events and Sunday dinners were her forte and she pulled it off effortlessly.

Many minister wives across the nation would testify that Joyce Strader was an ideal pastor’s wife and became a role model for them.

The hallmark of Aunt Joyce’s life and ministry was her child-like faith, devotion to family, and her strong desire to see people draw closer to Jesus.

Tribute From Oldest Son Stephen

In over 40 years of ministry, I’ve helped hundreds of people write out their thoughts for their loved one. I never knew how hard this would be.

Sunday afternoon, I was driving from Lincoln City, Oregon up to Vancouver, Washington, to minister Sunday night, when I got the text message that mom was having heart problems. The family discussed and came into agreement that mom really did not want to go to the hospital.  

I prayed as I traveled that the angels would allow her to stay, so I could hold her hand, just one more time. I was so thankful that I had spent a two-hour lunch with her Thursday before I had left for Oregon.  I can still see her crinkling her nose at the food. She would eat the desert, but for the past year, she only would eat the tacos and milkshakes that we sneaked in from Taco Bell and Steak ‘N Shake.  

I told her that I was demanding that she eat her broccoli, just like she made me eat when I was a child. It didn’t phase her. She just gave me that grin, that little smirk, tilted her head as if to say, “go ahead and try and make me.”

Mom taught me to love signs and wonders …

At the end of the service Sunday night, I had a prayer line, and there were so many miracles and lives touched. But then the ushers turned me around to see a little frail old man with long bushy white hair, sitting on the front row, wearing an oxygen mask. He reached out to me with this hopeless look on his face, asking for prayer.  

The moment I touched him, I felt like I was laying hands on my mother. I was praying for his little frail body, but I was praying for Mom at the same time.  

As I prayed, I heard myself say, “Let him dance again!”… I stepped back, took both of his wrinkled, bony hands in mine, and they felt just like my moms. I gently and lovingly lifted him to his feet. He could barely stand. He nearly fell several times. But I was saying to him, “dance.”  

I was saying “dance again,” to my mother.  

He shifted his weight, then shuffled his feet, took a few steps, then let go of my hands and began to dance an Irish jig!  

Everyone was in shock. We laughed, we cried.  

He kept dancing more and more … bigger steps … across the front …spinning and clapping and dancing.  

Immediately, I remembered, Mom had an Irish heritage. She had told me how her family came from the McClarnie clan in Ireland. When they came to America, they joined up with General Custer to fight the Indians.  

Today, she is no doubt, dancing an Irish jig …  

I flew all night from Portland to Tampa, and as the wheels touched down, I got the text, “mom passed away.” The plane’s engines roared into full reverse, and my body began to tremble with emotion.  

I wanted to fire her angel for disobeying my instructions to wait until I got there. I don’t think he was intimidated.

When I finally got to her room, dad stood and held me. We had a good cry. After lots of hugs and tears, and a visit at the window from the bright red Cardinal that enjoyed looking at himself in her window, the rest of the family left to set up a lunch for us in the private dining of the Estates.  

Dad and I were alone with Mom in the room. I placed my hand on her hand. I glanced at her face. I turned to my dad and said, “This is not my mother.” He just looked at me. I repeated, “This is not my mother. My mother is no longer here. Her spirit and soul have left for heaven, and this is just the body she was using here on this earth.” In some ways, it was comforting just to say that.  

I just did not want to look at that body any more, because it was really not my mother. I also realize that the feelings I was having were very personal, and it was my way of processing the emotions and grief I was dealing with.  

Mom instilled a love in me for the Indians she came to love so much growing up in the Dakotas. When we moved to Florida, we sat for hours learning about the Seminole Indians. She helped me make a full Indian costume for show & tell.

Mom instilled a love for the Catholics in me. She often attended the Catholic church down the street from where she lived as a small child. She held mass for all her dolls.

Mom instilled a love for all the races in me. She would never let us say anything negative about any race of people. Mom instilled a love for the poor and the down and out.

I can remember when I was about 14, we were coming out of the drug store, and a smelly, drunken, bearded man, with stained clothing, was sitting on the park bench, facing the parking lot. She put her bags in the car; then we came back and sat down with the man.  

She interviewed him, then basically directed him to get in the car with us. Everyone knows what I mean when I say Mom directed him to get into the car. She was always “directing” us what to do. Especially, when it meant helping someone. There was to be “no protest” …  

We took him home, got his information, called his family.  Shave. Haircut. Put him on a bus and sent him home. As it turns out, he was a Church of God deacon that had just lost his way. His family was looking for him.

We always had dysfunctional people in our house. I guess that’s why we enjoy ministering to dysfunctional people. Most of our friends are dysfunctional. Present company excluded, of course.

Mom instilled in me, the power of prayer. She never prayed long prayers …

I can remember one day, we were on a family vacation, crossing a large bridge with a divided highway. This group of motorcycles came racing by. Mom said out loud, “they better slow down”… They should have listened to her. Suddenly, one of the motorcycles had to veer sharply to the left to avoid someone changing lanes into his path. He lost control of his bike, and mom hollered out, “JESUS”…  

The riders bike, slammed into the guardrail, but supernaturally, bounced off, and he kept riding! It was so amazing.

One of the last times Mom was physically able to come to the intercessory prayer meeting she had started, some 40 years ago, I felt led to kneel down in front of her and ask her to transfer the anointing for intercession … especially for Israel. She really didn’t say much.  But I can still feel her hands on my head.  

Later, I sat beside her in that meeting and took a picture of her hand in mine.  

Her hand is still in my hand. Her hands are still on my head.

Danny, Karla, and Dawn Add Their Tribute

Joyce Strader was just “Mom” or “Momma” to us. We loved her, and we respected her.  

Mom didn’t do the disciplining in the family. She didn’t have to. We didn’t want to hurt her, plus … all she really had to do was say “just wait ’til your father comes home!” That always seemed to do the trick.

Our mother had a sense of humor, but not like Dad. She did not like teasing. Unfortunately for her, the four of us inherited Dad’s sense of humor. She probably felt ganged up on at times, but Dad knew how to wrangle us kids back in.  

And Mom knew how to wrangle Dad back in line. The endearing phrase “Now Hush, Karl!” will be forever etched in our memory bank.

A typical day in our household would be Mom in the kitchen waiting on all of us, making sure we had a good breakfast. Once we were out the door, she would start her day of returning phone calls, writing notes, or running errands.  

When we came home from school, she would welcome us with homemade cookies out of the oven. We all would have our assignments about the house—enforced and written out by Dad of course—and would help set the table.  

Candles were always lit on the table for the evening meal. Dinner was always at six and a cowbell was rung if one of us were playing outside.  

Mother had a “no shirt, no service” policy at the table. Manners were taught by mother and enforced by Dad. Stephen can testify to this enforcement as he is the only one of the four who experienced eating dinner in the garage.

