Spirit-filled believers often hear teaching about spiritual warfare. They’re well aware that the enemy is alive and at work in the world.

But revivalist Isaiah Saldivar says this isn’t enough. “We need a fresh conviction in the body of Christ,” he says on the Revival Lifestyle podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. “There is an all-out war going on for the real estate of your mind. The enemy is at work in your mind. The biggest battleground the Christian will ever face is right here between your eyes.”

And believers need to know something else about Satan, Saldivar says. “The enemy is working to build fortresses in your mind. But see what you have to understand about the plans, the assignments, the contracts and the strongholds of the enemy is the enemy cannot build anywhere that he has not been given permission to build,” he says. “In order for the enemy to invade our lives, we must give him permission … Every demonic attack that you’re going through, every assignment in your life right now, is a result of letting him work in your life.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m done letting the enemy work in my life. I’m done letting the enemy work in my finances,” Saldivar says.

To hear more of Saldivar’s powerful teaching on spiritual warfare and how believers can commit what he calls “spiritual adultery,” listen to the entire podcast here.

Dr. Mark Rutland knows about leadership. And this means he also knows about people. As the former president of two universities and a New York Times’ bestselling author, he now teaches others how to lead with faith and wisdom.

“Every one of us has a tendency inside of us, a genetic tendency almost like the color of your eyes or the color of your hair, which predisposes us toward chaos or control,” Rutland says on The Leaders Notebook podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. “Chaos is where all the creativity happens, all the molecular fighting and going and exciting ideas. That’s where your salespeople are; they’re coming up with new ideas, creativity, high energy, molecular energy.

“On the control side, that’s where all your folks like accounting and legal are … that’s the reason that you have a high-octane salesman who sells 500 units a month, but everybody in accounting hates him, because they say he never turns his expense account in on time, or he gets addresses wrong on his on his sales orders,” Rutland says. Leaders, he says, must “preside over the tension between chaos and control. You’re like Ben Hur up in the chariot, and you’ve got these horses that are all wanting to run. But the problem is, they may not all be wanting to run at the same speed or in the same direction. And you have to get control of them and keep them together.

“So you have to say to the to the control people, ‘Look, I know this salesman is a pain in the neck sometimes. And he’s high chaos and causes a lot of problems, but he’s selling 500 units a month, and you’re not selling anything,’ Rutland says. “So at some point you have to say to them, ‘Calm down; put up with him; deal with it. Your job is to bring order out of the chaos.’

“Then at some point, you may have to say, ‘This chaos is not worth it to me. I’d rather hire two salesmen who will sell 250 units each and turn their expense accounts in on time [and get] their receipts in,” Rutland explains. “So the problem is that you move on this chaos-control continuum as the leader and you’re trying to make the decision of when do I tighten down? When do I move more toward control? And when do I loosen up and move more toward chaos?”

To hear more of Rutland’s wisdom on leadership in the chaos-control continuum, click here to listen to the entire podcast. {eoa}

Lead Pastors Preston and Becky Jones of Redeemed City Church in Yakima, Washington, have a desire to see people experience God’s power in their lives. And the only way to do that, they say, is to pray through, to “take the time necessary to reach breakthrough,” says Preston.

The two unpack the concept of breakthrough prayer on the latest episode of The Prayer Room podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. First, says Preston, “You’ve got to be willing to put your time in.”

Becky agrees. When you pray, “you have to begin to silence the voices and bring your mind and heart all the way in,” she says. “… waiting on Him and hearing the voice of God and allowing God just to do a work in you in the prayer room so you can get to that breakthrough.”

Preston explains that this type of prayer is more than saying grace at the dinner table or praying a quick bedtime prayer. “This is, “I cried to the Lord and He heard me. This is Psalm 61 … “Oh God, attend to my prayer. From the ends of the earth will I cry out … these are the prayers that get God’s attention,” he says.

