Jentezen Franklin says God will never reject “leper worship.” That’s good to know—but what is “leper worship”? He explains in this short video and says why he believes today’s church strongly needs an outpouring of that worship.
The church may be the hands and feet of Christ, but have they become lazy and idle? Matthew West challenges the church to get up and live out their faith through radical acts of love and justice. His music video for “Do Something” suggests plenty of ideas and will inspire you to start today.
Nathan Tasker had no idea what he was in for. The Australian singer-songwriter and worship leader shared the stage with Chonda Pierce for 11 minutes, and she had plenty of bizarre questions for him. Their hilarious conversation covers everything from politics to kangaroo hunting.
Every day in America, approximately 91 people die of an opioid overdose. According to the Centers for Disease Control, from 2000 to 2015, more than a half-million Americans died of drug overdoses, and opioids account for most of those deaths. This epidemic is so serious that President Trump declared it a national emergency on Aug. 10, 2017. This epidemic could be impacting your family members or friends.
Many medical professionals believe medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs are the ideal remedy for overcoming drug addiction. But they shouldn’t sell short faith-based programs, which can be even more effective because they offer spiritual as well as physical, mental and emotional support.
Early in 2017, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price recommended faith in God as a viable solution to the current opioid crisis. He is a medical doctor, yet he claims that faith-based treatment is more effective than MAT in treating opioid addiction. Not surprisingly, he received immediate backlash from many in the scientific community after he made this courageous statement.
I don’t think anyone in the Christian community is advocating that we replace MAT programs with faith-based programs. Together, faith and medical science can combat addiction better than one treatment alone. Studies have demonstrated that Teen Challenge, a Christian drug treatment program, produces far better results than its secular counterparts when coupled with appropriate medications.
I believe God’s grace is the most powerful cure for delivering people completely from the clutches of drug addiction. Grace is an unmerited gift that God gives to us, often when we are desperate and in crisis. Many former addicts have cried out to God when nothing else would ease their suffering. As a result, many were transformed by an outpouring of God’s amazing grace, giving them the strength to overcome their addictions permanently.
Kia Waller, whose story is featured in my second book, Grace Revealed, became addicted to Percocet painkillers after she was in an automobile accident. Throughout her 10-year addiction, she lost everything, including her family’s trust. Her husband, in exasperation, expelled her from their home.
In her story, Kia writes that on her last night of using drugs, she sat alone in a filthy, roach-infested, vacant home. She knew she had to surrender her addiction to God. She writes, “I got down on my knees and raised my hands. I was wailing, sobbing and crying out loud for God to please help me. I prayed, ‘I don’t care what, and I don’t care how, but please help me, God. I can’t do this anymore.'”
Kia goes on to describe how a treatment program, combined with her faith, led her out of the cycle of addiction. Now Kia is a Certified Recovery Specialist and is a full-time manager of a women’s sober living house in Ohio. She has regained her family’s trust and is living at home with her husband and children again.
Opioid addiction is a man-made crisis that God’s intervention can cure. Don’t waste a moment denying the reality that may take your life or the life of a loved one. Even many pastors are not equipped with the knowledge, strategies and resources necessary to aid people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. World Religion News reports that although 94 percent of priests, ministers and rabbis said addiction and substance use was a problem for their congregations, only 12.5 percent had received any training on the subject.
You can be an instrument of the healing process by proclaiming the Good News—no, the Great News—that God’s grace can conquer any addiction and allow people to rebuild their lives. Cry out to the Lord for yourself or others who find themselves in the potential death spiral of opioid addiction. {eoa}
Fred Sievert started his career as a teacher, later entered the insurance business, and retired in 2007 as president of New York Life Insurance Company, a Fortune 100 corporation. Following his retirement at age 59, Fred attended Yale Divinity School and was awarded a master’s degree in 2011.
In his career, Fred enjoyed many successes but also had to deal with much stress, many challenges and even some serious setbacks. Through it all, he credits his success to a reliance on daily prayer, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and his relationship with Jesus Christ.
