Joni Eareckson Tada, an internationally known advocate for people with disabilities, has received a cancer diagnosis for the second time.

The founder and CEO of Joni and Friends in Agoura Hills, California, Tada, 69, is also an award-winning artist, speaker and author of more than 50 books.

A seasoned warrior when it comes to dealing with serious health issues, Tada has endured 51 years of quadriplegia, chronic pain and a previous battle against stage 3 breast cancer eight years ago. In 2010, Tada underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy treatment; after five years, she was declared cancer-free.

With her husband, Ken, at her side, Tada underwent tests last week on a small nodule which had developed over the site of her mastectomy. After biopsies, doctors discovered a small cancerous tumor within the nodule.

“When I received the unexpected news of cancer from my oncological surgeon, I relaxed and smiled, knowing that my sovereign God loves me dearly and holds me tightly in His hands. What good is it if we only trust the Lord when we understand His ways? That only guarantees a life filled with doubts,” said Tada.

Tada shared with her Joni and Friends staff that she will undergo outpatient surgery to remove the cancer on Monday, Nov. 26.

“I am inspired by the many valiant people with disabilities and their families whom we serve every day at Joni and Friends; they are people who constantly persevere through personal crises. They do not doubt God’s glorious purposes for their lives, why should I?” {eoa}

Click here to read the rest of this story from our content partners at CBN News.

Come February, charismatic leaders from nearly every stream of Christianity will join together to pass Billy Graham’s mantle on to this generation.

YWAM, Dunamis Movement, Christ for all Nations, Jesus Image, Circuit Riders, Lifestyle Christianity and more have partnered together for The Send.

The movement has been marked by prophecy since the Lord planted the original seeds years ago.

“It would be an outbreak of signs and wonders and miracles, and the gospel would be the center point or the central message of the stadium,” says YWAM’s Andy Byrd, who was part of The Send’s inception.

“Out of these gatherings, the passions, the zeal and the sense of responsibility that Billy Graham had would fall on a whole generation,” Byrd says.

Now, the time has come. Byrd shared all the details with Charisma in a podcast interview.

Check it out.

A bus driver has been hailed as a hero after saving some 22 kids from the enormous wildfire that has devastated vast swathes of Northern California.

As flames encroached on Ponderosa Elementary School, 41-year-old Kevin McKay knew that something had to be done to evacuate the stricken children and teachers, and quickly. Sprinting into the building and ordering everyone to evacuate, McKay ripped his shirt into rags, doused them with water and handed them to the kids to help protect their lungs from the acrid smoke.

One of the teachers, Mary Ludwig, described the scene as total “Armageddon” as the inferno blazed all around them. {eoa}

Click here to read the rest of this story from our content partners at Faithwire.

The news of the day doesn’t have to leave you feeling hopeless and angry. Sign up for the Faithwire Newsletter for encouraging stories delivered right to your inbox.

God’s people need to do good now, Jim Bakker says in a recent episode of his self-titled show.

“Enjoy God. Praise God. Live with God,” Bakker says while preaching about Psalm 37.

Watch the video if you need some encouragement today.

The who’s who of Christian music gathered in the White House last week and praised the name of Jesus: Kari Jobe, Sanctus Real, Michael Tait, Colton Dixon, Tauren Wells and more.

Within three days, it was our viral story of the year.

Hundreds of thousands of you clicked, commented, shared and watched, so we decided to go deeper than a quick YouTube video.

One of our reporters sat down with Sanctus Real’s Chris Rohman to talk about how worship filled the home of our nation’s leader.

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Amazing day in DC yesterday!! What a great opportunity to be a part of a pretty special day with a whole bunch of really special people! We were challenged in alot of unexpected ways, and finished the day with great conversations. Oh and side note, a room full of musical artists + amazing acoustics + worship = chills every time!!!!! We missed you @mark_graalman #faithbriefing

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“I can’t describe the feeling of joy even being in that room and knowing all the important decisions that get made there,” Rohman says. “I mean, that’s the center of everything for our government here in United States, obviously, and we’re in one of the rooms there with people that have a voice in government and care about furthering the mission of Jesus where we’re putting it all back where it belongs is crazy. And that was the true heart in that room that day. And that was just a really special thing to be part of.”

