The spirit of slander attacks at strategic times—and we’re in one right now. I’ve witnessed in past weeks men and women of God take hits from people operating in a false murderous spirit, and it both grieves and thrills me at the same time. More on that in a minute.

Slander is to make a false spoken statement that causes people to have a bad opinion of someone, according to Merriam-Webster. It means to defame, malign, vilify and asperse, which is a fancy word for a continued attack on one’s reputation. Back in 2013, I addressed the slanderous accuser of the brethren, and it has returned at a more opportune time.

Over the last week, I’ve been accused of having a Jezebel spirit, splitting churches, cussing out pastors, being a lesbian, breaking and entering and stealing from churches, refusing to cooperate with pastors in my city for revival and a few other choice things. Time to rejoice! It looks like I’m doing something right since Jesus said we’d be lied about for His sake just as He was lied about. And the more people spread ridiculous lies and rumors, the more I’ll lift up Jesus. 

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I take heart in this passage from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be very glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in this manner they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12).

Responding to Slandering Spirits the Right Way

How you respond to mistreatment is one of the most important aspects of your spiritual life. When we respond the right way, we climb higher—or go deeper—in the Spirit. In fact, a season of slander is a sure sign that you are up for a promotion.

By contrast, when we respond the wrong way, we get bitter. Over time, that bitterness will defile our spirits and dull our ability to sense the presence of God or hear His voice. Bitterness is deadly—and it’s easy for the people around you to discern. Where true humility lives, though, bitterness can’t take up residence. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As I said, I’ve endured plenty of mistreatment during my life, and I can honestly say that I count it a blessing. By God’s grace, I’ve always managed to ultimately respond in meekness rather than retaliating against the poor soul manifesting the character of slanderous Satan. And I pray that God’s grace will continue to pour over me as the slander from religious spirits, atheists, radical gay activists and, occasionally, even those who I let get close to me who have believed the enemy’s lie continues.

No one likes to be slandered. I don’t enjoy it. It makes me sorrow for the one who’s committing the sin. The Bible says, “Whoever privately slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy” (Ps. 101:5). And Romans 1:30-32 suggests backbiters are worthy of death. Paul told us not to keep company with a believer who has “a foul tongue [railing, abusing, reviling, slandering]” (1 Cor. 5:11, AMP)—Scripture actually lists the slanderer among the sexually immoral, the covetous, idolaters, drunkards and extortioners. The point is, God hates slander.

Understanding how seriously God takes slander has had a twofold impact on my heart. First, I don’t want any part of slander. I don’t want to engage in it, and I won’t listen to anyone else engaging in it. If someone comes to me with slander on their lips, I put out the fire and bring gentle correction to help them avoid Satan’s snare. Second, when I see the damage the slanderer is doing to himself by attacking me, I take pity on him. While they think their words are digging a pit for me, they are actually the ones who are bound to fall headlong into the hole.

Dying to Your Own Reputation

I’ve learned over the years to transfer my personal rights to God, knowing He will vindicate me amid the slander—or any other mistreatment. And He has confirmed me time and time again in the presence of my enemies when I give Him the reins. As Paul wrote, “You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20, MEV). I’ve committed my spirit into the Lord’s hands, and, in return, He takes responsibility for my protection, provision and vindication when necessary.

I don’t want to be like the accuser of the brethren. And I don’t want to swap insult for insult (1 Pet. 3:9). I want to be like Jesus, who, “when He was reviled, He did not revile back; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but He entrusted Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:23).

God is the judge. He will make the wrong things right in His way and in His timing. Vengeance is His. He will repay (Rom. 12:19). I won’t be overcome with evil, but I will overcome evil with good (v. 21). I will rejoice when I am persecuted because I know that when I respond the right way, I am blessed. My first response is to pray for those who persecute me. And pray. And pray. And pray some more. It keeps my heart clean. I encourage you to do the same.

I’ve found it true, looking back over the many instances when I’ve been mistreated, abandoned, robbed, persecuted, falsely accused and otherwise slandered that the initial sting of the mistreatment fades more quickly when you walk in love, speak the truth in love without being defensive and refuse to retaliate. I’ve also found it true that God repays, vindicates and takes vengeance on my behalf. If you respond with meekness in the face of mistreatment, you can have the same testimony.

I spend several days a week lifting heavy weights and doing all sorts of crazy new exercises. Sometimes I forget to stretch and end up with muscles so tight I can barely walk two days later, then I want to skip the next workout. You might say my muscles are weary in well-doing.

Lately, I’ve found myself in God’s gym—lifting heavy spiritual weights and doing all manner of uncomfortable new exercises. I don’t have to worry about the stretching part. He’s doing that too. God’s stretching is sometimes painful, but it leaves you with a spiritual capacity great enough to move into the next season He’s ordained for you.

These words from the Lord, which I recorded in my devotional Mornings With the Holy Spirit: Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God, helped me understand God’s heart in the stretching: “Will you fully yield to Me? Will you submit to My will even when it looks contrary to your will? Will you allow Me to stretch you in this season? I want to enlarge your capacity to hold spiritual things, but that means letting go of carnal things to make more room for Me. It means cultivating a new harvest of My fruit in your heart. I want to let My gifts flow through you, but that means you must release the things that hinder My love. Will you allow Me to stretch you? Will you decrease so Jesus can increase in your heart?”

