According to Hebrews 2:10, all things come from, to, and through Jesus. This has vast implications for how we should view the purpose of humanity and creation.

Consequently, Jesus is the metanarrative of the cosmos, not just the Gospels. Every person’s story ultimately points to the Jesus narrative. When Jesus said that He was “The way, the truth, and the life,” He was referring to what all of reality means in Him and how it is complete in Him (John 14:6).

The following are 10 reasons why Jesus is the story for everyone’s story:

1. The beginning of all things points to Jesus. The Genesis creation story correlates with Jesus as the word and logos of God who created all things (Gen. 1:1, John 1:1-3).

2. All truth emanates from Jesus. John 14:6 refers to Jesus as the truth. This is not just referring to Scripture, but all truth, including understanding the laws of physics, grammar, categories, mathematics, natural law, music, economics and so forth. Hence, everything in all creation ultimately points to Him.

3. Human history will be consummated in Jesus. The apostle Paul speaks about all things in heaven and on earth ultimately being united in Christ (Eph. 1:9-11). Consequently, God works all things according to the council of His will, which is Christ over all and in all.

4. Marriage speaks of Jesus and the church. The love Jesus has for His church is the metanarrative of marriage. Jesus receives the church as His bride, culminating in the marriage supper of the Lamb at the end of human history. Furthermore, after Paul gives instructions regarding marriage, he says it is referring to Christ and His church (Eph. 5:25-33, 1 Cor. 6:17, Rev. 19:6-9).

5. Every person’s story points to Jesus. According to Genesis 1:27, all people are image-bearers of God. According to Colossians 1:15, Jesus is the image of God. Hence, our whole life and purpose ultimately should image Jesus, (which is why we cannot understand anybody’s personal story and purpose until we interpret it in light of the life and redemption of Jesus.) Indeed, of Him, to Him and through Him are all things (Rom. 11:36).

6. All Scripture ultimately points to Jesus. In Luke 24:44-45, we see how the disciples could not comprehend the Scriptures until they understood them in light of Jesus. Consequently, proper biblical interpretation must begin and end with the story of Jesus. He is the metanarrative of Scripture through which all individual passages, chapters and books of the Bible should be interpreted.

7. The story of Israel is fulfilled in Jesus as Messiah. The Exodus story was fulfilled in Christ when He came out of Egypt (Matt. 2:13-15). The 40-year wilderness story was fulfilled in Jesus’ 40 days wilderness experience (Matt. 4:1-11). The brazen serpent lifted for healing the Jews bitten by venomous snakes was fulfilled in Christ (Num. 21:4-9, John 3:14-15). The manna God used to feed the Jews in the wilderness pointed to Jesus as the bread of life (John 6:32-35). The rock that dispensed water to sustain the Jews in the wilderness was Christ (1 Cor. 10:1-4). The Passover lamb pointed to Jesus (Ex. 12, John 1:29). The blood of the animal sacrifices in the Levitical system saw fulfillment in Jesus (Heb. 9:13-15). Jesus was the true tabernacle and/or temple of God (John 1:14, 2:19-21; Heb. 9:11, 10:19). The fulfillment of the Mosaic Law, the fulfillment of all the Jewish feasts, the scapegoat, (the Yom Kippur ritual described in the Torah (Lev. 16:8–10), the goat ritually burdened with the sins of the Jewish people (Matt.8:16-17), all pointed to Jesus as the bearer of sins (Matt. 5:17, John 7:37).

8. All natural light points to Jesus. Jesus said He was the light of the world. In the consummation of human history, we will not need the light of the sun or the moon anymore because the light of Jesus will be our light (John 1:9, 8:12; Rev. 22:5).

9. All-natural knowledge for logic and rational thinking comes from Jesus. John 1:4-5 speaks of His life being the light (illumination) of all men, not just saved men! Without Jesus’ light, humankind could not function or cohere in this world. (This is what I call “creation grace” as contrasted to “saving grace.”) Paul says that Jesus holds all things together in the universe (Col. 1:17, Heb. 1:3).

Consequently, Christians, as the body of Christ, have an even bigger advantage since they are organically and spiritually connected to Jesus as the mastermind of the universe (Eph. 1:22-23). Thus, the church should lead the way with the mind of Christ. This will result in problem-solving, inventions, creativity, leadership, management, composing music and art serving on the leading edge of the science, technology, educational spheres and more(1 Cor. 2:16).