In 2014, he published his first book, God Revealed: Revisit Your Past to Enrich Your Future.
His second book, Grace Revealed: Finding God’s Strength in Any Crisis is now available for pre-order on , and .
He already has divine access to the White House. He counts both current and former administration staff as some of his closest friends. He’s pastored for the last 24 years, and now he’s wondering if a role in public office is what God has for him next.
“The thing is, I’m not a politician, I’m a ‘peopletician,'” Darrell Scott tells Charisma News. Scott co-pastors New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
“In this climate in America today, this is an advantage, not a disadvantage,” Scott says. “I have a heart for people, have a heart to help people and help this country. I don’t have a reason to seek higher office. This isn’t the career path I’ve envisioned for myself. God’s given me progressive revelation for steps He’s ordered for my life. If this is one of those, so be it.”
Scott was recently approached by Ashtabula County (Ohio) Republican Party members, who asked for him to run against incumbent Rep. Dave Joyce in the 2018 Republican primary for Congress. The incumbent, Scott says, has both publicly and privately bashed President Donald Trump in a district where multiple homes still proudly display their Trump election signs.
Initially, Scott turned them down.
“I said, ‘Thanks but no thanks. I’m flattered, complimented, honored, but no,'” Scott says. “The more we talked, the less unappealing it became. Now it’s a strong consideration.”
But the group persisted, claiming the party meetings where Scott spoke were some of the highest-attended on record. Eventually, they wore him down.
His first step was to pray and seek wise counsel. Among his counselors are a veritable Who’s Who of President Trump’s administration: Michael Cohen, Steve Bannon, Anthony Scaramucci, Omarosa Manigault-Newman and Jared Kushner. All of them loved the idea, and a handful even offered to host prestigious fundraisers if Scott decides to move forward.
These people, Scott says, are more than political allies.
“If I do choose to do it, all of our family from the campaign will support me,” Scott says. “I always said this, the Clinton campaign, she had a well-oiled machine. The president had a motley crew that became family and made history. We all became very, very close. We went through the war together, all took our share of criticism. We’re pretty close-knit.”
As Scott continues to pray into his decision, his megachurch factors heavily into his decision.
If he had to give up pastoring, he says, he would continue to refuse the idea. But, with offices in both the district and in D.C., he wouldn’t have to step away from the pulpit for long.
“I wouldn’t give up my church, no way,” Scott says. “I can still be home for Bible study and Sunday services.”
Though the primary is in May and the election is in November, Scott doesn’t have to make an official announcement until February, though he promises one will come before then.
“I’m not in a rush. I have to count to costs. There are some plans that have to be done before the official announcement,” Scott says. “Pray for me, that God gives me the wisdom to make the right decision.”
As a student of church history (I am not a church historian) and one who has tried to dig deep into my Christian roots so I am best able to position myself and the congregations I influence, I have a strong connection to both the ancient and future church—since the height of the tree is limited by the depth of the roots!
As part of my journey, I have often wondered if the Protestant Reformation was worth it. In other words, did the Reformation do more harm than good regarding the health of the church and the influence of the kingdom of God? I ask myself if the Reformation was something that could have been avoided since it dissolved Christendom into mere Christianity. This is something many on the Anabaptist, pietistic side welcome, while those working for a kingdom witness and reconstruction of the nations are working hard to recapture. Some of us fall between these polar-opposite positions.
One of the unsung heroes of church history was the Catholic theologian Erasmus. He represented a third option besides the positions of the Roman Catholics and Protestant pioneer provocateur Martin Luther. Erasmus wanted to reform the church, return the church to its biblical roots, and rid it of internal abuses; but was not willing to break the ecclesial unity of the church. Often I have wished that Erasmus won the day instead of Luther. But unfortunately, the popes of his day did not heed his warnings, resulting in a third schism.
