Revival and Reformation, Part 3 We are discussing the concepts of revival and reformation and how they relate to Christ’s great commissions of Mark 16:15-18 and Matthew 28:18-20. Each of these commissions corresponds to one of the two mandates God gave humankind through Adam and Eve, in Genesis 1:26-28. The first of these assignments was to be fruitful and multiply: “Give Me more kids,” God said. The second was to steward, manage, or govern the earth. “You will represent My Kingdom’s government on this outpost of the Kingdom,” He told them. If you did not watch or read the first two posts, or would like to reference these two assignments in more detail, you can do so here: Part 1 and Part 2. Both of these assignments were interrupted at the Fall. God temporarily lost 1) His family and 2) His ambassadors on the earth. Jesus, of course, was sent to recover and restore this. When He said in Matthew 16:18-19, “I will build My Church,” the word “build” is oikodomeo,(1) which means to build a family or household. In choosing this word, Christ was saying, “I’ve come to get the family back!” “Church” is the word ekklesia,(2) a “called out” assembly of people. Certainly, this is the bride and body of Christ, “called out” of darkness into God’s light (1 Peter 2:9). However, at that time in history, the Greek Ecclesia/Ekklesia “played a central role in the political life of the city [Athens]. The Ecclesia had the power to nominate and elect magistrates, who were responsible for administering the city’s affairs and carrying out the decisions of the assembly. The Ecclesia also had the authority to pass laws and to decide on issues related to foreign policy, defense, and the administration of justice. “In addition to its legislative powers, the Ecclesia also participated in the judicial process in Athens. The Ecclesia members would try cases involving serious crimes, such as murder, and they could impose punishments. This made it an important institution for ensuring justice and upholding their rule of law in the city. The Ecclesia’s powers and importance varied over time, but it remained an important part of the political landscape of Athens throughout the classical period and into the Hellenistic era.”(3) By choosing this word, ekklesia, Jesus was saying, “I have come to reestablish My family as My spiritual government on earth.” Christ’s other comments in this passage amplified and explained this further. He said that this ekklesia would be given His Kingdom authority (keys), through which they would lock and unlock, forbid and allow (bind and loose), and that the government (gates) of hell would not overpower them. In those times, city councils often met at the gates of their cities. To them, the gates symbolized government, determining what would enter their city physically, just as government did legally. Because of this, the gate symbolized government. Jesus stated that the spiritual authority He was giving His family would enable them to ambassadorially represent His Kingdom (see also 2 Corinthians 5:20), and they would not be overcome by the government of hell. After reversing the setbacks of the Fall at the Cross and reestablishing God’s two-fold plan, Jesus re-commissioned His followers in Mark 16:15-18 and Matthew 28:18-20. In Mark’s gospel, He told them to go and preach the good news so humans could be saved, delivered, healed, and filled with Holy Spirit, becoming part of God’s family once again. In other words, He told them to “be fruitful and multiply!” When this occurs in mass, it is a revival or awakening. In Matthew 28, however, Jesus re-commissioned the Ekklesia regarding management of Earth, telling them to “disciple nations” according to His teachings. “As My Ekklesia, You have My authority. In My name, instruct and disciple nations back to the ways of My Kingdom,” He instructed them. When this occurs with groups and nations, it is a reformation. Obedience to both of these mandates is absolutely essential. I will highlight the differences between them more fully in tomorrow’s post, but here are a few comparisons and differences: Revival brings people into God’s family; Reformation teaches them His ways. Revival births them spiritually; Reformation trains them practically. Revival transforms the human heart; Reformation transforms the human mind (thinking). Revival’s fruit is internal (it takes place within us); Reformation’s fruit is external (it is worked out from us). Revival is accomplished through preaching (Mark 16:15); Reformation takes place through teaching (Matthew 28:20). Revival creates converts; Reformation creates disciples. Revival restores God’s life; Reformation restores understanding and implementation of His laws, principles, and ways. Revival saves individuals; Reformation saves regions/nations. Revival produces God’s bride, family, and worshippers; Reformation produces God’s Ekklesia, those who represent His Kingdom authority and rule. As I said in Friday's post, in most revivals, believers think only of getting people saved/born again (Mark 16). This, of course, is essential and must be the starting point - birthing obviously precedes training. But if Matthew 28, the reforming and discipling of individuals and nations, doesn’t occur, the long-term fruit will be minimal…and can even be lost! I mentioned the great Charismatic Movement of the late 60’s through the early 80’s, which included the Jesus People Movement, that saw millions of people in America and tens of millions around the world come to Christ. It was a wonderful example of Mark 16 occurring with great momentum, a significant revival. However, there was a deficient understanding of our calling to do Matthew 28. For the most part, the minimal awareness of discipling that existed was limited to the discipling of individuals who came to Christ, not the discipling of nations, societies, and cultures. Discipling nations involves teaching, modeling, and implementing God’s ways in all areas of life - government, education, and all other societal institutions. It is NOT dictating or forcing God’s laws upon people and nations, as we are accused of by some who misrepresent our words, but rather teaching and modeling His ways and principles in every sector of society. Salvation, the new birth, opens the human heart and will to this, which is why revival must occur first. When people are born again, Holy Spirit writes God’s laws in their hearts (Hebrews 8:10), making them open to and hungry for His truth - possessing a strong desire to find and pursue it. Also, their conscience becomes alive, active, and wants to please God (Hebrews 9:14). When a nation experiences significant revival, the portion of the populace affected by it does not have to be “forced” to implement God’s will and ways; they desire to do His will, to obey Him. They must be taught these ways, however - retrained. And their children must be, as well. If this training and discipling do not occur, satan attempts to counteract the revival by infusing wrong thinking, ideas, philosophies, etc., into the culture. Sadly, during the Jesus Movement/Charismatic Movement of the ‘70s, Christians in America did Mark 16 only. While millions of people were being saved, humanists, secularists, and atheists were busy doing their version of Matthew 28, discipling a nation. We saved individuals; they discipled a nation. We preached the gospel; unbelievers taught dogmas and doctrines. We went to church; they went to our schools and universities. We gathered on Sundays; they gathered all week. We enjoyed Christian TV; they made movies/programs and eventually took over the industry. We sang and worshipped at church; they took over the airwaves and discipled a generation with their music. The result: we experienced one of the greatest revivals in history AND LOST OUR NATION! This is almost incomprehensible/inconceivable! Yet, it occurred. The generation that humanists, secularists, and atheists discipled is now in charge - governing, teaching, entertaining, and informing our nation according to their evil ways. This is the fruit of Mark 16…without Matthew 28. Pray with me: Father, You have said that this year, 2024, reformation begins. This means revival also will go to a new and stronger level. As Your voices on Earth, we declare this: Reformation begins in 2024! Revival breaks out here and around the world in 2024! The entire North American continent, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, the Middle East and the islands of the oceans and seas - all will experience outpourings of Holy Spirit. As the waters cover the sea, so shall Your glory cover the earth. Even as sin abounds, grace and glory will abound more! The King of Kings receives more of His reward this year. The Creator welcomes more of His creation into His family this year. The Spirit of deliverance will deliver many this year. Entire regions will be delivered and see the light of the gospel. Strongholds will melt under His fiery wrath. Youth will see His light and become volunteers in this day of His power. They will run with endurance, war with strength, speak with prophetic insight, and build with apostolic depth. They will evangelize millions and reform nations. They will wear their passion on their sleeve, manifesting love for You everywhere they go. Their revival will be a presence revival, then a power revival. They will be the Amos 9:13 generation: plowmen will overtake reapers. They will run with fathers and mothers, demonstrate humility, and walk in the fear of the Lord. They will heal the sick, open blind eyes, see extraordinary miracles, set oppressed people free, and raise the dead. They will be fearless, bold, more than conquerors, and not for sale. We declare these things by the inspiration of Your Spirit and in the authority of Christ! Amen. Our decree: We decree that this hinge year opens the doors of revival and reformation. Click on the link below to watch the full video. _______________________________ James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. nos. 3618 and 3624. Ibid., ref. no. 1577. https://study.com/academy/lesson/ecclesia-ancient-greece-history-facts.html

Revival and Reformation, Part 1 “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name, they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.’” (Mark 16:15-18 NASB) “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”’ (Matthew 28:18-20 NASB) Last week, my brother, Tim Sheets, said Holy Spirit told him reformation would begin in 2024 (Link here). Others are now confirming this, having heard Holy Spirit tell them the same thing. This means revival must also go to another level of strength, for God intends the two to work in tandem. The “Great Commission” of Mark 16 is the restoring of people back to God‘s family - salvation. The “Great Commission” of Matthew 28 is the restoring of a people’s thinking back to the ways of God - discipleship. The first (Mark 16) changes people’s nature - who they are - transforming their spirit. The latter (Matthew 28) changes their thoughts and actions - how they live - transforming their soul (mind, emotions, and will). God not only wants kids; He wants them to become mature sons and daughters who know His ways and think His thoughts, enabling them to represent Him. When Mark’s commission occurs in mass, resulting in the salvation of many people, we call this revival; when Matthew’s commission occurs in mass, resulting in societal change - government, laws, morals, education, culture, etc. - we call it a reformation. These two commissions will never be fully understood without a clear understanding of Genesis 1, for they are actually recommissions of what took place then. Jesus came to restore -  restart, rebirth, revive, redeem, recover, reform, refill, and recommission. It is only logical, therefore, that we must go back to the beginning in order to understand what he is restoring and recommissioning us to. In the first chapter of Genesis, God created a new planet in His universal kingdom: Earth. It would become home for the family He was soon to create. For five days, He transformed this home. I love the glimpses of His heart as He progressed. After each day’s work, God said the progress was “good.” Why would He say this? The Lord certainly wasn’t bragging, patting Himself on the back for a job well done. Nor was He surprised - “Wow, this is turning out really well.” No, Yahweh was stating His pleasure, His satisfaction in what was occurring, just as an expectant mom and dad might do when preparing their nursery. Abba’s pleasure increased to its highest level, however, after creating His human family. In His sixth pronouncement that what He had created was good, the Architect added a word: “This is very good” (Genesis 1:31). That one word practically leaps off the page at me. Can’t you hear the satisfied heart of Creator God in this statement? His plan was coming together, and like a proud parent standing over a newborn baby, Papa God was savoring the moment. Initiating the Sabbath was actually another indicator of his pleasure. When God had finished creating, He “rested” (Genesis 2:2). The word shabath does indeed mean “cease from work,” but it is also used figuratively for celebrating. In much the same way that we celebrate certain days, holidays for example, by resting from work, this is one concept of shabath. How about that! On the seventh day, God stopped working and celebrated! Father God was so excited about His family that He decided the occasion would be commemorated with a weekly “rest and celebration day.” This puts a new twist on the Sabbath. Every seventh day, we should rest and celebrate our membership in God‘s family. Creator made this family in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). The Hebrew word for ‘image’ is tselem, which involves the concept of a shadow, a phantom, or an illusion.