There was a “no whining” policy in our house by our mother. She set the example as we rarely heard her complain, about anything. Even in her last days when we knew she was in pain, she would not complain.  

There was a “don’t sass your mother” policy strictly enforced by our dad. We knew our Dad loved and cherished our mom. We never heard a harsh word between them. She was his greatest asset. They complimented and balanced each other out. He was scheduled and orderly. She was spontaneous and creative. He was always 10 minutes early. She was always 10 minutes late. His space was neat and tidy. Mom was known for her clutter. She didn’t like to throw anything away. Karla & Dawn would have to sneak to organize and throw out items when Mom was away.  Most of the time she wouldn’t notice, but when she did, us girls would hear about it.

Mom knew how to make time for fun.  She made sure Dad took a day of each week, just for family.  Thursday was our day.  No exceptions.  Dad was going to have fun with us kids whether he wanted to our not.  Because of her rule, we have many happy memories.  “Thank you, Mom!”

We thought our mom was pretty. She didn’t have to wear a lot of makeup. She always looked stylish to us. We were proud as little kids, teens, and as adults to be seen and be around her. Her smile was given out freely to everyone. She made friends easily with neighbors and people in the community, whoever she came in contact with.

Mom was like a child when it came to gifts. She accepted them easily from friends and family and our home was an eclectic display of teacups, shells, trinkets and flowers. She had a lot of hats and costume jewelry. She didn’t buy any of it—all gifts … and Dad would help her find her “ear bobs” for her as she rarely left her room to go to the dining hall without them on.

There is one thing that Mom really needed to be truly happy—and that was “a view.” Even though she traveled all over the world with Dad and saw some amazing sites, she was always so happy to come home and say of our lake front home, “it’s the most beautiful place in the world. Why would I ever want to leave?”  

In these last couple of months when Mom’s health was failing, it was necessary for her to be in the nursing care part of the Estates. She was given a room with a view of the pond complete with swans and baby ducks. We put a bird feeder outside her window and the cardinals came … and so did the squirrels. Mom was supposed to be in bed resting, but when the nurse came in she finds Mom out of bed standing by her window trying to shoo the squirrels away from the feeder.  

A second feeder had to be set up just for the squirrel to keep him away from her cardinals. We would talk about her moving back to her apartment when she was able, but again she said, “Why would I leave here?” She had her view!

Our mom invested so much time in us kids. Even with her busy schedule in her younger years, she made time to listen and help us. Her best line for any troubles we faced, “Keep a Forward Motion.”  

What could we give in return for all of her goodness?   

Well, as she and Papa would say, “We have 10 beautiful grandchildren and two beautiful great granddaughters—Jordan, Annalise, Marcus, Austin, Alexis, Steele, Sterling, Autumn, Karl, Kyle, Brooke & Baron.  

Each grandchild had individual relationship with Grandma. A couple of the grand kids caught on quicker than others that the more you visit with Grandma, the more “checks” you might receive. Her checkbook was always by her chair and she knew how to utilize it.

This is what our kids knew about their “Grandma Strader.” They knew she loved Jesus. They knew her favorite Scripture, “Casting All Your Care Upon Him, For He’s Careth for You.”  

LET’S ALL SAY THAT TOGETHER…  CASTING ALL YOUR CARE UPON HIM, FOR HE CARETH FOR YOU.

Our children knew about family communion and special family times. They learned about Hanukkah and her love for Israel. They knew she and Papa prayed for each of them every day.   

They knew she would make homemade tacos shells on Christmas Eve. They knew there would be a Dove bar in her refrigerator just for them.  

But most of all, they knew Grandma loved them.

Mom loved everyone equally … but she did have her favorites.  And you know who you are. (Look to audience) It’s you. Every single one of you who showed up today to honor her; you are her favorite.

Thank you for coming today.

Malia Obama has turned Sweet 16. Like many her age, a rite of passage is going to a concert or music festival with friends to enjoy the songs, atmosphere and just have some good, clean fun.

Picture President Obama and Michelle sitting in the Oval Office giving her some parting instructions: “Sweetie, your outfit is so cool, and I know you’ll have a good time. Stay close with your friends and don’t worry, the bodyguards won’t embarrass you. Lollapalooza, Grant Park—Chicago’s music festival has some of the biggest names, even though Beyoncé, our favorite, won’t be there. The weekend is going to be a blast!”

A hug, a tender kiss on the forehead and off she goes like multitudes of teens today. Maybe the first lady brushes aside a salty tear and smiles faintly as her reassuring hubby gives her a wink and a nod telegraphing, “Everything’s gonna be OK.”

Twelve-year-old Sasha cuddles her teddy bear, watching admiringly in the background and thinks to herself, “It won’t be long till I can go with Sis. She promised to bring me back some of the band’s “merch”—maybe a CD, hoodie or a poster.”

What can be more wholesome than the above scene: the sweetness of a young lady’s innocence; the adventure of exploring the musical landscape of the pop scene; and sentimental parents looking on approvingly?

Fast forward to Grant Park in the middle of 300,000 screaming, musical aficionados.

What Can Go On At These Events?

“C’mon you hot m—– f—ers! Give it up for the real Slim Shady … EMINEM!!”

For the uninitiated, this Detroit rapper, from the duo “Bad Meets Evil,” has sold 115 million albums. He’s a headliner. His life is a tale of debauchery, drugs, assault, arrest, divorce and promotion of violence against women. His mother sued him. His best friend was shot in the head after killing someone. He’s been addicted to drugs and alcohol, consuming 40 to 60 Valium in a day. He overdosed on methadone—the equivalent of four bags of heroin. He was two hours from dying. He’s trying some rehab.

His songs are foul and profane, from the gutter. He peppers rhyming lyrics with the f-word and multitudes of obscenities while celebrating masturbation, violence and references to a woman’s intimate parts.

• “Kill You”: “Slut, you think I won’t choke no whore/vocal cords don’t work in her throat no more?”
• “We as Americans”: “F— money! I don’t rap for dead presidents. I’d rather see the president dead.”

If this was one of his selections, I wonder how that went over with our impressionable young lady?

“I can’t hear ya, Chicago! Outkast is in the house! They’ve got that social stigma so let’s make ’em feel right at home you (expletive) monsters!”

Again, for those not so clued in, these X-rated hip hop “artists” with attitude roll out a degree of depravity not comprehended by scores of adults. Sample some of the titles from their explicit album overflowing with profanities, The Love Below:

• “Hootie Hoo”
• “She Lives in My Lap”
• “Toilet Tisha”
• “Gangsta Shxx”
• “2 Dope Boyz”
• “Where Are My Panties?”

