When the police officers in Pasco County, Florida, responded to a routine loitering call, they assumed it would be like any other situation they responded to countless times.

In a twist of kind-hearted events, the call turned to a display of generosity and following Jesus’ admonition to care for our neighbors in need (Luke 10:25-37).

In a Facebook video released by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, the two deputies responded to a loitering call at a gas station just north of Tampa. When they arrived, the body cam video showed a homeless man without shoes.

“You ain’t got shoes, my dude?” the deputy asks the man.

The video cuts, and the second deputy brings a plastic bag into view, plunking a pair of flip-flops on the hood of a car to present to the man.

“You good? You’ll be alright?” he confirms as the man slips on the shoes.

After issuing a warning not to trespass, the officers asks if the man is hungry.

“Let me see what I can do,” and as the video cuts to the officer exiting the gas station with words of thanks to the workers, he presents a hoagie to the man.

As the encounter concludes, the officers share with a bystander, “Can’t let a human being walk around with no shoes.”

“This is not an uncommon story for deputies. It’s not one we really talk about enough, but this is very common for the Pasco sheriff’s office,” Amanda Hunter, public information manager for the sheriff’s office, told Fox News. “We serve all citizens no matter their conditions or anything like that. The deputy mentioned in the video, ‘No human being should go without shoes.’ It was just a no-brainer. The deputy saw this person with no shoes and didn’t even think twice about heading to the store to grab him some.”

Hunter spoke of the “deep” desire to help people that prevails throughout their office.

“I can’t speak for every law enforcement officer across the country,” she says, “but I can tell you that an overwhelming majority of our people are in this job to help people. Whether that be on a call for service in a domestic violence situation or as you see in this video just helping someone out with a quick meal and some shoes. Deputies at our agency get involved in this career because they have a deep desire to help people.”

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God wants us to continually make good choices for our lives. So, He’s given us the Bible—His Word—as an instruction book to live by.

The thing is, once we know what it says, we’re responsible to do what it says. Because there’s never a time when it’s all right to do the wrong thing.

As we study God’s Word, we discover wisdom that applies to every area of our lives. And the best thing we can do is promptly obey God when He brings correction or direction to us. But there are times when we make bad choices anyway, and we experience the pain of our mistakes.

God is our Father, and just as earthly parents discipline their children to keep them from harm and help them see what is in their best interest, God sometimes requires us to face the consequences of our disobedience.

It’s important to understand that when God corrects us, it’s not because He’s mad at us but because He loves us. And if we follow His instructions, then we’re going to have a life that’s full of peace, joy and emotional stability.

God cares about every area of our lives, and He wants to be involved in everything we do. He wants to help us make good choices in how we dress, what we eat, who we hang out with, how we spend our money … about everything in our lives.

Even if you have a lot of areas where you need to change and grow, you don’t have to feel discouraged. As you become more deeply rooted in God’s love, it gets easier to do what He asks because you know He has your best interests at heart.

The question is: Do you value His opinion? Will you allow Him to continually work in your life?

When you really love Jesus, you’re committed to righteousness. You want to do the right thing because it’s right … because you love Him, not just to try to earn God’s love or a reward from Him.

The good news is we never have to worry about earning God’s love. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God loved us before we were born again and made the righteousness of God in Christ (see 2 Cor. 5:17, 21). He’ll always love us, and we don’t have to wonder, Am I doing enough?

The truth is you are not responsible for the results. God is responsible for that. Your responsibility is to keep doing the right thing all the time, no matter what.

It isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it. There are going to be times when we’d rather do the wrong thing. But we’ll just regret it later. We need to decide that no matter what our circumstances look like or how hard doing the right thing might be, we’re going to hold on to our joy because our joy is in Jesus.

Here’s a practical example of what I’m saying: Even if I lose my job and the car breaks down and my child comes home with a bad report from school and I’ve gained five pounds and nothing seems to be working out in my life … even then, I will “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4). Even then, I will do what is right before the Lord.

We don’t have to settle for letting our circumstances determine the level of our joy and peace. We can decide today: I’m going to continue doing right whether it’s easy or not, and I’m going to trust God to give me the grace to do it.

When you’re in the middle of hard times and you really don’t like your circumstances, the first place to run is God’s Word because it has the power to calm you down. Find scriptures about the strength we have in Christ, and then just rest in God’s presence and receive His strength. Whatever you need, just go to God’s Word.