(2) An illusion is something you think you see, but on closer observation, discover that your eyes have tricked you. When the rest of creation saw Adam or Eve, they must have done a double-take, thinking: For a moment, I thought it was God, but it's only Adam. We are also told that they were similar to or comparable to God. The Hebrew word demuwth, translated as “likeness” in Genesis 1:26, comes from the root word damah, meaning “to compare.”(3) Adam and Eve, at creation, were very much like God, filled with His life, nature, and Spirit. They were family. He who had innumerable angels serving Him was not satisfied. God desired sons and daughters; He also wanted companions for His Son. To satisfy this, He created a new “species,” in His image and likeness, far different than the angels. Then came two commissions or mandates. Commission One: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). “Reproduce! I have placed in you the ability to multiply My image and likeness,” He was saying! “And I want a big family!” Just let that sink in: God gave humans the ability to reproduce and multiply eternal images and likenesses of Himself! Astounding! What a privilege and what a responsibility. Then came Commission Two: “Rule over…all the earth…over every living thing that moves on the Earth” (Genesis 1:26-28). Psalm 8:6 restates the mandate, “Thou doest make him to rule over the works of thy hands, Thou hast put all things under his feet.” Each verse uses a different Hebrew word for “rule,” translated as “dominion,” in other versions of the Scriptures. The Genesis verses use radah,(4) Psalm 8 uses mashal.(5) Both words convey the concept of dominion, management, government, or rule. Adam and Eve were commissioned to govern or manage Earth, their home, for themselves and Creator God. They did not “own” Earth; they were delegated stewardship and governance for the Owner and Creator, Yahweh. “You will manage your new home, this new colony of heaven.” Obviously, they were to do so under His headship and rule, implementing the principles of His Kingdom, not according to their own dictates. We know this plan was interrupted at the fall. When Adam sinned, he lost the image, likeness, and Spirit of God; he also lost his dominion, the delegated authority to manage Earth; and God lost His family. (God did NOT lose ownership of the Earth, for He had never given that to Adam, nor did He lose HIS personal authority over the Earth; we humans lost our delegated authority, which had now been transferred to satan.) These two losses are what Jesus came to restore: 1) God’s family and 2) their lost dominion or governance of Earth. We will pick up here tomorrow. Pray with me: Father, we know revival has begun. It is in its beginning stages here in America, though in some parts of the world, multitudes are coming to You. Increase it here and around the world. Save a billion souls. Here in this nation, we know we will experience the fullness of revival before You are finished. We thank You for the increase coming this year. Unleash the full-force power of the gospel and confirm it with signs, wonders, and miracles. You have said reformation will begin this year, stating that the overall ekklesia, the church, and local expressions of Your ekklesia are now prepared and ready. You said angels have been dispatched to assist us, that the impossible will occur, and the unchangeable will change. So we ask You for this. Revive, reform, and restore America. Revive Asia. Revive the Middle East. Let this revival break out all over the world. We call for the coming of Your Kingdom, and the accomplishing of Your will here and throughout the earth, as it is in heaven. Multiplied power, multiplied deliverances, multiplied salvations. Being this forth. And as You instructed us, we pray for the protection of our waterways, dams, reservoirs, and ports. Protect them from evil. Expose any planned attacks against them. We pray for Texas as they make a stand to protect their and our borders. Bring this to a righteous and lawful conclusion. We pray all of this in the mighty name of Yeshua. Amen. Our decree: We decree that 2024 is a year of revival and reformation. _______________________________ James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 7673. Spiros Zodhiates, Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible - New American Standard (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1984; revised edition, 1990), p. 1768. James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. No. 1819. Ibid., ref. no. 7287. Ibid., ref. no. 4910. Click on the link below to watch the full video.

Standing In The Gap “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not clean or rained on in the day of indignation.’ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. Her priests have done violence to My Law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have closed their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am defiled among them. Her leaders within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to make dishonest profit. And her prophets have coated with whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery, and they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the stranger without justice. I searched for a man among them who would build up a wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. So I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; I have brought their way upon their heads,” declares the Lord God." (Ezekiel 22:24-31 NASB) During one of Israel’s times of apostasy, the Lord made those statements through the prophet Ezekiel. The sins mentioned are grievous, but the statements in verses 30-31 are also quite sobering. As a just and holy God, the Lord cannot ignore sin. He has, however, told us that we can stand in the gap for those who have sinned, asking for His mercy. In my book, Intercessory Prayer, I address the subject of why God waits for humans to ask Him before He moves on earth. It has to do with His decision to work on earth through humankind, not independently of them. For whatever reasons, it seems that this was an immutable decision, so much so that it demanded the incarnation of Christ. God knows our needs before we ask, but we must ask. He desires to save people more than we want Him to, yet He needs us to ask Him to send laborers into the harvest (Matthew 9:37-38). The great intercessor and teacher, Gordan Lindsay, once said that God never asked us to pray for anything that would automatically occur, such as the sun to rise, or gravity to operate. These are laws He has established that operate regardless of our actions. He did, however, ask us to pray for laborers, for His Kingdom to come, and His will to be done on earth (Matthew 6:10). They are NOT automatic; we must ask for them. In this Ezekiel passage, God tells us that in His mercy, He wanted to spare Israel from the judgment they deserved, and would have had appropriate intercession occurred. Tragically, He found no one to do so and, therefore, had to release devastating judgment. I mention this to emphasize that God WILL honor our repentance and intercession on behalf of our nation. There are other passages in Scripture where God did find a person or persons to repent for Israel, and He responded with mercy. Moses interceded for Israel, and God said He had pardoned them according to Moses’ words (Numbers 14:20). Nehemiah repented for the sins of Israel and God honored this (Nehemiah 1:4-11). Daniel repented for the sins of Israel, interceding for their restoration, and God did so (Daniel 9:1-19). We can repent for the sins of our nation and believe that God will respond with cleansing and healing. Many leaders are doing so today in our nation's capital. If you are reading this early enough and can join us today by livestream, please do. To do so, text the word “prayer” to 67742 or go to NGPR.org. The activities will begin at 7:30 AM Eastern Time and finish around 1:00 PM. However, we can all join our hearts in repentance on this post. 1. Father, we repent for the shedding of innocent blood, for the sin of over 60 million abortions. This has occurred because we lost our love of children and family, placing ourselves above all else. This opened the door to the spirit of murder and violence, and we now experience thousands of murders and horrific violence in our nation. Please forgive and cleanse our land, freeing us from the curses the shedding of innocent blood has brought upon us. 2. We repent for pride, rebellion, and breaking covenant with You in government. In pride and arrogance, our government has chosen to usurp Your authority, reject Your Word, and remove Your influence from their actions. They have honored sin and immorality while rejecting Your moral laws. Those in our government had the audacity to believe they could redefine Your most sacred covenant, marriage. Our government removed You from our schools, and many have tried to remove Your influence from every aspect of our government. We have allowed injustice to enter our government, shape our laws, influence our courts, and the political spirit now dominates. We repent for these and the many other evils of our government. 3. We repent for the idolatry in our nation. We promote and celebrate many gods and religions, worshiping demons, idols, pleasure, mammon, and our own selves. We even deny Your role in birthing our nation. We repent for this idolatry, and ask You to cleanse our nation. 4. We repent for the gross immorality in our land. We have cast off all restraint and now have rampant fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pornography, pedophilia, and other sexual sins. We lie, cheat, steal, covet, hate, abuse others, and are filled with drunkenness and addictions. Please forgive and cleanse us for these and other immoral actions against You and our fellow man. 5. And we repent for the condition of the American church. We have allowed the spirit of religion to replace our relationship with You. We have grown lukewarm, losing our passion and first love. We have compromised truth, refusing to speak against the sins of our nation. We have watered down the message of repentance and the Cross, thereby losing the power of the gospel. We have allowed legalism, doctrines, competition, and pride to divide us. We lost our saver and the power to preserve, and are no longer the light You need us to be. Please forgive us for these compromises and evils. We pray for the gathering in Washington, D.C., today. Lead and direct those who repent for our nation. May our humility be deep, our repentance be heartfelt, and our hearts contrite before You. Use this day of repentance to save America. We pray this in Yeshua’s name. Amen. Click on the link below to watch the full video.

