My dear friend Audrey is a prayer warrior—the War Room, prayer-closet battle-type of warrior. She spends time every day in prayer for her family, for her friends, for the afflicted and broken, for the desperate and hopeless and whatever else is on her heart. We were talking about how to pray for someone going through something difficult. When someone tells you something that leaves you flabbergasted and you are at a loss for words, or for when you’re praying for someone who has made terrible decisions, it can be hard to express your prayers and petitions.

I shared with her that I was finding it difficult to find the right words to pray for someone in my life because I was intensely discouraged. She told me that in those times she thinks of the person at the moment they accept and surrender to Christ. She talked about how it helps her attitude and her heart to envision that glorious revelation in their lives. Soon, I got the chance to act on this advice.

This past year, someone close to me was in a situation I didn’t agree with or approve of. I found myself trying to balance what I should say and how I should say it. I tend to be harsh with people I expect more from, and I didn’t want anything I did to damage my relationship with this person.

I began praying for her in the way Audrey advised me, and immediately, I felt the Lord telling me, “Kandi, your love for them must outweigh your judgment of them.” This profoundly affected me because I can tend to get on my soapbox, which can be perceived as holier-than-thou—the exact opposite of what I want to do. It is so easy to be overzealous and judgmental, especially when you see others going through the same things you have gone through yourself. If you’re anything like me in this, our intention is to protect them, but it can also become a pride issue, which affects our prayer life. It is not always about being right or wrong. It’s about reaching others, which only comes from us truly loving others.

Once I made the switch, I felt my attitude changing. It altered the way I talked about praying for the situation when I was asking for others to help me intercede. It changed the way I saw myself. Having a healthy attitude toward prayer dramatically changes it.

When you have a group of people you are going through the Bible with, you have a marvelous platform for prayer. It’s one of the most important parts of your meetings. Each week, you should be talking about any requests that need to be prayed for. Don’t spend your entire time taking prayer requests, but make an effort to ask about pressing needs and then pray for them right then. Then, follow up with each other throughout the week to encourage one another and get updates. If additional requests come up during the week, text or email the group and ask for prayer.

As you meet over the course of a year, you will encounter and cover so many requests with each other: anything from sickness to death, travel, work, family, children, church, divorce, drugs, sin, loss and the list goes on. You will also celebrate praises together when God answers.

I recently realized something in my quiet time, and it involves prayer. You can be doing all the right things and still suffer in life. You can be in a discipleship group, praying, memorizing Scripture and reading God’s Word every day, and that doesn’t exclude you from pain or mean that God will answer your requests in the way you want. Reading in Job, I journaled on Job 1:5 (CSB), which says, “Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts.’ This was Job’s regular practice” (emphasis mine).

Job was a man of integrity who feared God and turned away from evil. He prayed to God regularly and interceded for his children, yet none of that excluded him from experiencing some of life’s worst tragedies. He had a regular practice and an inner resolve to follow God. His faith was remarkable, and in all he endured he didn’t blame God or sin.

Just because we are making disciples and doing everything we can to know God more and more and to obey Him, we will still go through hard and difficult situations. God may not answer our prayers in the way we want. However, we can praise Him through it. We, along with the women in our groups, can journey together and be there for each other. It’s much better to journey together through the joyous times and through the difficult ones.

Bathe your friends and your meetings in prayer, and do so with the understanding that God is the one in control. A healthy attitude and approach toward prayer is one of the foundational things to prioritize as you launch discipleship groups of your own. {eoa}

Excerpted with permission from Disciple Her by Kandi Gallaty. Copyright 2019, B&H Publishing Group.

Kandi Gallaty is a pastor’s wife, a mother of two precious boys (Rig and Ryder), a speaker and a writer who is devoted to making disciples by cultivating a passion in women for God’s Word. Her first book is Disciple Her: Using the Word, Work & Wonder of God to Invest in Women. She and her husband, Robby, coauthored Foundations, and together they lead Replicate, a ministry that educates, equips and empowers believers to make disciples who make disciples. Kandi and her family live outside of Nashville, Tennessee, and serve at their church, Long Hollow Baptist Church.

The Bible teaches us that true prophecy edifies the church and also exalts the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12:3-7 and 14:3-4). However, where there are true prophetic gifts, there are also counterfeits and/or the wrong use of God-given gifts. For example, in the Scriptures we see that the prophet Balaam tried to use his gift for financial gain (Num. 22:21-39). We see in this narrative of Balaam, that even though his motives weren’t godly, he still had a bona fide prophetic gift.