There’s pressure from the inside—what I call Holy Ghost pressure—and pressure from the outside from people, places things (some of which include devils). It’s easy to resist God in the name of resisting the devil because you don’t like what’s happening and assume the assignment came from the pit of hell. I’ve seen others let the devil walk all over them in the name of yielding to the Holy Spirit. Don’t do that! Ask the Spirit to show you what is of Him and what is against Him. Yield to God; resist the devil.

Whether it’s from the hand of God or from the enemy, if you’ll just keep pressing through, you’ll not only gain strength, but the pressure will eventually let up. Don’t give up. God knows how much you can handle. You are building strength and character that will serve you well in the next phase of your journey.

Know that God is stretching you so you can hold more of His power and gain more of His wisdom, more of His character—more of Him. He wants to increase your influence and enlarge your territory.

This is my prayer in times of pressure. Maybe it will help you too.

“I say yes to You, Holy Spirit. I say yes to Your will and Your ways even when I don’t understand Your work in my life. I ask You to enlarge my spiritual capacity, to enlarge my heart to love You more and to help me surrender all that is getting in the way.”

Jennifer LeClaire is the senior editor of Charisma, director of the Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and author of numerous books, including Mornings With the Holy Spirit.

When Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s book The Harbinger hit the New York Times best-seller list the week it released in print, I believe the sleeping giant called the church started waking up.

A prophetic warning to the American masses about God’s impending judgment on the nation, The Harbinger connects undeniable dots between what has happened in the United States since the terrorist attacks in 2001—including a housing market bust and banking industry collapse that led to a $700 billion government bailout to prop up financial institutions and auto manufacturers—and Israel’s fate after it turned away from Jehovah God. Although written as a fictional narrative, the book details how nine signs hidden in recent events reveal God’s progressive judgment on America.

Here’s the message in a nutshell: Cahn believes the Holy Spirit showed him that events such as 9/11, the collapse of Wall Street and the Great Recession occurred because God lifted some of His hedge of protection from around America. He is certain God is trying to get our attention. He is convinced that God is warning the nation to turn back to Him and used nine harbingers, or prophetic signs, to shake us up and wake us up.

The Harbinger may anger some; it may scare others. It caused some to fall to their knees in repentance, and it caused others to cry out in intercession. The release of The Harbinger was what you could call a “kairos moment”—a supreme moment in time when God sent a prophet with a “you need to hear this and repent” message to America. Notice I say “to America”—not just to the church in America. Cahn’s message about an ancient mystery that holds the secret to America’s future transcended the Christian market to become a mainstream phenomenon that, at the time of this writing, is still on the New York Times best-seller list nearly three years later.

The book—and the clear proof of God’s discipline on our nation—changed my theology. Until 2012 I did not believe God sent judgments on nations in the New Testament age. I reasoned that if God were going to judge any nation, He would start with places like the Netherlands, with cities like Amsterdam and its infamous Red Light District that hosts all manner of immorality. But the founders of the Netherlands didn’t make and break a covenant with God.

I believe America as a nation is reaping what we’ve sown. I believe that where there is unfettered sin, there is ultimately death (Rom. 6:23). And although some rightly argue that many nations are more sinful and anti-God than the United States, consider this: to whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). As a world power, the United States has done much good. But our nation’s Christian foundations are shaking. The seven major influencers of our society—the economy, government, family, spirituality, education, media and arts—are shaping an idolatrous New Age culture.

I submit to you that our nation is in natural and spiritual crisis, and it will take a divine intervention to avert disaster. Although “man” can’t solve the problems in our nation, electing leaders who will guide the United States using biblical principles rather than those who defy biblical principles in the name of change speaks volumes to heaven. Politicians can’t fix what’s broken, but politicians who pray to the one who can will receive His wisdom to right the ship.

If we don’t make a drastic shift in this nation, I believe there’s no way to escape God’s judgment. Billy Graham’s late wife, Ruth, once said, “If God doesn’t judge America He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” Again, I never wanted to believe that. But now I do. I can see it. God has removed some of our hedge of protection because He loves us and hopes we’ll wake up.

A Third Great Awakening

On April 21, 2007, the Lord woke me up at midnight with a prophetic word that I didn’t fully understand. Mind you, this was before the housing bubble burst, before the banks and financial institutions started to fail, before the U.S. government bailout, before President Obama was elected, before the Great Recession that rippled through the world and eventually saw economies completely fail, before the Ebola scare, and before ISIS emerged as a credible threat on American soil. Before we—or at least before I—understood our desperate need for a great awakening, the Holy Spirit spoke these words to me:

There is a great awakening coming to this nation, for I have heard your cries and I long to heal your land. I am a covenant God, and I will not forget the covenant I made with your Founding Forefathers. Yes, there will be a shaking, but the foundations will not crack and they will not crumble. Only those things which can be shaken will be shaken that the sin in the land may be laid bare. Repentance. I require repentance from My people who have through the generations allowed the enemy to take ground in this nation. I require repentance for the abortions and for the prayerlessness. I require repentance for the apathy and for the idolatry. You shall have no other gods before Me. I am indeed the God of America. Yes, there is a great awakening coming to this nation. I am the author of it, and I will bring it to pass. Just turn from your wicked ways and humble yourselves. Stand in the gap and make up the hedge. I am the Lord, and I am a warrior. I will not leave or forsake this country. I will fight through you and with you to regain what has been lost. Be encouraged now, because as you go forth boldly with My Word and My Spirit, there will be the sound of truth, and it will prevail in the land. Speak boldly and clearly, and watch as the mighty men arise to take their positions on the wall and in the churches and in the marketplaces, for I am raising up deliverers and reformers in this generation who will not shrink back at the challenge that is coming in the days ahead.

Yes, it will grow darker before My light shines brightly from this nation again. But the light has not been extinguished and will not be extinguished. The time to rise up is now. I am calling you to war. I am calling you to repentance. I am calling you to My side. I am the captain of the hosts. I am calling you to victory. I am calling you to destiny. Will you answer?

It’s Time to Wake Up

There is hope for America. I believe the remnant is rising. But it has certainly gotten darker in this nation, and again, I fear God’s judgment may fall harder if we continue to stand by in silence while abortion, same-sex marriage, and other sin rages in our land.

The church—the “sleeping giant”—needs to wake up. If the church were being the church, we wouldn’t have so many problems in our nation. Of course, these problems didn’t start just four years ago. There has been an increasingly rapid decline in morality in this nation since prayer was removed from schools in 1962.

Abortion was legalized in 1973. Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2004. And plenty of wickedness has taken place in between and since.

Meanwhile, the church looks, thinks, and acts too much like the world. Christians are having abortions. Christians are committing adultery. Christians are fornicating. Christians are getting divorced. Lord, help us!

At the same time, the Sermon on the Mount speaks to giving to the needy, prayer and fasting. I can’t prove it with hard numbers, but it’s likely that most Christians aren’t giving to the poor. It’s probable that most Christians aren’t praying for our nation. And I’m quite sure most Christians aren’t fasting. We really aren’t serving as salt and light. And that’s ultimately why our society is becoming more tasteless and continues to grow darker.

Adding insult to this injurious lifestyle, some Christians declare that prayer rallies and solemn assemblies don’t make a difference.

I believe the greatest sin of the church is prayerlessness. Far too many are busy feeding their souls on worldly entertainment to meet God at the altar.

There Is Hope

The shaking is undeniable and our nation is in crisis. It has grown darker since the Lord spoke that prophetic word to me in 2007. It will continue growing darker until we turn back to God as a nation. The good news is that when we do, we’ll see a great awakening, and many souls will come into the kingdom. There will be a great harvest. I’m blowing the trumpet. I’m sounding the alarm. There is hope for America, and that hope lies in the body of Christ rising up to do as Jesus commanded: “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13, KJV).

Of course, we have to wake up first. It would be easy to dismiss Cahn’s revelation about America’s future, which is based on a pattern found in Isaiah 9:10 after God temporarily lifted the hedge of protection around Israel and an enemy struck the land. Yet the It’s Time to Wake Up message of The Harbinger has resonated with millions of Americans—and even found its way into the hands of government officials.

In 2012 Cahn’s publisher, Charisma House, sent a copy of the book to every member of Congress so they could hear what God is saying to the nation. I believe we’re living in the last days when, like the apostle Paul said, “Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, slanderers, unrestrained, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. Turn away from such people” (2 Tim. 3:2-5, MEV).

I believe we’re living at the end of the age when, as Jesus said: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. … For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, epidemics, and earthquakes in various places. … Because iniquity will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:5-14).

I believe time is short for America to repent before we see stronger manifestations of God’s discipline on this nation, but at the same time I have never been more hopeful. I believe that we are on a cusp of a Third Great Awakening. And I believe the Lord is using The Harbinger to sound an alarm that will wake up the mighty men and women, the reformers and deliverers who will stand in the gap and make up the hedge.

But God is not just using The Harbinger. He’s also using prophetic voices such as Dutch Sheets with his “Appeal to Heaven” message, Billy Graham with his “My Hope” initiative, Reinhard Bonnke with his trumpet call that “all America shall be saved,” and many others.

So let this be a wake-up to the realities our nation is facing, but let it also fill you with hope, and let that hope give substance to your faith to pray and take action as you agree with God’s plan for America to wake up in this hour.

Jennifer LeClaire is the news editor of Charisma. She is also director of the Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening and Mornings With the Holy Spirit. You can visit her website at .

Bishop Harry Jackson tells how government officials shut down their ‘Appeal to Heaven’ meeting at .

A resource on this topic:

Prophet and author Jennifer LeClaire calls the church to arise in this dark yet hopeful hour in her latest book, The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening (Charisma House). You can find this book wherever Christian books are sold or at or .