Besides the first schism of East and West in the 11th century, this was the most devastating schism of the church. It wasn’t until Vatican II of the early 1960s, almost 450 years too late, that the Catholic Church finally started coming toward Erasmus! I have also wondered if there was biblical precedent for the Reformation. I have come to the conclusion that the Scriptures are clear: God honors His name above all else and He does not tolerate abuses in His name by any faith community, whether Israel of the past or the church of the past and present!
Our primary historic case study is the nation of Israel. As much as God values unity among His people (as prayed by Jesus in John 17:20-23), He judged the 12 tribes of Israel by dividing their kingdom because of the apostasy of King Solomon.
First Kings 11:9-11 says: “The Lord was angry with Solomon because he turned his heart away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had warned him about this, that he should not follow other gods, but he was disobedient to the Lord’s command. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Since you have done this and have not kept My covenant and statutes, which I commanded you, I will surely take the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.'”
Later, the writer of 1 Kings 11:29-34 says: “At that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him along the way, and he had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the field. Ahijah took off the new garment that he wore and tore it into twelve pieces, and he said to Jeroboam: Take ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “See, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you (but he shall have one tribe for My servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), because they have forsaken Me and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the children of Ammon and have not walked in My ways and have not done that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and judgments, as his father David had done. ‘However, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David My servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept My commandments and My statutes.'”
In the very next chapter we see this prophecy fulfilled when the tribes of Israel broke away from Solomon’s son, King Rehoboam, which left him as the ruler of Judah only.
Then, to take it a step further, when both of the kings of Israel and Judah continued to turn away from the law of the Lord, God scattered all of His people among the nations. They didn’t return again as one nation until the post-exilic period during the days of Nehemiah and Ezra. We see this during the days of Jeremiah when God was already planning to divide and scatter His people because every facet of leadership representing the religious, social, judicial and political spheres committed apostasy by turning away from the word of God!
Jeremiah 2:8-9 says: “The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; the shepherds also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit. Therefore I will yet contend with you, says the Lord, and with your sons’ sons I will contend.”
Jeremiah also declared that God would scatter His people by using the pagan nation of Babylon (the nation from the north) to judge His people, which eventually led to them being taken captive to Babylon and disinherited.
Jeremiah 1:14-15 says: “Then the Lord said to me: Out of the north calamity will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord. And they will come and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.”
Thus God bypassed His religious and political hierarchy—the entire institution of leadership—and chose Jeremiah as the only one to be His oracle!
Also, we see this principle during the days of Elijah several hundred years before they were scattered. At that time there was so much syncretism (King Ahab worshipped both Baal and Yahweh) that God used a remnant of 7,000 prophets preserved from the school of prophets set up by the prophet Samuel (many years before) as a sub-culture preserving the holy remnant who kept the word of the Lord and faith in Yahweh until a king arose who would restore the nation back to God (1 Kings 17-21)! But even godly kings like Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah were not enough to prevent the eventual disinheritance witnessed by Jeremiah.
Furthermore, we see God operating powerfully through the scattered remnant in Babylon. Daniel was used by God to transform the entire nation of Babylon (Dan. 1-6)! This shows us that God doesn’t need all the political, social and ecclesial accoutrements to transform culture and promote His kingdom! He will even bypass the unity of His church and faith community if necessary to accomplish His purposes if His people forsake His law and compromise their faith by worshipping and serving God and manmade traditions!
Finally, by the time of John the Baptist, we see God totally bypassing the religious hierarchy of the restored nation of Israel which was then under Roman rule, including the Scribes and Pharisees, by revealing the birth of Messiah to the lowly shepherds at night (marketplace leaders). God was making a statement by bypassing the priests and religious leaders with this sacred announcement!
Also, we see St. Luke accentuating this point by mentioning all the priestly and political leaders before announcing that the word of God had bypassed them and instead came to an unknown person named John the Baptist in the wilderness (wilderness in this context represents that he was outside their context and power base).
