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Holy Spirit Overwhelms Students at Secular Texas A&M

When God’s spirit leads people to worship and to repent, he doesn’t put those things in a box. Therefore, He isn’t limiting the recent wave of revival across America to only Christian universities.

reported Wednesday that students at Texas A&M University in College Station, which has no religious or denominational affiliation, have obeyed the Spirit’s prompting for revival like Christian schools like Asbury University, Lee University and Samford University in recent weeks.

In an article titled “Revival Happening with Texas A&M University Students: Worship, Repentance, Prayers, Healing, Baptism,” Christa reports that TAMU has joined the list of campus revivals happening in America.

Anne Graham Lotz Says This Could Be the ‘Last Great Awakening’

Author and evangelist Anne Graham Lotz raised the idea in a recent blog post that the Asbury revival could be a sign of Jesus’ return.

The daughter of the late Billy Graham, Lotz quoted the New Testament’s James 5:7:

“Therefore, be the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.”

Stephen Strang: Outpourings Leading to the Asbury Revival

One of the things I have devoted my life to is reporting on the moves of the Holy Spirit. Across history, there have been innumerable moves of God, all of which can give historical perspective to the Asbury University revival happening today.

Jim Garlow says, “history is written in phases.” I’m breaking down some of those phases of America’s revival history, to give more perspective to Asbury and the start of the Third Great Awakening in my latest “Strang Report” podcast.

First Great Awakening

The First Great Awakening started around the 1730s and is often known by the famous sermon from Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Edwards depicted a spider being hung by a thread above hell and people were crying out in repentance. {eoa}

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Fasting is a spiritual weapon that can be used to bring breakthrough in the hardest situations in life. The Bible lays out specific scenarios in which you should implement a fast.

We sat down with Pastor Tammy Hotsenpiller to talk about the key element often missing in the Christian faith today. It wasn’t until Tammy and her husband Phil were looking to buy a church building in Anaheim Hills, California that they saw first hand the power of fasting.

Right before the purchase of the building went through their lender pulled out. They called the church to a fast and it came right down to the wire when a miracle happened. Someone came through and helped them buy the building.

In Matthew 17 Jesus approached a crowd of people and there was a little boy who was epileptic and suffering horribly. The father had brought his son to the disciples but they couldn’t heal him. Jesus cast out the demon and the disciples later came to Him. In verse 21 it says, “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

“What fasting does, it puts my flesh on notice that I am going into spiritual warfare with God,” Tammy says. In her book ‘Fasting for Miracles: A 21-Day Journey to Seeing Faith Become Reality,’ Tammy takes readers step-by-step through the power and discipline of fasting and teach them how to exercise their faith to see uncounted miracles.

In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for fasting means to shut your mouth. The Greek word in the New Testament means no food. While you may want to abstain from social media, TV or another time-consuming activity, Tammy reminds Christians that fasting pertains to food.

“Everything in us is stirring to want to gratify the desire of our flesh,” she says.

What are some examples that require fasting?

In the example above their are some demonic strongholds that require fasting for breakthrough. If you are struggling with depression, hopelessness or another kind of demonic oppression try fasting for the breakthrough.

Another example is in Esther 4 when Esther is going and warring in her nation and calls for a three day fast with no food or water.

In the book of Daniel you read about him believing for his witness and testimony with the king. He didn’t eat meat, sweets, wine or carbs for 21 days.

When Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights he didn’t eat anything. Satan came and tempted Jesus but He had the breakthrough against the lies and schemes of the enemy.

“I would just say we have a personal relationship with Christ. We need to stop and ask the promptings of the Holy Spirit,” Tammy says. Your circumstance might not be listed above but ask God if you should fast for the things your are praying for. The purpose of the fast is for power and breakthrough to be released.

Your fast is your offering to God. Sometimes, your fast is your prayer to God. You are honing in on your spiritual senses as you cut out food.

If you struggle to pray while you are fasting Tammy encourages Christians to go on prayer walks. Get out of your environment and talk to God like you would a friend.

God recently told Tammy “fasting is asking in faith.”

What are the different types of fasts?

1. Daniel Fast – no vegetables, no meat, no alcohol, no carbs and no sweets.
2. Sun up to sun down – a partial fast.
3. No food at all – an absolute fast.

While you are fasting, remember that it is your offering to the Lord. Stay focused on why you are fasting in the first place.