Listen to the podcast to hear the full interview!

Lance Wallnau says the spirit of Leviathan is trying to block technology and twist the message he’s been called to share.

“We can’t just assume that Donald Trump, because he’s anointed, is going to win this battle,” Wallnau tells Jim Bakker.

“Between now and 2020, Jim Bakker, we’re going to have to be a voice of awakening to awaken the body of Christ to an age, to a level that it has not understood in its personal history,” Wallnau says.

Watch the video to see how.

He spent 90 minutes away from the earth—90 minutes that changed everything.

Don Piper recalled the details of what happened when he went to heaven in a recent interview with Charisma publisher Dr. Steve Greene.

“Only in the distance,” did Piper see the face of Jesus. “And this may sound a little strange, but in some ways, I’m glad I didn’t get any closer to him than I did. I came back with such agony about having seen it, lost it. But I think if I’d have gotten that close, and then I came back here, I’m not sure I would have ever been functional. I could have ever gone about my life living to see the face of Jesus again. Well, I long to see it. I long to see it before I get hit by a truck.”

Piper thought few people would care, but the masses have been drawn to his incredible story.

“It’s almost unspoken about what has happened to me, because it was a long dark night of depression,” Piper says. “And one surgery after another. And I emerged, God told me that I needed to turn my test into a testimony and my mess into a message. And I tried to be obedient to that. But I did not count on so many people who saw and heard even through the movie they made about 90 Minutes in Heaven. And you know, they drew inspiration from it, encouragement from it, because they said, ‘This guy was given no chance whatsoever of having a meaningful life, and here he is.’ So that’s humbling. I find it incredible, but it does help me get out of bed in the morning when this whole body that is really beaten up just doesn’t feel like it, frankly, because they’re all divine appointments for me.

Listen to the podcast to hear his story in his own words.

Suppose you were asked to write down your guesses for the top 10 most viewed websites in the United States. You would probably quickly list Google, Facebook and YouTube as the first three. You would be correct.

But what about those other seven spots? Takes a little more thought, doesn’t it?

Here’s a hint: Three of those seven positions would be porn sites. Yes, according to SimilarWeb, of the top 10 websites that Americans view the most, porn sites rank at Nos. 6, 7 and 8.

They’re ahead of giants like Twitter (No. 9), eBay (No. 10), Instagram and Wikipedia. (If you’re wondering, Nos. 4 and 5 are Amazon and Yahoo.)

It’s probably not surprising that there are a lot of porn sites on the Internet. But to understand the huge size of some of those sites is alarming. If you struggle with porn, you know that the internet is saturated with pornography, making your battle even more difficult.

Did you know that every second of the day, 28,258 users will be looking at porn? And every 30 minutes, a porn film is created in the United States, which produces 89 percent of all pornographic web pages.

The Demand for Porn Keeps Rising

The amount of internet porn is staggering. How bad is the demand for porn? Consider these statistics:

• 40 million Americans regularly visit porn sites.
• 12 percent of all internet websites are pornographic.
• 42.7 percent of internet users view porn (that’s 102,434,567 people).
• $3, is spent on internet porn every second.

According to one of the world’s most popular porn websites, in 2017, its site had:

• 28.5 billion annual visits.
• 81 million daily average visits.
• 68 years’ worth of content uploaded.
• 4,052,542 videos uploaded.
• Transferred 3,732 pentabytes of information (enough to fill the memory of every iPhone on earth).

The Stereotypes of Porn Users Have Changed

For many years, the stereotype of a porn user was a grown man who would have to go out of his way to enter a store and buy a magazine. Pornography is still often laughed at and mentioned in a joking fashion.

But those days are gone. Magazines gradually became more explicit, videos became popular, and now the internet has opened up access to unlimited forms of extremely graphic material.

The porn industry is branching out even further. Computers have long been the primary source of porn access, but smartphones and mobile devices are gaining ground quickly.

According to the major porn site, 83 percent of its visitors are now using mobile devices. Seventy percent of its visits are now done by phone, 17 percent are from a desktop and 11 percent are on a tablet.