10. The essence of the church should constitute a Jesus community. The word “Christian” means “little Christ.” This is a category used by the apostle Peter to describe Christ-followers (1 Pet. 4:16). Acts 1:1 shows that the Gospel of Luke was a narrative regarding what Jesus “began to do”. This implies that the church’s narrative is what Jesus “continues to do” in the world.

Jesus always had the church in mind, even in the Gospels when He said He was building His church and told His followers that the works He did they would also do after He went to the Father (Matt. 16:16-18, John 14:12). Since the church is called the “body of Christ,” Christians are the physical image of the ascended invisible Christ. This is why John said, “As He is, so are we in this world” (Eph.1:22-23, 1 John 4:17b).

The life and reality of the Lord Jesus are the highest ideals for life, truth and ethics. This is the summum bonum of the church, Israel, humanity and all creation. Christ is over all! Amen. {eoa}

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A Pakistani teenager has reportedly led his entire tribe to embrace Jesus, a remarkable story shared this week by Mission News Network.

A 17-year-old, going by the pseudonym “Rehan” for security reasons, was working as a waiter when he met Safdar, a truck driver and partner with a missions group called FMI.

Safdar gave Rehan an audio Bible after they met and the teen listened. Then, he started meeting with Safdar to talk about God and the Bible. Soon, he became a Christian and was baptized, according to MNN.

But that’s hardly the end of the story.

Rehan soon shared the gospel message with his family and community members. Considering the sweeping and intense persecution Christians face in Pakistan, these actions were dangerous and, without a doubt, courageous.

At first, Rehan’s parents, who were receptive to the gospel, were scared. But he reportedly forged on.

A man named Nehemiah, who works for FMI, explained that Rehan wasn’t dissuaded. He invited missionaries to minister to his tribe and share the gospel—and the results were incredible.

Rehan’s 60-person tribe reportedly stopped participating in Muslim prayer and turned toward Jesus.

“One evening, he gathered all the tribe’s members under one big tent. First, Rehan showed a movie about Jesus,” Nehemiah told MNN. “Then, an FMI partner shared a 15-minute devotion about new hope in Christ. That day, a 17-year-old boy led his whole tribe to the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now, the missions groups ask for prayer for this tribe and others in the region.

This story is especially remarkable, considering the hostile arena in which Rehan boldly shared the gospel. As Open Doors USA’s “2022 World Watch List” notes, Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a Christian. The nation ranks eighth on the list, with Islamic oppression serving as the primary form of persecution. {eoa}

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The mission of the enemy is to strategically access people’s lives—to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

What Satan offers may appear to be good and pleasurable in the natural, but his agenda will always be to steal, kill and destroy. He is always trying to enter your life in some way to perpetuate his evil intentions.

Here are five areas where Satan wants to steal from you and destroy you:

1. Your heart – “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23, KJV). The devil is aware that whatever affects your heart will affect your entire life. He knows the heart is the center of human living. Everything we do and say is a reflection of the condition of our hearts. Whatever has control over your heart will have control over your entire life. That is the reason we are to guard our hearts with all diligence. Allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in you. Don’t give the devil a foothold in your heart (Luke 10:27).

2. Your worries – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6, NIV). Worries take your heart away from God. It magnifies your problems and reduces God in your life. Worry produces fear, and the Word of God says God has not given us the spirit of fear. The Bible makes it clear that there is such a thing as the spirit of fear that comes from the devil. This spirit of fear is closely linked with things such as overthinking. Overthinking means fear and worries are the devil’s instrument. If he can get you to be anxious, he will suggest things that are sinful and inconsistent with the Word of God. We should expect that God will take care of us. Forget what tomorrow will look like (Matt. 6:33, Prov. 3:5-6).

3, Your thought life – There is an ongoing battle. We are in a continual spiritual war. That war is a contention for our lives through our thoughts. We need to bring every thought that exalts itself above the knowledge of Christ into captivity. The enemy can plant thoughts into our minds. Cast down your imagination (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

4. Your speech – Satan wants your communication to be corrupted. He loves it when you use vulgar language and he wants your speech to tear down others. With your mouth, you can bless someone or curse someone. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. We must awake to righteousness. Our thoughts and words must be edifying and give glory to God (1 Cor. 15:33).