When we pray perfunctory prayers, they don’t even hurt the enemy of our souls, Preston says. “He doesn’t mind the fact that you’re praying. I don’t think that he even cares that you’re praying a little bit—that doesn’t bother him,” he says. “But when people begin to get into places where they pray through, and they break through, because that’s where change happens … when we start shifting, when you start feeling that environmental shift because of your prayer, when you start feeling that lifestyle shift because of your prayer, that’s when the devil gets mad.”

To hear more of Preston and Becky Jones’ teaching on breakthrough prayer, listen to the entire podcast here.

In the wake of the recent murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer as well as the subsequent arrests and riots, Dr. Mike Stevens, founder and senior pastor of City Church in Huntersville, North Carolina has some strong words of advice and admonishment.

He shares these on his Straight Talk With Dr. Mike podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. After pointing out that society needs to hold police chiefs accountable, Stevens adds, “I think the spiritual leaders need to be held accountable.” With personal experience in his own area of Charlotte, North Carolina, in helping defuse riots and protests, he says, “If you are a pastor, white or black, no matter what denomination, what doctrine, what background you have, if you don’t feel a call of God to stand between the dead and the living, well, my friend, you probably not you should not be pastoring.

“I think that it’s enough to pray. It’s enough to have an eloquent speech,” Stevens says. “But after you have prayed on your bended knees, and after you’ve given your ‘Winston Churchill moment’ speech, it’s time to roll up your sleeves, pull up yourselves by your bootstraps and go down to the area, the epicenter, ground zero, where conflict and turmoil is.

“You know, some of our evangelical pastors get real quiet during times like these. I call them ‘virtual crickets,’ Stevens says. “When no one’s around, you make a whole lot of noise, a lot of podcasts, a lot of videos, a lot of YouTube sound bites, a lot of Facebook Live moments, Cash Apps and ‘Fill my church, play my B-3 organ, make the money, let’s have a praise the Lord time in the church.’ But when tension and turmoil hit, you’re quiet; very little is said.”

Stevens adds, “We need more boots on the ground: praying, marching, more proactive, preventative measures. It’s not a matter of if—it’s a matter of when this will happen again.”

To hear more of Stevens’ ideas for putting “boots on the ground” and helping achieve racial reconciliation, listen to the entire podcast here. {eoa}

During the COVID-19 pandemic, popular speaker and author Billie Jauss has one question for you to consider: In whom do I trust?

On the Start Small, Believe Big podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, Joss tells listeners she has struggled during this season with what information she should trust—and from whom. “If I’m on Facebook, and there are people posting things, I should know better than to believe things I read on Facebook sometimes. But of course, I’ll click on the story. I’ll look over the story. I’ll start reading it [and] panic will rise in my soul, fear, anger, distress, despair … the overwhelming feelings that I have [will] take my heart and my spirit and drag me down a path where I should have never allowed myself to go,” she says.

All this has moved Jauss to remember what she calls the “most trustworthy source that I have”—the Lord. “God is my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust,” she says. But she recognizes this may not keep people from experiencing fear in this difficult season. People ask her questions, she says, such as “‘What if I get the coronavirus? What if I get sick? What if I die? What if I lose my job?’

“I’m not saying some or all of that may not happen,” Jauss says. “But what I am saying is if any of that happens, God is with you. Jesus is right there by your side.”

To hear more of Jauss’ encouragement for believers during the pandemic and beyond, listen to this podcast. {eoa}

Dubb Alexander has a mission: to equip informational prophets to advance the kingdom in government and every sphere of culture. The founder of the School of Kingdom prophets, he’s passionate about three things: the kingdom, the prophetic and cultural reformation.

But what is the kingdom? Alexander defines it on his The Prophetic Company podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. “The kingdom, quite simply put, is the extension of the heart and the authority of God on earth from heaven, through you and me as kingdom prophets,” he says. “It’s our privilege to serve as the spokespersons for the agenda of God, which is the establishment of a heavenly culture here on earth.”

“God is looking for kingdom people to walk with presidents, CEOs, professors, entertainers and to communicate Father’s heart to them in such a way that they have the opportunity to align with the fullness of their identity, purpose and destiny, shaping culture to reflect the attributes of heaven,” Alexander explains. He adds, “We are still in desperate need for prophets whose primary call is to influence areas outside of the church prophets who know that they are called to government, called to business, to science, to technology.”