The site says that even game consoles are being used to watch porn. PlayStation represents 56 percent of console traffic, and Xbox comes in at 32 percent.

It’s Not Just Men Who Are Using Porn

While men are still the highest percentage of porn users, women also view pornography.

• 33 percent of women watch pornographic videos or view explicit photos at least one time per week.
• 17 percent of women say they struggle with pornography addiction.
• A Proven Men study reports that 36 percent of women have looked at porn at least one time while at work in the last three months; 13 percent have done so more than once.

In addition to adult men and women, children and teenagers are also looking at porn. Tru Research showed that 32 percent of teens admit to intentionally accessing nude or pornographic images online. Of those, 43 percent do so on a weekly basis. But only 12 percent of parents knew their teens were accessing pornography.

Eleven is the average age that a child is first exposed to porn, and 94 percent of children will see porn by the age of 14.

Be Vigilant and Fight Back

The amount and variety of porn that is available can be overwhelming. That’s why it’s important that you determine to take a stand and take action to protect yourself and your family.

If you are a porn user, you must begin with yourself. As you can tell from the statistics above, you are not the only one battling porn. You can overcome your porn usage, but it will take some bold steps on your part.

First, you must admit that porn is keeping you in bondage and you want to be free. Come to know in your heart God’s unending and complete grace for you through Jesus. Then you need to connect with some Christian men who will support and encourage you along the way. Recovery is not a fast process, so you will need to get involved with a small group of men who will stand with you and keep you focused.

Once you have found Christian men who will fight with you, consider getting some porn blocking software and apps for your computer and phone. They are not foolproof, but they can be very helpful. Also, consider using blockers on the computers and phones of all your family members. Barna Group reports that only one in 10 adults has porn blockers or filters on both their phones and computers, so make it a point to protect you and your family.

It may seem that porn and the world is fighting hard against you. But remember that Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NIV).

Freedom Is Possible

Joshua Jorstad had a struggle with pornography. He went through a powerful men’s small group course called the Conquer Series and shares about the impact it had on him.

“Because of the Conquer Series, I started my journey to be free from porn! I am officially a year and a half clean and have been loving the change. Ultimately, it was God who changed my heart, but your resources helped a bunch!”

The Conquer Series is helping over 750,000 men, like Joshua, start their journey to freedom from pornography. The 10 cinematic video lessons feature compelling testimonies, vivid action scenes and solid biblical teaching. A personal journal and study guides are also available to keep you focused on your recovery every day.

Joshua now helps teenagers prepare for the sexual temptations they’ll likely face. “I am now teaching the effects of porn to junior high boys, and I never would of thought of doing this a year ago!”

You can also join a Conquer Series small group either at a local church or online. A small group of men who personally know about the struggle with pornography is vital to victory over porn.

Learn more about the Conquer Series at

Recently, I read about how 25 percent of all U.S. women suffer from some form of depression, and that more than 12 million women will suffer some form of clinical depression in their lifetime.

There is an epidemic of pessimism, anxiety and hopelessness that has erupted in the United States and beyond. This is par for the course for any sociological system that is not built upon being thankful to our Creator. Romans 1:21 teaches that being unthankful is the cornerstone sin of all other sins, with a trajectory that leads to covetousness; worshipping creatures more than God; all sexual sins including homosexuality; and pride, gossip and all kinds of malice that eventually lead to full-scale rebellion against God (Rom.1:21-32).

In essence, praising God is good (Ps. 92:1) not just because it makes us feel closer to God but because it is perhaps the most countercultural thing we can do to show our resistance against Satan’s kingdom, which is steeped in insurrection against the lordship of Christ and the mandate of the kingdom of God. By living lives that are worshipful, we show that we do not depend on circumstances, people, materialism or the pleasures of this world in order to be satisfied. This is the antithesis of the kingdom of darkness that is built upon pride, lust and greed (1 John 2:15-17).