5. Your body – You were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. Our bodies belong to God. They are means in which God intends to express His glory. Satan is desirous to use our bodies also. He wants us to be filthy so that the spirit of God will not be able to dwell in us (1 Cor. 6:18-20).

For more of this teaching, watch this video. {eoa}

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Note: This is part two of a two-part series. For part one, click here.

The return of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to meet Him at the “end of the age” has not yet happened. There are specific, end-times events yet to happen—in addition to the wars and rumors of wars mentioned in the previous article.

Paul’s eschatological teachings in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 speak of a wicked “man of sin” or the “lawless one,” who will sit as God in a rebuilt Jewish temple. He will perform all sorts of pretended miracles, deceptive signs and lying wonders through the activity and working of Satan. It is this end-times individual, characterized by lawlessness, who the letters of John speak of as the Antichrist, noting that “the spirit of the now already in the world” (1 John 4:3).

Do you see evidence of a “spirit of lawlessness” running rampant in our world? Everyone seems to do what is right in his own eyes, demanding “equity” and “equality” of outcome rather than opportunity.

Do you find this rapid advance of lawlessness alarming? Could it “fundamentally transform our country” and world for evil, bringing opposition, pressures and persecution on the “righteous” ones who still stand up for God and against unrighteousness?

When and How Will This Happen?

When? Believers do appear to be present on Earth during the satanic oppression when there will be “great tribulation” or severe social pressures and religious persecution. Our God is able to preserve His own during “the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Rev. 3:10, NKJV).

“For then will be great tribulation, such as has not happened since the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be. Unless those days were shortened, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened” (Matt. 24:21-22, MEV).

How? We are not told how this promise of shortened days of tribulation will be fulfilled. Will the actual number of predicted days of persecution be reduced? Or will the 24-hour days be shortened by the earth’s rotation from day to night being sped up, due to an unstable and wobbling planet (Isa. 24:19-21)? We do not know.

What we do know is “God did not appoint us [His church] to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). Believers will be rescued and removed from earth’s tribulations just before the Bowl judgments (Rev. 15:5–16:21), in the Day of the Lord’s wrath, in a great “harvest” by our Lord’s angels:

“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matt. 24:30-31)

But God is merciful and “not willing that any should perish.” He doesn’t want us speculating on when the “end of the age” will occur, but rather to watch for supernatural signs of His soon coming in redemption for the saints and His severe judgment on the unrighteous ones yet living on Earth.

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall be forever with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:15-18). {eoa}

Gary Curtis served in full-time ministry for 50 years, the last 27 years of which he was part of the pastoral staff of The Church on The Way, the Van Nuys’ California Foursquare church. Now retired, Gary continues to write a weekly blog at and frequent articles for digital and print platforms.

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For those believers who have lost all faith in the younger generation, you need to be tuned in to what is going on in the Huntington, West Virginia area right now.

As the catalyst, Nik Walker Ministries is helping to stir up a revival in one area of that state that has not only the locals brimming with excitement but also has many throughout the country buzzing, as people are being saved and baptized into the kingdom of Jesus by the hundreds.

Chuck Lawrence, lead pastor of Christ Temple Church in Huntington where nearly a month-long revival has shaken the city, says the Holy Spirit’s work, through Walker, is bringing hope to an area that has been decimated with hopelessness for decades.

“True revival brings hope, and it brings revitalization. I think that’s what you’re going to see here,” Lawrence said in an interview with Charisma News. “There’s going to be a vibrancy that’s going to come from this.

“This area has been inundated with a lack of hope. Drug addiction has been paramount and the suicide rates are unbelievable. Young people have run into one thing after another, and life has not brought them what they have hoped for. But the gospel of Jesus Christ can change all of that. I think what they are seeing is that there is hope for them. They sense God’s presence; it’s real to them. They’re not experiencing religion right now but relationship. It see it in their eyes, that hope has arrived. That’s what God is doing right now.”