When I was young in the Lord, I always hoped the pastor would have a prophetic word for me in the prayer line or that the visiting prophet would call me out of the congregation and prophesy over me. Now, I’m not so eager for that next prophetic word.

As I matured and learned how to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit for myself, I realized I didn’t need a prophet to tell me—and announce to the principalities and powers—what the Lord’s next step was for my life. And as I matured, I also noticed a pattern: Prophetic words bring spiritual warfare.

Think about it for a minute. A prophetic word is God announcing His specific will for you. The words of edification, exhortation or comfort don’t tend to stir up many devils, but directional prophecies or revelatory words about assignments, callings or destinies, in my experience, give the enemy a new agenda.

In other words, once the enemy has prophetic intelligence on where God wants to take you he’ll be sure to set up snares along your path to getting there—whether that’s a Judas to betray you, a sickness to slow you down, financial distress to freak you out, relationship woes, or just plain stressful situations that cause you to forget all about the prophecy and put out your personal fires.

Facing Your Goliath
This is scriptural. Two examples that come to mind are David and Joseph. David was the prophesied king, anointed by Samuel in the midst of his brothers (see 1 Sam. 16:13). But David went through hell and back before the prophetic act became a reality. In fact, he was almost immediately taken from his home and assigned to become the then-King Saul’s armor-bearer. In the next breath, he was facing the battle of all battles with the giant Goliath.

You know the story. When David defeated Goliath against all natural odds, Saul became jealous and tried to kill him. David ended up fleeing into the wilderness and ran into all sorts of dangers along the way as Saul’s army pursued him. His wives were captured. His men turned against him. David’s psalms reveal the emotions of a man facing warfare to see his prophetic destiny become a reality.

Then there’s Joseph. He had two prophetic dreams as a teenager. Both dreams essentially indicated that he would rule over his older brothers. When they found out, the warfare began. Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery. He was falsely accused of trying to trying to rape Potiphar’s wife. And he was thrown into prison.

Prepare for War
Yes, when you receive a true prophetic word from God it brings spiritual warfare. You probably won’t be chased through the wilderness by a jealous king, but you may be chased out of your church by a jealous pastor. You may not be sold into slavery, but you may be betrayed by those closest to you. You may not be falsely accused of rape, but you may be falsely accused of something. You may not be thrown into prison, but you may be thrown out of your comfort zone.

Spiritual warfare comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it’s disobedient children who get into trouble because they lost their way. Nothing hurts worse than seeing a child go astray. Sometimes it’s the sickness of financial pressures I mentioned before. Sometimes it’s a raging battle in your mind that causes you to bite down on the enemy’s bait, whether that’s burnout, depression, confusion or something else.

Some years ago I received a prophetic word from Dino Kartsonakis, the late Kathryn Kuhlman’s piano player. I have long been an admirer of Kuhlman’s ministry so this was really cool. Kartsonakis’ word wasn’t ultra specific, but it was nonetheless a prophetic announcement. Some weeks later, I was on the phone with Doug Stringer, who released a prophetic prayer over me along the same lines.

That’s always exciting, but it brought tremendous warfare. I spent the next 18 months battling a nasty controlling religious spirit that targeted my life and ministry for destruction. Through other circumstances, my daughter also fell into life-and-death danger as the enemy worked in her midst. One of my best friends was almost killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. And the list goes on and on. The warfare was intense, but now I am beginning to see the first fruits of those two prophecies delivered years ago.

Enduring the Spiritual Battle
How did I get through it? God’s grace, of course, but I also took Paul the apostle’s advice to Timothy: I waged war with the prophetic words. Paul said, “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare” (1 Tim. 1:18). The New Living Translation puts it this way: “Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they help you fight well in the Lord’s battles.”

What does that practically mean? It means I continued to declare the prophetic word over my life. Although a prophetic word is not on par with Scripture, a prophecy that’s been judged true can be used as a sword in the spiritual realm to do battle against the enemy’s assignment. After all, the enemy doesn’t really care about you. He hates you, yes, but ultimately he just doesn’t want the prophetic word to come to pass because when it does God’s will comes to the earth.

If you are in a season of waiting and warring, hold on. Remember, it was at least 15 years between David’s prophetic anointing and David’s kingship. And it was about 13 years in between Joseph’s dream and his promotion to Egypt’s prime minister. Chances are, it won’t take that long for you to see the first fruits of those powerful prophetic words spoken over your life. But even if it does, don’t give in to the enemy’s strategies. Remember that this is the Lord’s battle. Declare the prophetic word over your life and keep fighting the good fight of faith. Amen.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including Did the Spirit of God Say That? You can email Jennifer at  @ or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

Music legend Andraé Crouch has died. The Grammy and Dove Award winner passed away on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, at approximately 4:30 PM PST at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area. Andraé, 72, was hospitalized on Jan. 3.

Andraé’s accolades include 7 Grammy Awards, 6 GMA Dove Awards, an Academy Award nomination for “The Color Purple,” induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

His songs have been recorded by everyone from Elvis Presley to Paul Simon, and he has worked as a producer and arranger with many of music’s top artists, including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Quincy Jones, Diana Ross, Elton John and many others. Andraé can also be heard on Michael Jackson’s hit singles “Man in the Mirror,” “Keep the Faith,” “Will You Be There” and “Earth Song.”