In regard to kingdom culture, my greatest difficulty is adapting my mind to continually practice praise and thanksgiving towards God. This involves intentionally engaging my mind, not only my spirit, in ordering my thoughts in a manner that pleases God (Phil. 4:8). Seventy percent of all that we think and do is unconscious. Thus we are all acting out our lives based on mostly negative thoughts that are embedded in our souls. It is important for us to break out of this mental bondage if we are going to enter the promised land of our soul and destiny, or else we will wind up like the children of Israel who didn’t praise and honor God, which resulted in unbelief and wandering in the desert for 40 years (Num. 13).

The following are some negative consequences of living unthankful lives:

We will not be able to see the divine opportunities in front of us.

God has already provided for all of our needs (Eph. 1:3; 2 Pet.1:3-4). Praise takes the veil off our eyes and turns on the switch of faith and insight that enables us to see all the hidden opportunities that are masked by problems and challenging circumstances.

We will focus on the actions of people instead of the processes of God.

When we are unthankful, we magnify the actions, activities and circumstances produced by other people for or against us and weigh our lives based on their responses, which inadvertently saps our faith in God.

When we are God-focused, we see the providential activity of God behind every circumstance, even as Joseph did when the word of the Lord tested him when his brothers sold him as a slave in Egypt. He told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Gen. 50:20).

We will worship pleasant circumstances rather than be satisfied with God alone.

When we are constantly complaining, then we as believers are in essence saying that God is not enough to satisfy us. This is unlike David who said that the Lord was His portion, cup and inheritance (Ps. 16).

Because Paul the apostle lived a life of rejoicing and praise, he was not a victim of outside circumstances, and he did not allow the actions of others to control his attitude. This enabled him to worship God even while bound in chains and stocks in a Philippian jail (Acts 16).

We will give place to the devil who operates in lust, greed and pride.

Satan’s original sin was pride, which led to him not being thankful for his place as a covering cherub (Isa. 14:12-14). This led him to covet the throne of God, which ended in him being thrown out of heaven.

Since the beginning of the world, Satan has been the father of all greed, covetousness and complaining. We give place to him in our hearts when we are not grateful for the things God has already given us.

We will repel key people around us.

When we are not living lives of praise to God, we are not thankful to Him for His goodness. When we are not thankful to Him, we will not be grateful for the key people God has put in our lives, leading to accentuating negative aspects about these people in our minds. This results in us repelling them by our negative speaking and communication towards them.

When we live lives of constant complaining, grumbling and lack of thankfulness, we will exude the wrong spirit in our homes and nurture families who are ungrateful toward one another and even toward God. We will be teaching our children that it is only time to “turn on the switch” of thanksgiving during a two-hour worship service on Sunday. Unfortunately, this compartmentalization will produce hypocrisy in their lives and result in them not fully serving the Lord.

We will repel the presence of God within us.

The psalms teach us that God dwells in the praises of His people (Ps. 22:3). This also can be reversed: When we don’t have an attitude of thanksgiving toward God, we can repel His personal presence within us, which grieves His Spirit and hurts our ability to fellowship intimately with Him.

God cannot trust us with more blessings.

I learned a long time ago that God will multiply the things in my life that I am most grateful for. He will not trust me with whatever I am not thankful for because I don’t appreciate it.

Sometimes we are even thankful for or appreciate bad things that come in our lives that can also multiply and destroy us. For example, we could appreciate the kindness and flattery of a strange woman, which could then lead to adultery if we are not grateful to God for our spouses. But if we show gratitude to our spouses, it will greatly aid our marriages. (If we are continually complaining about and to our spouses, it will repel them and distance them from us.)

David blessed the Lord with all that was within him, which led him to recounting continually all the blessings of the Lord that continued to multiply in his life (read Ps. 103).

We will suffer continual discouragement and even depression.

If we are not continually and intentionally ordering our minds to think on the good things of God, we will not enjoy the peace of God in these troubled times (Phil. 4:8-9). This can lead to discouragement and severe depression. The greatest tool in fighting depression is not medication but worshipping the Creator and being thankful to Him for every good thing He has given us from above (James 1:17).

We will miss our greatest purpose in life: to love and worship God.

The Westminster Catechism begins by stating that our highest purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Revelation teaches us that in heaven, the elders and angelic beings are continually worshipping our Creator. One of the things they say is, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You have created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created'” (Rev. 4:10-11).