To hear more of Alexander’s vision for equipping prophetic people to advance the kingdom of God, click here.

Substance abuse and addiction are on the rise in our country, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. And Pastor Caleb McCall believes there’s only one answer.

McCall is not only a pastor but founder and executive director of Be the Bush Recovery Ministries, which includes Be the Bush Recovery Center for men and Miriam House for women in middle Tennessee. He knows lives can change and recovery is possible because he has seen God’s transforming power in his own life.

A former addict whose dependence led him into a life of spiraling substance abuse, selling drugs and crime, McCall walked into a church one day and found a pastor who got to know him and “poured into me,” McCall says. Eventually, the church paid for him to attend the Teen Challenge Program in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Here, he says, “I had an encounter with King Jesus. The Bible says in John 1:1, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’

“When you spend time in the Word, you are spending time with Jesus. … Jesus is the only thing that can change the addict,” McCall says. “Jesus is the only force in the universe that can take something and let it be born again and let it become a brand-new creation, one not associated with its past mistakes, its past way of thinking, its past way of living, its past way of doing things. Jesus is the only one who can save the addict.

“And we as the church, what do we have? … Nothing but Jesus,” McCall says. “If you’ve got anything extra besides Jesus, you might want to realign your church, because He’s the only thing that matters.”

To hear more of McCall’s inspiring testimony of addiction, recovery and freedom, listen to the entire podcast here. {eoa}

Most of us would agree that the year of 2020 has brought with it a series of interruptions to our normal lives. And Scripture instructs us that although we may make plans, God directs our steps (see Prov. 16:9).

Pastor Joshua Reyes, host of Legacy Podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, reminds us that God “has given us free will to do as we please. But … He often guides and directs [His children] to do certain things. Sometimes God completely disrupts what we were in the middle of doing so that His greater will could be accomplished. Sometimes we see it coming, and sometimes we don’t,” Reyes says. “Whether it’s for the purpose of correction, redirection or acceleration, we should be ready for God to interrupt our schedules and agendas.”

Reyes also urges us to expect the Lord’s interruptions. “Sometimes God interrupts our normal lives to supernaturally accelerate us and bless us … we should be ready for God to interrupt us,” he says. “He has great plans for us and always has something good in store for His children.

“Whatever changes have interrupted your life recently, seek the Lord and ask Him what He’s doing. Be obedient to whatever guidance He gives—and watch how amazingly things can shift. “

For more teaching from Reyes on divine interruptions and how to respond to them, listen to this podcast.

How the Enemy Keeps Us Divided

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: ‘Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down” (Rev. 12:10).

This verse uses the word kategeros, which is the Greek word for “accuser.” It is where we derive the English word “categories” from. We are operating in partnership with the devil when we categorize others and use the “us versus them” paradigm.

In the midst of injustice and racial unrest, we must have a solution that brings peace and wholeness to the hearts of our brothers and sisters. The No. 1 way the enemy fights this wholeness is with division. That division comes when we choose to “accuse” and categorize people groups for the actions of a few. When we let our bias be our blind guide, we are cooperating with the enemy of our souls.

Everyone has bias. Everyone. That’s not an indictment so much as a simple observation. The key is to invite people into our lives who will help us with our blind spots and call us up to something better. It does not matter your ethnicity; you have blind spots. That’s part of being human. Miles McPherson, author of The Third Option, puts it this way: “A blind spot doesn’t mean you don’t want to see something. It means you can’t see what you’re missing.” This is one of the reasons we are meant to live in community with one another. No one person can grow into their destiny alone.

Time to Grow Beyond Our Bias

It’s time to grow beyond our bias and defeat the evils of racism, bigotry and hate. It’s time to see clearly the enemy’s schemes and not be so unaware of how he seeks to divide us. It’s time we brought rest to the racial tension in the United States by refusing to operate in the “us or them” categorization game. It’s time to honor everyone we meet as one who carries the image of God in the very same way we do.