Shawn Maynard, a former pastor at Christ Temple Church in Huntington and a friend of Lawrence’s who now lives in Florida, says more than 300 area high school and middle school students have given their lives over to Jesus in the three weeks since Walker arrived from his home base in Cleveland, Tennessee. Maynard says more than 500 baptisms have been performed at Christ Temple Church in that time as well.

Not only has Walker been preaching regularly at Christ Temple Church, but he has preached at several high schools—at the request of the students and the approval of the administration. In all, he has nine high schools set on his schedule, some at which he already has spoken.

Maynard says what is taking place in the Huntington area is “phenomenal” in a time when many schools across America are experiencing chaos and turmoil—including bitter disputes between parents and boards of education surrounding their children’s school curriculum and the toxic cultural atmosphere that is being spread.

“What is happening is unprecedented for such a depressed area,” says Maynard, a member of the Christian Life Missions Board at Charisma Media. “The conditions have been ripe here for revival for a long time.”

The 25-year-old Walker is also scheduled to preach at the pharmaceutical college at Marshall University in Huntington on Thursday. He preached in front of more than 500 people at Christ Temple Church on Wednesday in a special impromptu 1 p.m. service geared toward addiction recovery. Many recovery organizations heard about the service and called and requested to bring groups there, but many more added to the numbers when they caught wind of it.

For the most part, Maynard says, Walker’s presence and message has encountered little pushback at the schools. That in itself Maynard considers a miracle.

However, when Walker preached at Huntington High School recently, some students were upset that they were “forced” to attend the assembly, but that was unintentional, Maynard says.

“To my understanding, there were about 160 students that signed up for the assembly,” Maynard says. “In a couple of classrooms, home rooms, with a total of about 15 students, the teachers were under the misunderstanding that this was required, mandatory. The students asked if they could leave, but were told that their home rooms were locked and they couldn’t let them leave. So, the students were upset, and they actually were to stage a walkout on Wednesday.”

reported that the assembly drew the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU), a group of other organizations and parents who said such events at a high school is a clear violation of students’ civil rights.

“It is inappropriate and unconstitutional for the district to offer religious leaders unique access to preach and prostelytize students during school hours on school property,” the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the separation of church and state, said in a letter to the school district.

Maynard says that Huntington High School is the only place where complaints about Walker’s presence have originated. Maynard says Walker did not contact the schools to hold an assembly there. The requests came from students and the school administration approved the requests.

During the assemblies, students and their families are encouraged to join evening services at Christ Temple Church, where many individuals are finding Christ.

At first, Maynard says he was a bit skeptical himself about Walker’s efforts. But not anymore.

“Especially with a young preacher like that, you never can tell what’s going to happen,” Maynard says. “But I’m seeing some real fruit here. This is looking like the very tip of the iceberg of revival. It looks like this could break loose into something huge, and it’s something everyone should keep an eye on.” {eoa}

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

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) January employment report contained a bundle of surprises.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, nonfarm employment jumped 467 thousand, more than three times consensus pre-report estimates. Private employment increased 444 thousand nearly three times expectations. The unemployment rate increased from 3.9 % to 4.0 %. Average weekly hours decreased slightly from 34.7 to 34.5 hours per week. Average hourly earnings increased significantly from 5.0 % to 5.7 % per year.

After the report’s release, words such as blowout, blockbuster, stunning and huge were used by the press to describe the details. Many of the releases were prognosticating about how much the Fed would raise interest rates in March with such a strong economy. Other analysts were using words such as skeptical, ridiculous and unbelievable. What is happening? How could some of the most respected analysts and institutions be so wrong in their pre-report estimates?

BLS uses seasonally adjusted models for very good reason. Monthly variation in employment can be significant. Some of this variation is routinely due to holidays, the school year, normal weather patterns and a host of other factors. To accurately measure the strength of the economy and its labor market monthly, seasonal factors must be considered.

The BLS uses sophisticated ARIMA mathematical models to determine seasonal factors. At the end of every year, seasonal models and population estimates are updated and applied to its new estimates, beginning with the January report.

Total employment levels are used by BLS to estimate seasonal factors. The seasonal factors will mostly offset each other and are generally very small (less than 0.5 %) of monthly employment. But month to month changes to employment estimates can be large when new seasonal factors are incorporated.