The bottom line is, all prophetic gifts have to be framed by the intent, the motives and ultimate purpose of the Word of God. As someone who has participated in prophetic ministry since the early 1980s, I’ve seen this gift used for both edification and manipulation.

Contrasts Between Prophetic Edification and Manipulation

1. Prophetic edification benefits the church; manipulation benefits only the prophet (1 Cor. 14:4).

2. Prophetic edification exalts the Lord Jesus; manipulation exalts the one giving the prophetic word (1 Cor. 12:3).

3. Prophetic edification advances God’s kingdom; manipulation advances the ministry of the prophet (Matt. 6:33).

4. Prophetic edification advances the vision of the church; manipulation advances the financial provision of the prophet (Num. 22, Rev. 2:14).

5. Prophetic edification points people to the vision of the church; manipulation draws people away from the church and toward the prophet (Acts 20:30).

6. Prophetic edification builds the spirit-man; manipulation entices unresolved issues in the emotions of the hearer (Eph. 5:18-19).

7. Prophetic edification builds discernment; manipulation takes advantage of naivete in the believer (Prov. 1:2-4).

8. Prophetic edification is motivated by God’s agenda; manipulation is motivated by the prophet’s agenda (1 Kings 22, Jer. 23).

9. Prophetic edification is accountable to spiritual authority; manipulation is accountable to no one (1 ).

10. Prophetic edification is built upon a correct handling of the Scriptures; manipulation is built upon a distortion of the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16,17).

11. Prophetic edification gives us great faith in God; manipulation gives us great faith in the prophet (John 7:18).

12. Prophetic edification emanates from the counsel of the Lord; manipulation comes from the imagination of the prophet (Jer. 23).

14. Prophetic edification expresses the heart and mind of God; manipulation expresses the desires of the prophet (Jer. 7:24).

15. Prophetic edification speaks the truth in love; manipulation flatters for personal gain (2 Pet. 2:18).

16. Prophetic edification helps mature people in the church; manipulation eventually drives people out of the church (Acts 15:32).

17. Prophetic edification motivates people to seek the Lord; manipulation motivates people to seek the prophet (Isa. 55:6-7).

18. Prophetic edification implores people to confirm the prophetic word; manipulation scares people into being led by their word (2 Cor. 13:1).

19. Prophetic edification encourages humility; manipulation encourages selfish ambition (Isa. 57:15, Phil. 2:1-12).

19. Prophetic edification seeks the honor of God alone; manipulation motivates many to glory in men (John 7:18).

20. Prophetic edification has an eternal effect; manipulation has a temporary effect (1 Pet. 1:25).

21. Prophetic edification builds up the hearer; manipulation takes advantage of the hearer (Eph. 4:29).

In conclusion, may the Lord continue to increase the accuracy, the influence and the conformity of prophetic people to the will of God.

We can say that there are two types of revelation: 1) general revelation, which includes everything God has communicated about Himself, to every person, at all times, everywhere, and 2) special revelation, which is made up of God’s communications to certain individuals at specific times.

Revelation discloses a portion of the mind of God in the now. Manifestation is the tangible and visible proof of that revelation. Revelation and manifestation are interdependent, meaning there is no revelation without spiritual manifestation, and vice versa. To operate on the earth as Jesus did, we must have both.

The spiritual reality you experience in the invisible realm must manifest itself in the physical realm and impact the natural world.

From Supernatural to Physical

In saying that revelation is the requirement for demonstrating the power of God, I emphasize that mere information and fallen knowledge do not transform people. The things that fail to produce revelation do not allow change in the individual because the power of the Holy Spirit does not manifest inside the person. However, as we will see, every invisible truth can manifest from the supernatural to the physical and reach our five physical senses through revelation.

Most of the supernatural manifestations we have seen in the church up to now are the result of God’s sovereignty, and not because we have received the revelation to demonstrate that power. I believe that as long as the church lacks revelation, we will not see the demonstrations of the Spirit or the true power of God that are available to us. We need revelation of the biblical knowledge we have gained, of the logos Word and the theology we know. This is why the Holy Spirit was sent to us—to reveal those truths and bring visible manifestations of the power of God to the earth.

Revelation of the Word is the place where the Holy Spirit manifests supernatural demonstrations of power.

Have You Let God Use You?

We need to truly understand that what sets apart the believers who manifest the power of God from those who don’t is revelation. Many people embrace supernatural truths such as revival, anointing, the miracles of the Holy Spirit, deliverance and the gifts, but they don’t manifest them because they don’t know how. Our generation is desperate not only to hear a message, but also to see the power of God demonstrated. When a church makes excuses for not manifesting His power, it gives birth to believers who have a passive faith. That is why there are so many children of God today who compromise the truth and are more concerned about pleasing people than about knowing Him through the manifestations of His Holy Spirit. My question is, have you let God use you to demonstrate His power—to make a blind person see or a deaf person hear?