Anything less than honoring the image of God in each other will result in the dehumanization of our neighbor. Whenever you make a people group the enemy, you excuse yourself from the second-greatest commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” The devious part of this line of thinking is it makes “them” less than your “neighbor” and tricks you into devaluing them subconsciously.

At its core, the “us versus them” idea ignores the image of God inside “them” in order to dehumanize their person and excuse your hate. This must not be tolerated, and we need to hold one another accountable when we see it.

Don’t do the lazy thing of dehumanizing and degrading someone to excuse your bias; do the hard work of seeing the image of God in everyone—despite their poor behavior at times. I’m sure you would wish the same to be done for you.

It’s never us or them; it’s us for them.

Listen to episode 20 of my podcast on The Faith-Rest Life for more on this conversation.

My father died when I was 5 years old. I had no idea what life would be like after that. My parents were young and had just graduated high school when they had me. After graduation, buying a home and a car, and establishing their careers, my mom was working for the state and my father had a job with Ford Motors and was going to school at the same time. Having me was part of their American dream.

After my father passed away, the dynamics in our household changed drastically. There was no more happy in our household. Our home turned into one of anger and frustration. My mom was now a young widow, not yet 25 years old. We went through a lot. I found myself as a child living on edge. I begged for her love, attention and affection.

I realized that for all of my life, even up until this year, I was addicted to the chase of my mother’s love. Whenever I did something good, I looked for her approval. Whenever I thought I could say something or do something to make her happy, I would try. I have chased and chased for her love ever since my father died, well over 45 years ago now.

I went through mental, emotional and physical abuse living in my mother’s home growing up, but nothing that was done or said to me could ever stop me from wanting a mother’s love. I grew up even in my adult years thinking maybe if I changed myself, it would help make things better. And I admit, I have done some horrible things. I have done things to my mom and a whole lot of bad things to myself. Yet, throughout all of that, wanting a mother’s love is normal, right? No matter how many years would go by, nothing changed. When the trauma of my father’s death settled, this dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship would continue for years to come.

Now I am a grown woman with a 15-year-old son of my own. I realized when I was pregnant that I did not want this same toxic relationship with him. Nothing I have gone through in my life and no choices I have made in my lifetime are his fault. I wanted to give him a chance to have a healthy parent-child relationship with me. Thanks to Father God, that’s where we stand this day. I knew it was possible when I saw how God did it for my son and me. So why is this a problem between Mother and me?

I prayed, fasted and cast out demons to no success. It takes two to change a relationship. We all have free will, and all parties would have to be willing. I had already had an addiction gene from my father’s side of the family. So when Father God revealed I was addicted to the mental and emotional disappointment I would feel after chasing my mother’s love, I knew this was something I could not live the rest of my life doing to myself. After all, it became extremely visible to my son. When he spoke to me about this, I knew it was time for a drastic change on my part.

I had to pull away from this toxic relationship. I prayed and asked God to please give me a word, and I would obey. I was led by Holy Spirit to read Matthew 12:46-50:

While He was still speaking to the people, right then His mother and His brothers stood outside asking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside asking to speak with You.”

But He answered the man who told him, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven is My brother, and sister, and mother.”

This addiction was blocking my blessings; at the same time, my presence around my mother would frustrate her. It had me completely emotionally bound. What liberation it has been since I have prioritized my focus. Putting God first allowed me to learn and experience more of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Now I can move freely by His Spirit and not on the eggshells of people-pleasing concerning my mom. Now my wounds from my past can heal completely, and my perception has changed. I can see with much more clarity. I have been set free! “Therefore if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Walk in your freedom. Ask Father God what is holding you back, and He will answer your prayers. Live and walk in your freedom today. Whatever may be holding you back, allow God to loose its grip off of the blessings He has already predestined for you.

To hear Dr. Gina’s full teaching on this topic, click here. {eoa}

Gina R. Prince is an apostle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She has a podcast show called The Keys Against the Enemy on . Connect with Gina on Instagram and Twitter @ginarprince as well as Facebook at “The Keys Against the Enemy.” Visit her website at .