Picture “you-know-who” plunged into the middle of this cesspool surrounded by partygoers galore, many of whom are drunk, high on drugs, groping each other out in the open while lacing their dialogue with profanities and suggestive remarks.

Not every band sinks this low, but these were the headliners. Not everybody is in an inebriated stupor, but it’s all around. There’s nudity along with sex; 21 felony arrests—most drug-related; cleanup of 250 tons of trash—drug paraphernalia, vomit and unmentionables. And all this in an atmosphere where police usually turn a deaf ear and are encouraged not to be aggressive but let people “have a good time.” Last time Lady Gaga performed, she launched her near-naked body to crowd-surf the riotous crowd.

BREAKING NEWS: ‘Rape and Sexual Assaults on the Rise at Concerts, Experts Say’

As I was working on this commentary, a friend sent me an article that could not have been more timely. You can read all the details on .

As you read some of the excerpts, should it surprise us that what is conveyed on the platform is then carried out in the crowd?

Heather McKay opened her well-researched and documented article with these words: “Gone are the days when the worst thing a woman had to worry about at a concert was getting her purse snatched. Experts we talked to say sexual assaults at concerts and music festivals are on the rise, the product of lax security, drugs and alcohol.”

She went on to survey what is happening. Here are some examples she cited:

• Sexual battery at a Beyoncé/Jay-Z concert.
• Teenager allegedly raped in broad daylight at Keith Urban concert while others watched. Attorney justifies behavior as “consensual.”
• At one event there was a woman raped and robbed; a teenager assaulted in a porta potty; a parking lot attendant raped a girl; etc.

Experts say that organizers don’t want to spoil the atmosphere with security “snooping around.” They also point out that “most victims don’t report crimes and many can’t recall details due to drug/alcohol impairment.”

Recently Billboard magazine ran an article entitled “17 Deaths and Counting: Festival Fatalities on the Rise.” Even the music industry’s bible is raising the red flag! Are parents, including our president and the first lady, paying attention?

Even if there are no rapes, assaults and felony gun charges cited, what are a parent’s responsibilities in releasing a child or teenager into this kind of “free-for-all” environment? Remember where we started in citing the profanity, drugs, drunkenness, sexually-charged lyrics and example.

Just days ago, Miley Cyrus returned to her Nashville, Tennessee, home for a packed concert of primarily teenage girls and those in their early 20s. Our local newspaper reported there were no parental chaperones in sight.

This mixed-up exhibitionist for whom we should pray opened saying she wanted “some (expletive) noise!” and that she was going to “show them why I’m so (expletive) crazy!” She added, “School starts back tomorrow, so don’t get too drunk tonight.”

The former Hannah Montana leads her followers down the broad road to destruction as she endorses drug use, spews profanity, swings naked in her videos and sits spread eagle on the stage like her promo shot for the tour squatting, grabbing her crotch.

Our local entertainment magazine chuckles at her antics and dismisses them as harmless, edgy and basically reminiscent of Elvis. Hardly.

Time to Wake Up and Smell the Stench

I wonder what report Malia gave her parents when she came home. If I had my wish, I would respectfully sit down with the Obamas and read them this commentary, as I would like to do with every American family facing the same challenges. But since they are the First Family and should model something for the rest of us, I close sharing something of what I’d tell them.

“Mrs. Obama, you may be BFF (best friends forever) with music’s No. 1 female megastar, Beyoncé, extolling her as a ‘true role model for children’ and ‘a role model kids everywhere can look up to,’ but should you as the first lady be setting this kind of example by taking your vulnerable and precious daughters to one of her concerts as you’ve done in addition to letting Malia go to Lollapalooza?

“The ‘Queen Bey’ exhibits a seductive image, prancing about in barely there clothes, doing over-the-top sensual dance moves. She goes on tour in her see-through bodysuit and gyrates like someone in a strip club. Her signature song is “Bootylicious,” and her last album is basically a graphic ode to sex. Uber-liberal Rolling Stone magazine said, ‘She hits nasty highs through the album.’

“I say this respectfully: Mrs. Obama this is not the kind of example you should be setting as our nation’s ‘First Mom.’ I ask you to change course before it’s too late.

“President Obama, while I continue to pray for you every single day, do you realize how you have abdicated your responsibility as leader of your wife and daughters in this realm? Sir, I beseech you to take decisive action and lead your three beautiful ladies on a righteous path. It’s not too late.”

How about you?

Not all pop singers and songs are perverted and immoral. Not every concert or festival is a haven of hedonism. If you look hard and research carefully, you may find a rare few. But be careful and don’t compromise-–your children’s future is at stake.

The founding father of rock n roll is Little Richard, and he has something to add to the conversation. His life became a cesspool of heroin, cocaine and sexual promiscuity. Let’s let him give the parting shot as today he serves the Lord Jesus Christ as a minister of the gospel.

“This music does not glorify God! You can’t drink out of God’s cup and the Devil’s cup at the same time. I was one of the pioneers of that music, one of the builders. I know what the blocks are made of, because I built them.”

“Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-–if anything is excellent or worthy of praise-–think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. Then the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:8-9).

Larry Tomczak is a best-selling author and cultural commentator with more than 41 years of trusted ministry experience. His passion is to bring perspective, analysis and insight from a biblical worldview. He loves awakening people to today’s cultural realities and responses needed for a restored, influential church. Please visit  and follow him on Facebook or at @larrytomczak on Twitter. 

Out of the miracle of her own life, Joan Hunter teaches how to receive—and maintain—your miracles. When you do, it will change every area of your life as you know it.

Watch her moving story, and see how you can apply what she has learned in your own life.

Deep in my heart there is a stirring—not just a stirring that resembles a late-night craving for ice cream or the feelings of boyish infatuation with a high school crush, but a true “depths of my soul” type of stirring. This stirring is for the church of the living God to rise up and take her rightful place.

This stirring is nothing new in the hearts of those focused on the bidding of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Jeremiah felt that stirring when he said: “I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was upon me. I was filled with indignation at their sins” (Jer. 15:17, emphasis added). The prophets of old looked at the state of Israel (picture of the modern church) and grieved over the glory that could have been if only they had embraced their God with the same passion they embraced the idolatry of their day.

I look at the state of the church and feel the same stirring in my heart for the return of God’s glory to His bride, the church. When will we see our nation shaken by a fresh move of God’s precious Spirit? When will the culture around us be forced to recognize a holiness that is truly “otherworldly”? When will we come to a place of desperation for God’s outpouring that makes us willing to abandon our own plans and dreams to fall prostrate before an awesome God and cry out for His divine intervention?

As I meditated on these questions, the Holy Spirit quickened within my heart something so simple that it literally shocked me. He said, “If the true Gospel were preached and lived with boldness, then My power would be seen as tangibly as it was seen in the book of Acts.” Wow! I was then taken to Acts 4:29–30, where the apostles and early church prayed, “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word” (v. 29). Through this passage, the Holy Spirit revealed several important things to me that would become the basis for this book.