The following are some ways in which revelation leads to manifestation:

• Revelation loosens spiritual activity. A person’s level of revelation can be measured by the spiritual activity they manifest. This is known as the “mantle of revelation,” which God gives to every one of His ministers. When someone carries revelation, they provoke spiritual activity that manifests the presence of God to others. The enemy knows if you are carrying revelation, and he will attack you, sometimes even physically, to stop the growth of that revelation and its manifestation.
• Revelation stimulates your thoughts. When a child of God carries revelation of the Holy Spirit, this is manifested in an increase of their mental abilities.
• Revelation transforms people. If you are not being transformed, it is because you are receiving only information and not revelation.
• Revelation accelerates the growth of the people of God. Revelation produces so much acceleration in the natural that it activates us to walk in the supernatural. It takes us back to our original state as human beings, when God brought Adam to life with the breath of His Spirit. Every time revelation comes into our lives by the impartation of the Holy Spirit, acceleration will manifest in every area of our being.

Operate in God’s Power!

Jesus promised His disciples a higher level of knowledge and power when He said to them, “But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven” (Luke 24:49b, NLT). The New King James Version reads, “… until you are endued with power from on high.” In Greek, the word for “fills” or “endued” is enduo, which also means to be “clothed” with power, including abilities and knowledge.

On the day of Pentecost, God imparted to Jesus’s followers not only His power but also His revelation, because He does not allow His power to function with merely carnal or natural information. God’s power is for those who want to be witnesses of Jesus, and His knowledge enables us to know how to operate in that power. “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs” (Mark 16:20). {eoa}

Edited excerpt from Divine Encounter with the Holy Spirit, © 2017 by Guillermo Maldonado, published by Whitaker House. Used with permission.

Active in ministry for over 20 years, Apostle Guillermo Maldonado is the founder of King Jesus International Ministry—one of the fastest-growing multicultural churches in the United States—which has been recognized for its visible manifestations of God´s supernatural power. He is a spiritual father to 338 churches in 50 countries, which form the Network of the Supernatural Movement (formerly called the New Wine Apostolic Network). He is also the founder of the University of the Supernatural Ministry (USM). Apostle Maldonado has a doctorate in Christian counseling and a master’s degree in practical theology. He resides in Miami, Florida, with his wife and partner in ministry, Ana, and their two sons, Bryan and Ronald. Visit

German and Israeli scientists discovered a 1700-year-old stone bearing the name of a city believed to be the possible location of an ancient biblical town.

The Greek inscription refers to the city of Elusa (Halutza in Hebrew) and was discovered during excavations in Halutza National Park in the Negev desert.

“The name of the city of Elusa appears in a number of historical documents and contexts, including the Madaba mosaic map, the Nessana papyri and other historical references. However, this is the first time that the name of the city has been discovered in the site itself. The inscription mentions several Caesars of the tetrarchy, which allow to date it around 300 C.E.,” the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday in a press release.

The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared Elusa a World Heritage site. The city is one of two main potential locations for the biblical city of Ziklag.

Ziklag is mentioned in Genesis, Joshua and Samuel. King David is believed to have been given the town by a Philistine king named Achish.

According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, Elusa was founded toward the end of the 4th century B.C. and was an important station along the ancient Incense Road between Petra and Gaza. The city continued to develop over the years and reached its peak in the Byzantine period in the fourth to mid-sixth centuries A.D.

Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini, an archaeologist who worked on the project, said wine was largely responsible for the flourishing of the entire region.

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

“It’s the reason that the first Christians came together,” Becca Stevens says. “It’s about healing in community, about women creating community together.”

Stevens founded Thistle Farms more than two decades ago as a residential program for women who survived trafficking, prostitution and addiction. Now, the organization has branches all across the country, as well as a social justice enterprise run by survivors, a retail space and a cafe among other things.

“It makes me believe that love heals,” says Stevens, who is also an ordained Episcopal priest. “That was my longing my whole life. My dad was a minister who died when I was little. I went through abuse at a pretty young age. And I think I’ve always longed to believe that communities could come together, and women could be safe, and we could help heal the world. And because of this work, I’ve gotten to live into that vision. Because of this work, I have a great lens by which to read the gospel.

“It makes me hopeful. It makes my faith joyful. It makes my faith grateful,” she continues.

Stevens says she was abused from age 6 through age 9. Now, she uses her personal testimony to pour into others.