For example, the new December 2021 seasonal factor added % to total employment in December but resulted in changes to the previously reported monthly estimate of 156 % (from 199k to 510k). For this report, most of the large increase in employment was the result of the updated seasonal models. Understanding the seasonal updating process provides some clarity to the January employment report.

The year 2021 and the start of 2022 are clearly times of great uncertainty. Last year we saw the alpha, delta and omicron variants of COVID-19. Many people swear by the vaccines, while other people swear at them. Some have lost their jobs due to their unvaccinated status and unwillingness to become vaccinated. Many small businesses are under stress due to past and sometimes present COVID restrictions.

Transitory inflation has become more long-lasting. Producer inflation is the highest ever recorded. Consumer inflation is near 40-year highs and increasing. Household budgets are being stretched tighter and tighter because of ever-increasing fuel, rent and food prices. Many items are still experiencing shortages.

We are in a spiritual war. The enemy is attempting to supplant biblical values and principles with his own anti-God agenda. There is a war in the media, the medical community, our educational system, our legal system, our political parties and the global political and economic system. The war is for the futures of our children and grandchildren, our democracy, our economic system, the church, our way of life and ultimately for hearts. This war is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces. While some may have despair, we have hope for we know who wins.

The uncertain and tumultuous times of today are the result of the current spiritual war. Clarity is obtained by seeking the kingdom of God first. When closeness to the Lord is our priority, we gain the perspective and spiritual insight to strategically resist the onslaughts of the enemy for ourselves and others. The Word of God lights our paths, and the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. We will have clarity in these uncertain times if we have the kingdom first, light our paths with the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into all the truth.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105, NASB 2020).

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth;” (John 16:13a).

As citizens in the kingdom of God, we were born for such a time as this. We have been empowered to walk in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, regardless of circumstances. We can introduce sinners and the lost to the King of Righteousness; to model peace in a world of turmoil; and to be a reservoir of inner joy during sadness and hurt.

We can make heaven celebrate as we bring the hurting and lost into the kingdom and introduce them to the King. Our hearts jump with joy when we see lawlessness, fear, anxiety, hopelessness and despair of the formerly lost replaced with new righteousness, peace and joy.

“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). {eoa}

Dr. James Russell is a professor of economics at Oral Roberts University.

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Is God good? We say, “Yes! Of course, He’s good,” until something happens that we disagree with and blame God for.

The other day a woman asked me on social media why did her husband die of cancer. I told her I was sorry for her loss and then simply said death entered the world through Adam and Eve, so we will all experience natural death at some point.

She said she understood that but didn’t understand why her husband wasn’t healed because she had faith that he would be.

The Wrong Question

This is a much deeper issue than could be worked out in a few words on social media. However, asking “Why God” is never the right question. Asking Him where do I go from here or what do You want me to do now are valid questions.

When we blame God for anything we have prayed for and hasn’t happened the way we want it to happen, and then shake our fists in His face and tell Him He messed up, we have stopped believing a core truth about God.

We have stopped believing God is good. And if He isn’t good, then where does that leave us? If we don’t believe He is good, then we won’t be fully surrendered to Him. That’s why I love the line in the song Goodness of God by Bethel Music. It says, “With my life laid down, I’m surrendered now. I give you everything ’cause your goodness is running after me.”

Foundational Lies

God’s plans are always for our good and not our disaster (Jer 29:11, NLT). God is the author and finisher of our stories. He has a plot twist for every time we find ourselves headed toward disaster. He will then use that situation to teach us something that we will never learn any other way.

Romans 8:28 (TPT) explains it this way: “We are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are His lovers who have been called to fulfill His designed purpose.”

The problem is we begin to believe lies. We believe God didn’t make the right decision and let someone we love die. We believe God doesn’t know how to fix things because we see that everything is a mess, so we want to step in to control things and make them happen the way we want them to happen.

The woman who lost her husband is going through a time of grief and questioning. She can come out of that without developing a stronghold that will keep her from following what God wants for her. Or if she lets the lie build into one of her core truths, it will become a stronghold because the evil one will make sure of that.

Spiritual Battle

We have to understand that evil is in this world. Evil is fighting against us. We are pawns in a galactic battle of the ages. It’s good against evil—a war that is being fought in the heavenlies and has consequences here on earth.