A Sense of Urgency Tomorrow (January 31, 2024) is a very important day, one I believe will be used to heal and save our nation. I would love for you to participate. Before I give the details, let me tell you why it is so important. The Scriptures teach that “righteousness exalts a nation, and the nation is blessed whose God is the Lord” (Proverbs 14:34, Psalm 33:12). Secularists and humanists would have us believe America can be great without God, that our greatness is due to our own abilities, determination, and natural resources. This is foolish pride and deception. Abraham Lincoln clearly understood this when he wrote his March 1863 Proclamation of Prayer: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand that preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”(1) These sobering words are as relevant today as they were 150 years ago, perhaps more so. America has again lost her way. Centuries ago, the prophet Jeremiah lamented the fallen condition of Israel. Like America today, they had turned away from the Lord and been overtaken by immorality, compromise, and idolatry. God raised up the prophet, Jeremiah, to confront them, and in the sixth chapter of the book bearing his name, Jeremiah said: “Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar, little people and big people alike. Prophets and priests and everyone in between twist words and doctor truth. My people are broken—shattered!—and they put on Band-Aids, Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’ But things are not ‘just fine’! Do you suppose they are embarrassed over this outrage? No, they have no shame. They don’t even know how to blush.” (Jeremiah 6:13-15 The Message) I ask you, could not these words be written of America today? Israel did not heed the words of the prophet and repent. So, God issued another message through Jeremiah: "Go stand at the crossroads and look around. Ask for directions to the old road, the tried-and-true road. Then take it" (Jeremiah 6:16, The Message). The Lord was offering them a recovery. Israel ultimately rejected Jeremiah‘s warnings, however, and went into a prolonged season of great judgment. Just as Israel in Jeremiah's day, America has lost her way. Having deviated from "the old road," we are wandering aimlessly in the wilderness of godless humanism and moral relativism. Many of our national leaders are drunk with power and dizzied with deception. They mock God, reject His ways, promote evil, and want a different America than was envisioned by our Founders. Many are working diligently to transform us into a godless nation. Far too many spiritual leaders have also lost "the old road." Like a GPS that cannot connect to a satellite, they are now without heaven's direction. Sold a package of unbiblical ideals, many run toward misdefined goals and are fueled by untamed egos, making the rapid growth of their churches and the size of their congregations the standard for success. They’ve forgotten Christ's mission statement: preaching the good news to the poor, releasing captives, opening blind eyes, setting free the oppressed, casting out demons, healing the sick, and discipling nations (Luke 4:18; Mark 16:16-18; Matthew 28:19). They do not preach the Cross or welcome the power of Holy Spirit, preferring instead, the “new” road of entertainment, feel-good messages, and the avoidance of moral and cultural issues. Where has the new road led us? Our schools have no prayer, Scripture reading, or moral standards. Without the stabilizing anchor of truth, our kids wander aimlessly through the maze of moral relativism. Life has been cheapened, morality is mocked, and violence is rampant. Schools allow perverts to groom our children, our education system is a joke, and most of our media are liars. Illegal drugs kill hundreds of thousands, terrorists and traffickers are allowed into our nation at will, and our President and his Head of Homeland Security oppose stopping this. The leader of the free world can’t string two sentences together, and many of our leaders are liars and fools. Our journey down the path of unbiblical, amoral, and antichrist philosophies has produced these shocking but predictable results. When the slow death began, we had no answers. We had lost our mooring, our moral compass, and our foundation had crumbled. Consequently, we began sinking fast and are now stuck in the mire of a foundationless culture and the quicksand of humanistic, "no absolutes” thinking. Having abandoned the old road, we lost our way and are “flatlining” fast. Please believe me when I say that apart from God‘s supernatural intervention, there is no way out. How do we find our way back to the old road? It begins with humility and repentance, which brings me to the reason for this post. Wednesday (tomorrow) is A Day of National Repentance, planned and coordinated by Jim Garlow, Founder and CEO of Well Versed, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. Last year’s event was the first year of this Day of Repentance and was blessed by the Lord’s presence and favor. The purpose of the day is carefully guarded: there are no speakers or messages, no introductions or applause, and each prayer of repentance is limited to less than a minute. Last year‘s gathering was attended by many leaders, including a couple of dozen members of Congress. Tony Perkins said of last year‘s day of repentance: “It was one of the most powerful events in DC I’ve been involved in, in 20 years.” Jim Garlow said, “God showed up.” What more could be said to gauge the success of any gathering? Speaking of those who want to participate, either in person or by Livestream, Garlow said, “Those who have a sense of urgency given to them by the Spirit of God…those who realize exactly where we are as a nation - how far we have fallen, how close we are to going over the cliff to our destruction - these are the people who will be interested in this time of repentance.” I will be there offering my short but heartfelt prayer of repentance for our nation. Though no seats are left, I encourage you to join us online. To do so, text the word “prayer” to 67742 or go to NGPR.org. The activities will begin tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:30 AM Eastern Time and finish around 1:30PM. Pray with me: Father, America has lost her way. We left the “old road” of truth, and chose a new path for our journey as a nation. We are now so hopelessly lost that there is no way back without Your help. We repent for the pride and fleshly desires that motivated this wrong turn. As President Lincoln said, “We have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we [became] too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”(2) Forgive and heal us, we pray. Whatever is required to awaken this nation, please do it. Then send a sweeping revival, an unprecedented outpouring of Your Spirit, one that overwhelms darkness, opens blind eyes by the millions, and turns our nation back to You. You have offered to do this, but we know Your promises are conditional. So we now offer the biblical response required of us: we repent, ask for cleansing, and appeal for the awakening, doing so in the Almighty name of Jesus. Amen. Our decree: We decree that the mercies of the Lord are new EVERY morning and that they NEVER come to an end. (Lamentations 3:22-23) Click on the link below to watch the full video. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-97-appointing-day-national-humiliation-fasting-and-prayer https://www.loc.gov/static/js/lib/pdf-2.6-es5/web/viewer.html?file=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/rbc/lprbscsm/scsm0265/scsm0265.pdf

Wisdom From A Founding Father Patriot and Founding Father Samuel Adams said the following: “If ever a time should come when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”(1) “It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public liberty of a people are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven; they cannot subsist separately, and therefore, they rise and fall together. For this reason, it is always observable that those who are combined to destroy the people's liberties practice every art to poison their morals.”(2) “Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals.”(3) Sam Adams is one of my favorite founding fathers. He was God-honoring, wise, bold, fearless, and right. His voice still rings clearly down through the ages, issuing warnings that are just as relevant today as they were two and a half centuries ago. Not a day goes by that I do not grieve the condition of America and the world. That’s why I appreciate words of hope like Tim’s in yesterday’s post. The marriage of reality and faith is often challenging, as Abraham demonstrated. He had to hold fast to hope, with no human reason for hope, embracing an impossible promise while recognizing the reality of his and Sarah’s reproductively dead bodies (see Romans 4). But he held fast to hope, turned it to faith, and received his promise. God doesn’t demand denial, and He understands our grief. He didn’t glibly deny the condition of His fallen human family. He acknowledged their condition, grieved their pain, wept over their cities, rejoiced not over their required judgments, was moved with compassion, and became human in order to accomplish their redemption, a redemption requiring excruciating pain and suffering. The path to victory is not denial; it is anchoring to hope in the midst of our grief. I have hope for America and the world because I believe in God’s heart, His redeeming love, His Word regarding pouring out His Spirit on flesh, and His promise of an endless, unshakable, ever-increasing Kingdom. I also have hope because of His promise that His light can overcome gross darkness (Isaiah 60: 1-2), as also referenced in yesterday’s post. I was reminded again today of this passage. It was the theme of Intercessors For America’s recent 50th anniversary celebration a few weeks ago, where I had the honor of speaking. Their theme was “Preparing For the Coming Glory,” and they were reminding the IFA family that Isaiah 60:1 was one of the verses founder Derek Prince shared at their birth 50 years ago. Tears filled my eyes as I read the text, reminding me of this. Yes, I have hope. Notice that the passage in Isaiah doesn’t just say that God’s light overcomes “darkness”; it goes on to say “gross darkness.” Here are verses one and two of Isaiah 60: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” (KJV) I am so glad Holy Spirit said He knew this was coming and assured us He could overcome the darkness with His light and glory. The Hebrew word “gross” in the passage, araphel, means “thick darkness, a dark cloud,” and yes, “gross darkness;” it can also be used metaphorically for “gloom.”