I’ve seen God do amazing things in me and through me because I’ve let Him continually work in my life—and you can have that kind of relationship, too.

I encourage you to pray like this: “God, today I’m giving You permission to keep working in my life until You are finished doing all that You need to do. So when I start begging You to back off, please don’t. The truth is, I want to do whatever You are calling me to do.”

Your relationship with God can be an amazing journey that brings you peace, joy and contentment in every area of life, if you will simply choose to follow Him. {eoa}

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

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Many leaders use the term “house of prayer” to describe what they want their churches to become. Most of them mean they want more prayer to take place or prayer to be central to their ministries. What does the phrase mean biblically?

In Matthew 21, Jesus cast the money changers out of the temple. Jesus said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it ‘a den of thieves'” (v. 13). After this, Matthew records, “The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them” (v. 14). That is a picture of what a house of prayer really is.

While some may use the story to teach that we shouldn’t sell CDs and books in church, that’s probably not what Jesus was getting at. The money changers were charging exorbitant rates for sacrificial animals, implying that the animals brought by the people were not good enough. They had people over a barrel, keeping some from worshipping.

That’s why Jesus quoted Isaiah 56 when he threw out the money changers. Throughout the passage, outcasts of Hebrew society (eunuchs and foreigners) were able to freely worship in God’s temple: “‘Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'” (v. 7). A house of prayer is a place of acceptance—a church that will welcome everyone and shun no one. The house of prayer has no barriers to prevent people from seeking God.

That’s easier said than done. No matter how free from prejudice we may appear, we tend to feel more comfortable in churches with people who are like us—in the same socioeconomic class, race or season of life. Usually, we choose which church to attend by asking, “How is it going to meet my needs?” When that happens, we can’t help but give off “not-for-you” vibes to anyone who is different.

The only way for a church to overcome its exclusivity is for its people to learn about God’s heart and to look at things through His eyes. No one can understand the Father’s heart without prayer! A prayerless person or church cannot and will not see things through God’s eyes. It’s impossible to act in God’s love and power without knowing His heart.

As churches and individuals, we need to consistently increase our levels of prayer and allow Jesus to infuse His life and heart within us. Prayer causes us to draw more freely from the vine. Remember, Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without Me you can do nothing. … If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:5, 7).

Jonathan Graf explores the topic of what it means to be a house of prayer in the latest episode of Pray Beyond on Charisma Podcast Network. {eoa}

Jonathan Graf is the president of the Church Prayer Leaders Network, the publisher of Prayer Connect magazine and author of numerous books on prayer including Developing Dynamic Prayer in a Church.

The words of a father can be witty, cause side-splitting laughter and shower a world with endless opportunities for “dad jokes.”

But a new film, A Father’s Legacy, shows the importance of learning life’s lessons not only from early father figures, but by following the guidance of our heavenly Father’s words in the Bible.

A young man, played by Jason Mac, is on the run after an armed robbery. In his quest to learn more about his absent father and his attempt to outrun his past mistakes, he stumbles upon a stranger in the woods, played by Tobin Bell. The relationship that blossoms from their unlikely meeting causes the two to think it was more than a happy coincidence that they met.

“This film was born out of one of the most difficult times in my life,” says writer/director Jason Mac. “My father was my protector; a guardian I knew would always be there, and then one day he wasn’t. The loss forced me to look inside and really explore what it was to be a father. Too many young men have no male role model growing up, so I hope that becomes a lesson and learning from this film.”

Find more information about tickets for the one-night only screening June 17 here and watch the full film trailer here.

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Note: This is a prophetic word I released 2/29/20, and as we are approaching Father’s Day, I wanted to share this word for such a time.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:29).

Early this morning on this leap day, I had a prophetic dream that the Lord was restoring families of all races and quickening the family unit back to platform (visibility) for His glory. The transformation begins from the very foundation—encountering the manifest presence of God Himself. And as always, He is beginning this movement within the church family. (See 1 Pet. 4:17.)

In the dream, I had been preaching to a large sized multicultural crowd in a church. I was in the crowd moving about, getting ready to personally minister to all in attendance by the laying on of hands. Then suddenly, a shift happened—not by my doing—and as I looked behind me, the platform was filled with families, and they were kneeling on the platform, bent over and facedown, ready to receive. When the people lowered themselves in this posture, they seemed to be iridescent and glowing. I could not see their faces for they were bowed low, yet I could see the countless elevated because of the platform.