John 10:10 explains this. “A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!” The devil is the thief, and he has one mission. He wants to steal, kill and destroy our lives and our destinies in Christ.

His strategies will continue until he has people enslaved to him, especially good Christians. He fights hardest to keep us from being effective.

What is a Stronghold?

A stronghold can be something that takes root in our lives as an argument against God. It’s something we begin to believe because of circumstances or situations in our lives, but it is a lie.

This meaning is discussed in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV): “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Any argument anyone has against God is a lie because God is the highest authority. No argument will stand against Him. Still, many of us think we know better than God and refuse to follow what we know He wants us to do. When we are following what we think, feel or desire instead of what we know God wants, we are behaving like we know more than God. This becomes a stronghold if we don’t recognize it as a lie, address it and refute it.

False Mindsets

A stronghold is a false mindset that imprisons a part of us. It begins as a lie. It gains a foothold as we begin to feel it is helping us in some way. It develops into a mental stronghold we think we need to survive. We see it as protection, but it is becoming a prison that keeps us further from God.

How we think will affect what we do. This is where sugar addiction, overeating and binging come into play. We try to push thoughts out of our minds about incidents like emotional, verbal, sexual or physical abuse. These incidents may be the very root of the stronghold, which is taking us further away from God and His truth.

We push the thoughts away by overeating, drinking alcohol, taking both legal and illegal drugs to excess, watching pornography, gambling, over-spending, smoking, controlling, the constant drive to achieve or any myriad of other addictions.

Can Strongholds Be Broken?

God says strongholds must be broken. Many, though, are scared to even ask God to help them get to the core of what’s going on. We may think when the stronghold falls, we will fall apart. In reality, the stronghold must fall before God can begin to rebuild us from the foundation up.

God knows and will help us get to the root issue if we ask Him. We must allow Him to replace the lies we believe with His truth. God is good and wants more than anything to help us get to the root of our problem and destroy the stronghold.

We don’t break strongholds by self-effort. Only God can break strongholds. We have to learn how to rely completely on Him. This takes commitment, hard work and a desire to always keep Him as our main focus.

God is ready to set us free from the strongholds that have held us captive. It’s time for us to allow Him to help us rise victorious. {eoa}

Teresa Shields Parker is the author of six books and two study guides, including her No. 1 bestseller, Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds. Her sixth book, Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds, is live on Amazon. She blogs at . She is also a Christian weight loss coach (check out her coaching group at Overcomers Academy) and speaker. Don’t miss her podcast, Sweet Grace for Your Journey, available on CPN. This article first appeared on .

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We are living in one of the most tumultuous times I’ve ever experienced. Sickness, death, change, men’s hearts failing because of fear, doubt, unbelief, instability, and shakings are all around us. Generations are warring with other generations. This cultural change has brought devastation to families, cities, and nations. I hear the Lord saying, “Fear not!” His promises are true, and He does not change. He hasn’t changed His mind about you and your destiny. He is still going to bless you and make you a blessing to your generation.

There is a plot of the enemy to seduce this generation of believers from the foundation of faith in the promises of God. We must return to the ancient paths. Psalm 11:3 (AMP) asks, “If the foundations [of a godly society] are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” We cannot allow doubt and unbelief to rule in our hearts. We must fight for the truth of the Word. We must fight to see truth and righteousness prevail in the earth.

There is a fresh impartation of faith in the true and living God being released in the earth. Just as Sarah, the mother of nations, we must look within ourselves and judge God as faithful! The focus of faith is knowing in whom we believe. Faith is more than understanding a particular promise. Sarah’s journey teaches us that we must focus on the One behind the promise rather the promise itself. God is raising up modern-day Sarahs who will be contenders for faith in the promise giver.

God is releasing an army of women who will be a stabilizing force in these troubled times. Stability means you are secure in your position, not likely to fail or fall; you are steady, constant, and firm. Isaiah 33:6 says, “Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times.” There is a company of women who will be anointed with supernatural wisdom and knowledge that equip a generation to contend for the promise given to them. Woman of God, there is a clarion call going out in the earth for modern-day Sarahs to arise.