(4) Most certainly, America has arrived at the “gross darkness” stage: Prioritizing pleasure and convenience over babies is darkness; ripping them apart in the womb as they struggle is gross darkness; killing them on the table of a botched abortion is gross darkness. All racism is darkness; excusing torture, rape, and the baking of screaming babies by terrorists is gross darkness. Creating decades of humanitarian crisis and suffering by opening borders for votes is darkness; allowing rape, the trafficking of thousands of women and children, and the killing of hundreds of thousands through illegal drugs while doing so is gross darkness. Promoting confusion-identity to further ideology is darkness; mutilating children’s bodies to do so is gross darkness. Rejecting God’s ways is darkness; mocking His ways is gross darkness. There can no longer be any doubt that many leaders in America have depraved minds and seared consciences. There can be no doubt that half of our political system, the Democrat Party, now opposes the God of Scripture and that for which He stands. There can be no doubt that they hate our Judeo-Christian foundation and heritage, and are doing everything possible to destroy it. There can be no doubt that they want to weaken America and transform us from the roots up. This is why we need both revival and reformation. Unless Holy Spirit changes my mind, I will talk more about this on GH15 in the near future. Though the terminology isn’t the issue for me, my concept of revival is people coming to Christ in mass, not just a few. Salvation changes the hearts of people, bringing salvation to them and writing God‘s laws on their hearts. This is our commission from Christ (not a suggestion) in Mark 16:15-20. When this occurs in mass, we have revival. My concept of reformation is discipling nations, teaching them the principles of Christ’s Word and Kingdom, as He commanded in the commission of Matthew 28:18-20. Yesterday’s post said 2024 is a year of reformation. This cannot occur without revival, the changing of darkened hearts in mass. Surely, we have learned by now that we will never transform America only through the changing of laws; millions of hearts must change. But hopefully, the church has also learned that revival alone - leading many people to Christ, as occurred in the great Charismatic and Jesus People revivals - without also discipling the entire societal and cultural structure of the nation, will be short-lived. Since these two work in tandem, and since the Lord said reformation begins this year, it also means revival will intensify this year. I believe two things will produce this: 1) hearts will become open through the coming shaking - please believe me when I say it is coming, and 2) the overwhelming light of God’s glory will be poured out (Isaiah 60:1-2). Do not fear the shaking; the praying remnant has sealed our land, and now we are protecting our other resources, as we have been warned to do. America will be saved, we will see worldwide revival, and yes, we will disciple nations. I conclude with another quote from our fellow patriot and brother, Sam Adams, now in the cloud of witnesses: “We have proclaimed to the world our determination ‘to die freemen, rather than to live slaves.’ We have appealed to heaven for the cause of our justice, and in Heaven, we have placed our trust.”(5) Stand, praying church, stand! Pray with me: Father, to our grief and shame, we now live in a land of gross darkness. Our arrogant rejection of You and Your Word has taken us to the edge of destruction. We appeal, not for justice but for mercy, doing so based on the Mercy Seat that is sprinkled with the blood of Yeshua Himself. We also do so with hope and faith based on Your promises, Your ability to do the impossible, and to change that which seems unchangeable. We continue to ask for spiritual rain, for the wind of Your Spirit, for the storm clouds of heaven to replace the storm clouds of gross darkness and evil. Open eyes, save, deliver and transform. Send the disrupting fires of revival and the transforming truths of reformation. Give Your Son, and our Redeemer, the promised reward of Psalm 2; also, release the promised rod of iron to those who oppose you. Crush all adversity. Remove centuries-old and millennia-old strongholds of darkness throughout the earth through explosions of Your light and glory. Give Christ the reward of His sufferings and the fulfillment of His passionate and loving heart. And as You instructed us, we pray for protection over our land and its borders, dams, ports, waterways, and water supply. We bind attempts to destroy, interrupt, and poison We ask You to expose every plot and stop them. We accept any shaking that You know is necessary to discipline and turn this nation, but we reject all else. And we pray all in Yeshua’s powerful name. Our decree: We decree that the glorious light of the gospel and authority of God’s Kingdom will overcome the gross darkness covering the earth. Click on the link below to watch the full video. https://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/Samuel-Adams-Letter-24Oct1780.html https://1776patriotusa.com/quote-samuel-adams-1772/ https://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/samuel-adams-quotes-2.html Strong, James, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville) and Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Reference number 6205. http://www.samuel-adams-heritage.com/documents/speech-about-declaration-of-independence.html

Many of you around our nation and the world have grown to appreciate the ministry of my brother, Tim Sheets. His insights are amazing, his messages are powerful, and his understanding of our times is keen. I feel a word he has shared, which I am releasing in today’s post, is extremely important. Please listen and read it carefully. Supernatural Precedents and Mighty Angels In recent weeks, Holy Spirit has instructed me to study and prophesy from Luke, chapters one and two, telling me they speak prophetically into 2024. He said that supernatural occurrences at Christ’s birth were precedents that would be used again in a supernatural reformation beginning this year. It is important to note that the word ‘supernatural’ was emphasized by Holy Spirit. Christ’s Kingdom activity is amping up, and we will see parallels of that amazing transitional moment of history - Christ’s birth - take place in our current time. Holy Spirit said, “Transitional principles seen at Christ’s birth will now be seen again as I pour out the anointings of supernatural reformation on the King’s true Ekklesias.” He continued by reminding me of a word he gave me approximately 15 years ago: “I will lead another campaign for King Jesus on the earth. It will be similar to Acts 2 and the campaign I led there, only this time I will be bringing far more of the angel armies.” Then He simply said, “It now begins.” As I was praying about this, Holy Spirit spoke again, saying, “The campaign I spoke of begins in 2024. The plans have been made, and the Ekklesias have been established. The remnant has been prepared to stand. The apostles have received initial assignments. The prophets are being anointed with eye salve to prophesy Godhead strategies. The seers will see more clearly and prophesy into the times. Time and place are now connecting, and My angel armies have been deployed.” In a recent vision, I saw the angel gate being opened for the church. The angel, Michael, part of the seraphim order and head of the angel armies, was standing at the gate. He nodded his head, and a division of angels took flight; he nodded again, and another angel division took flight, and so on. I saw angels of breakthrough, government, awakening, evangelism, reformation, and revival taking flight. Holy Spirit said, “The supernatural reformation will begin to move forward in baptisms of My power.” An Important Dream In July of 2022, I was given a dream that led me to study a division of angels I had never studied. In the dream, a mighty angel flew to me, and I knew the way in which he flew had significance. It was like the angel sent to the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6) and those the prophet Ezekiel saw moving with lightning-like speed back and forth (Ezekiel 1). Holy Spirit was revealing to me another level of angelic assistance, the seraphim order. Since that time, I have been seeing how seraphs are often involved in supernatural times of transition. Luke wrote about this in regard to Christ’s birth, mentioning angel armies, mighty angels, while emphasizing seraphim. I believe Holy Spirit wants us to have a true understanding of this pattern and precedent as we move into 2024. Seraphs assist in filling the heavens and earth with the glory of the Lord. They prepare the way for His glory manifestations, arranging things for the increase of His presence in demonstrably real ways. Obviously, they don’t make God’s glory greater, but the manifestation of His glory and presence is seen in greater measure. They are the most powerful order of angels we know of. Seraphim are present in heaven’s throne room, from where they carry out orders for the Godhead. The story of Christ’s birth shows us how they assist God on the earth. There were at least two of them involved, Michael and Gabriel, commissioned to assist with His birth and the massive shift in the earth realm. In Luke 1:11, Gabriel was sent to Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist. In verses 26-30, he was sent again to earth, a village called Nazareth, to announce the supernatural birth of Christ. In these verses, Gabriel had been sent to announce a Godhead surprise; something impossible to man, yet possible with God, was now going to happen. There were several supernatural events surrounding the birth of our King, including a sign in the heavens, a star or light the magi followed for over two years, leading them to Christ. The greatest miracle was Christ’s conception, of course, as the natural law of nature regarding human conception was suspended. Impossibilities occurred, and unchangeable things changed. And powerful angels assisted Holy Spirit in the release of this supernatural,  transitional, reformational time. I believe Holy Spirit has revealed the order and function of seraphim angels to prepare us for this current time of supernatural reformation. Their assistance, along with that of other angels, is necessary to see the Godhead’s surprises and massive transitions. Holy Spirit will now use them to assist us, the heirs of God, in accomplishing this reformation on the earth (Hebrews 1:14). The prophet Habakkuk prophesied an incredible word that is now coming into its time. “But {the time is coming when] the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14 AMP) I believe this is now a focus of Holy Spirit. He is accelerating this prophetic word, using Christ’s Ekklesias and powerful angel armies. The glory of God’s presence will rise on earth in greater measure this year. This can occur even in the midst of gross darkness (Isaiah 60:2). I believe two supernatural signs this year will be the visible cloud of God’s presence and also His fire. I know His manifest glory will be clearly seen. Summary This announcement is being made in our times, “The King is coming to manifest greater glory and power. A new era of supernatural reformation now begins, and Christ’s Kingdom will advance and accelerate growing and expanding exponentially. Hell’s kingdom will not stop it; The angels have blocked them.” As the Ekklesia has been praying and making decrees, the angels have been doing their assignment. Supernatural events are going to occur that cause reformation to roll across this land. Holy Spirit says, “Follow Me into a supernatural era: one that will be dramatically different and erupt with Godhead activity. one that sees God’s manifest presence fill the earth more and more. one that sees the impossible made possible. one filled with outpourings, activating the fires of the greatest reformation in history. one that begins an era of massive soul harvest. one that sees the amazing transitional precedents of Christ’s first coming   manifest again in our times. one that sees angel armies assisting us as we follow Holy Spirit’s plans and activate His strategies. Follow Me into an era that sees the King’s Kingdom accelerate in the earth realm.” Pray with me: Lord, we will steward this word the best we can. Help us to see Your strategies and plans. We will not compromise or be swayed by what man says or how things appear. We are a Kingdom Ekklesia, and we will believe and do what You say. We exalt You, Lord. Manifest Your presence in all the earth. Let us see Your glory and Your fire. We ask for signs, wonders and miracles. Release Your angel armies to perform the decrees of Your heirs. Make the impossible possible. Accelerate Your Kingdom's advancement. You have said in this word that we are moving into a year that begins supernatural reformation. We believe this, Lord. We believe that You do the impossible and change things that seem unchangeable. We know that You even suspend laws of nature when that is required to accomplish Your purposes. So we boldly declare that Your glory will begin to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, that supernatural manifestations of Your glory will be seen. We agree with and declare the words you spoke to Tim, “It now begins.” Demonstrate to the world that You shake other kingdoms, but Your Kingdom cannot be shaken. Demonstrate to the world Your power, Your love, the reality of Christ, and the truth of the gospel. We ask these things in Yeshua’s powerful name. Our Decree: We decree that the glory of God’s presence on earth will rise in greater measure this year, as His mighty angels assist His Ekklesia. Click on the link below to watch the full video. Today’s post was contributed by my brother, Tim. You can learn more about him at TimSheets.org