I had not instructed anyone to do this, but I turned and went to the platform to minister, thinking, Oh, we are doing this here, now. As I was about to individually lay hands on all the people, a Hispanic man, a “father,” came to me and petitioned I lay hands on him first, and the “fathers” (or head of households), as he had this knowledge that whatever was imparted would be immediately released over his family members also, including small children.

Next in the dream, I shifted to ministering in the basement of this church, again filled with families; not as many as above, but here, children were playing and families were still waiting for prayer. To my right was an Indian family, and to my left were two Middle Eastern women. I laid hands on the woman facing east, and to the right, sitting in a child-sized chair. She was a middle-aged woman with long dark hair. I prayed fire over her heart, and then I placed my hand on the middle of her back praying that “she would encounter the manifest presence of God.” It was then she just melted under His presence. This was the end of the dream.

The colors I recall in the dream were teal—representing refreshing, revelation and restoration—and cream—representing a cleansing and restoral to spiritual purity.

The Quickening Is Through the Spirit of Prophecy

God is going to bring refreshing and restoration as the church hears the message and receives divine revelation. What is the message, and what is the divine revelation? The message is Jesus, and knowing Jesus is the message. “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [His life and teaching are the heart of prophecy]” (Rev. 19:10b, AMP).

For the rest of this prophetic word, . {eoa}

Amy Sutherland is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is the founder of Ablaze Global Productions, a ministry-production company formed from her dual call to minister to the church and the unreached around the globe. Investing years in ministry and the entertainment industry she has had the opportunity to develop her giftings in a unique way for such as time as this. From award-winning actress and producer to speaking and ministering prophetically worldwide, she desires to awaken and make ready a fiery bride for her King. Amy serves the body globally with prophetic words, insights, training and encouragement, though she specifically ministers to leaders.

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Even under pressure from others to cave in the face of adversity and facing the volatile comments of social media trolls, Friends of Zion Heritage Center founder Mike Evans clings to the purpose God gave him when he founded the organization in 2015. His mandate to support Israel, however, started long before then.

“I’ll never support stop supporting the nation of Israel; it’s my life call; I’ve done it for 50 years,” Evans says. “I’m not going to stop, but I will not compromise my beliefs.”

In recent days, Friends of Zion has faced severe persecution, with its Facebook page dedicated to prayer for Israel being completely shut down despite efforts to negotiate with the social media giant.

Evans says in response, “There’s a biblical basis to what I’m doing. We’re not stopping our support for the nation of Israel, but I will stand true to the Word of God.”

The new government with now Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the helm does not want to have a biblical worldview, Evans says. “They reject the Bible, and they’re rejecting God.”

If people compromise their beliefs, he adds, then “what value does it have?”

And even in the face of standing for an “unpopular” belief that has “created a lot of enemies,” Evans declares he will continue to do what God has called him to do.

Watch this video for more on how Evans is fighting against the antisemitic attacks and defending Israel.

Churches across America are in a battle for survival.

Some churches are thriving, but most are only surviving. Some data indicates 3 out of 5 churches will close in the next five years.

George Barna has published a report called The Future of Missions.

Dr. Paul Chitwood, president of the International Mission Board, wrote the preface. He begins by clearly stating some grim facts.

—Church attendance and the number of people who identify themselves as Christians are in sharp decline.

— Christians are not as involved in church as their parents were.

— Nearly half of young adults and young people are feeling increasingly uneasy about witnessing. Millennials ignore the command to go and make disciples.

— Christianity is being marginalized, while consumerism and self-fulfillment are today’s top goals.

This data has the church on its heels. Twelve months ago, the church gurus focused on improving the livestream as the key to maintaining members and remaining strong.

But the most recent data shows that COVID-19 brought in a shift of lifestyle and a new perspective about how people viewed the church.

Pastor Mark Clark says, “We have to recognize that attitudes toward the church have changed.

These days, many view the church as anti-gay, judgmental, too political, racist, and hypocritical.

Those are probably the top things that the outside, the post-Christian world, says about the church (and many within the church who choose to leave). The church has to be able to speak into these things.”

How can the church recover from such a bad reputation?

For a large percentage of society, the church was once the light of the community.

That is no longer true.

For months we heard that livestream is the new foyer. Once the churches reopened, the church experts were advising churches to up their game with digital content.