Tune in to the rest of the interview with Tammy to hear personal testimonies to encourage you on your fasting journey.

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Shelby Bowen is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.

Back in the 1970s, I used to bowl on Friday nights. I remember one night when I wasn’t doing very well and I heard the Lord speak to my heart, “Ask Me to help you bowl.” I immediately thought, “I can’t ask You to help me bowl!” But I went ahead and prayed, “Okay, Lord, please help me bowl better.” And He did!

I remember this experience so clearly because it was a great eye-opener that made me realize God cares about every part of our lives, and He wants to be involved in everything we do.

John 10:10 (AMP) says, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].” Jesus died so we can have life—not just a barely-get-by, “I’m hanging on till Jesus comes back” existence.

God wants each of us to have a deep, intimate, personal relationship with Him so we can enjoy our everyday lives and learn how to “do life” with Him. This means we do every single thing in our daily life with and for God. And when we realize we are just as close to Him at home doing laundry or at the grocery store as we are at church or during our time in prayer, then we are serving Him in everything we do.

It’s All About Balance

The first several years I was in ministry, I didn’t enjoy it. I worked too much and was too concerned about what others thought about me. I had a tendency to be this way because growing up, it seemed that the more I worked and the more I accomplished, the happier people were with me. Over time I became a first-rate workaholic.

It took me awhile to realize that “all work and no play” is not healthy, and God wants me to have a life I could enjoy. This meant I had to learn how to balance my priorities so that my relationship with God is always first, and then everything else follows. This includes my relationships with family and friends, along with work and taking time to relax.

It’s not wrong to work hard, and I like to work. But if I don’t make time to rest and just have fun, it won’t take long for me to get out of balance and lose my joy.

Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary

So much of life can become a mundane routine that we only really enjoy it when we do something out of the ordinary, like go on vacation, go to a special event or do something exciting, like shop for a new dress. And many people have a “working for the weekend” mentality. But this type of enjoyment is based on emotional excitement, not the joy God gives.

The joy of the Lord is much greater than simply feeling happy. It brings peace and contentment to your soul, even when your circumstances are difficult and it doesn’t make any sense. Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

This kind of joy makes the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday routine enjoyable. And since most of life is Monday through Friday, we need to enjoy it!

The World Can’t Give It to You

In John 15:11 (NIV), Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition translation says “that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.” In the 10 verses leading up to this one, Jesus is talking about abiding in Him, because that’s the key to living with His joy.

Abiding means “to live, dwell and remain in”; it’s not just visiting once a week at church. It’s having a personal relationship with Christ, being one with Him and doing life together. The truth is apart from Jesus, we can do nothing of real value, but with Him, we can bear much good fruit (John 15:5).

God wants to abide with you every day, all throughout the day. He doesn’t just want you to seek Him when you go to church or when you’re desperate. His desire is to have a personal relationship with you, so you can experience His presence in everything you do. That’s when your everyday life is truly enjoyable!

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Joyce Meyer is a New York Times bestselling author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries, Inc. She has authored more than 140 books, including “Battlefield Of The Mind” and “Loving People Who Are Hard To Love” (FaithWords). She hosts the Enjoying Everyday Life radio and TV programs, which air on hundreds of stations worldwide. For more information, visit .

Please note: The views and opinions expressed throughout this publication and/or website are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Joyce Meyer Ministries.

This article originally appeared on Curt Landry Ministries.

*Note this is the first in a two-part series.

The Word says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The power of humility quickens you in the spirit so that you can discern wisely and walk with authority.

Humility grounds you in and centers you on God. It helps you remember that…

· It’s not your wisdom

· It’s not your knowledge

· It’s not your intelligence

These are all given to you as a gift from God. Honor is the currency of heaven. Honor comes with humility, and you can’t have what you don’t honor. Therefore walk humbly, repent of any pride and begin to see prayers answered.

Today we’re going to talk about praying in the heavenly courts and the power of humility in spiritual warfare. It’s important to have a value system of humility when you go into the heavenly courts to pray because the Lord resists the proud, and He gives grace to the humble.

I’m going to pray with you through some things and I want you to be acutely aware of the inner knower, the Holy Spirit, quickening to you about the places you might have pride and need discernment.

I just want you to be aware. Listen, we all have areas of pride, where we lack humility, where we think we’re over something, and then we’ll have an event happen, and it will awaken. I’m going to give you an example.

