We seek to have a biblical balance on the issues concerning apostolic and prophetic gifts today. One of the keys to find such a balance is the phrase, “we prophesy in part.”

First Corinthians 13:8 says, “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.”

Love is the greatest commandment. As we continue to love, our love grows more mature. In that experience of maturity, we have more patience and humility. The more we know, the more we realize how much we don’t know. We give place to the fact that others will know and see things that we do not. This attitude preserves unity and prevents divisiveness.

The phrase, “we prophesy in part” can be looked at in two ways. For those who do not believe in the continuing gift of prophecy at all, or who say that prophecy must be perfect or else it is totally false, we can see that New Covenant prophecy involves a level of interpretation and understanding that is only partial in nature. We “see as through a glass, dimly” (1 Cor. 13:12).

Yet we do indeed prophesy. Anyone who is born again and filled with the Holy Spirit can potentially share prophetic revelation (1 Cor. 14:5, 6, 24, 31, 32, 39). Just because prophecy is only partial does not mean that it is not true prophecy. This is why we are instructed to “examine” prophecies and “hold onto what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). If everything prophetic was perfect and complete, there would be no need to “hold on” to what is good and reject what is not.

In the New Covenant, after a person repents and believes in Yeshua, his spirit can be born again. The Spirit of God can bear witness with the human spirit (Rom. 8:16) through the human conscience (Rom. 9:1). Through the human spirit and conscience, thoughts come to the human mind whose origins are from God (Rom. 8:6, Is. 55:8-9).

That is the experience of normative New Covenant prophecy: God’s thoughts through God’s Spirit to our spirit through our conscience, bringing God’s thoughts into our thoughts. When we convey those “God thoughts” to others, it is considered prophecy or divine wisdom.

On the other hand, those of us who believe in prophecy often need to “tone down” our language. We should not speak in absolute terms, because, after all, we only prophesy in part and we only know in part. New Covenant prophecy is not so much a direct and external command from God, but an internal understanding of the will of God through words and pictures, inspired by God in our hearts.

Therefore we should speak with more humble language, posture, tone of voice, volume and “body language.” Is the way we prophesy indicating the fact that we know that the very prophecy we are giving is by definition only partial?

Here is the balance: “Non-charismatics” need to recognize that New Covenant believers can indeed prophesy, and that the Scriptures nowhere teach that this gift would cease before Yeshua’s return. We “charismatics” need to recognize that what we are prophesying is only partial. And finally, to all of us in any kind of theological argument: whatever it is that we do know, we only know it partially. Let’s give some room for humbling ourselves and learning from others. {eoa}

Asher Intrater is the founder and apostolic leader of Revive Israel Ministries and oversees Ahavat Yeshua congregation in Jerusalem and Tiferet Yeshua congregation in Tel Aviv. Asher was one of the founders of Tikkun International with Dan Juster and Eitan Shishkoff and serves on the board of the Messianic Alliance of Israel and Aglow International. He and his wife and full-time partner in ministry, Betty, have a passion for personal prayer and devotion, local evangelism and discipleship in Hebrew and unity of the body of believers worldwide.

This article originally appeared at .

In this video, Dr. Michael Brown has an interesting conversation with one of his callers. The caller identifies as a conservative evangelical Christian but also as a transgender female, explaining, “I’m trying to see a common ground between the two communities.” Watch to find out how Dr. Brown responds.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood up for Christians in Iran, blasting the Islamic regime for hypocrisy after one its leaders tweeted out a Christmas greeting even as the government raids Christian meetings and imprisons their leaders.

Iran’s Foreign Minister sent out a tweet a few days before Christmas, including the message:

“A very happy and peaceful Christmas to all. May Christ’s universal message of peace be embraced in the coming year.”

Netanhayu took exception to the Christmas greeting from a representative of one of the world’s harshest persecutors of Christians.

“I wonder what the Christians jailed this month in Iran would think about that tweet,” he said in a taped message posted on his Facebook and Twitter pages.

CBN News has reported on the harsh treatment of Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran. House churches are illegal and are often raided by security officials who arrest the congregants and jail the leaders. Bibles, literature and even office equipment are confiscated by the government.

“Imagine praying quietly in your home, surrounded by your family—and all of the sudden, armed thugs burst in and drag you away to prison. They torture you merely for practicing your Christian faith. Welcome to Iran. Saying ‘Merry Christmas’ while jailing Christians in your own country is the height of hypocrisy,” said Netanyahu.

Despite the persecution, the church in Iran is one of the fastest growing churches in the world, as tens of thousands of Muslims are abandoning Islam to follow Jesus Christ.

Young people in Iran are especially disenchanted with the harsh Islamic regime and Netanyahu reached out to them in his message, saying: “I wonder what Iranian youth would think about that tweet, but sadly the regime bans Twitter. Except, of course, if you’re a high ranking official.”

It’s not the first time Netanyahu has drawn attention to the plight of Christians in Iran. Addressing hundreds of Christian journalists in October, he encouraged them to highlight the suffering of the church in the Islamic nation.