Walking Trails, Sailing Oceans Many of you are praying over the ports, dams, waterways, and water reservoirs in your states, as I knew you would. This is very important, as it is certain that our enemies intend to make every effort to exploit Biden’s open borders. America’s enemies have no doubt entered and plan to attack us. This could well be one of their planned actions. We are not to live in fear, but neither should we be naive. I’ve been sent other dreams besides Gina Gholston’s, warning of attacks against dams. One trusted friend said, “I had a dream about an attack on the power grids. I saw hydroelectric dams being destroyed, causing terrible flooding and destruction to the cities below the dam.” Dreams such as this are not saying these tragedies WILL occur; they are warnings to pray against them so they WON’T occur. Many thanks to those who are praying. Some are telling me they had already been praying, some for months, having received warnings from Holy Spirit. This is so encouraging. Here are just a few comments I’ve received from intercessors: “Dutch, Ceci, and Gina, thank you for this assignment on the waterways and dams. We have SPAN teams busy on this assignment throughout many states. So interesting that in Elbert County, CO, where we live there are 60 dams! We spent significant time in intercession concerning this two weeks ago in our regional prayer gathering. And now many of our SPAN teams are getting strategies and praying onsite!” (Becca Greenwood, Colorado) “Excited to pray over the waterways. We decree there will be no agreement between destructive forces and the spirit of leviathan.” (Regina Shank, Missouri) “Praying over Florida’s waterways. And also for all things to be fully seen and revealed.” (Brian Gibbs, Sarasota pastor) “Starting to organize the Texas teams to go to the thousand or so dams in the state.” (Tom Schlueter, TXAPN) But it seems America’s water and structures are not the only water-related prayer assignments taking place. If you have followed GH15 for a while, you’ve heard me speak of John and Sandy Halvorsen. John and Sandy have a unique prayer assignment on their lives. It started with an assignment to walk across America, praying for our nation. It has now transitioned to prayer journeys throughout the world. These combination prophetic acts/prayer assignments have been blessed with much favor from the Lord. Here are some excerpts from their home congregation, Great Lakes Church, in Duluth, MN, describing their journeys, as well as this current assignment. “After church planting in Europe for the better part of the 1990s, God called the Halvorsen’s in 1998 to walk across America from north to south and west to east… “After completing that assignment, John and Sandy were privileged to pastor Great Lakes Church for many years until 2008, when God called them to walk again, this time from Portugal to China! The message of that trip was God wants His world back, and that God would break through in areas previously hostile towards the Gospel. “After ‘Prayer Walk Eurasia,’ John and Sandy again pastored Great Lakes Church until 2018, when they were called to more prayer walks across America. One was from LA to NYC, and the other was from Miami to Seattle. The prophetic focus of those trips was one and the same: crying out to God for awakening for America. “In recent years, John’s calling got even stranger when God sent him to the North and South Poles. [He has also been to the equator.] These two trips were similar to his previous adventures in the sense that they were prophetic acts. At each pole, John unraveled the Appeal to Heaven flag and prayed that God would get the glory on the earth that He duly deserves. Through this experience, John believes the Lord is saying the Gospel is about to reach every tribe, tongue, and nation… “In 2023, God is sending John and Sandy out again, this time by water!”(1) John says of this assignment: “God has just called Sandy and me to travel around the world by water. His desire is for the entire planet to be filled with the ‘knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.’” (More here) They were led to make the trip - not once - but twice. Their first journey began in Southampton, England, on January 3, 2023, stopping in many ports and “end of the earth” islands before returning to Southampton from the Pacific Ocean on April 13, 2023. They are now on the second leg of the assignment. When hearing of the prayer assignment we released on January 15th, Sandy Halvorsen sent the following message to a mutual friend: “Becky! It’s so strange that we are often on the same page as Dutch’s posts on GH15. The Lord has us again traveling around the world by water this January through April, as we did last year, to pray for a free flow of the Holy Spirit to the nations of the world! Last year, the trip was not hindered, but this year, there are droughts, wars, and military threats over the earth's major waterways, and we find ourselves contending for FREE FLOW globally. It was SO ENCOURAGING to read of the prayer initiative over America’s waterways that Dutch is leading; it is a great confirmation to us in this global prayer assignment by water! GOD RULED AS KING OVER THE DELUGE, AND HE RULES AS KING FOREVER!! AMEN!! “It is such a confirmation that praying over our waterways right now is totally a God thing! Gina’s dream was in November, and that’s also when the Lord confirmed that He wanted us to take this global waterway trip again! I think He is speaking loud and clear!” Incredible! Pray for the dams, waterways, reservoirs, and ports in your state. And pray for the Halvorsens!!! Check out their Facebook page (FB page), where they post daily updates on their journey. And consider doing what Ceci and I intend to do - sow a seed into their assignment! (Click to give) Pray with me: Father, as I said in yesterday‘s post, we thank You for the “goers” and the “doers”: Those who drive many miles to pray over borders, rivers, ports, dams, and reservoirs, others who hike through woods and mountain trails, anointing the land with Holy Spirit’s oil, and still others, too old to do those things but determined to be in the fight, anointing maps with oil and praying. And, of course, thank You for those who walk nations and sail the oceans, interceding for revival. It is the faithful work of the “secret place” laborers that empower the preaching on the stages, the travail in the hidden place that opens the eyes of the masses in the crusades, the prayers of the few that protect the many. They’re the unsung heroes, the nameless warriors that protect lives, rescue prodigals, ripening earth’s harvest, and saving America. Encourage them today - their labors are not in vain! We pray in agreement today that though America will be shaken, she will survive because of prayer, repentance, and mercy. We agree in prayer that our water supply, dams, and ports will be protected from destruction. We agree that the shaking and accompanying work of Holy Spirit, will do what is needed to turn our nation back to God and bring forth our greatest revival ever. And we agree that our government will be cleansed from its filth and perversion and be given righteous rulers, for only righteousness exalts a nation. As always, we pray this in Yeshua’s name, our only access to You. Our decree: We decree that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the Earth as the waters cover the sea. Click on the link below to watch the full video. _____________________________ https://www.glcduluth.org/pastorjohn

“We Cut the Coal” Jesus placed a very high emphasis on faithfulness. In a parable regarding the subject, He stated that this virtue would be part of our welcome into Heaven:​​ “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’” (Matthew 25:21) In today’s post, I want to honor, thank, and encourage the faithful intercessors and other front-liners who are working diligently to see the purposes of Christ accomplished in America. Most of you are never paid a penny for your labors, never receive glowing introductions, and will never stand on a stage. You’re the nameless, faceless heroes the prophets assured us were coming. Thank God you’re here. Your best days are ahead of you. The great leader, orator, and statesman Winston Churchill, was known for his ability to bolster the spirits and determination of the British people during the harsh days of World War II. I cannot match him, so I will quote him. On October 31, 1942, he was addressing a conference of coal mine operators and miners in Westminster’s Central Hall. Compared to some of Churchill’s speeches, this one seemed like nothing extraordinary, not until his ending, that is: “We shall not fail, and then someday, when children ask, ‘What did you do to win this inheritance for us, and to make our name so respected among men?’ One will say: ‘I was a fighter pilot’; another will say: ‘I was in the Submarine Service’; another: ‘I marched with the Eighth Army’; a fourth will say: ‘None of you could have lived without the convoys and the Merchant Seamen’; and you in your turn will say, with equal pride and with equal right: ‘We cut the coal.’”(1) With absolutely no fear of being sensationalistic or exaggerating the truth, I say to the intercessors and active “coal-cutters”: Thank you for furthering the cause of Christ and helping save the world from evil and tyranny. Helping to restore America back to her destiny IS essential to saving the nations. Ronald Reagan was accurate when he said of America: “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.”(2) Reagan had a good reason for stating this. Though we in America are not more loved or special to God than other nationalities, we do play a unique role. And we must not fail. As you know, our plight has become desperate. George Barna, in his book American Worldview Inventory 2020-21: The Annual Report on the State of Worldview in the United States, tells us “that only half of American adults (51%) believe in a traditional biblical view of God as the ‘all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect and just Creator of the universe who still rules the world today,’ down from 73% in 1991”.(3) “The largest declines in possession of an orthodox, biblical perspective on the nature of God since 1991 were among individuals who attend Pentecostal or charismatic Protestant churches (down 17 percentage points).”(4) Forty-four (44) percent of Americans believe that Jesus committed sin while on earth, and another 16% had no opinion. That would mean 60% of Americans aren’t convinced of Christ’s sinless life. “Americans are now more confident about the existence of satan than they are of God!”(5) And over half of the adults (52%) do not believe Holy Spirit is real; another 17% have no opinion. That is 69% who aren’t convinced in the reality of Holy Spirit.(6) Dr. Tracy Munsil tells us, “The fact that 4 out of 10 adults believe that Jesus Christ - who came to earth to save us from our sins - was Himself a sinner and therefore in need of salvation is mind-boggling. Add to that the fact that more people believe in the existence of satan than the God of Abraham, and you cannot miss the severity of the spiritual crisis in America today.”