Luke 3:1-4: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Caesar Tiberius, Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Traconitis, and Lysanias was the tetrarch of Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He came into the region surrounding the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.”‘”
Of course, John was the forerunner of Jesus who, as a carpenter, was outside the priestly clan of Aaron and was not a member of the Sanhedrin nor a political leader. Yet He suddenly appeared on the scene as a herald of Good News (Luke 4:18).
John 7:15 says Jesus was not a man of letters (He wasn’t officially trained in the Scriptures by the accepted system of education run by the religious leadership) but was God the Son who came to bring the way, the truth and the life to the world (outside of the ecclesiastical or religious structure of His day). One of the most profound things Jesus ever said was that the religious traditions of men make the Word of God of no effect (Mark 7:13)!
Of course, I am still a proponent of church unity and understand it is something the Scriptures teach us to strive toward so we can function with the maximum amount of power and purpose! The body of Christ needs each part as shown in 1 Corinthians 12; Jesus prayed for His followers to be united in John 17:20-23; 1 Corinthians 1:10 teaches us not to be divided in the church; and Acts 2:44-47 and Acts 4:32-34 show that one of the primary reasons for the power of the early church was their love and unity. However, it is clear from the aforementioned narratives that God honors His name more than superficial and idolatrous unity.
Consequently, if the Protestant Reformation was a catalyst for the church to embrace the Scriptures as its highest standard of faith and life (2 Tim. 3:15,16); if the Reformation helped purge the church of religious idolatry (John 14:6, Acts 4:12); if the Reformation highlighted the gospel truth that salvation is through grace alone and not by individual works (Eph. 2:8,9); if the Reformation helped restore the biblical concept of the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet. 2:8, 9) and if the Reformation ultimately helps restore the body of Christ (including Roman Catholicism, Eastern orthodox, Anglican and beyond) back to the way of Christ and His apostles—then, in my opinion, it was worth it!
Next week I will deal with the advantages and disadvantages of the Protestant Reformation.
On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther had no idea that he was about to become a world-changer. He wrote his 95 Theses simply to spark an intellectual debate among church scholars.
What he did was ignite a movement, after which the church and the entire world would never be the same. It is this crucial moment in history we celebrate today—the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
It is also the subject of a new book by prolific author Dr. R.T. Kendall titled Whatever Happened to the Gospel?, due out in February and published by Charisma House. You can preorder it here. Dr. Kendall and I discussed Luther’s life and how he fathered this movement during a recent podcast, which you can listen to here.
On what was more than likely an ordinary day 500 years ago, Luther nailed his 95 Theses, written in Latin, to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. He intended them to be read only by church theologians.
Without Luther’s permission, someone took the 95 Theses, translated them into German and printed them. To borrow a modern phrase, Luther’s ideas went viral, spreading like wildfire throughout the whole of Germany and causing a tremendous stir within the church and with the common people.
“Ordinary people didn’t know their Bible because they didn’t have Bibles,” says Dr. Kendall, an admirer of Luther’s and a student of Luther’s life and ministry. “The Roman Catholic Church did not want you to have Bibles. They just told you what the Bible said. Your faith [was] whatever the church believed. For Luther, it was deeper than that.”
In 1520, Luther stood trial before the German emperor, Frederick the Wise, and Cardinal Catejan, and was asked to recant his words. He didn’t, and while awaiting a possible execution, Luther was “kidnapped” by a group of friends, who took him to Wartburg, where he spent 10 months translating the Bible into the common German language.
“Martin Luther began to teach the Bible, and it really began to turn things upside down,” Dr. Kendall says. “People had never heard the Bible explained to them the way he did. They came in droves to hear him preach. And now, 500 years later, people have Bibles, but they don’t read them.”
Martin Luther changed things. He changed the world. The Protestant Reformation has affected an infinite number of lives, including those of modern-day believers.
I hope you will listen to the podcast with Dr. Kendall and get a sense of the historical and spiritual repercussions of the Protestant Reformation. Check out Monday’s Strang Report to get an even deeper understanding of this event.