The first thing that is obvious from this passage is that threats against the real Gospel are inevitable. In the New Testament, Jesus clearly warned that because He was hated, His followers inevitably would be hated too. Persecution and resistance have been the hallmark of Christianity from the beginning, going all the way back to Herod’s attempt to kill the newborn Jesus, to the cross of Calvary, to the terrible persecutions of the Roman Empire, and all the way forward to modern-day martyrdom that continues at unprecedented rates all over the globe. It was in response to such threats and persecution that the early church prayed for boldness. Perhaps if we began to preach the real Gospel in all its fullness, we too would be forced to cry out for boldness. Perhaps if we weren’t so comfortable with our walled bastions of seclusion or “pitter-patter” messages that placate the spiritually complacent, we would be forced to cry out for a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit.

Second, boldness is a function of the unction. What I mean by that is simply that boldness is not a conjuring up of some sort of fleshly hype but a release of something within. It is an internal combustion in the spirit man that releases unusual courage and clarity. This can be seen clearly when Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7 and preached the Gospel with great boldness, even while sealing his imminent doom. He had such clarity of purpose that he physically saw the Lord Jesus giving him a standing ovation from the throne room.

When we lack boldness, it is because we lack intimacy with the Holy Spirit. As we go about our duties and maintain our busy lives and ministries, there is often a deep neglect in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Peter, however, was not too busy to go on the rooftop to pray at lunchtime and thus had a vision that changed the course of the church. Thank God for that time of prayer and rest! Without it, the Gentile church would not exist. We need to get back to the place of true fellowship with the Holy Spirit and His daily revelation of the Word so that we can walk in this supernatural boldness to preach the Gospel in all its fullness.

Finally, notice that in verse 30 of Acts 4, we see the mention of healing power and miraculous signs and wonders. The convincing proof that we are not preaching the Gospel fully is the lack of healing power and miraculous signs that follow the preaching of our modern gospel. If this gospel were the real Gospel, then it would be followed by evidence of God’s power by way of healings and miracles. Because of our thirst for influence and lack of hunger for true righteousness, we have handicapped the church from its greatest evangelism weapon—the supernatural.

WHAT IS THE HALFGOSPEL?

Bear with me for a moment as I outline for you what I describe as the “halfGospel.” I capitalize Gospel here because it still has remnants of the real Gospel and still produces fruit of some measure. Please do not get the idea that I am against everybody or everything. This is not an attempt to throw out all the amazing things that are taking place but to readjust our thinking to be more effective in our pursuit of saving souls and building the kingdom of God.

It is not that we are preaching a false message as much as we are holding back critical elements that give the Gospel power and punch. We have embraced the idea of motivational speaking in an attempt to always be “life-giving,” but we have abandoned the convicting power of the Gospel. Inspiration without conviction will lead to carnal and unbelieving churchgoers who never turn from sin and always need affirmation of their true standing with God. This sort of gospel has produced a movement of false grace in order to soothe everyone’s guilty conscience; however, if the convicting work of the Holy Spirit were allowed to go forth in full measure, people would turn from their grievous ways and feel the true liberty of Christ that comes only from walking in His holiness and staying free from the world. As 2 Cor. 3:17 reminds us, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (NKJV).

Conviction comes effortlessly as we highlight the full counsel of God as revealed in the entire Word of God and hold back no portion of the Holy Bible in order to appease people. Nonetheless, we have seen a shift in recent years from preaching the Bible and expounding its eternal virtues to presenting interesting topics to spark the curiosity of man and backing them up with a favorable scripture. This sort of topical preaching has grown our churches but has utterly failed to mature the body of Christ. In a day where churches soar to grander heights of attendance then ever imagined, our anemic message has produced giant nurseries where people are never weaned from the milk of the Word—and the leaders actually want it that way. God forbid that church members actually grow up in Christ and start doing something other than warming a pew!

HALF-STRENGTH

The halfGospel is not only an incomplete message, but it is also a message diluted in strength and handicapped from its true life-changing power. The popular theology of our day instructs leaders who really want to grow that preaching anything controversial or confrontational is completely taboo. After all, we wouldn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, would we? Heaven forbid! John the Baptist’s call to repentance and the message of Jesus to give all to the poor and follow Him are considered not relevant in today’s world and thus are not preached or even mentioned.

Jesus said, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matt. 11:6, ESV). Nevertheless, we continue to hear promises of blessing without any warning of offense against Christ. Prominent red-letter statements in the Bible like “Fall on the rock and be broken, or it will fall on you and crush you” (Matt. 21:44, paraphrased) are laughable when put in the context of the watered-down theology served weekly at many of our “model” churches.

We must be very wary when parts of the Word of God are deemed irrelevant or not relatable to today. Some have declared the Old Testament outdated and weird, while others have dared to declare Jesus’ words as “under the law” and not really what we should be preaching today. Not only is such intellectual and theological dismissal of any portion of God’s infallible Word dangerous, but it will also lead to weak and impotent sheep whose only desire is to feed on the portions of Scripture that appeal to their intellects or can be twisted to justify the workings of their flesh.

Let us go back now to the topic of conviction and put it in the light of a gospel that is half-strength. Somehow we have managed to create an atmosphere of preaching that not only assumes everyone present is a believer but also affirms all present as being right with God and having no need to do anything in order to pursue repentance and holiness. While it is true that God’s grace is undeserved and no works are needed to receive it, faith is required (Eph. 2:8); and faith without action is dead (James 2:17).

There was a time when we would not serve communion in a church without first warning of the grave repercussion of eating and drinking unworthily of the Lord’s Body and Blood. This was immediately followed with an altar call for salvation and recommitment. Now we see trendy times of communion that fit neatly within the context of our run sheet. Believers and unbelievers alike are given extra encouragement that they indeed are worthy to receive the Body and Blood, when in fact many are not. To affirm the righteousness (or right standing) of everyone in a room of more than 10 people you intimately know to be believers is to risk reinforcing many in a state of being unsaved, in sin or backslidden. All of this, in the name of making people feel welcome and comfortable, is why the Gospel has been stripped of its potency to radically change lives.

HALF-COST

Unfortunately, we have become expert salesmen at presenting the Gospel. We have deemed it necessary to build in extra incentive in order to get people to accept and believe in the product we are selling. For the sake of nickels and noses, we have propagated a “halfGospel” that is no longer built on sacrifice and suffering but boasts immediate prosperity and earthly enrichment. This goes against the very core of what Jesus, the apostles, and the early church stood for in their application of the true Gospel message.