Andraé’s family requests privacy at this time. 

I am in a war. Wiccans are cursing me for writing about spiritual witchcraft. The gay agenda is publishing nasty articles about me for suggesting that man lying with man is a sin. Christians with bold religious spirits are sending me condemning emails because I drink coffee and don’t give away my books for free.

Sometimes it just seems to come from all sides. Sometimes it seems to come from all sides at once. Sometimes in midst of the onslaught it feels like you are fighting alone. And sometimes you really are battling without a prayer partner who could help put an additional 9,999 demons to flight.

Indeed, for all the good-intentioned Christians who tell you they are standing with you and praying for you, far fewer actually follow up on the intercessory initiative. After all, they are also in a war. And they’ve got stuff flying at them too.

But if you feel like you are fighting alone, take heart. You aren’t the only one who ever felt this way. And you aren’t really alone. No, not really.

All Forsook Me

Paul once told his spiritual son, Timothy: “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them” (2 Tim. 4:16). Elijah was convinced he was fighting alone. He once told the Israelites, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men” (1 Kings 18:22). And after defeating the false prophets on Mt. Carmel, twice Elijah told the Lord, “I alone am left; and they seek to take my life” (1 Kings 19:10, 14).

David knew what it was like to fight alone. He fought the lion alone. He fought the bear alone. And he was the only one among the Israelites who wasn’t afraid to stand up to Goliath alone (1 Sam. 17). Some of David’s mighty men also knew what it felt like to fight alone. After the men of Israel retreated, Eleazar arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was stuck to the sword (2 Sam. 23:9-10). Can you imagine? Another time, when the Israelites fled from the Philistines, Shammah stationed himself in the middle of a pea field the enemy was looking to occupy. He defended it and killed the Philistines all by himself (vv. 11-12).

Feelings vs. Reality

Sometimes you may be fighting alone. But many times it just feels like you are standing solo. Elijah, for example, had a wrong perception of the warfare. He was on the run from Jezebel and her witchcrafts. She released a word curse over him carrying fear that struck his heart (1 Kings 19:2). He left his servant, who likely would have warred with him, behind and went into hiding. These are the moves of one weary from battle who feels they are fighting alone.

But the Lord set Elijah straight: “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18). Friends, you may be fighting your battle alone, but remember that the Lord has many others who are also taking a stand for righteousness.

When you feel like you are fighting alone, pray for all those who are going through a similar battle and have no one to stand in the gap for them. In other words, get your focus off yourself and intercede for someone else. God can move on a total stranger’s heart to intercede for you.

The Lord Is a Warrior
David’s mighty men were indeed fighting alone from a natural perspective, but it’s clear that the Lord’s anointing was upon them. Make no mistake, the battle is the Lord’s (1 Sam. 17:47). But He often uses us as His warriors in the natural realm as a battle-ax (Jer. 51:20). When you go to battle in faith for His purposes, the anointing will meet you and you will overcome, even if you have to fight alone.

The Bible makes it clear in Eleazar’s case that “the Lord brought about a great victory that day” (2 Sam. 23:10) and again in Shammah’s case that “the Lord brought about a great victory” (v. 12). These men were indeed fighting alone, but they didn’t curl up into a fetal position and whine about it. They stepped out into God’s will as battle-axes, and the Lord anointed them to do mighty exploits for His glory. He can do the same for you.

As for Paul, at his first defense, when no one stood with him, note the preface to his statement and the conclusion. Maybe you can relate: “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia … Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm” (2 Tim. 4:10, 14).

Paul truly did fight alone at times. But listen to Paul’s response to all this spiritual warfare, and set your mind to take the same approach when you meet with betrayal, abandonment, false accusations and persecution—or any other warfare—for the sake of Christ:

“But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!” (vv. 17-18)

Some days it may feel like you are fighting alone. From a natural perspective, you may be. But the Lord is faithful. This battle is ultimately the Lord’s, and when you stand for Him—and when all hell breaks loose against you for that stance—He will strengthen you! He will anoint you! He will deliver you! He will preserve you! Amen!

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including Breakthrough! You can email Jennifer at @ or visit her website here.

Ferguson, Missouri, has been in the news since the Lord sent us there on June 18, and said that this area would become the dividing line of the nation. We have stayed focused on the borders and all the issues of immigration and drug cartel wars.

I believe nearly all of us have seen the reports coming from Jerusalem with a new wave of violence. Cars have been used as weapons to drive into innocent bystanders, and most recently, men armed with butcher knives and guns attacked a synagogue.

When we were flying into Tel Aviv earlier this month, I saw an unusual sunset. The sun, though setting, looked like it was rising from the ground. Above the glory realm hovering on the ground was sky. In the sky was a perfectly formed black dragon! The message the Lord had me to deliver in Jerusalem was:

“The dragon is hovering over Israel. There is a birth that is near and the enemy wants to stop what God is birthing. There will be much conflict in the next several months, but you can stop the dragon from having his way.”