As always, please share this with your social media friends and feel free to comment below. {eoa}
“I am raising up radical spiritual warriors who will operate in radical obedience and press past radical enemy assignments against radical breakthrough.” That’s one line from a prophetic word the Lord recently shared with my heart about radicals rising in this season of restoration.
Last week, we looked at the first characteristic of radical spiritual warriors: radical faith. The second earmark of a radical spiritual warrior is prophesying radical prophetic words. The life of David offers perhaps the most dramatic example of this principle in warfare.
The Israelite army was walking in radical fear in the presence of a radical enemy named Goliath. The Philistines considered him a champion of war. Bible historians figure Goliath could have been as tall as 10 feet—and he stood at the battle line for 40 days, provoking Israelites to send a man to fight with him in the valley (see 1 Samuel 17:1-16).
A Radical Enemy Prophesied Death Over David
When David arrived on the scene carrying provisions for his brothers at the battle line, he saw the fear-stricken Israelites cowering in the face of giant threats from a radical enemy. Saul was promising a radical reward for the man who defeated Goliath: “It will be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, will give him his daughter, and will make his father’s house exempt from taxes in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:25b).
Discerning the fear in the hearts of the soldiers and with his eyes on the prize, the teenaged David—a ruddy boy about half the height of Goliath—declared something radical: “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine” (1 Sam. 17:32). And so he did. The radical enemy’s first tactic was prophesying fearful curses over David. Imagine the scene in 1 Samuel 17:41-44:
The Philistine came walking and drew near to David, and the man bearing the shield went before him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him. For he was a youth and ruddy with a handsome appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the field.”
David Prophesied Radical Words Over Goliath
David could have taken Goliath’s words to heart—but he chose to flip the script. He got God’s heart on the matter and prophesied some radical words back to his radical enemy in 1 Samuel 17:45-47:
David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have reviled. This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand. And I will strike you down and cut off your head. Then I will give the corpses of the Philistine camp this day to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And then all this assembly will know that it is not by sword and spear that the Lord saves. For the battle belongs to the Lord, and He will give you into our hands.
And so it was. David struck the Philistine with one stone from his sling, then cut off his head. David’s radical prophesy manifested almost immediately.
Prophesying Radical Words to Your Enemies
So, how do you prophesy radical words over your spiritual enemies? Take a page from David’s playbook. David turned Goliath’s false prophesy and word curses around.
1 Samuel 17:44: “The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the field.” David prophesied back, “I will strike you down and cut off your head. Then I will give the corpses of the Philistine camp this day to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”
Many times, you can determine what the Lord wants to do in your life by the vain imaginations and accusations coming against your mind. When the enemy whispers to your mind or screams at your soul, speak the opposite of what the enemy is saying to you. Prophesy God’s will over your life. The true prophetic word always trumps the false prophetic word—when you release it.
You don’t need a “prophetic word” to prophesy God’s will—His will for your life is in His Word. Prophesy what God’s Word says about you and what belongs to you. You will prevail! {eoa}
Check out Jennifer’s brand-new Charisma House book, The Spiritual Warfare Battle Plan: Unmasking 15 Harassing Demons That Want to Destroy Your Life.
Scientists in Belgium have found sugars can stimulate the growth of cancerous tumors.
They believe certain types of sugar can essentially make cancer cells grow even faster, though they’re not sure why it happens.
The scientists say the link between sugar and cancer has sweeping consequences and requires more research.
They say the findings could help create new diet plans for cancer patients.
CBN News Health Reporter Lorie Johnson has reported for years about the link between sugar and cancer.
Scientists are increasingly discovering a clear relationship between sugar and cancer, which has led them to two conclusions: sugar use contributes to cancer, and going without it can slow the growth of the disease.
You can find more of our in-depth cover about this link below:
Beating Cancer: How Cutting Sugar Reversed One Man’s Death Sentence {eoa}
Copyright The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., All rights reserved.