“Profile the brave Christian leaders jailed for practicing their faith. Sit with the families, the school teachers jailed for years merely for converting to Christianity… Call out the lies of President (Hassan) Rouhani, who promised in 2013 that all religions would ‘feel justice’ in Iran while so many Christians live there in constant terror,” he said.

“Some world leaders are willing to ignore this repression and seek to appease Iran, but I am not one of them,” Netanyahu continued. “I think that how a country treats religious minorities is a very good indicator of how it will treat its fellow citizens and its neighbors.”

In this most recent message, Netanyahu takes a familial tone with Christians in Iran.

“We stand with you, brothers and sisters. The world stands with you.” {eoa}

Copyright The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., All rights reserved.

A four-story digital billboard in Jerusalem at the Friends of Zion Heritage Center says it all: “Thank You President Trump, you’re making Israel Greater.”

No president in history has ever built such an alliance for the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and no president has courageously stood up for the State of Israel on the global stage as President Trump.

Earlier this month, Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. He also announced plans to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. His action actions prompted the Friends of Zion to construct the giant billboard and wish President Trump a Happy New Year!

The Friends of Zion believe that, for over 700 million evangelical bible believers globally, Trump is an answer to a prayer.

In the Oval Office in December, Trump received the Friends of Zion Award from Friends of Zion Museum founder Dr. Mike Evans. It was an event attended by Vice President Mike Pence, Senior Advisors Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and faith leaders representing over 150 million Christians globally.

When Pence travels to Israel in the near future, he will be greeted with a “royal welcome,” with over 110 billboards, buses, and even camels.

Evans has been mobilizing his 31 million social media followers to influence world leaders to stand with Israel and the Jewish people in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The objective is to prompt many other states to join Guatemalan Evangelical President Jimmy Morales and President Trump to move their country’s embassy to Jerusalem too.

Every world leader that says “yes” to this request will receive the Friend of Zion Award, Evans said.

President Trump’s historic declaration regarding Jerusalem takes its place as one of Israel’s historic milestones, from the Balfour Declaration to President Truman’s acceptance of Israel into the family of nations. These heroes presented in the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem tell the stories of characters throughout history that have stood by the Jewish people and helped establish the State of Israel.

These non-Jewish Zionists are engraved in history and millions of people worldwide have learned of their heroismk thanks to the groundbreaking work of Dr. Evans and the Friends of Zion Museum. {eoa}

Last year, the #MeToo campaign and horrific stories made it all too clear that sexual abuse runs rampant in our world. Unfortunately, it’s a sin that leaves traumatic consequences for the victims. Joyce Meyer was one such victim after being sexually abused by her father. But she explains how the Holy Spirit restored her and healed her from that abuse in this video.

Nehemiah 8:10 says, “Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Bible teacher Jackie Hill-Perry takes that message seriously. In this video, she explains five reasons why Christians should laugh more.

When spiritual giants fall, it’s easy for young or new Christians to lose faith in the church. That’s why Mike Bickle says it’s important not to view these leaders as giants in the first place. Instead, Bickle urges Christians to place their hope in the only One who will never disappoint. Watch his advice here.

The history of biblical epics is littered with the remnants of failed secular adaptations. From Noah to Exodus: Gods and Kings, Hollywood has a track record of twisting Scriptures to match its own agenda. Samson, debuting in February 2018, looks to buck that trend. Hear the heart behind the movie in this special behind-the-scenes clip.

Many were anticipating that Donald Trump would be just like every other president once he got into office, but Trump has proved the skeptics wrong. Normally, professional politicians make all sorts of wild promises while they are running for office, but once they win they actually deliver on very few of them.

We have seen this happen over and over and over again, and a lot of people fully expected Donald Trump to follow the same pattern. Fortunately for the American people, Donald Trump is trying very hard to be a man of his word, and we should greatly applaud him for that.

Not since the Reagan administration have we seen a president do so many positive things in a single year. The Washington Examiner has compiled a list of 81 major accomplishments during Trump’s first year that you can find right here, and WND has compiled an even larger list of 170 major accomplishments right here.

Of course, there is so much work that still needs to be done, and that is one of the reasons why I am running as the pro-Trump candidate for Congress in Idaho’s first congressional district. Once I win my race, I intend to be President Trump’s best friend in Congress, and I will work tirelessly to implement the Make America Great Again agenda.

The mainstream media would have us believe that Donald Trump is a deeply unpopular president, but that is not the case at all. In fact, Donald Trump’s current approval rating of 46 percent is exactly equal to Barack Obama’s approval rating at the end of his first year in office …

Much has been made about President Donald Trump’s relatively low approval ratings, but Trump has ended his first year in office on par with his predecessor Barack Obama.

A Rasmussen poll released on Thursday put Trump at a 46 percent approval rating and a 53 percent disapproval rating.

On the same date at the end of Obama’s first year in office—December 28, 2009—Obama was sitting at a 47 percent approval rate and a 52 percent disapproval rate. Just one day later, on December 29, Obama’s approval rating dropped to 46 percent.

The difference is that Donald Trump’s approval rating is actually rising, while Obama’s was steadily falling all throughout 2009.

As Donald Trump continues to keep his promises, we should expect that his approval rating will continue to rise.