The company of women with the Sarah anointing will war according to the prophecies that are delivered to them until they receive the promise. God is anointing you with the power to unlock all the promises and destinies that He ordained from the beginning of time for you and your family. He is releasing courage and mandating you to secure your inheritance and pass the legacy of faith in God to your children and your children’s children.

Women are arising with legendary faith to believe God for the impossible. God will anoint these women with the Holy Ghost and power to demonstrate miracles and the mercy of God on a massive scale. Many women are being mantled with the spirit of might to accomplish some assignment for Jesus that will be nothing short of legendary.

God is awakening an army of women who will become mothers of the nations. They will break through natural and spiritual barrenness to conceive and bring forth His plans and purposes, just as Sarah did. This generation needs spiritual mothers. If we are to see the order of God established in the earth, it’s going to take apostolic mothering grace as well as the apostolic fathering grace.

Sarah had unshakable faith in an unshakable God. Modern-day Sarahs will believe God for the restoration of men and women as ones having dominion in the earth. These women will rule and reign in the earth, alongside and in partnership with men. Gender wars are destructive. We will see faith, tenacity, and the love of God demolish the ancient war between men and women in the earth.

We are in a season when God is enlarging our capacity to receive our inheritance. God had a determined destination for your life, and it’s called the wealthy place, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

God is empowering and equipping a company of modern-day Sarahs to step outside every box of insecurity, intimidation, and inferiority to make a global impact for His kingdom. These women will have vision to fight for the promises of God to be fulfilled in their lives as well as in the families of the earth. Jesus is redeeming lives from destruction. He is fulfilling promises and filling our mouths with laughter. He is redeeming time and restoring years lost. He is pouring out His mercy and lovingkindness upon His people. He is fulfilling dreams and giving many a second chance at life. Modern-day Sarahs, it is time to arise!

Becoming a Woman of Faith

Around four thousand years ago, the Lord appeared to a man named Abram and made a covenant with him. The Lord told him:

“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you” (Gen. 17:4-7).

But the promises in God’s covenant were not just about Abraham. Abraham’s wife, called Sarai when God first appeared to him, also had a vital role:

“As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her” (Gen. 17:15-16).

At the time God spoke these words to Abraham, Sarah was not a mother at all, let alone a mother of nations. God was calling her according to her destiny. He was calling her future into her present.

God does the same thing with you. What has God said about you? By what name does He call you, invoking your promised future to intersect your present reality? It doesn’t matter where you are now; God speaks to you from your future. God “calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Rom. 4:17). Before Sarah became a mother, the Lord called her a mother of nations, even as He began to orchestrate the events that would create the spiritual environment necessary for her nature to be changed.

Abraham and Sarah had taken their first step of faith when they obeyed God and left Abraham’s father’s house and their country, but their faith still had some growing to do. And God was taking them through the process of becoming the father and mother of faith.

God’s plan was to make nations and kings from Abraham and Sarah’s union. And the legacy of their union is one of faith. As a member of one of “the families of the earth” referenced in Genesis 12:3, you have inherited not only the promised blessing (which refers to Jesus) but also the legacy of faith. The calling of Abraham and Sarah was about family, about passing down the covenantal blessings of God from one generation to the next, about a heritage of faith and hope, about blessing all the nations of the earth through the faith of one couple.

In a time when more and more people are leaving the church and walking away from the faith, the Sarah anointing is critically important. It is time for women to rise up to infuse the next generation with hope so that faith may rise in their hearts again. The generations are crying out for the hope and faith that you have. It is a part of your spiritual legacy, and you need to pass it down to the generations coming after you, both natural and spiritual. {eoa}

The preceding is an excerpt from Michelle McClain-Walters’ The Sarah Anointing (Charisma House, 2022). For more information or to order the book, please visit .

Michelle McClain-Walters has traveled to more than 50 nations and has conducted schools of the prophet that have activated thousands in the art of hearing the voice of God. She is the author of The Prophetic Advantage and five books in the Women of Influence series. For many years she served as director of prayer ministry on the staff of Crusaders Church under the leadership of Apostle John Eckhardt. One of the house prophets and apostolic team leaders at Crusaders Church for many years, she now ministers out of Orlando, where she lives with her husband, Floyd Walters Jr.