I went on to speak from Revelation 12. I called Rick Ridings, the leader of the 24 Hour House of Prayer in Jerusalem. Rick had already planned to share an earlier vision of a great fire-breathing dragon circling the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. He shared that when flames came from its mouth, violence was released onto the Mount (which has been the scene of increasing turmoil over the past several months). Amazing!

We must stand and turn the enemy from Israel. In the vision, Rick was made to be aware that the dragon’s real intentions were to ignite a much larger and further-reaching conflagration of violence. Suddenly, he saw two words in the heavens, “NOT NOW.” His message was: “I saw a dragon on the Temple Mount, but God said, ‘NOT NOW!'”

A great foot descended from Heaven, pinning the dragon to the ground. Then the Lord reached down, placed shackles on the dragon’s feet, and imprisoned it in the underground mosque at the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. As this was happening, in the worship room where Rick was having the vision (which has a view of the Mount), the leader was singing from Psalm 149 about the high praise of God’s people “putting kings in chains and nobles in shackles.”

In the days following this, conflict continued and many through the media were predicting an impending huge eruption of violence and the start of a new intifada (“uprising”).

In a second vision on Nov. 4, Rick had a vision of the imprisoned dragon shrieking and attempting to break out of its dungeon in which it was imprisoned—demon spirits were going forth from its mouth out of the confines of the prison to incite terror. Rick felt the Lord say we were to ask Him, as the Judge of the universe, to give a “gag and restraining order” to silence the dragon for this time period.

I gave this prophecy about Cuba and New Orleans on Sept. 21, 2010, during a staff meeting. The Lord showed me Cuba becoming a nation that we would begin to see differently. Then in 2011, Cuba (and Castro) would be favored.

Venezuela would go through a government shift! Then they will align with Iran and Russia over oil, and form a thick shadow of deception. This shadow of deception will attempt to overshadow Cuba. The shadow will rest on Cuba and the leaders of Cuba will align with this confederated network. This shadow will attempt to come in through the Gulf of Mexico and enter America, to vie for its control through the port of New Orleans.

China will take a stand on behalf of America’s future before America fully stands up (since China is gaining economic rule in America in the ports). New Orleans will have to establish the presence of God at its gate to withstand this, or else rioting will occur and the transfer of wealth will shift wrongly in the ports. (There have been reports for almost three years of spying subs in the Gulf.)

Our service on Sunday morning was just amazing. Following our Convergencia Hispana gathering on Friday and Saturday, the sound of the nations was released during our worship and the portals of revelation of heaven were opened. The Spirit of God began to declare as Brian Kooiman gave a tongue for interpretation.

“This is a season where you’re going higher than you ever imagined. I am taking you higher and higher and higher and higher; you have only begun to glimpse where I’m taking you. Raise your sights! Raise your eyes! Look at Me! I Am taking you higher and higher.

“There are certain things you can’t see where you presently are. Until you begin to become buoyant in faith with Me, you will not be able to see what I would have you see. So keep going higher, and you’ll get to a place where you can breathe only by the Spirit. I am taking My people to a place where they will require the oxygen of My Spirit to begin to move into the thoughts that I have. Vision is coming to you in a new place.”

Song of Spirit:

I know you’re tired, but come on higher anyway
I know the battle has been weary, but come up higher anyway
I am giving you an aerial view
I am giving you an aerial view
You are going to see things that you’ve never seen before
I am going to download strategies that you didn’t have before!

“Lift Your Eyes! You’ve looked at the roots and the trunk of the tree, but you’ve not seen what’s in the top of the tree. I have things hidden that have been captured there that only you can begin to gather, by coming higher. This is a day that you must ask Me to bring you into a new place. Some of you will fall from this high place, but do not fear. There will still be life in you, and you will rise again.”

Shatece McLeod then gave another tongue for interpretation:

“Today is the day I come with an injection of My holiness. The injection of My holiness will go into your blood veins in a new way, and it will activate the DNA inside where I have been received by you. Get ready for this injection, because all that receive this infusion will receive an open heaven.

“You will receive the authority to deal with the disturbance in the second airways. So get ready, get ready, get ready because when I, I AM, when I, I AM, comes upon the scene and you begin to fall upon Me and rest, you will see Me released to go before you.

“I am raising up a standard of righteousness among you this hour. Many of you have been confused of the purpose of My grace. My grace is not here to let you wallow in your short-comings and your fear and your lack. My grace is here to raise you up to the standard of My favor, of My excellence, of My purpose in this world. My grace is not for you to wallow in.

“Get out of your wallowing! Get out of your mud pit! Get up and stand! If you cannot stand today in this standard that I am raising, then you come and you lay your face at My altar, and you put down everything else. I will raise a new standard before you.

“Your shins are stuck in the mud and you’ve been striving to get through that hard place that you’ve been in. Part of that place is from your making; other parts are because the enemy has come in like a flood and muddied your path. But I am going to interject an anointing down through your feet that will cause you to now walk through that which has bogged you down. If you will change your mind from how you see My grace, then My grace will interject and fill you, energize and move you forward.”