“When in our lives, brokenness turns into compassion, it’s a powerful witness. It can really help form communities and form work. So I’m aware now that even in those horrible times, I was getting a lot of gifts for how I could serve people later and how my own healing would look through that service,” Stevens says.

Listen to the podcast below, the second in Charisma News’ “The Truth About Human Trafficking” series, for more of Stevens’ story.

Read more from “The Truth About Human Trafficking”:

Trafficking Survivor Shares What Holy Spirit Told Her While Buyer Negotiated Price for Her Virginity

You can also click here for other episodes.

We all know that the best male athletes are faster and stronger than the best female athletes. This is biology 101, not advanced rocket science. Still, it was striking for me to see the disparity between the fastest mile run by a man (3:43.3, by Hicham El El Guerrouj) and the fastest mile run by a woman (4: by Svetlana Masterkova). That’s quite a difference!

Already in 1965, Jim Ryun set a world record for high school students by running a mile in , a record that is 17 seconds faster than the top female athlete in the world has ever run.

What would happen if a top male runner identified as female? He would instantly shatter all female records. And that would be totally unfair to these women who have trained so hard and sacrificed so much for so many years.

That’s why it’s not surprising that female athletes, including Martina Navratilova, a prominent lesbian, and Sharron Davies, a British Olympic swimmer, have raised their voices to cry foul.

In response, Navratilova came under fierce attacks from others in the LGBTQ community, forcing her to backtrack from her initial comments and apologize for calling trans athletes “cheats.”

This prompted Piers Morgan, hardly a defender of the right and over the years a steady ally to gay activism, to come to her defense.

Speaking of Serena Williams, arguably the greatest women’s tennis player of all time, he wrote, that “it’s not ‘sexist’ to say the top 1000 men would beat Serena—it’s a cold, hard, statistical fact.”

Oh, those pesky, facts! They simply don’t go away.

He continued: “Now imagine a scenario where a 25-year-old male player ranked say, No. 200 in the world, and earning around $100,000 a year, suddenly decides he wants to identify as female—either for genuine transgender reasons or for duplicitous, fraudulent, cynically commercial reasons—and now wishes to compete against women.

“That player, if he underwent hormonal treatment to reduce his testosterone levels to the required levels, could spend the next 3/4 years playing as a woman on the women’s tour.

“He, now she, would instantly be the best female tennis player that’s ever lived.

“She would destroy Serena Williams, and every other woman player.”

Exactly.

And that’s why it’s no surprise that a March 10 headline on the UK’s Telegraph announced, “Two thirds of British public think it is cheating for women born male to compete in women’s sport, says poll.”

But there’s more.

Radical feminists have raised their voices to protest the idea that a biological male who identifies as a woman is now legitimately female, devoting an entire book to the subject. The book is titled Female Erasure, with a foreword by feminist icon Germaine Greer.

She wrote, “Men who adopt femininity may believe that they are achieving femaleness, but femaleness is a tougher destiny than they can know or guess. Femaleness is demanding and painful, whether at menarche, menstruation, childbed or menopause, and born women have no choice but to deal with it. . . . . Femininity is a de-sexed masquerade. Men can be as good at it and better than women, but that does not make them women.”

Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that lesbian feminist Julia Beck “testified before Congress against the gender identity provisions in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Meant to protect transgender people, these provisions actually act as a ‘misogynistic trojan horse,’ undermining key protections for women and girls.”

And “Beck herself recalled facing threats of violence due to her opposition to transgender activism.”

She said, “People on the left have tried to silence me by using threats and other tactics of intimidation, a kind of hatred that most lesbians would expect to receive from people on the right. I’ve been told to die in a fire, to get raped, and to choke on ‘lady [expletive]’ by members of the LGBT community.”

So, not only does the left turn on its own the moment one of its sacred cows is threatened, but those on the left with eyes to see have no choice but to speak up. Transanity is undoing their entire movement.

That’s why it’s not surprising that the influential gay journalist Andrew Sullivan has also raised his voice, stating, “If you abandon biology in the matter of sex and gender altogether, you undermine the very meaning of homosexuality.”

Indeed, he said, “If you follow the current ideology of gender as entirely fluid, you actually subvert and undermine core arguments in defense of gay rights.”

It seems, then, that transgender activism is undermining feminism, undermining the gay rights movement, and undermining common sense.

The unraveling is at hand. Mother Nature can be quite stubborn and dogmatic.

Yael Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, warned the spirit of Haman is attacking just days before Jews are set to celebrate Purim.