Needing the Power of Humility in Spiritual Warfare

Christie and I had only done a little traveling during the whole two years with COVID. We’re going out to the Los Angeles area to connect with some Curt Landry Ministries (CLM) partners and donors.

So on this particular trip, we went to Los Angeles first, where I grew up. So we flew into LAX, and I grew up in the neighborhood right near the airport. It was a very familiar area to me. And, like anytime you are at an airport, there are always a number of people you have to interact with: rental car people, people driving the bus and all the staff at the airport.

As we started talking with people, we realized how emotionally wounded and stressed they were. Christie and I are Oklahomans; we just talk to people. So we’re talking, and people are very open. And what was so shocking to me was how emotionally wounded and stressed out the general public was everywhere we went on this trip.

This opened up my mind. It humbled me that, first of all, the Lord has kept us where we live in Oklahoma. Secondly, it humbled me to think what we’re carrying is what they need.

Yeshua is the answer, but we also carry something they need, an understanding of spiritual warfare. We can’t think, “Well, they’ll get it from somebody else,” which is a prideful thing to say. It’s like, no, the Lord says, “I’m putting a demand on you and what you carry. I want you to give it to these people.”

So a lot of times, pride is not as obvious as “Oh, I’m prideful because I’m successful, or I got this grade on this test, or I was accepted into this club or a sorority,” or whatever. It’s not. Sometimes it’s prideful thinking, “You know what? What I have somehow it’s mine, my intelligence, my wisdom, my knowledge.”

To battle pride in spiritual warfare, you must understand…

• It’s not your wisdom.
• It’s not your knowledge.
• It’s not your intelligence.

These are gifts from God. And when it’s a gift from God, this is where humility comes in. If the Lord tells you to give it to the guy at Avis rent-a-car and minister to him and spend time, even though your calendar is full, you do it.

In your mind, you are thinking, “I’m just wanting to get to the hotel, unpack and take a nap before the meeting.” Know that God is at work, and humility is to say, “Yes, Lord, Your will be done, not mine.”

So sometimes, we have to pray and say, “Lord, show me where the pride is.” {eoa}

Click here to view Rabbi Landry’s book on spiritual warfare!

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Curt Landry, founder of Curt Landry Ministries, and his wife, Christie, travel extensively, preaching and teaching about the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. Together, their passion is to empower families to live and leave Kingdom legacies and understand their own personal heritage.

To put it plainly: America needs to see “Jesus Revolution.”

This telling of the counterculture movement that saw the revival fires of the West Coast spread across the world could not come at a better time.

With an America that is enduring dark times and division amongst her people, the stage is set for another national awakening just as it was in the late Sixties when the Jesus Movement began.

Charisma News sat down with producer Andy Erwin, who along with his brother Jon are the creative minds behind such movies as “I Can Only Imagine” and “Woodlawn,” to discuss their new upcoming film “Jesus Revolution.”

“I think that this film represents an inner yearning for so many people,” said Erwin. “It represents a desire of God to do it never before. For people outside the church, especially for a younger generation, it represents the answer to the equation for something I think they’ve been desperately looking for.”

As each new generation comes of age, the same questions persist in their minds, they just manifest them differently. They search for that something missing in their lives, especially when society is experiencing a spiritual darkness similar to the 1960s.

People today are struggling to find their identity and purpose in life, while the world tries to guide them to false narratives and warped versions of who they are in Christ. The Erwin brothers felt an urgency to share the story of the Jesus Movement that helped shape a generation of spiritual leaders who found their identity despite that era’s darkness.

“People were just burnt out on the free love and sex, drugs and rock and roll kind of movement, looking for the right things in the wrong places,” Erwin continued. “They were looking for truth and love and to belong and identity, but they were looking for it in this thing that was a bottomless pit. And when the bottom fell out, they had an encounter with a living God.

“It was a moment in time where Christianity was very overt, and it was very countercultural. And those things shouldn’t go together, and they did.”

The movement worked, and is still working, because when it put God and His love in the center of it, the fruit of the Spirit was able to manifest in people’s lives.

The unwanted of society now had hope, identity, purpose and a sense of belonging that the world simply cannot offer. This pure sense of knowing one’s Creator can only come from a relationship with God.

Releasing in theaters nationwide on Feb. 24, “Jesus Revolution” has an all-star cast including Kelsey Grammer (“Frasier” and “Cheers”) and Jonathan Roumie (“The Chosen”) that brings the power of Jesus’ love to the big-screen.