When we sell the Gospel at a discounted cost, we get people in the church who want to pay little or no price. We must be faithful to warn of the hardships, persecutions, alienation, and other forms of sacrifice and suffering that come with taking up your cross and following Jesus. In Luke 14:28, Jesus said, “Don’t begin until you count the cost.” But in fear that we might not gain a new member or might cause someone to reject the Lord, we have repackaged the Gospel and sold it at a discounted rate.

HALF-IN, HALF-OUT

The final element I will highlight in diagnosing the issue of the halfGospel is the level of commitment required to pursue true holiness. In the modern church today, there is more talk of grace than ever before. Grace is an amazing thing, but it must be balanced with truth. Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 NIV). In John 17:17, Jesus also prayed, “Make them holy by Your truth; teach them your word, which is truth” (emphasis added).

Wow! This shows us that very simply put, righteousness comes by God’s amazing grace, but holiness, the pursuit of being like God, comes only through the revelatory truth of God’s Word. God’s Word gives us the standards that help us get free and stay free from the snares of the enemy. If these standards are not articulated, however, then freedom does not come and people are inevitably caught up by the “snares of the fowler” and dragged back into the bondage of sin that once held them captive.

A huge misconception and popularly taught message today is that people will be changed by the grace of God if they just hang around long enough. While there is merit to being in God’s presence and change happening in our lives, the real roots of pride, perversion and greed will never be uprooted without the full measure of God’s truth being proclaimed and applied.

The definitive issue that illustrates this point best is that of homosexuality. This abominable sin is aggressively asserting itself into every aspect of culture and, sadly, even in the church. Because of the prevailing winds of opinion, not only have many church leaders chosen not to address this important issue, but they have also become extremely leery of anyone who would take on this topic or even mention it from the pulpit. How can we expect to defeat this horrible bondage that has wrapped its icy tentacles around so many of this generation if we refuse to address it head-on?

The halfGospel always finds ways to excuse and justify lack of conviction. It would even paint those who lovingly point out the awful deceptions of the enemy as being hateful, legalistic or out of touch. Oh, that God would raise up men and women who would once again preach the full Gospel of righteousness through repentance and holiness through consistent application of God’s Word!

ACTION STEPS

Now that we have clearly outlined the problem of a halfGospel, here are some action steps that we can take to ensure the full Gospel is preached:

• Seek God, not man’s approval–for any true minister of the Gospel, the priority must always be to hear the heart of God and not the applause of man.
• Diligently study God’s Word–while books and resources are helpful at times, we must get back to the original DNA of the Gospel as outlined in God’s Word, not as interpreted by man.
• Rely on God’s Spirit, not personal gift or intellect–the early apostles relied completely on the Holy Spirit to speak and work through them for the saving of the lost. We must return to this pattern in order to see New Testament results!

Joel Stockstill is a well-known prophetic voice, youth pastor and author of the free e-book halfGospel, from which this article is excerpted. To download the entire e-book for free, visit .

When I came to Christ in January of 1978, I was the kind of person who could read the Bible for many hours, but I had a hard [difficult] time praying for more than a couple of minutes.

All that changed in June 1978 when I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues. Within a few months, I was able to pray for a long time without getting bored.

Occasionally, while I was praying for something, my heart started getting weighed down with the burden of the thing I was praying for. It was so heavy with the sense of why I was praying that I had a difficult time having a conversation with someone. I could barely do anything else but pray, because my mind and heart were so preoccupied with this intense weight or burden.

When this “spirit of prayer” came on me, the kind when my whole being was engulfed in prayer, I would try to alter my schedule and steal away from all regular work and the company of others. I would get alone and pray until the burden of the thing I was praying for would lift off me, and my heart would be filled with the peace and assurance of God. Through the years this spirit of prayer would only come upon me occasionally. Then it would come upon me for days at a time—then weeks. Most of the time I couldn’t even use my known language (English) and after some years, the intensity of the burden even transcended “speaking in tongues” with most of my time spent groaning in the presence of God, knowing that I was standing in the gap for something.

Before I go on, I want the reader to realize something important: You can pray anytime you want, but you can’t make [cause] “the spirit of prayer” to come upon you. You can’t just decide that you want to go into “travail.” It comes upon you only when God wills it to happen, usually when you begin to intercede for something and you strike a “nerve” in the spirit. God enlarges your heart, and you begin to pray supernaturally with an intensity that can only come from God.

It got to the point in the late 1980s that I realized about 95 percent of the time when I began to pray I would tap into God’s heart for the thing I was praying for and then I would go into travail with varying degrees of time spent praying fervently according to the need.

I remember a time in the early ’90s when I went to a conference hosted by an apostolic network. A pastor I had only met a few times before was driving me there.

We had a five-hour drive ahead of us, and he asked me to pray traveling mercies for us before we started out. Well, I not only prayed for traveling mercies, but an incredible burden for the conference and the network came upon me, and I went into intense travail for the entire five-hour trip. I couldn’t help but wonder what this pastor thought of me when I not only prayed in tongues but began moaning and groaning because of the intense weight of the purposes of God on my soul. I figured God knew what He was doing when He put it upon me and I threw “caution to the wind” and then–you know what–the spirit of travail came upon him as well.

When I arrived at the conference, the burden of God for the week-long meeting was so great that I prayed about 12 hours a day–mostly with groanings too deep for words (Rom. 8:26-27).

My heart was so heavy that I couldn’t go to a single session or workshop. I had to force myself to go to the evening plenary sessions. I literally felt what God felt about the ministers, the conference and what God wanted to do for eternal fruit. At one point the travail of my soul was so great that I had to get people to take turns watching in prayer with me to help me bear the burden.

God showed me, after two days of intense prayer and travail, that the Wednesday and Thursday evening plenary sessions would be the most powerful the network had ever seen, catapulting ministers into the purposes of God way into the rest of the decade. Sure enough, the Wednesday night meeting was so powerful that it lasted until midnight.

The Thursday night meeting ended at almost 1 a.m. Friday; there was a powerful demonstration of praise, worship, prophecy and consecration to the mission field. All of these hours agonizing in prayer were worth it when I saw the marvelous way the Lord poured out His spirit and visited those ministers.

I have been living with this kind of prayer lifestyle for years, not knowing it could ever accelerate. But then came Jan. 2, 1997.

As I said earlier, this spirit of prayer first came on me occasionally, then more frequently. (Most of the time it came after I initiated prayer and intercession.)  But on Jan. 2, 1997, the spirit of prayer came upon me so mightily, it didn’t even wait for me to begin to pray. I didn’t even know why it accelerated on that particular date.

I must confess, many times to prevent the spirit of travail from coming on me, (so I could lead a somewhat normal life), I would purposely not even pray, consequently not giving it a chance to come upon me. That particular day I woke up with it upon me. This went on day after day, week after week, month after month. In the back of my mind I was thinking: I will pray it through, and it will leave me. 