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Many years ago, I was given a spiritual dream from God. In the dream, I was in my home and I could see through the walls. I saw a large, slimy snake outside. It was moving all around the house pounding on the walls.

The windows were shut so I thought, “Good. He can’t get in.” He continued to hit the walls though, pounding relentlessly, trying to find a way in. I then looked over to the front door and saw that the door was missing six inches from the bottom. Eventually, he did get in, making a huge mess everywhere. I was so scared I ran out of the house.

Once outside I thought, “What am I doing? I need to go back in.” I ran back into the house and then I woke up.

I immediately prayed, “Lord, what did all that mean?” He said to me, “The snake represents the devil. He’s trying to get into your life. I understood that God has a hedge around us, and everything that we own. However, we can break our own hedge by what we do.

Ecclesiastes 10:8 says, “Whoever breaks a hedge, a serpent will bite.” He showed me why the front door was cut off. The front door represents the first thing we should do in our life: Pray and read and spend time with God. He’s first. That was really clear. I had been missing that. I was reading and praying, but I wasn’t praying every day. I would miss here and there.

I however did go to the gym every day. One day I was at the gym and someone leaned against a weight rack, bumped a five-pound weight, and caused it to go flying through the air hitting and breaking my big toe. I had never suffered a broken bone before. I thought, “Lord, why did that happen to me? I’m praying. I’m a Christian. I trust you.”

I was complaining and the Lord said, “You have time to go to the gym every day, but you don’t have time to read and pray every day.” That really convicted me.

If you are thinking, “Isn’t this legalism?” No. It’s not. God tells us all throughout the Bible to read and pray.

Deuteronomy 6: 5-9 says, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

It’s not excessive to say that we should be reading and praying every day. There is a hedge around us, and God is the one who keeps that hedge secure (Read: Job 1:10; Matthew 21:33; Psalms 89:40).

We can also break our own hedge by disobeying God. I wasn’t praying and reading the Bible every day. I’ve since learned to keep God first, to pray, and to read, and by doing so, keep the enemy away. {eoa}

Bill Wiese is the author of New York Times best selling book, 23 Minutes In Hell, the story of his life-changing visit to hell in 1998. Bill has since authored six additional book titles, and continues to share his experience around the world. He and his wife Annette founded Soul Choice Ministries in 2006 and have dedicated their lives to reaching the unsaved. For more information about Bill Wiese and Soul Choice Ministries please visit us at: You can find more of Bill’s teachings at: Please tune into Bill Wiese’s podcast, “23 Minutes in Hell,” on the Charisma Podcast Network.

Note: Chris Reed’s teaching on divine healing begins at the 46:50 mark of this video.

MorningStar Ministries’ Chris Reed has a message for cessationists that don’t believe in the power of divine healing in today’s church: The reason you aren’t being healed is because you simply do not believe you can be healed.

“Many people do not believe divine healing is available today the way it was in the days of Jesus,” Reed says. “They interpret the word healing as something for the soul, or internal healing. But this scripture is clear. Matthew 8:17 says that, ‘to fulfill what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.”‘

“Healing is just as available through the atonement (the Cross) as salvation is.”

Exodus 15:26 reveals one of the eternal names of Jehovah God—Jehovah “Rapha,” which means the Lord is healer.

“If God ever ceases to be this, He cannot be the unchanging God,” Reed says. “Malachi 3:6 says, ‘For I am the Lord, I change not.’ Therefore, cessationists are wrong about healing ceasing. If God ceases to heal, He also ceases to be our peace, righteousness, provider, sacrifice, etc.

“The only hindrance to healing is your belief that there is a hindrance. Healing was always a result of Jesus’ compassion, not our worthiness, or righteousness, or lack thereof, no more than salvation is. Both healing and salvation are received in Christ’s atonement, nothing else.”

Reed says that these Scriptures, and Jesus’ divine healing, are especially pertinent in today’s world where the pandemic has wreaked havoc on our planet.

“I don’t think we ever want to undervalue what is happening in the earth right now with COVID,” Reed said. “I believe there is a new healing grace being released. I really believe God has called us to capture this. This was so much of the ministry of Jesus Christ. So much of His ministry was divine healing.” {eoa}

For the rest of this teaching, please watch this video, beginning at 51:30.

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

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