During a prayer meeting in December, 2016 following the election, I had a mental vision of four sticks or poles standing upright, with the fourth one beginning to bend. I asked the Lord what it meant, and He told me, “You, the church, have four years in which to shine.” I understood the bend in the fourth stick or pole to mean that in the fourth year things would begin to change, and not for the better. He then added, “You, the church, have lost the art of the tremble.” In other words, while so many of us have been rightly focusing on the Father’s heart, His amazing love and grace, we have forgotten that He is also the sovereign King of the Universe, lawgiver and judge. We have so lost the ability to be so awestruck by Him that we no longer carry a healthy measure of fear along with the comfort of love.
We, the body of Christ, have been granted a four-year window in which to become a lighthouse of love, grace, redemption and the manifestation of the Father’s heart in Jesus—four years in which to recover the “art of the tremble.” Whatever one might think of Donald Trump as president, it seems clear that he is a friend both of the church and of Israel. This creates a window of opportunity to grow and to expand our influence in the world around us.
Where Donald Trump is concerned, I find myself possibly running afoul of the words of others in prophetic ministry who have prophesied that Trump will be, in effect, the savior of the nation, a Cyrus after the biblical model, to pour out favor, restoration and release. Some have said he will be the most praying president in our history. Perhaps. Let that be true. But there’s a serious problem that calls for concerted prayer for the president on the part of all those who hold to biblical values. It has been said that Donald Trump is a new Christian, and I have no reason to doubt that. For every new Christian, however, there remains a season for being discipled in the ways of the Lord, and therein lies my concern.
I therefore have a prophetic word to release in the tradition of the “if-then” we see in the words of the prophets of the Old Testament. For its fulfillment, this word turns on whether or not Donald Trump understands and walks in the wisdom of a set of essential Scriptural admonitions. Proverbs 16:7 teaches, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Perhaps more significant is Proverbs 12:18, “There is one who speaks rashly like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health,” or 15:1, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger,” and the verse that follows, “The tongue of the wise uses knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools pours out foolishness.” Words must be crafted in such a way that people are enabled to hear and receive them. From the New Testament: “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:19). All of these principles apply most strongly to anyone in a power position where the impact of words spoken will be magnified.
Simply stated, if Donald Trump can understand these principles and walk in them, then he can win the appreciation and cooperation, even of his enemies, and will stand a good chance of advancing his agenda for the nation. In that case, prophecies of greatness spoken over him will come to pass, and the whole world will benefit. On the other hand, if he continues to insult those who oppose him, to retaliate in anger and call them derogatory names, then even those who would be his friends in Congress and in the world will increasingly turn against him. Very little will be accomplished. If that happens, then the latter half of the fourth year of this four-year window—coinciding with the next presidential election cycle—will see a bending. Donald Trump will not be reelected, and the radical left will see a resurgence of strength in a backlash that will do much to destroy what is left of our nation and its heritage of liberty and Christian faith.
Of the four years concerning which the Lord has spoken to me, nearly a year has already passed and we, as a nation, are mired even more deeply in conflict and hatred than we were a year ago. We have a limited time in which to pray over these matters and to clean up our own act as believers where our hearts and our language are concerned. We must recover “the art of the tremble” and refocus on holiness, not of the legalistic kind, but on being transformed into the image of the Son by means of a pure focus on Him and a passion for seeing the kingdom of God manifest on earth in a culture of love, grace and uplift.
Pray for the heart of our president, for the nature of Jesus to take root in his life, and that it will manifest in his words and relationships. The future depends on it. {eoa}
R. Loren Sandford is an author, musician and the founder and senior pastor of New Song Church and Ministries in Denver, Colorado. He has a bachelor’s degree in music and a master of divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. In addition to pastoring, Sandford has an international teaching and worship ministry. Married since 1972, he and his wife, Beth, have two daughters and one son. They live in Denver, Colorado.