I found that I had now entered into a lifestyle of travail, with a spirit of prayer upon me anywhere from three to eight hours every day. (This lasted almost exactly three years until the beginning of January 2000). I had to alter my busy schedule to accommodate all the time I needed to be in prayer so I could function and fulfill the destiny of God. Altering my schedule had been no easy task in light of the fact that I have a family that includes five children, a growing church, and an apostolic ministry to my city and various parts of the nation and world.

Instead of waiting for it to leave me, I have embraced it, and now I wouldn’t want to live any other way. The past two years since around 2012, this spirit of prayer usually comes upon me in the middle of the night so that every morning I wake up with an intense burden of prayer upon me that I push through until the weight on my soul is lifted. It frequently comes upon me again by late afternoon and then before I go to bed.

Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church, Christ Covenant Coalition, in Brooklyn, N.Y. This article is adapted from his new book, Travail to Prevail: A Key to Experiencing the Heart of God.

Note: As I said last month in Dan Juster’s article for Reconnecting Ministries, I am beginning a new focus with The Reconnection; to bring this issue in God’s family to the forefront of the church by interviewing many of its leaders, both from Jewish and Gentile perspectives; where they will be free to express their views and beliefs.

But, what will this spiritual reconnection between Jew and Gentile actually look like in the church as it begins to take hold and develop amongst us? I truly believe that the full revelation of this new unity in the family of God will only develop as more of His love and forgiveness flows between both groups. In my mind, this will naturally broaden our tolerances of how each of us practice our faith in Jesus/Yeshua, with some overlaps I might add that will become wonderfully enriching to us all.

Papa Don Finto, as I call him, who is one of my mentors in the faith, pastored Belmont Church in Nashville, Tennessee for over 30 years. More recently over the last 10 years, God called him out to help father and mentor Messianic leadership in the church, which is so greatly needed. Papa Don overflows in the Spirit with the Father’s love and runs a ministry with Tod McDowell known as Caleb Company, which is training church leadership to refocus on Israel. Don Finto has a great love for Israel and the church and has written 2 books on the Reconnection, which lay a wonderful foundation for Christians first discovering and embracing the Israel piece, a phrase he has devised and one that I use regularly in my sermons and teachings. “Your People Shall Be My People,” is one of the titles. So here’s what he has to share with us (Grant Berry, Reconnecting Ministries).

We have been robbed of a significant part of our godly heritage through a calendar that was intentionally removed from the biblical one. The early believers in Jesus were all Jewish. Not until Cornelius were the Gentiles received into the fellowship without converting to Judaism. But even these early Gentile followers observed the biblical feasts as a prophetic statement of their newly found faith in the Jewish Messiah who is also Redeemer of the nations. When Paul wrote to the predominantly Gentile believers of Corinth, he spoke of “Christ, our Passover lamb (who) has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival …” (1 Cor. 5:7-8). The biblical feasts had become the feasts of the Gentile believers as well.

Paul’s special assignment was to Gentiles (see Acts 9:15), yet he never lost his passion for the Jewish people and remained an observant Jew all his life, always going first to synagogues with the message of the gospel, before going to Gentiles (see Acts 13:5, 14:14:1; 17:2, 10, 17; 18:4; 19:8). Late in life, Paul told the Roman commander, “I am a Jew” (Ac. 21:39), and to the Sanhedrin, “I am a Pharisee” (23:6).

As Gentile believers increased and Jewish persecution, including the destruction of Jerusalem that followed, the church began to lose touch with the Jewish roots of their faith and turn against their Jewish brothers and sisters. By the time of Emperor Constantine in the early 4^th century, the estrangement had become so severe that Constantine called the bishops together in the Nicene Council in order to finalize the church’s separation from these “polluted wretches” who had killed Jesus.

They needed a resurrection day other than Passover. Passover was too Jewish. At the conclusion of the Nicene Council, Constantine had his way. The Roman calendar had conquered. The annual celebration of the Lord’s resurrection would now have a new name—Easter—strangely similar to Eostre, the Teutonic goddess of spring, dissimilar to Pesach or Passover. The Roman calendar, named after Roman gods and Caesars, replaced God’s calendar, and for the next 16 centuries, both the church and the synagogue agreed that Jewish people who became followers of their Messiah must relinquish all their Jewishness and get on the non-biblical calendar. If they refused, they were persecuted and often killed. Can you honestly believe this? But it is sadly true of our church history.

The prophet Daniel had envisioned four great beasts and a king that would “change the set times and the laws” (Dan. 7:25). In his insistence that the church change the calendar of God, Constantine became a foreshadowing of another world ruler who is to come. And the church was further divorced from her roots and her spiritual “parentage.”

Our Roman/Gregorian solar calendar has no biblical significance. God’s calendar is based on lunar months with a solar year. The sun and moon are to “mark seasons and days and years” (Gen. 1:14). The first day of the new moon following the vernal equinox in the Spring is the beginning of God’s year (See Exodus 12:1). Months always begin with the new moon. The 14^th or 15^th of the month will always be a full moon. The days begin in the evening (See Genesis 1:5).

Passover (Pesach) is always on the 14^th day of Nisan, also called Abib (meaning barley). God told Moses to “tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb” (Ex. 12:3). The lambs were to be “year old males without defect” (v. 5), and were to be sacrificed on the 14^th day of the month (v. 6). Israel was to “take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of their houses” (v. 7). “The blood will be a sign … when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (v. 13), was the Lord’s assurance.

John’s gospel indicates that Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem took place on the 10^th day of Nisan (see John 12:1 and 12), the day the lambs were selected. All the gospel writers tell of the questions and scrutiny that Jesus endured over the next four days as He was brought before Caiaphas, Annas, Herod and Pilate. On the morning of the 13^th of Nisan, after being carefully examined by Pilate, Pilate declared, “I find no fault in this man” (Lk. 23:4 KJV). In other words, “This lamb is flawless and ready to be sacrificed.” Jesus was taken to the execution site and nailed to the cross. At three in the afternoon (See Luke 23:44-46), after three hours of darkness, and at the exact time when Passover lambs were being slaughtered for the evening feast, the soldiers pierced the side of Jesus, and redeeming blood flowed from His side.

HaBikkurim

A relatively unnoticed “first fruits” festival (HaBikkurim) occurred three days later when the priest was to waive a barley sheaf as a celebration of the harvest that was to come (See Leviticus 23:9-14). Paul calls Jesus’ resurrection from the dead the first fruits of all those who are to follow (See 1 Corinthians 15:20 and 24).

Shavuot

Fifty days after Passover was the festival of Pentecost (Shavuot). Pentecost is not just a “Christian” festival, but a biblical feast of harvest that also commemorates the giving of the law on Sinai. This is the day God chose for the initiation of the “law of the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2), a day when Joel’s prophecy that “I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (Ac. 2:17) began to be fulfilled. Pentecost is one of the “appointed feasts of the LORD” (Lev. 23:2), and always arrives on the 6^th day of the 3^rd month, the month of Sivan.