(7) The revival for which we contend is without doubt America’s only hope! I recently heard a quote implying that our yieldedness to God is more important than our actions or efforts. May I respectfully say that this is a half-truth. Our yieldedness is but one side of the coin. The converse side of the coin is the hard work side - the bended knee side - the “Go ye” side, the “coal-cutting” side. Without this half of the coin, it’s a counterfeit. In late 2020 and early 2021, I listened as effortless believers mocked, ridiculed, and criticized others who worked tirelessly for the ideals and principles - not for Trump or political party - in which they believed so passionately. Those ideals, of course, included the lives of millions of babies in the womb. I am not contending that they all did so perfectly, just that they “did so.” Some were like Eleazar in Scripture, one of David’s mighty men, who fought the enemies of Israel until his hand clung to the sword (2 Samuel 23: 9-10). They had to peel Eleazar’s fingers from the sword after the battle. When he could no longer hold on with his physical strength, he held on with his heart. I have watched intercessors weep through bloodshot eyes, pray through the night, fast for days on end, and spend thousands of their hard-earned dollars to see the purposes of God established in our nation. You are the Eleazars of the Kingdom, and your efforts do not go unnoticed in Heaven. You are today’s “mighty men and women.” I have watched others of you stand in the rain and snow for hours with a piece of red LIFE tape covering your mouths. Others of you have adopted unwanted babies or children, preserving their destinies and giving them families. Still, others have supported these actions financially. You are my heroes - I am humbled by your sacrifices and commitment. Thank you for your coal-stained faces. You all are important reasons we are the “post-Roe generation.” Had there been more of you, perhaps some of the other cataclysmic issues of our day would now be overcome. My prayer is that your ranks grow. In conclusion, I dedicate the following quote from Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt to the “doers.” Roosevelt’s statement was made on April 23, 1910, in a speech originally entitled “Citizenship In A Republic.” The speech is now best known as “The Man in the Arena.” A copy of it hangs in my studio next to me now. This incredible leader, who once gave a speech while bleeding from just having been shot in the chest, spoke of people like you: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”(8) To you, the coal cutters of the Kingdom, I say thank you. Pray with me: Father, You are not impressed with our gifts and talents. They came from You, after all. What You appreciate and need is our faithfulness. You equated greatness with servanthood, not with eloquence, large followings, money, notoriety, or influence. Prayer changes the world, and You said to do it in the secret place. We thank You for the faithful, hidden ones in the Kingdom - the doers, the givers, the goers. May the coming season in the church be known as “the believers' movement.” Deliver us from showbiz Christianity, platform-driven movements, and spiritual entertainment centers. Give us real Christianity, the book of Acts kind. It’s the only model You gave us. Light a fire in Your people. Release a call to action. Give us Eleazars, spiritual “coal-cutters,” doers. Deliver the church from selfishness, laziness, and “prayerlessness.” Make us lovers AND warriors. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen Our decree: We declare that we will not fail in our assignment to see America saved. Click on the link below to watch the full video. ______________________________________ https://www.preaching.com/articles/preacher-get-it-right/ https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/301222-you-and-i-have-a-rendezvous-with-destiny-we-will George Barna, American Worldview Inventory 2020-21: The Annual Report on the State of Worldview in the United States, (Glendale, AZ: Arizona Christian University Press), p. 25. Ibid., p. 27. Ibid., p. 32. Ibid., p. 33. Ibid., p. 34. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63389/roosevelts-man-arena

Declarations For Breakthrough Questions regarding declarations, decrees, and the confession of God’s Word over our lives are among the most asked questions I receive. Today, I want to share with you a clear explanation from our friend Jane Hamon on this subject taken from her great book, Declarations For Breakthrough. Tom and Jane Hamon are among the prophetic voices I trust most. They are also great teachers and writers, and also pastor in the Florida panhandle. Jane says... “Do you want to supercharge your prayer life? Do you need a greater strategy for what to do when you hear God speak? I believe that understanding the biblical concept of declarations and decrees will take each of us to a greater place of effectiveness in advancing the Kingdom of God and bringing awakening into our land. “I love the voice of God. When He speaks, things change. As a matter of fact, I believe one word from God can change anything and everything. When we agree with the voice of God and verbalize what He is saying, we are given the power to shift heaven and earth and change our very circumstances with prophetic declarations. These authoritative, spiritually empowered decrees have the capacity to bring breakthroughs and initiate change. “Decrees have been used for thousands of years by governments as a means to deliver judgments, laws, and orders with the expectation that they will be carried out. Esther, Ezra, and Daniel are books about decrees being issued that changed the course of history. Such is the governmental, Kingdom power God has put into the mouths of His people as we decree what He says! Decree the Abundance of Rain “My husband, Tom, and I were ministering in Edmonton, Canada, one August during a time when they were experiencing one of the most severe droughts in modern history. Because I always check the weather forecasts before arriving in a new city, I knew there were no weather patterns indicating they could expect any relief. But the first night of our conference, in the middle of my message, I suddenly heard the Lord tell me to decree that the heavens be opened, and release the sound of abundance of rain. I prophesied what I had heard the Lord say, directed the people to shout for joy in response to the word of the Lord, and we pointed our fingers toward the sky while decreeing an abundance of rain. “Fifteen minutes later, I noticed someone come in the back door and whisper to their family members. Those individuals got up and left the service. Soon, others came in and whispered to their friends and families; again, those individuals got up and left. This was becoming disruptive, so I paused in my ministry and asked what was causing people to leave the service. “With big smiles on their faces, people began to shout, ‘It’s raining! It’s raining!’ “We ran quickly to the doors and saw that all those who had left the service were in the parking lot dancing in the rain. Pretty soon, the whole congregation was dancing and declaring, ‘The drought is over! The drought is over!’ “When watching the weather report that night on the local news, we were amused to see that the meteorologists were perplexed, commenting that they had not seen the rain coming. It seemed to come out of nowhere. It rained the whole week we were there. “Clearly, God shifted the atmosphere over Edmonton and brought an open heaven through the power of the decree. Jesus Taught the Power of the Decree “Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated the power of the spoken decree. He told His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you’ (Matthew 17:20). “When Christ ministered healing and breakthrough to people, He never actually prayed for them to be healed; rather, He released declarations of breakthrough, saying things like, ‘Stretch out your hand’; ‘Be made whole’; ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk.’ Jesus raised the dead by making decrees: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ In the situation with Jairus’ daughter, He said, ‘Do not weep. She is not dead; only sleeping. . . . Child, get up.’ To the dead man at Nain, Jesus decreed, ‘Young man, I say to you arise.’ To one woman who had suffered from a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, He decreed: ‘Woman, thou art loosed,’ and she was instantly delivered and healed. When He and His disciples were on a boat, and a ferocious storm broke, rather than pray, Jesus made a decree: ‘Peace, be still!’ The Early Church—Our Example “Jesus’ disciples learned how to use decrees to bring breakthrough to people, setting the example for all believers through the ages. When confronted by the lame man begging for alms at the Gate Beautiful, Peter made a decree that released healing: ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk’ (see Acts 3:6). And the power behind that decree caused the lame man suddenly to jump to his feet, walking and leaping and praising God. These words rise up and walk are expressed in the imperative mood, not asking permission or making a suggestion, but giving a command. “In Acts chapter nine, we read the story of Dorcas, also called Tabitha, a follower of Christ from the city of Lydda, who became very sick and died. Peter went to her and got down on his knees to pray. After doing so, he turned to her dead body and decreed, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ Then she opened her eyes, looked at Peter, and sat up. “The apostle Paul also utilized decrees. In Acts 13:11, we read that Paul decreed blindness on Elymas the sorcerer who was hindering the Gospel from going forth. In Acts 14:10, he spoke to a lame man in a loud voice, ‘Stand up straight on your feet!’ And the man leaped up and immediately walked. “Prayer is actually the foundation for every decree we make, for through a constant flow of communication with the Father, we are able to more clearly hear the words He would have us speak. We pray, connecting to the Father, then we decree, shifting the earth. “We must marry the power of prayer and the authority of the decree. Prayer is our petitions, communication, and fellowship with God, while decrees are God’s words released through our voices into the earth realm to bring change. “Job 22:28 begins by saying, ‘You will decree a thing’—not just your pastor, not just a prophet, but you shall make decrees that cause things to be established and light to shine on your way. The Hebrew word for ‘thing’(omer)(1) means ‘the word’ or ‘the promise.’ What do we decree? We decree what God has spoken. “Today, God is looking for believers who will stay filled with the power of the Holy Spirit so they can boldly declare His life and divine purposes—and change history in a moment.” Pray with me: Father, thank You for releasing the power of Your prophetic voice into the earth today.  We pray that we will hear You clearly in order to more effectively decree what You are saying into the earth. You told us to release Your governmental authority. We will continue to release what You have already clearly spoken: America shall be saved Worldwide harvest is coming The earth shall be FILLED with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Miracles are on the increase Prodigals are coming home America shall be given a wise, God-honoring government once again And the hand of God is protecting America’s water supply, dams, and ports. We ask and declare these things in the mighty name of Jesus! Amen. Our decree: (Make it personal) We declare that we are anointed by Holy Spirit to release declarations of breakthrough. We have the power to shape our lives by speaking God’s Words! Click on the link below to watch the full video. Today’s post was taken from Jane Hamon’s book Declarations For Breakthrough. You can find out more about Jane at TomAndJaneHamon.com. James Strong, The New Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 562.