Following the revival outbreak at Asbury University, this film could not come out at a better time for America. {eoa}

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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.

If Charles Harrison Mason were alive today, Church of God in Christ Presiding Bishop John Drew Sheard says he would have only one thing to say: “I told you so.”

The founder and first senior bishop of the Church of God in Christ, Sheard says Mason prophesied in the early 1900s that COGIC would grow exponentially and that there were be “no building large enough to hold the people that would come.”

Mason was spot on. From “humble beginnings,” the Church of God in Christ has blossomed today into what is the largest Holiness Pentecostal church denomination in the world with more than 12,000 churches in 112 countries.

In an exclusive interview with Charisma News, Sheard says he’s extremely encouraged by what God is doing with the predominantly African American denomination these days as it not only continues to grow in membership, but also continues to expand its horizons in ministries he says God has richly blessed because they are “helping individuals in their communities live better lives.”

As the nation continues to celebrate Black History Month this February, the denomination’s kingdom work is especially valuable these days when the culture is giving everyone a reason to run away from God. People are clamoring for something—anything—to cling to that will help them live more satisfying lives, and Sheard says COGIC is continuing to develop ministries to do just that.

“Our churches and our kingdom warriors are involved in so many levels with things like economic development. It is a blessing to have the opportunity to affect people’s lives,” says Sheard, who is also the Chief Apostle of COGIC. “When a person has good living conditions, their mindset is going to be different. It eliminates a level of stress and you are able to live more comfortably.

“When Jesus speaks to us about saving souls, it is also about making their living conditions better. Because of what God has given us, the Church of God in Christ has been able to change people’s lives, and that’s what’s gratifying. But it’s not us, it’s all about God. We can’t help everyone, but we’re sure trying.”

Sheard says in the city of Memphis the Church of God in Christ has funded and helped to build 20 units of affordable housing in the inner city. With rent prices across the nation continuing to spin out of control, COGIC officials want to make sure many individuals and families are able to afford a decent place to live.

COGIC Director of Economic Development Darrin Burns told Action News that “a downtown is for everyone. And so, we want to make downtown affordable for anyone who lives here, regardless of your economic status. Our target is to make it (rent) under the threshold of what it is right now because again, our motto is ‘affordable housing for downtown.”

In 2017, COGIC joined forces with Memphis city leaders to create an affordable housing community called Mason Village, which located next to the COGIC headquarters. Sheard says they are looking to break ground on another site very soon.

COGIC Charities continues to help with worldwide relief efforts, including its campaign to help with physical needs in Syria and Turkey, who were recently hit by a devastating earthquake. More than 47,000 people have died from that natural disaster. COGIC Charities is providing humanitarian aid to individuals in those countries.

But that’s not all, Sheard says. COGIC wants to do ministry that will “affect coming generations.” COGIC has begun a partnership with Waste Management for a comprehensive employment program not only to get individuals into the work force, but to give those individuals a sense of purpose and identity within their community.

“It gives these people an opportunity to not only be a blessing to themselves, but to be a blessing to their spouse, their children and their community around them,” Sheard says. “In the agreement, Waste Management will pay for their school and will pay for their children to go to college. So, that’s how we’re affection generations.”

And speaking of generations, Sheard says he knows how difficult today’s youth have it to walk the straight and narrow path. The American culture has continued to grow cold against Jesus, and indeed millennials and members of Gen Z are falling away from the church.

It is the church’s responsibility, Sheard says, to provide meaningful ministry and to find out exactly what “our young people are in need of, ministry that will meet the needs of the people.”

“We have to come up with ministry that can pull the kids back into the church and back to Jesus,” Sheard says. “We have not changed our methods, and our methods must meet the needs of the kids today. We have to find effective new ministries and be open to what they need. That doesn’t mean that we will compromise, because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.

“We’ve got to find out what exactly is keeping our young people from church, and then we need to make those changes. I believe we’re doing that. I know that I am here at my local church. I listen to what they are saying, and we have to deliver ministry that’s attractive to them.”

Which is exactly, Sheard says, what Mason and the forerunners of the COGIC denomination—people like Arenia C. Mallory, and J.O. Patterson—did from the beginning.

And that, Sheard says, gives COGIC a lot to celebrate during Black History Month.