This Thanksgiving should not be an event or a one-day holiday but should become a catalyst for churches and believers everywhere to have “holy days”: to live lives of praise and thanksgiving. This is the most countercultural thing we can do to strip the devil of his power over us and our families and will reveal the vast opportunities God has already given us so we can walk in His kingdom purposes.

Whatever you are thankful for in your life multiplies.

I remember one day, I was very discouraged and realized I was discouraged because I was focusing on negative things and wasn’t thankful. As soon as I began to thank God for the blessings in my life, I immediately received strength.

The Bible teaches us to live with an attitude of thanksgiving to God (read 1 Thess. 5:16-18).

Deuteronomy 26:1-10 is a passage that combines five aspects connected to being thankful to God: our salvation and our purpose, our financial giving, the place where we connect, recounting God’s faithfulness by giving testimony and continually living in a place of obedience to God so that we stay in His blessings.

1. The Land of Our Inheritance

The land symbolizes our salvation and certain places we come into regarding our purpose (Deut. 26:1). We all go through different stages in our lives, starting with our salvation. Then, we move from one phase of His calling to the next that releases the glory of God (read John 8:31)

We need to stop and be thankful for the land of our salvation. More than anything else, this is the most important gift we have from Christ (read Luke 10:20).

Serving people is one of the great ways we show our thankfulness to God (Matthew 22:37-40—loving your neighbor is another way of loving God).

2. The Giving of Our Tithe

Another way we show our thanksgiving to God is through giving our tithes. The first thing we should do when arriving at a God-given place in our lives is to remember to give God our tithes (Deut. 26:2).

The giving of finances to God is one of the most biblical ways we demonstrate our thanksgiving and gratitude to God (read Prov. 3:8-10).

The Bible says when we worship the Lord, we are not to appear before Him empty-handed (Deut. 16:16-17).

Giving the tithe seals our new place in the land because it shows we are investing in it. Those who don’t tithe are not invested enough in their purpose and not as stable as those who are tithers. For example, when you don’t pay for something, you don’t treat it with as much care and respect.

3. The Place Where We Connect in Community (Deut. 12:13-15)

The person brought their tithe to the place that the Lord has chosen to dwell, to present it to the priest (Deut. 26:2).

People would have to go on a long journey to arrive at the one central place the Lord instructed them to bring the tithe—whether it was Jerusalem, Shiloh or at the gate of their city. Thus, involved in worshipping God was the investment of time to travel with their offering to the Lord. It wasn’t just throwing money in the basket; doing this often included a full day of travel for worship to be with their faith community. For us, this is the local church.

The tithe doesn’t go just anyplace. When we are thanking God, we bring it to the place and the leader God is using to lead the community of faith as a witness to the city of what God is doing on the earth (Matt. 5:13-16).

The priest then puts the tithe before the altar of the Lord. Thus, we don’t tithe to a church but to the Lord (Deut. 26:4).

So even giving God thanks is not a private thing but a corporate thing each community of faith does together.

4. The Testimony/Recounting of God’s Goodness

The person worshipping and thanking God then made a confession of how God delivered them from the slavery of the world and brought them into the land of His inheritance (Deut. 26:3-10). There is more power when we are thankful together as a body than if we are worshippers who are unchurched and alone.

We need to constantly rehearse God’s goodness and benefits towards us (read Ps. 103:2).

Thus, our offerings to God are connected to how much we value our salvation and our personal testimony of conversion.

5. The cycle and rhythm of blessing continues with thanksgiving.

The result is that God favors us and promotes us above all people by showering us with His blessings (Deut. 26:8-9).

We must continually give our testimonies, not only of our salvation but of His daily blessings to us. Doing this overcomes negativity and satanic deception in our minds (read Rev. 12:11).

By this life of thankfulness, we continue the cycle of receiving God’s blessings and favor.

In summary, let us live a life of thankfulness to God by:

Coming to the land of our inheritance (our salvific purpose).

Practicing tithing as a lifestyle.

Continually rehearsing our testimony and God’s goodness toward us.

Using the favor and placement of God in our lives as a testament to others of God’s goodness and offer of salvation to the world.