Is Truth the Absolute Standard? A tactic used by many people, and certainly one used by liberals and those on the left, is to mock and ridicule those with whom they disagree. The purpose of this is to try and humiliate or embarrass their opponents and, through that, silence them. This is one of many reasons we Christians must be confidently anchored in God’s unchanging truth, found in His Word. We must know what we believe, why we believe it, and stand steadfastly on it. Beliefs regarding God, salvation, morality, marriage, family, gender, etc., are fluid to many people, making their spirits and souls mooring-less, foundation-less, without a true north; for them, all truth is relative and, therefore, changing. Without truth’s common starting point, even common sense can be lost. Some national leaders and educators now say they do not know how to define a man or woman, that what it means to be male or female has changed. Others believe children should be mutilated in attempts to change their gender, contending that cutting off a body part can transform DNA and chromosomes. Many on the left believe a nation should not have borders, that people or nations can spend more money than they have without it becoming a problem, and that it is perfectly appropriate to take from hard-working people and give it to those who have not worked for it. Madness! Do not be intimidated or silenced by these misinformed people. Love and pray for them, but do not be intimidated or influenced by them. Stand for truth! In my book Becoming Who You Are, I write about the importance of truth. Here is a short excerpt: “There is no greater teacher in the universe than God, and He was Adam's instructor in the ways of life. Through their spiritual connection, the Creator taught the created about creation, imparting portions of His own divine wisdom into the soul of Adam. “Man's understanding and logic were intended to originate in God. Our Creator never intended for us to function intellectually apart from His influence. We were never to be ‘independent thinkers,’ never to have independent knowledge. Never! The reasoning process of our souls was not to be strictly human; it was always meant to have a supernatural element. All knowledge that traversed through people’s souls was to be influenced by the Spirit of God. HE would be the origin and builder of man's knowledge. Of course, the Fall changed this, but that was the plan. “Another word used to describe this God-based knowledge is truth (Greek: alétheia). Biblically speaking, truth isn't just factual, nuts-and-bolts information; facts aren't necessarily synonymous with truth. And knowledge in and of itself doesn't lead to biblical truth. One can learn volumes of facts and information, yet completely miss the truth. Many highly educated people are skeptics, when it comes to believing in God and spiritual truth. Satan will even use facts, but his facts will never lead one to truth. In fact (pun intended), they can even lead to deception—a distortion of truth. “Biblically, truth is not easy to define. Alétheia literally means ‘the reality that existed in the original norm’; the reality lying at the basis or essence of something; true and genuine reality!(1) With words such as reality, original, norm, and essence used to define truth, it becomes obvious that the Creator, God, is its Author. If truth is the ‘original norm,’ then there is an origin and an originator. There can be no truth without a creator. And if truth is defined by ‘norm or normal,’ then truth cannot be relative, always changing. It is absolute and unchanging, like its Creator, God. “Since fallen man doesn’t want a norm, a standard, an original, he must deny the existence of truth, which is defined by these things. But when the standard is denied, as it is when God and His absolute truth are denied, anarchy is inevitable; the bar is lowered to the point of insanity, and man can justify anything. “But truth does exist and can be summarized as the absolute standard found in God, from which all wisdom, logic, and knowledge proceed. It has always existed in God, and it never changes. “‘When Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe and other novels, was a university student, he lived in a boardinghouse. Downstairs on the first floor was an elderly retired music teacher, now infirm and unable to leave the apartment. “‘Douglas said that every morning, they had a ritual. He would come down the steps, open the old man's door, and ask, “Well, what's the good news?” “‘The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair, and say, “That's middle C! It was Middle C yesterday; it will be Middle C tomorrow; it will be Middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, and the piano across the hall is out of tune. But, my friend, that is Middle C!”’ “There is a Middle C. It exists today, and it always will. No refined data or trendy theories will eliminate it. “Likewise, there are absolutes. An absolute norm. An original. An alétheia. And ruling high above as the Creator of it all is God. The true God, who reigns in truth. This God-birthed truth— the only truth—was always intended to shape humankind's perspective. This is critical because Jesus said knowing the truth would make us free (see John 8:32). No truth, no freedom; know truth, know freedom. We must know that it exists and that the original plan was for us to live with it as a compass.” Hold fast! Pray with me: Father, we thank You for Your Word. Thank You for communicating Your ways to us - giving us guidelines to live by, truth to guide us. Thank You for Jesus, who came to embody truth for us, to show us exactly who You are, what You are like, and how to live as the people You intended us to be: walking in truth and in love. We are not arrogant and haughty regarding our efforts to walk in truth. YOU are the Truth; we are simply those endeavoring to learn and live by this truth, and none of us do so perfectly. But as You teach us, and as we increasingly understand Your truth, may we possess steadfast, immovable, uncompromising hearts and minds in order to model it. Yes, we want to see Your truth implemented in our society and world, but our hearts are not to condemn those who disagree with us. Instead, we will win them! We believe Your gospel, Your Word, and Your truth have the power to open their eyes, free them, save them, and transform their thinking. We ask for an awakening to the body of Christ in America. Many have been influenced by and conformed to the thinking of the world, causing them to depart from Scripture and compromise Your truth. Please bring a correction to this. Return a deep love for Your Word to the American church. We know there will be no sustained revival if this does not occur; certainly, there will be no reformation. So we ask for this, and we do so in the mighty name of Jesus! Amen. Our decree: We declare that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) and that His Word is truth (John 17:17). This will be our standard. Click on the link below to watch the full video. Portions of today’s post were taken from my book Becoming Who You Are, Embracing the Power of Your Identity in Christ, published by Baker Books. ______________________________ Dutch Sheets, Becoming Who You Are, (Bloomington, MN: Baker Publishing Group), pp. 45-46. This is a definition compiled from several different lexicons and dictionaries. The number in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible is 225.

Seize the Opportunity “But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” (1 Corinthians 16:8-9 NASB) Holy Spirit has been drawing me to this verse a good bit lately; I’ve actually quoted from it in a couple of posts. It came as still another confirmation when my spiritual dad and apostolic leader of the fellowship I’m aligned with, Jim Hodges, used it in his recent newsletter. Here is Jim’s exhortation, with a few slight additions to make it more applicable to a broader audience. Jim says: “The apostle Paul’s ministry often demonstrated that opportunities to advance the Gospel of Christ were accompanied by opposition. He stated this in our opening verse, 1 Corinthians 16:9. Count on it: opportunity is accompanied by opposition. This is amply illustrated throughout Paul’s ministry. Perhaps the most dramatic one is his dangerous trip to Rome, recorded in Acts 27 and 28. The open door at that time was for Paul, a Roman citizen, to stand before the Roman emperor and personally declare to him and his palace guards the Gospel of the Kingdom. “In this Corinthians verse, Paul describes an opportunity to advance the gospel as being great and effectual. Great is megas,(1) meaning ‘exceedingly large, wide, grand or great;’ we get our English word mega from this Greek word. Effectual is energes,(2) meaning ‘powerful, effective, and active’; it’s easy to see the words’ energy and energized in this word. Energes is power in action, power at work. The root word (ergon)(3) actually means ‘to work.’ “Paul called the opportunity a ‘door,’ which is a place of access. He was saying a door of great opportunity was wide open, affording great access, and that this mega opportunity would have divine power/energy to succeed in its mission! And it certainly did. Ephesus became a great beachhead for the gospel. “On another occasion, Dr. Luke records in Acts 14:27 how the Lord Himself had opened a door of faith for Paul and Barnabas to go to the Gentiles!” Then Jim says: “Great and effectual doors are open to the Ekklesia, the Church, in our day! Despite the opposition, we must walk through them, proclaiming and demonstrating the Gospel of the King and His Kingdom! Holy Spirit will empower us! At this time, we have been given great access to the following wide-open doors: The 3rd Great Awakening. (A great and transformative outpouring of the Holy Spirit here and around the world.) Revival and reformation. The recent outbreaks of the Holy Spirit at Asbury University and many other colleges across America are one of many signs that revival is here and very accessible!  And the church is now equipped to add reformation to this revival, discipling people groups and nations with the principles of Christ’s Kingdom. Global harvest. The Body of Christ is increasing on the earth faster than the world’s population. This includes Israel and a number of Muslim nations. (I recommend reading The Triumph of Christianity by Baylor University professor Rodney Stark). The turnaround and reset of the USA. There is an unrelenting remnant that refuses to come down off the wall of intercession, declarations, and decrees on behalf of our beloved, though beleaguered, nation. The release of the supernatural power of the Lord. We have entered a season of great signs and wonders. Don’t miss opportunities to demonstrate this! The increasing release of revelation through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Just as John ascended by the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, recorded in Revelation 4:1, we can go through the same open door he entered! This is truly a season of revelation! Accessing the doors of civil governments to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom. Paul’s mission to Rome was successful; Philippians 4:22 tells his effectual ministry resulted in the conversion of a number of Caesar’s ‘household.’” My Comments We should not be surprised or alarmed when great opposition arises against our attempts to go through spiritual doors and reap the fruit. Jesus Himself said, “If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you” (John 15:20). The key to victory is staying focused on Christ and the opportunities Holy Spirit gives us (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 3:12), not the opposition. We have not only been invited into God’s family, but to join Him in His labors, partnering with Him in His great cause. If you are a regular reader/listener of Give Him15, you know this and have probably said “yes.” Mine and my spiritual father’s exhortation today is to persevere through all opposition and seize every opportunity. Our prayers are saving this nation and being used to reap the greatest spiritual harvest ever. Remain steadfast. When we finish our race, we’ll rejoice for eternity. Ignore the critics and naysayers. Reject all unbelief. Cast off all lethargy and complacency. Never, ever yield to discouragement. Resist the devil, submit to and draw near to God. Hate evil, love people. Repeat. I leave you with a passage from The Message: “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.” Philippians 3:12-16 Pray with me: Father, we are not those who put their hand to the plow and turn back. As General Patton said, somewhat more colorfully, “Retreat? No, we’ll advance to the rear.” We say to You, Father, we will not retreat. We are advancing with You into greater glory, greater faith, greater opportunities, and greater fruitfulness. Thank You for the honor of partnering with You. We ask for razor-sharp focus in this hinge year. We ask for keen hearing, acute awareness, sharp vision, and heightened discernment. May we not miss an opportunity. Like Peter, who walked by the lame man at Beautiful Gate many times, but knew when the season had changed and it was time for this miracle. The gift of faith was activated, the miracle occurred, and thousands were saved. We want this level of sensitivity. We declare that this is a year of extraordinary miracles! And we turn our hearts to the warning You gave us for our water, dams, and ports. We decree by faith in You and Your word that every port, dam, waterway, and water supply in all of America is protected and shielded from evil. No evil plot planned or devised against them will succeed; every snare is broken. We will not fear, and terror will not come near us (Isaiah 54:14 AMP; Isaiah 54:17; Psalm 21:11; Psalm 124:7). Our decree: We decree that no opposition will deter us from Holy Spirit’s opportunities. Click on the link below to watch the full video. You can find out more about Jim Hodges at JimHodgesMinistries.com. James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 3173 Ibid., ref. no. 1756. Ibid., ref. no. 2041.