“We are so appreciative of how God has used Black Americans to move the kingdom forward,” Sheard says. “We have so much to appreciate as far as Black History goes. But we also need to continue to move forward and build not only ministries that will contribute to making mankind better, but also to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“We hope that God continues to smile down upon us and give us direction to do His will every day. Then, generations to come will be able to continue to celebrate Black History month and point to those individuals who have pushed forward with the gospel and with God’s work.” {eoa}

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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.

One of the things I have devoted my life to is reporting on the moves of the Holy Spirit. Across history, there have been innumerable moves of God, all of which can give historical perspective to the Asbury University revival happening today.

Jim Garlow says, “history is written in phases.” I’m breaking down some of those phases of America’s revival history, to give more perspective to Asbury and the start of the Third Great Awakening in my latest “Strang Report” podcast.

First Great Awakening

The First Great Awakening started around the 1730s and is often known by the famous sermon from Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Edwards depicted a spider being hung by a thread above hell and people were crying out in repentance.

Edwards later wrote how there needed to be a move of God because of the carnal ministers during the time period. He described ministers with hard hearts and fleshly appetites. I covered this in 1975 in an article that was published in the first issue of Charisma magazine.

During the “Bicentennial Era” (1971-1976), Americans gathered together to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. In the 1976 issue of the magazine, I speculated that it was the Great Awakening that set the stage for the independence of the colonies from England.

At the time of the Great Awakening, the colonies were not connected to one another and it was a struggle to even survive. This caused the new Americans to start believing in something greater and more important than the crown in England. It was their faith and fervor to serve God that opened the door to revival.

Second Great Awakening

Later came the Second Great Awakening which started in 1795 to 1835 in Northern Kentucky just one hour north of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. Known as the Protestant religious revival on the frontier, people would go out into the woods to worship and preach. People came from all over the country. Reports of manifestations, people falling on the ground shaking came from that move of the Holy Spirit.

Holiness Movement

After the Civil War in 1861 came the Holiness Movement with a series of Methodist revivals. There was a deep fervor to not partake in the things of the world like dancing, gambling, drinking and smoking. Out of the Holiness Movement came a deep cry for God to send a revival and baptize people in the Holy Spirit.

Topeka, Kansas and the Azusa Street Revival

In 1900, the Topeka Kansas Outpouring set the stage for what later became the Azusa Street Revival. What started with Charles Parham and a group of students willing to sell everything to study the Bible and go to the ends of the earth led to an incredible encounter. Parham and the students read Acts 2 and went on a mission to find biblical proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and found it was always accompanied by speaking in other tongues.

During a prayer meeting one of the students, Agnes N. Ozman asked Parham to lay hands on her so she could be baptized in the Holy Spirit to become a missionary in a foreign land. A halo was described forming around her face and she started speaking in Chinese.

That little prayer meeting led to the Azusa Street Revival 10 years later. Led by William J. Seymour, a home group meeting on Bonnie Brae street became so packed people were hanging out the windows and a porch collapsed. Someone gave a prophetic word that God was going to take what happened in that house around the world.

The meeting moved to a larger location and people came from around the world. The revival got notoriety when a Los Angeles newspaper reporter showed up to cover the event thinking it was full of hysteria. A man stood up and said God was going to judge San Francisco and days later there was a large earthquake. People came from all over the railroad and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Tent Revivals

After World War II, tent meetings were led by Oral Roberts in the beginning days of the charismatic movement. In the 1950’s ordinary businessmen would come to the meetings and be touched by God. They would stand up and share their testimonies to the crowds. People were hungry and wanted to be touched by God.

Catholic Charismatic Renewal

In 1967 a group of Catholic students were praying and it later became known as the Catholic charismatic renewal. A history professor, William Storey, and a graduate student Ralph Kiefer were baptized in the Holy Spirit which led to a great outpouring. I was in college at the time and remember it being a renewal of the gifts of the Spirit.

Jesus Movement

Next came the Jesus Movement in 1970. A movie is coming out in a few days depicting what happened called the “Jesus Revolution.” This movement greatly impacted my life and close friends of mine like Dr. Michael Brown. Before this revival, I had experienced a lot of legalism and was repelled by it. I found a group of people who had a lot of excitement in their life and I became involved with the young people in the Jesus Movement.

Christians were skeptical at first of the hippies with long hair and funky clothes that had come off of drugs and given their lives to Jesus. Many of those hippies are now leaders in the church today.

The revival in Brownsville in 1995 in Pensacola, Florida started on Father’s Day and people started flooding the altars. The revival went on night after night led by Evangelist Steve Hill.