“It’s amazing how we can from everything being quiet and calm to war in a matter of seconds. We’re not at war yet, thank God, but we just had two rockets launched at Tel Aviv,” Eckstein says in a Facebook LIVE video.

The rockets were launched at Israel’s most populous city from the Gaza strip.

“What we know is Islamic Jihad is taking responsibility for this, and what this means is a huge escalation, because they think long and hard before they launch any rocket,” Eckstein says.

Islamic Jihad denied these allegations.

No matter who fired, there’s a significant spiritual angle attached to the attack.

Watch the video for more.

Jesus Culture’s Kim Walker-Smith recently preached a powerful word about the importance of forgiveness at Jesus Culture Sacramento. She talked about how Jesus gives us the grace and ability to love and forgive even the people we least want to love and forgive. She says, “Jesus did not go to the cross and die for one moment with you, the point of your salvation and redemption, but He went to the cross and he died for a lifetime of moments with you.” And He wants you to live out that same lifestyle and have a unified Bride. Watch Walker-Smith’s message here.

The old hymn “Amazing Grace” is a familiar church song for many, but I wonder if we really know how amazing God’s grace actually is. It’s such a common term in church or other religious settings that we can easily forget the value of grace in our lives.

Ephesians 2:8-9b (ESV) clearly reveals that we are saved—forgiven of our sins and granted eternal life—by grace through faith in Christ. “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

This saving grace is a gift—not something we can earn, purchase or deserve. That in itself is amazing.

Also, Romans 5:8-10 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

Think about what these verses are saying. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Amazing! While we were enemies—before we even knew we needed Him or wanted His sacrifice on our behalf—Jesus willingly laid down His life for us so we could be reconciled to God and have a personal relationship with Him. Amazing!

Notice that verse 9 says “we have now been justified by his blood.” This word “justified” means you are made “just as if you’ve never sinned.” Amazing!

Here’s something else I want you to think about: If while you were still an enemy of God—before you cared one iota about Jesus—He sent His Son to die for you, then you can be confident He wants you to become everything He’s created you to be. God wants you to experience the amazing life He has planned for you!

And the way you live this life is by grace through faith.

Living in God’s Grace

God’s grace gives us everything we need to live a joy-filled life. Colossians 2:6 (AMP) says, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in [union with] Him [reflecting His character in the things you do and say—living lives that lead others away from sin].”

My personal definition of grace is this: God’s power made available to us free of charge, enabling us to do with ease what we could never do on our own with any amount of struggle or effort. Learning to live with this power in everything I do has been radically life-changing!

When I first started teaching at conferences, I felt so much pressure to make everything happen the way I thought it should happen. I’d pray so hard and spend so much time getting prepared spiritually and through Bible study that I was practically exhausted before the event even started.

But when I discovered that God doesn’t expect me to do it all, and that He is the only one who can change people’s hearts, it took all that pressure off me. I was then free from the frustration of trying to accomplish something I couldn’t do anyway and able to relax and enjoy doing my part of the process.

I do work hard, studying and preparing myself for each conference, but now I enjoy it because I realize what my responsibility is and what I must trust God to do. Philippians 4:13 (AMP) says, “I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose…].”

God is not just with us but in us, and He will do through us what needs to be done when we stop trying to do it ourselves and let Him work. Amazing!

Stay Plugged In

Experiencing the grace of God comes as we learn how to stay plugged in to our power source—our personal relationship with Him. “Plugging in” means we feed our spirit and soul by studying God’s Word and spending time with Him in prayer.

It’s critical for us to draw from the strength we have in Christ to live by God’s grace every single day of our lives.

When you feel weak, don’t let anything keep you from plugging in. Take a moment to pray, asking God for His strength. And remember to keep your focus on God’s Word and His many promises to provide everything you need when you need it.

You don’t have to live with frustration. Stop trying to succeed in your own effort and start trusting God for His grace in every area of your life. He knows what you need and what needs to change. And you can never ask for too much grace; it has no limit, so it will never run out!

Mark Biltz, author of the book Decoding the Antichrist, is described by Jim and Lori Bakker on a recent episode of The Jim Bakker Show as a detective, solving clues to the Antichrist’s identity. Biltz has examined the clues—and he’s come to a shocking conclusion.

He says the Antichrist may be “a human cyborg, someone who has all these implants that makes them so intelligent and wise, but the deception is going to be … everyone’s going to look for a Solomon. Someone who is famous, someone who is wise, someone who has all this power, and people are going to say, ‘Let him solve the problems in the Middle East.'”

He believes artificial intelligence is going to become very persuasive and wants Christians not to be deceived. Watch the full clip here or at this link. {eoa}

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