Watchman Prayer in Action Our friends and prayer leaders, Hal and Cheryl Sacks in Arizona, sent me the following sobering information, affirming our concerns over America’s dams. “The consequences of a terrorist attack on a United States dam could be catastrophic, even the small earthen dams. Multiple attacks on two or three of these structures could create mass casualties on a scale greater than September 11, 2001! The potential devastation, loss, and associated chaos make dams and waterways a prime target for terrorism. “Take, for example, the Hoover Dam (Nevada/Arizona), the largest dam in the U.S. in terms of water capacity, which holds back 8.95 cubic miles of water at a time — a truly astonishing amount of weight. Hoover Dam is located on Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S. when measured by water capacity. “In the event of a terrorist attack, roughly 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, California, and parts of Mexico would be without water for drinking, plumbing, and irrigation. At least 1.3 million people in those states would be left to find alternative electricity supplies. The agriculture community would come to a screeching halt. There would be fatalities resulting from flooding and a loss of clean water. A few million people could be forced to move to other cities or states.”(1) I have received several communications from prophetic leaders around the country, stating that God has been talking to them about praying for America’s water supply, waterways, dams - and though I did not mention it in Monday’s post - ports. As we launch this week into praying for protection over these water supplies and facilities, I want to encourage you with a testimony from the incredible book INSPIRED STORIES: 50 Years of Answered Prayer, Volume 1, recently released by Intercessors For America. This book, containing 28 powerful testimonies of answers to prayer, is SO encouraging!!! Here is one regarding terrorism: Terrorist Plans Thwarted “In the years and months leading to July 4, 1976, Americans were planning a joyous celebration of the nation's bicentennial. At the same time, terrorist groups were planning to exploit the opportunity for purposes of their own. These terrorists were well organized and well armed, and their intentions were clear: to bomb, to burn, to destroy, and above all, to disrupt the July 4 bicentennial celebrations, the Democratic Convention in New York City (July 12-15, 1976), and the Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada (July 17-August 1, 1976). “Dr. William Kintner, a University of Pennsylvania political science professor, testified before Congress on June 18, 1976, in hopes that making these serious terrorist threats public would deter the terrorists from acting. Kintner told Congress: ‘... [T]here is reason to be concerned that the terrorist elements in our society will find the bicentennial an irresistible attraction - not only because the eyes of the world will be focused on the bicentennial festivities, but also because they regard the celebration itself with consuming hostility since it stands for everything they are opposed to: freedom.’ “‘Extremist groups that hate this country and what it stands for,’ Kintner said, ‘have been talking in terms of disrupting, or spoiling, the bicentennial.’ He gave examples of radical rhetoric that implied and could thus incite violence: ‘turning the bicentennial upside down.’ [Another group said] ‘When they light the candles on the 200th birthday cake, we will be there to blow them out.’ [And still another] talked about ‘bringing the fireworks,’ and this slogan has been repeated by some of those in charge of a planned mass demonstration in Philadelphia. "Radical domestic groups and communist leaders were identified as among those giving rise to the terror threat during the summer of 1976. “But God raised up His standard, and satan‘s plans were stopped cold. All three events went ahead, free from any terrorist interference. Prayer was the key here, and so the warfare that did take place was all in the spiritual realm. One example was Joy Dawson's prayer of intercession at a conference in Pittsburgh. As this leader of the Youth With A Mission ministry team began praying, thousands joined her in taking authority over the unseen forces in the heavenlies. Here are excerpts from that powerful prayer: ‘... [C]lothed in the armor of God now, we come to address satan, principalities, and demon powers, and we come to tell you, God the Holy Ghost has disclosed your plans for riots on July 4 in Philadelphia and on into Montreal. ... You will not win, and we come to do aggressive warfare against you in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the power of the Holy Ghost. ‘Tonight, I come and address the particular principalities that satan has allotted to be loosed on July 4. The Holy Ghost has named them to me. They are the principality of lawlessness, the principality of anarchy, and the principality of rebellion — and I tell you right now, you will not do anything to discredit the work of the Living God. I bind you right now. I resist you right now. I command you three principalities, in the mighty name of the Lord Jesus, to cease all plans right now. I command confusion in the committees of hell tonight through Jesus Christ. You will not work, you will not thwart the will of God, because it is written in the word of God: “I will work, says the Living God...” ‘And we now say to You, O God, as we take our place, having turned from the powers of darkness — we say thanks be unto God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, for we are more than conquerors through Him who washed us in His own precious blood. We praise You now in faith. King God, we worship You and praise You tonight for the sheer privilege of being on the winning side. We worship You because You're the mighty conquering king, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the wonderful Lord Jesus Christ. And we tell You tonight that it is a privilege to obey You. We will say “Yes, Sir!” to anything You ask us to do, and we thank You that Your truth is marching on because You are marching on. Hallelujah!’" (2) Pray with me: Father, we thank You for the watchmen You have raised up in our nation, those assigned to be sentries and guards and can sound the alarm when prayer is needed for a given situation. We thank You for the prophetic anointing, which brings discernment regarding the future, alerting us to the strategies of satan and his kingdom. You told us to “be alert” and pray at all kairos times (Ephesians 6:18), times of strategic, well-timed attacks from satan’s kingdom. We do so now. Father, You have assigned us to pray for protection over America’s water supply, waterways, ports, and dams. (From the prayer and decree written for this assignment [on our websites]) Your Word tells us that unless You keep or guard a city, the efforts of watchmen are in vain (Psalm 127:1). Therefore, we look to You for protection - You are our refuge, a very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). When You are for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)? You save us from our enemies, men of bloodshed who do iniquity (Psalm 59:1-2). You are the Creator and Owner of the entire world - all of its inhabitants, as well as the seas and rivers. You are the King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty in battle, and the Lord of angel armies (Psalm 24:1,7,8,10). As a Master Workman, You set the boundaries for the seas and drew the tributaries of the earth (Proverbs 8:29-30), and still maintain ownership and authority over them. Contend with those who contend with us (Isaiah 49:25), cause evil to “bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous” (Proverbs 14:19). We ask that Holy Spirit would hover over the dams, water supplies, waterways, and ports of our nation, just as He did the waters of the earth in Genesis 1:2, releasing life and blessing. Arise over us, God, and cause every enemy to be scattered (Psalm 68:1). In Jesus’ name, Amen! Our decree: We decree that the powerful and majestic voice of the Lord thunders upon America’s waters, blessing them with peace (Psalm 29:3-4,11). Click the link to watch today's video: You can find out more about IFA (Intercessors For America) at IFApray.org. ______________________________ https://a-z-animals.com/blog/discover-what-happens-if-the-hoover-dam-ever-breaks/ Dave Kubal and John D. Beckett, Inspired Stories - 50 Years of Answered Prayer, Vol. 1, (Plymouth: MA, Proclamation House Publishing), pp. 32-36.