Let me give you just one example. During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to “bomb the hell out of ISIS”, and that is precisely what he did. As a result, this was the worst year ever for ISIS, and at this point the terror organization has lost 98 percent of the territory that it captured while Barack Obama was in the White House…

ISIS has lost 98 percent of the territory it once held—with half of that terror group’s so-called “caliphate” having been recaptured since President Trump took office less than a year ago, U.S. military officials said Tuesday.

The massive gains come after years of “onerous” rules, when critics say the Obama administration “micromanaged” the war and shunned a more intensive air strategy that could have ended the conflict much sooner.

This is just one area where President Trump is getting things done. If we wanted to talk about all of them, we would literally be here all day.

But the big question is whether Trump will be able to keep this momentum going. The 2018 mid-term elections are rapidly coming up, and the Democrats are hoping to take back control of either the House or the Senate. If they are able to get control of either one, Trump’s agenda will be stopped dead in Congress.

On the other hand, pro-Trump forces are beginning to take control of the Republican Party from coast to coast, and if we are able to sweep dozens of pro-Trump candidates to victory all over the nation next year we could have the opportunity to fundamentally alter the character of the federal government for the next several decades.

It starts with the Republican primaries which will be held around the country in just a few months. If pro-Trump candidates don’t win those primaries, we won’t even have anyone decent to vote for by the time November 2018 rolls around.

So please support pro-Trump candidates wherever they are running. Personally, there is no incumbent in my race, and so it is completely wide open. This is a golden opportunity for pro-Trump forces to pick up a seat in Congress, but I can’t do it alone. We very much need more support and more volunteers, because there are five other candidates running and it is going to be a very tough battle.

It has been a great year for the Trump movement, and let us all congratulate President Trump for overcoming so many obstacles and having such a great first year.

But this is just the beginning of the battle, and I believe that the upcoming mid-term elections in 2018 are going to be the most important in modern American history.

For the original article, visit .

Unless otherwise specified, the opinions expressed are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Charisma Media.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book titled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on . {eoa}

How often do you connect dream interpretation with worship? Many of us don’t put those two things together very often, yet Scripture reveals their intriguing connection.

In Judges 6 and 7, Gideon is dealing with fear and insecurity. He isn’t sure if he can accomplish what God has asked him to do. God gives him sign after sign to reassure him, but Gideon is still uncertain.

Finally God tells him to go down to the enemy’s camp. When Gideon gets there, he overhears a Midianite soldier talking about his dream. The person listening knows the meaning of the dream—that God will use Gideon to destroy the camp of Midian.

Worship explodes in Gideon’s heart, and he returns to his own army and initiates an insane strategy for battle that actually works. God is with him, and He uses a dream to confirm it.

Judges 7:15 says, “When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped…”

Nebuchadnezzar’s Story

Another biblical dream interpretation also leads to worship. Nebuchadnezzar is the Babylonian king who conquered Judah and took Daniel and many others captive. One night the king has a dream that reveals the impending judgment coming on his life.

Daniel interprets the dream, and after the dream comes to pass, Nebuchadnezzar issues a proclamation to his whole empire (which was most of the known world at the time): “I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs, and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation” (Daniel 4:2-3).

The interpretation of his dream facilitates a spiritual shift in the king’s life, and he worships the one true God. That is the potential of dream interpretation—to inspire the dreamer and the people around them to worship.

When We Realize God Is Speaking

A few years ago, while teaching a seminar on dream interpretation, I interpreted a dream for a young man in the audience. As I gave the interpretation, the Spirit of God hit him powerfully. He was thrown to the ground, along with a couple of people around him, and the presence of God became so thick I couldn’t continue teaching. We all sat in silence (or tears) and worshiped. I found out later the dream came to pass; this young man started pastoring a church and seeing fruit for the kingdom of God.

Another time, I interpreted a dream and shared prophetic words with a young woman at a pagan festival, and through that encounter she invited Jesus into her life. Over the next year, she continued to be discipled and joined a church, fully committing her life to God. She is following Him still.

A dream interpretation can lead to worship! When people realize the God of the universe has spoken to them and is leading them, something happens in their hearts. They stop seeing God as the One who is against them and realize He is actually inviting them into a relationship with Him. They recognize He is moving in their lives and cares for them. They see His power to bring about His plans, and faith begins to rise inside them. Their hearts open toward Him, and in many cases, they begin to pursue the very One who has been chasing them down.

What Is Your Story?

How has dream interpretation affected your life? Have you ever told anyone?

Your story could release worship in other people’s hearts. If nothing else, it will start a great conversation about the God who speaks and is calling those who receive Him to become His children (John 1:12).

John E. Thomas is the president of Streams Ministries and the co-author of The Art of Praying the Scriptures: A Fresh Look at Lectio Divina with John Paul Jackson. Teaching on prophetic ministry, dream interpretation and the Kingdom of God, he travels internationally and works to help restore the awe of God to a world that has lost its wonder. John and his wife, Dawna, live outside of Dallas, Texas.

To learn more about dreams and dream interpretation, check out Dream Foundations as well as other resources from John E. Thomas and John Paul Jackson at .