There are many kinds of different revivals. There are mass movements that go on for hundreds of years or sometimes a week or two.

What is unique about the Asbury University revival is that it started as a chapel service and then it never stopped. There is no big evangelist or speaker, just hungry hearts and the presence of God. As you read through all of this revival history I pray it is stirring in you a hunger for more of God in your life. It has for me.

My new book “Spirit-Led Living in an Upside Down World” is available for pre-order and it’s a book I had to dig deep for. It goes into greater depth on revival history and living by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Bill Wiese, the author of the New York Times best-selling book “23 Minutes in Hell,” has a staunch warning for universalists who believe everyone will go to heaven.

“These people fail to realize that God is a God of justice and judgment,” Wiese says. “They say God is love, and that He would never allow such suffering, for people to go to hell. Believe everyone gets a free pass. The Universalist tries to support their beliefs with Scripture, but I’m here to tell you that the Universalist teaching is false and heretical.”

Wiese refers to British evangelist John Blanchard’s book, “Hell on Trial,” to explain the origin of universalism.

“It’s when Satan brushed aside God’s warning and said to Eve, ‘You will surely not die,'” Wiese says. “But Jesus said in John 11:25-26, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.'”

Jesus said in Luke 13:3: “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Wiese says many universalists use five specific scriptures to support their beliefs and teaching. But, he says, they don’t incorporate the verses around those scriptures to get the full meaning of what is being said. “You can’t just pick out the one verse. You have to read all around it.”

Those scriptures, which Wiese explains thoroughly in this video, include: 1 Timothy 4:10; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:20; and Romans 5:18.

Those looking for further proof, Wiese says, should seek no further than Acts 4:12, which reads:

“There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Also, Matthew 7:13-14, which reads, “Enter at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who are going through it, because small is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

“These Scriptures are pretty clear,” Wiese says.

Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.

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This article originally appeared on Curt Landry Ministries.

*Note this is the first in a two-part series.

The Word says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The power of humility quickens you in the spirit so that you can discern wisely and walk with authority.

Humility grounds you in and centers you on God. It helps you remember that…

· It’s not your wisdom

· It’s not your knowledge

· It’s not your intelligence

These are all given to you as a gift from God. Honor is the currency of heaven. Honor comes with humility, and you can’t have what you don’t honor. Therefore walk humbly, repent of any pride and begin to see prayers answered.

Today we’re going to talk about praying in the heavenly courts and the power of humility in spiritual warfare. It’s important to have a value system of humility when you go into the heavenly courts to pray because the Lord resists the proud, and He gives grace to the humble.

I’m going to pray with you through some things and I want you to be acutely aware of the inner knower, the Holy Spirit, quickening to you about the places you might have pride and need discernment.

I just want you to be aware. Listen, we all have areas of pride, where we lack humility, where we think we’re over something, and then we’ll have an event happen, and it will awaken. I’m going to give you an example.

Needing the Power of Humility in Spiritual Warfare

Christie and I had only done a little traveling during the whole two years with COVID. We’re going out to the Los Angeles area to connect with some Curt Landry Ministries (CLM) partners and donors.

So on this particular trip, we went to Los Angeles first, where I grew up. So we flew into LAX, and I grew up in the neighborhood right near the airport. It was a very familiar area to me. And, like anytime you are at an airport, there are always a number of people you have to interact with: rental car people, people driving the bus and all the staff at the airport.

As we started talking with people, we realized how emotionally wounded and stressed they were. Christie and I are Oklahomans; we just talk to people. So we’re talking, and people are very open. And what was so shocking to me was how emotionally wounded and stressed out the general public was everywhere we went on this trip.

This opened up my mind. It humbled me that, first of all, the Lord has kept us where we live in Oklahoma. Secondly, it humbled me to think what we’re carrying is what they need.

Yeshua is the answer, but we also carry something they need, an understanding of spiritual warfare. We can’t think, “Well, they’ll get it from somebody else,” which is a prideful thing to say. It’s like, no, the Lord says, “I’m putting a demand on you and what you carry. I want you to give it to these people.”

So a lot of times, pride is not as obvious as “Oh, I’m prideful because I’m successful, or I got this grade on this test, or I was accepted into this club or a sorority,” or whatever. It’s not. Sometimes it’s prideful thinking, “You know what? What I have somehow it’s mine, my intelligence, my wisdom, my knowledge.”