May each of you be thankful for all that He is doing in your life!

Dr. Myles Munroe, internationally-known author, bible teacher, governmental consultant and leadership mentor, was one of nine passengers on a plane that crashed in Grand Bahama on Sunday afternoon, according to multiple news reports.

A Lear 36 executive jet left the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) for the Grand Bahama International Airport, the Department of Civil Aviation reports. The plane departed at 4:07 p.m. and carried nine people. The vessel crashed while making its landing approach, the Department of Civil Aviation said. 

Although it was originally reported that his daughter was on board, Grand Bahamas police are now reporting that his wife Ruth and his Bahamas Faith Ministries deputy, Richard Pinder, along with another pastor and his family were victims.

Myles Munroe’s ministry was not immediately available for comment.

Stay tuned to Charisma News for an update to this story. And please keep his family in your prayers.

Click here to read remembrances from leaders in the body of Christ.

Are you building walls of religion or towers of prayer? Your answer could denote the difference between a woe-filled fate and a fulfilled destiny.

Prophets obsessed by the fear of man or unholy desires will not fulfill God’s ultimate plan. We must be careful, then, not to prophesy according to the party line in order to establish and preserve popularity in ministry circuits. If we fall into this trap we find ourselves in danger of perverting the gift of God by building walls of religion.

True prophets are not always the most popular five-fold ministry gift on the block because they are bold enough to release a word of the Lord that deals with sin or that warns the local church of potentially unpleasant circumstances coming down the proverbial pike. In order to properly carry this mantle, genuine prophets must build towers of prayer.

False prophets build walls of religion that lead people astray with fabricated edification, misleading exhortation and counterfeit comfort. “These evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to reinforce it by covering it with whitewash! Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down” (Ezekiel 13:10-11, NLT).

Verily, verily, the whitewashed walls of religion are going to come tumbling down in a heap of self-righteous rubble and the false prophets are coming down right along with them. Let’s not forget that Jesus pronounced woe on the Pharisaical hypocrites, calling them whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean (Matthew 23:27).

You can’t whitewash sin, you can’t whitewash religion and you certainly can’t whitewash false prophecy. We must guard our hearts in order to maintain a pure prophetic flow and a life of prayer that will wash away the plans of the enemy instead of fortifying his deception by watering down the truth for the sake of acceptance.

True prophets may not always have the flare, charisma or appeal of their false twins, but who said they are supposed to? Jeremiah wasn’t the most popular prophet in his time, nor was Ezekiel in his day. John the Baptist had his head served up on a silver platter for warning the people of the looming decision between everlasting life and eternal hellfire. But they were the unadulterated mouthpieces of God. And so it should be.

One of the key disparities between the true and the false prophet is prayer. The Bible says the foolish prophets discussed in the 13th chapter of Ezekiel did not stand in the gap or make up a hedge for the house of Israel so that it could endure the battle. These diviners did not intercede in prayer to protect God’s people.

True prophets, by contrast, may not win any popularity contests in the local church, but they will sacrifice to make intercession. Instead of building walls of religion, they build towers of prayer: watchtowers in the spirit that allow them to see the assignments coming against the local church. They take that revelation and use it as spiritual mortar to make up a hedge in prayer.

You can’t separate a prophet from prayer any more than you can separate an evangelist from preaching the gospel. The very first time you ever see the word “prophet” in the Bible, it is connected to prayer. In the book of Genesis when Abimelech took Abraham’s wife, the Lord said, “Now restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live …” (Genesis 20:7, NKJV). So while not every intercessor is a prophet, every prophet is an intercessor.

Consider the prophets of old. They were often called watchmen. Scripture reveals three types of prophetic sentinels whose mission is to stand guard, keep watch and report what they see. We find Old Testament prophets on the walls, walking in the streets of the city and in the countryside.

“I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep not silent” (Isaiah 62:6). Watchmen on the walls are positioned to see far distances in the spirit and discern whether friend or foe is approaching. The watchman gives word to those in authority so they can decide whether to sound an alarm of welcome or an alarm of war. In today’s local church these watchmen help protect against enemy attacks. Every prophet is called to this post.

“‘They surround Jerusalem like watchmen surrounding a field, for my people have rebelled against me,’ says the Lord,” (Jeremiah 4:17, NLT). This relates to the prophets in the harvest fields. Prophets have a clear role in evangelism as watchmen who protect gospel-preaching efforts against the destructive work of principalities and powers that keep the lost from hearing the truth. Prophets should be deployed on local church outreaches and international missions to watch, guard, pull down and destroy opposition to the Good News.

“The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city” (Song of Solomon 3:3; 5:7, NIV). In today’s times, this watchman is assigned to stand guard over the Body of Christ to see emerging problems. This is a larger responsibility that carries with it a heavier prayer burden and greater implications for the Church at large.

The point is anyone who stands in the five-fold function of prophet should keep their spiritual binoculars around their neck and watch. But not just watch—watch and pray always. Anyone carrying a prophetic mantle needs to closely examine the fruit of his or her ministry. If we have prophesied peace unto popularity, then we need to repent. We need to trade in our whitewash for some substantive mortar and start building towers of prayer that will bring genuine edification, authentic exhortation and legitimate comfort to God’s people.