The livestream was the lifejacket for the church. Many pastors believed that livestream was the new church foyer. But hold on. The foyer moved again.

Swallow the Blue Pill

The blue pill is shining acts of kindness and reaching out to the community. I love it and agree. Serving others is a great idea.

Can serving others save the reputation of the local church? I’m not sure, but it’s a great place to start.

I love to say, “some can only be reached by being served.”

Who does not like being served? Who says no to random acts of kindness?

I came across this story a few months ago.

A Rector Who Repairs Bikes

Robbie Pruitt is an assistant rector at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Leesburg, Virginia. He is also the subject of a unique profile in The Washington Post.

Someone stole his mountain bike off the rack of his Honda Odyssey last September. He realized that the thief might have stolen the bike because they’re in short supply during the pandemic.

So, Pruitt, who has been riding and repairing bikes since he was a child, announced that he would fix anyone’s bicycle free of charge. He also said he was accepting unwanted bikes, which he would improve and donate to people in need.

By the end of the year, he had repaired more than 140 bicycles, donating 60% of them and returning the rest to their owners. He primarily focuses on supporting children and families who are struggling.

Pruitt says, “You’re certainly providing a service, but it’s not the bikes. It’s the relationships in the community. It’s the impact you can make with people.”

Whose bike will you repair today?

Churches Step Up

In 2020, Elevation Church in North Carolina logged 110,000 volunteer hours with its city outreaches.

Churches in many cities are stepping up their game.

LifeBridge Christian Center in Longview, Texas, recently reached out to its community with multiple programs to serve others. The church branded its outreach “My City, My Responsibility.”

LifeBridge cooked for first responders, delivered food, cleaned city parks, visited skate parks, supplied food for kids at parks, cleaned flower beds at local schools and purchased items for foster kids.

This is nothing short of remarkable.

Churches all across America are doing fantastic work.

Is community outreach the answer for the struggling church? Maybe and maybe not.

One thing is for sure—where people serve, no one loses. {eoa}

This post first appeared here.

Thomas McDaniels is a pastor and writer. He has written for and currently is a contributing writer for Fox News. He is also the founder of and the Longview Dream Center in Longview, Texas.

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Matthew Lilley’s passion for God’s presence bleeds over into everything he does: speaking, writing, podcast hosting and his ministry, Presence Pioneers. But when he can share that passion with others, he knows he’s fulfilling the calling God first put on his heart as a teenager.

A few years ago, Lilley had an experience reminiscent of Paul and Silas’ ministry with the jailer in Acts 16:25-40, where the man and all his household were saved. It all began with 100 hours straight of worship and prayer that Presence Pioneers set out to do in a low-income neighborhood in Greenville, North Carolina. He shares the story on a recent episode of Greenelines on the Charisma Podcast Network.

“We gave away free food, free hot dogs, had ministry teams going out into the neighborhoods, knocking on doors, sharing the gospel with people, offering to pray with people,” Lilley explains. “And there was a couple who came over to the tent to get some free hot dogs. As they’re standing in line, someone from our team goes and talks to them, shares Jesus with them, they get saved on the spot.”

The next day, Lilley says, his team discovered the couple lived right across the street from their outreach tent, so they went over to visit them. “Come to find out, there’s about three or four generations all living together in this house,” he says. “And they’re talking to this great-grandma who’s in a wheelchair … And she’s a believer, and she’s been praying for her family to come to Jesus. And so she was excited that this couple had accepted Jesus. But she said there were others in her family who still hadn’t. And so they invited those in the family who were there.

“At the time, seven or eight people … come into the living room,” Lilley continues. “They shared the gospel with them. They said, ‘Hey, your grandma’s been praying for you. Would you like to follow Jesus?’ And all of them who were in the house got down on their knees and put their faith in Jesus on the spot.”

But the story gets bigger. To hear how God turned this Acts 16 message into a media miracle, listen to the entire episode of Greenelines here, and be sure to subscribe to Greenelines on your favorite podcast platform. You’ll also find the rest of the story in Lilley’s new book, David’s Tabernacle: How God’s Presence Changes Everything, available wherever fine books are sold. Check out Lilley’s own podcast, Presence Pioneers, also on the Charisma Podcast Network. {eoa}

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Standing in the gap is not for the faint of heart. You may feel like you take more than your fair share of hits.

You may grow weary at times.

But I have prophetic insight for intercessors like you. Watch this, and it will lift you up!