Yom Teruach, Yom Kippur, Sukkot

After the spring festivals, there is a long season of growing and harvesting before the autumn festivals that celebrate the final harvest. Jesus compared Himself to a master who entrusted talents to his servants, went on a journey, then “after a long time” (Matt. 25:19) returned to hold his servants accountable. There is “a long time” between the spring and the autumn feasts.

Three feasts take place in the fall: the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruach) on the 1^st day of the seventh month of Tishrei, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on the 10^th day of Tishrei, and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) from the 15^th to the 22^nd days of Tishrei. Jewish tradition calls the first day of Tishrei Rosh Hashana (“head of the year”), and celebrate this day as the beginning of the civic year, but the beginning of God’s year is in the Spring, on the first day of Nisan.

The fall festivals are important for us because they have yet to come into their full prophetic significance. If Jesus used God’s calendar for the Spring festivals, we can well assume that He will do the same with the Fall feasts. In Paul’s letters to both Corinth and Thessalonica, he refers to a trumpet call that will resound at the second coming of Jesus. The Day of Atonement is a day of introspection and judgment. Tabernacles looks forward to the time when we will “tabernacle” together with God.

But there is more! Jesus calls Himself “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Rev. 22:13). He often begins and ends at the same place. He left from the Mount of Olives and He is to return to the Mount of Olives. There seems to be biblical evidence that Jesus will not only return during the Fall season, but that He was born during the Feast of Tabernacles.

Zechariah “belonged to the priestly division of Abijah” (Lk. 1:15), serving in the Temple in the eighth rotation, thus the later part of the fourth biblical month (See 1 Chronicles 24:10). Mary’s pregnancy occurred six months later when “God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth (v. 26), thus the later part of the tenth biblical month. This would mean that Jesus was born nine months later, in the later part of the 19^th month following Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah, thus in the later part of the seventh biblical month at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. No wonder John said that “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14 Amplified). It’s fascinating, don’t you think?

We’ve been robbed of our heritage and our connection to our roots, which is why Grant Berry burns the trail to help reconnect us spiritually with his ministry focus. God has a calendar; we have a calendar. He will never get on ours, but it’s best we get on His!

Knock, knock, knock! “Oh, Lord, it’s me again. Here I am standing at the door pounding and pounding. It’s the same prayer request, Lord, for about 15 years now! I have been asking—well actually begging—You, Lord, but I never seem to get an answer. All I see are my red knuckles and this closed door! Lord, aren’t You tired of hearing me pray this prayer and knock on this door?”

Right then it’s as if I heard a voice speak to my heart: “Shhhhhh! Be still and listen!”

As I stopped whining, crying and asking, I listened intently. I could hear tremendous movement on the other side of the door. It was as if there were furniture and big objects that were being moved around and repositioned.

Then I heard the voice speak once again, “All you see is this closed door. But I am working behind this door to position things for an answer to these prayers. You will see that when this door finally opens I will do a quick work, for I am setting many things in place and working on many different levels.”

Wow! I will never forget that word picture the Lord gave me one day as I was praying for the same prayer request for many years. He spoke to my heart. I can actually testify that the Lord did answer this prayer and it was exactly as He said: When the door opened, so many things were set in place that He did a quick work—quicker than I could imagine.

Are your knuckles red from pounding on heaven’s door? Are you discouraged because no matter how hard you pray all that you see is a door shut tight in your face? Take a moment and listen. Be still in the presence of the Lord and let Him assure you that He is working behind the scenes to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine!”

Be encouraged by the scriptural mandate in Matthew 7:7 (AMP), “Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.”

PRAYER POWER FOR THE WEEK OF 8/05/2013

This week heed the Lord’s admonition to keep on asking and seeking for your answers to prayer.

Acknowledge His faithfulness and thank Him that He is totally worthy of your trust. Tell Him that you know His will is best and He will work all things for your good. Continue to pray that God will send revival into our churches and communities. Ask Him for opportunities to be a blessing to others and help expand His kingdom. Lift up our spiritual, community and national leaders and continue to pray for racial harmony. Pray for the next generation as they return to schools this month and remember those who work with our youth in churches, schools and community events. Lift up Israel, the persecuted church and those suffering losses through war, crime or natural disasters. Matt. 7:7; I Thes. 5:17; I Tim. 2:8; John 17:9

The Bible contains incredible stories of miracles and divine interventions. Moses parted the sea. Peter healed a man lame from his mother’s womb. Jesus walked on water, drove demons out of people, and raised others from the dead. But are these types of events still happening today? Some people say the age of miracles has ended, but I beg to differ.  

Being a curious journalist, I frequently ask people I meet, Have you ever witnessed or experienced a miracle or a divine intervention?

Nearly everyone I ask has a story about something that happened to them that defied natural explanation, something they consider miraculous. It could be a near-death experience, a close call where they should’ve been killed, a dramatic healing, or an answered prayer that gave them the help they needed at just the right time. Some people’s entire lives seem to be one long sequence of divine interventions and miracles.

Yet for others, these types of occurrences seem to be totally outside their experience. I wonder why that is. Maybe they don’t recognize a miracle when they see one? Maybe they just haven’t experienced one yet, but their time will come? Whatever the reason, for some people divine interventions are outside their world altogether. When I asked one friend if he’d ever experienced a miracle, he responded that he never had—and even questioned the very existence of miracles.

After all, he reasoned, if the miracles like the ones in the Bible are true, they’d still be happening today. How come I’ve never seen one?

A fair question, undoubtedly. It was this line of reasoning that became the very purpose that I started my radio program, Divine Intervention, on which I interview intriguing people who’ve experienced God’s Hand in amazing ways. You see, in my experience, miracles and divine interventions like those recorded in the Bible are still happening—today! People just need to know about them.

During the short time I’ve walked this planet, I’ve been blessed to meet some very interesting people who have powerful miracle testimonies. I don’t believe these meetings were coincidences or chance encounters but rather divine appointments.

I don’t think it a coincidence, for example, that I’ve met three people who’ve been shot in the head and lived to tell about it. Nor do I think it accidental that I know three people who miraculously recovered from a coma and paralysis after doctors said they should be dead or, at best, “vegetables.” I don’t chalk up to serendipity the fact that a good friend and college classmate, who was born a paraplegic, miraculously got up out of his wheelchair and walked for the first time at age 7 after having been prayed for in the Name of Jesus.  

I’ve experienced God’s intervention in my own life many times, including two dramatic healings—one from a painful, chronic back condition and one from a grapefruit-sized cancerous tumor that threatened my life. I’ve met people who’ve experienced God’s intervention in all types of ways—not just through healings.