To battle pride in spiritual warfare, you must understand…

• It’s not your wisdom.
• It’s not your knowledge.
• It’s not your intelligence.

These are gifts from God. And when it’s a gift from God, this is where humility comes in. If the Lord tells you to give it to the guy at Avis rent-a-car and minister to him and spend time, even though your calendar is full, you do it.

In your mind, you are thinking, “I’m just wanting to get to the hotel, unpack and take a nap before the meeting.” Know that God is at work, and humility is to say, “Yes, Lord, Your will be done, not mine.”

So sometimes, we have to pray and say, “Lord, show me where the pride is.” {eoa}

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Curt Landry, founder of Curt Landry Ministries, and his wife, Christie, travel extensively, preaching and teaching about the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. Together, their passion is to empower families to live and leave Kingdom legacies and understand their own personal heritage.

February 24 marks one year since the Russian army invaded Ukraine along multiple fronts.

While the fog of war makes it difficult to know exact numbers, it is estimated that more than 30,000 Ukrainian civilians—mostly women, children and the elderly—have been killed, mostly due to Russia’s bombing campaign that continues to rain terror across the entire nation. (The real number is likely much higher.) On the battlefield, as many as 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded, and as many as 120,000 Ukrainian fighters. Only God knows the true numbers.

Such statistics, however, cannot begin to calculate the grim toll the war has taken. More than 18 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the first bombs dropped last winter (while 10 million have since returned). The war has shuffled national alliances, shaken stock markets, starved Europe of oil and gas and exacerbated food shortages in poverty-stricken parts of Africa. Within Ukraine, more than 1,000 schools have been destroyed while more than 40% of the nation’s power grid has been damaged.

This week the war in Ukraine has once again risen to the top of the news cycle—with President Biden’s visit to Kyiv, Putin’s defiant speech to the Russian people, and the one-year mark of Russia’s invasion. As such, the war is on the minds of many Christians. And so it begs the question: What would God have us do about a war taking place halfway around the world?

To help answer that question I turned to Valentyn Korenevych, professor at Irpin Seminary (just outside Kyiv), pastor at Way of Truth Church and president of Olive Branch Ukraine, one of the nation’s largest war chaplain ministries. Korenevych is not only on the ground as events unfold in Ukraine, but he’s arguably one of the few Christians who has served as an officer in both the Soviet Army (1981-1991), and then after the fall of the USSR, the Ukrainian military (during which time he and his wife, Marina, became Christians).

Korenevych sees a stark difference between what he describes as a unified spirit present throughout Ukraine compared to what is happening in Russia. His 10 years as a logistics officer in the Soviet Army gives him rare insight into the structure and mindset of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.

“The Soviet Army and the Russian Army are the same. It is the same spirit today that drove communism 30 years ago,” he says. “There are thousands of officers in the Russian Army today who are just like I used to be. It is not a godly structure.”

As a leader of scores of war chaplains serving Ukraine’s fighting men and women, Korenevych has seen Jesus show up in the frontline trenches. “Many soldiers will ask a chaplain to just sit with them during their night watch,” the colonel adds. “Everywhere we go along the frontlines of Ukraine the men and women soldiers say that there is this unique, unifying spirit that they can’t explain. We can then say that what they are sensing are the prayers of believers in Ukraine and around the world.”

“I think God wants to achieve several goals through this war,” he adds. “The first is to motivate His people to pray and to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. We live in a time when the antichrist will come from one side, and God is preparing us for this. But from the other side, God prepares something opposite. God’s other goal in this war is destroy the antichrist spirit in Moscow and even in Ukraine, where many people still have a Soviet world mentality,” he says.

While Korenevych is quick to point out that God loves the Russian people, he encourages Americans to be aware of the oppressive spirit animating many in the Kremlin. He adds that we must pray to “destroy satanic narratives in people’s minds.”

As we reach the one-year mark of the largest and most devastating land war in 80 years, let us pray that the peace of Jerusalem would descend upon Ukraine. Korenevych adds, “That is my prayer during these difficult days of war, and for whatever comes after.”

Kyle Duncan is former vice president of Content and Acquisitions at Charisma House. He writes full-time from his home in San Diego, and his book Hope for Ukraine released last September (BPG/Chosen). Kyle and his wife, Suzanne, have an adopted son, Jhenya, from Mariupol, Ukraine, and three biological daughters.