Let us not be foolish prophets who build our ministries on the sands of seduction for the sake of acceptance because Jehovah promises that rain will pour from the heavens, hailstones will come hurtling down and violent winds will burst forth against those whitewashed walls and expose them (Ezekiel 13:11-12).

Instead let us build our ministries on the Rock and prophesy the mind of Christ so that when the hurricanes of religion come against the local church and when Jezebel hurls her spiritual sleet at the sanctuary, and when the winds of witchcraft blow against the walls, the foundation of our ministries and our local churches will be fortified to stand and withstand in the day of battle.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Heart of the Prophetic. You can email Jennifer at @ or visit her website at .

I call them “baby dreams”—and these prophetic encounters have been a running theme in my life over the past decade. It seems God has been laboring with me to birth a new thing for nearly that long. Along the way, there was at least one Ishmael, a couple of near-abortions, and plenty of spiritual warfare. But God in His grace somehow worked all things together for good.

There were lessons in this series of prophetic dreams. When I put those principles into practice it caused what looked like a stillbirth to become a healthy baby. I still don’t have all the answers, but God has made one thing clear to me: Sometimes a small shift makes all the difference.

The First Dream: Surrendering My Will
The “baby dreams” started about eight years ago. I had a dream I was pregnant. I was not happy about it because it was going to turn my life upside down—but I knew I couldn’t do anything about it. I tried to pretend it wasn’t real, but ultimately pretending wasn’t an option. The lesson of this first prophetic dream was that I had to be like Mary, who gave her will over to the Lord despite the trouble it was going to cause her in the natural. I woke up and committed in my heart to let the Lord’s will be done in my life and moved ahead.

The Second Dream: Birthing a Man-Child
About a year after that prophetic encounter, I had a second “baby dream.” This time, I was in the hospital giving birth. When the baby was born, it was like a man-child. It had the appearance of a baby, but it had the features of a full-grown man. Immediately after the baby was born, he started running toward his goal. Those around me said, “It must be nice to birth a full-grown ministry. That’s what you can expect.”

The Third Dream: Making Adjustments
Fast-forward another five years. I was in a very uncomfortable position, having the weight of a church plant unexpectedly fall on my shoulders. I didn’t sign up to preach, pray, prophesy and administrate the whole church but that’s what was happening. I was at a crossroads, praying about whether I should exit or continue to bear the weight—and the spiritual warfare—of another man’s vision or move on.

I went to sleep and had another “baby dream.” This time I was pregnant. I still wasn’t thrilled. I was hungry and the only thing available was some strange combination of eggs and pepperoni. My chair was too low for me to comfortably type on my computer. I had to change into clothes I didn’t like. I was thinking about how I could possibly hit the gym with all of this going on. I thought about how I’d be 60 before this kid was grown.

In other words, I was doing a lot of natural reasoning. Eventually, I changed my clothes into something that wasn’t ideal but still wasn’t too bad. I ate the eggs for the protein and skipped the unhealthy pepperoni. I got a taller chair so I could type more comfortably. Then I woke up. I told one of my friends involved in the church plant about the dream, including the eggs and pepperoni. I had never heard of eggs and pepperoni as a dish—but it was one of her favorites. (Go figure. God wanted her to bear witness to the dream.)

From that dream I learned that I had to make sacrifices and adjustments to do the will of God. In other words, there would be some aspects of birthing this ministry that were uncomfortable, but there were ways to adjust to the circumstances and plow through the pain to get to the goal line of God’s ultimate will. At first, I thought it was a message to keep bearing the weight of the church plant. But when the church planter manifested with wrong motives, it became abundantly clear that his vision wasn’t my burden to bear and God released me. He actually used the experience to push me into what He really had in mind the whole time.

The Fourth Dream: Shifting Your Direction
In the last “baby dream,” I finally got the message—and it changed everything. I was nine months pregnant but the baby had stopped moving. The baby wasn’t kicking or rolling or showing any sign of life. (This is about how I felt after leaving the church plant.)

In the prophetic dream I thought the baby was dead and I panicked. Then, suddenly, I had the unction to shift the baby’s position with gentle pressure from my hand. (I later researched this and discovered there’s a name for it: the Diaphragmatic Release.) When I did, I could feel the baby kicking again. I knew all was well.

Here’s the lesson I took away from this dream, which connected with the previous baby dreams: Sometimes things look dead but you just have to reposition yourself for life. It doesn’t always take much. Just one gentle movement in the right direction can cause God to breathe on that thing again so you can birth it and begin nurturing what God has given you to steward.

If God has given you something to birth, it may be time to pull an Ezekiel and speak to those dry bones. It may be time to pull an Elijah and raise it from the dead. It may be time to walk away from the Ishmael, refuse to abort and just reposition yourself to receive what God intended all along. You could just be in the wrong place or in the wrong time or with the wrong people. When you decide to obey, when you decide to reposition yourself into God’s perfect plan, the baby he has given you to birth will thrive in His grace. 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.