In fact, these experiences seem to be common in the lives of many who are sincere followers of Christ, no matter what denomination they are affiliated with. Their stories inspire hope and faith and need to be told. They are a testament to the fact that Jesus is alive and still working among us every day–and sometimes using miracles. I’m continually awed by the incredibly passionate and generous people God has sent my way.

Daniel Fazzina is author of Divine Intervention: 50 True Stories of God’s Miracles Today and host of the radio program Divine Intervention, in which he interviews intriguing people who have experienced the Hand of God in amazing ways. With a bachelor’s degree in communication arts and a professional background in media production, he has hosted radio shows, edited music videos, and directed films and commercials. Daniel’s personal testimony of miraculous healings—one from a painful chronic back condition and one from the massive, cancerous tumor recounted here—led him to start the Divine Intervention radio show, which can be heard on its flagship station, WLIX in New York, on various other radio stations across America, and on the Internet at .

When we’re in the midst of a spiritual battle—whether over our personal lives, our families or even contending for revival in our cities and awakening in our nation—many sincere believers tend to petition God to rise up and take action against the enemy.

The problem is: When it comes to matters of spiritual warfare, it’s not God who needs to wake up and rise up. It’s us.

Jesus defeated the enemy on the cross (see Col. 2:15). Now, that doesn’t mean that the enemy can’t wreak havoc in our lives, in our cities or in our nations. Look at what’s happening in Iraq, China and the United States of America. Persecution is rising in the Middle East and Asia, while much of the church is sound asleep on prophetic pillows of prosperity in the Western world.

Clearly, there’s a devil on the loose. A literal onslaught of principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places is working hard to fulfill Satan’s mission (see Eph. 6:12). Our job is to get instructions from the Holy Spirit in a place of worship and waiting on the Lord, run to the battle line with eyes wide open, fully awake to what’s happening in the spiritual realm, and enforce Christ’s victory over the devil He defeated. Victory belongs to us if we follow the Holy Spirit’s battle plan.

The Lord Is Not Sleeping

Sounds simple, right? It is the simple truth, but there are many in the body of Christ who reject any notion that we have to engage in spiritual warfare. Some wonder why do we still have to do spiritual warfare if Satan is defeated. I answered that question from one perspective in an article by that same title that you can read here.

Other believers are convinced there’s a spiritual battle raging, but they hope and believe that if they ask God to handle it for them—as David did—they will see the victories David saw. Some spiritual warriors seem to think God is asleep and if they could just cry out loud enough to wake Him up. they could find deliverance from the spiritual enemies that are sorely oppressing them. It’s true that David often cried out for God to “wake up”:

“Stir up Yourself, and awake to my vindication, To my cause, my God and my Lord” (Psalm 35:23).

“They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine. Awake to help me, and behold! You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, Awake to punish all the nations; Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah” (Psalm 59:4-5).

“Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart, And wounded the serpent?” (Isaiah 51:9)

Arise, Oh Lord, Let Your Enemies Be Scattered!

Of course, David knew the Lord was not sleeping. Psalm 121:4 reveals that God’s Old Testament believers had a revelation that “He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”

David’s cries for the Lord to awaken were just his humble way of showing his utter dependence upon God in the face of his enemies. What’s more, David was literally wrestling against flesh and blood and did not have the revelation Paul did about the spiritual army of demons that rise up against God’s people behind the scenes. He didn’t have Christ’s authority to bind the enemy’s power in the spirit realm (see Matt. 16:19). This authority didn’t come to believers until after Christ defeated Satan on the cross.

So here’s the bottom line: You can beg God to arise and scatter His enemies all day long (see Psalm 68:1), but God already has done everything He’s doing to do about the devil until Jesus returns to throw Him into prison for 1,000 years. Christ gave us His authority, and we need to wake up to that reality and start enforcing Christ’s victory in this age.

What does that practically mean? I’ve written a number of articles that can give you more practical guidance, including “One Sure Fire Way to Lose in Spiritual Warfare,” “Spiritual Warfare Strategies: Should You Shout or Stay Silent?” and “7 Ways to Make the Devil Flee Seven Ways,” or just browse through the Plumb Line archives. You have the victory! Amen.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also director of IHOP Fort Lauderdale and author of several books, including The Making of a Prophet and The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can email Jennifer at @ or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

I recently wrote a post called “5 Things Husbands Wish Wives Knew.” Today I want to cover the wives’ perspective—what wives wish their husbands knew.

In writing this post, I had to get some wise counsel from my wife, Susan, and several other ladies on our Family First team to ensure that I was representing the ladies well. Here are five things wives wish their husbands knew:

1. Wives desire appreciation. Sometimes it seems that wives are the hardest-working people on the planet. But do we tell them? I addressed this in my blog, 10 Things Wives Want to Hear from Their Husbands. It is our privilege to be the beneficiaries of much of their work, and it is our job to thank them for all the things they do—whether it’s making dinner, cleaning the house, or working hard outside the home to help support our family. Expressing your appreciation will encourage and motivate her in a big way. Bottom line: Don’t ever take her for granted. Be her biggest fan!

2. Wives desire attention. When you get home from a long day at work, don’t always go straight for the TV or your phone. Ask your wife about her day working and then tell her what your day was like. Listen with empathy, and don’t make light of what she’s saying. The first 10 minutes when you walk in the door set the tone for the evening. By giving her your full attention, it shows that you truly respect and care for her.

3. Wives desire affection. All women crave affection, no matter how long they’ve been married. They want to hold your hand, to be told they’re beautiful, and to be kissed tenderly. My wife has flat-out asked me to be gentle. My bear hug only works occasionally. She wants tender affection. Because ultimately, physical affection reinforces that you’re still in love with her even after years of marriage together.

4. Wives desire patience. After getting input from some of the married ladies in the office in writing this blog, I found out that I am not the only husband who struggles with being impatient. Over the years, I’ve been learning How to Practice Patience and will continue to work on this virtue for the rest of my life. Men, I encourage you to talk calmly and patiently through issues with our wife. If you don’t, you will be in constant conflict; or worse, she may even shut down. When a disagreement escalates, you may want to agree to reconvene later after you both cool off. If your lack of patience is turning into anger, you may want to read 3 Ways to Get to the Root of Anger.

5. Wives desire friendship. Your wife desires a companion—someone to turn to when frustrating circumstances arise at work or when the kids are out of control. It’s important to be a man who will listen to her share her difficulties and then comfort and help see her through the trials. By the way, friendship goes both ways. Your wife also wants you to trust her with your thoughts, feelings and challenges in life.

Ladies, is there anything I have left off the list? Feel free to share any other things wives wish their husbands knew in a comment below.

Mark Merrill is the president of Family First. For the original article, visit .