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God’s heart is not only for those who passionately serve Him. He is just as passionate about those who are lost. Sometimes we forget that when we are under attack.

I did when the Lord told me recently to “Pray for the witch!”

In a dream recently the Lord not only told me, but He also showed me I was to pray for the witch who had leveled witchcraft against me.

Mind you, I was already praying that her efforts would be bound and her words cast down, but I have to admit, I wasn’t praying for her.

As leader for the global intercessory team , launched by my friend Kim Potter and I, we have been praying for God to raise up at least 10 people in each city who will stand and intercede to see their city and its people saved. Since it began almost a year ago, we have been joined by thousands who are faithfully praying for their city and our nation!

Yet as this group of committed intercessors has grown, so has the warfare. Over the last few months, Potter and I have both experienced very bizarre attacks against us physically, financially and emotionally. And they just keep coming.

Sound familiar? No doubt! For many are under such attack as witchcraft has been unleashed against us.

As the attacks continued, a few weeks ago we sent out an alert so others could pray for us. A prayer partner approached to say they believed the attacks were witchcraft. We agreed. They had all the signs, and so we began to pray accordingly.

We prayed to bind, uproot and stop the curses. But I had to admit, I wasn’t praying for the individual(s) behind them … until now.

One morning as I hovered in that place between awake and asleep, I had a very vivid dream. I was in a room with two other people, an intercessor and a woman who stood in the opposite corner of the room. She was about my age and was chanting against me. I began to bind her word curses.

She looked at me in surprise. “I’m not a witch,” she insisted. “This isn’t witchcraft.”

As she continued, I started to walk across the room toward her casting down her words by the blood and name of Jesus until I stood almost in front of her. Next, I stretched my arms out sideways, as if to catch or block her words, and continued to bind them along with her actions and activity.

As I did, suddenly the Lord began to show me part of the woman’s past. I saw her as a child dressed in overly modest, outdated and strange clothing that would have made her an outcast. In another scene I saw her at the swimming pool with her parents, again in a strange kind of homemade swimsuit tied up to her neck that would have made her an object of ridicule with other kids.

I had other peeks into her life where she had been attacked and humiliated because of the rigid rules under which she had been raised that had made her “different.” The witch was a woman wounded in spirit who had turned to witchcraft to gain influence and recognition.

Standing in front of her as I continued to pray, she again insisted she was not a witch. I then understood that she honestly had no clue that she was under the control of the demonic and that her manipulation and word curses were indeed witchcraft.

But as I continued to pray, she became enraged. She may not have known what was going on, but the demon sure did.

Prior to this insightful dream, although I had prayed regarding the attacks and the witchcraft against my friend and me, I had not prayed for those leveling it against us. From this dream, it was clear that the Holy Spirit was revealing how He saw this woman.

He saw her as a wounded lamb that needed rescue.

Note: Not all practicing witchcraft are as this woman. She represented the many who are deceived. They are using “prayers” and curses unwittingly in their determination to manipulate, control and gain access over others. Yet there are just as many who practice witchcraft knowingly and with intention, those who have dedicated their hearts and minds to Satan. Two different groups entirely.

As witchcraft against the saints is on the rise, may we remember that He will leave the 99 to rescue the one. The dream was to let me know we are to pray for the witch, for some can be pulled back into the light.

Prophets and intercessors have been taking a beating of late. And no wonder. We are over the target and dropping prayer bombs and information that are hitting the enemy hard.

Witchcraft and spiritual battles have increased exponentially to weary the saints. It is intended to stop our prayers and make us focus on the attack against us. Its intent is to force us to take our hands off the wheel in other areas of prayer.

While we need to be wise and bind the spirit of witchcraft, we need to also pray for those who have been deceived and are being used as instruments of darkness. Many don’t realize it. It was clear this woman thought she was doing good. She didn’t realize she was deceived and used. She was on the wrong side.

Let us remember that God’s heart is for the lost. We are to pray for those who are using their words and “prayers” to manipulate and control, who are caught up in deception but whose hearts can still be reached.

May we use wisdom, and may we not find ourselves doing the same. {eoa}

Karen Hardin is a literary agent and writer. She is the author of Infected: How to Stop the Global Spread of Rage, Deception and Insanity. Her work has been published in USA Today, World Net Daily, Intercessors for America, Charisma, and more. She is also the co-founder of the City-by-City prayer movement. For additional information go to: or .

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