In 2 Chronicles 20:4-7 the Israelites under King Jehoshaphat were attacked by several enemy armies and one of their cities was captured. From their stressful situation, we can learn how to call on the Lord and pray for our stressful situations. The first thing that King Jehoshaphat did when he stood in the house of the Lord to pray, was to declare that God was in control in heaven and here on earth.

 

At some point in your life you may find that "unusual" challenges keep attacking your health, marriage, children, ministry, business or some other aspect of your life.

Sara felt their energy. The storms of life grew stronger and were poised to strike at any moment. She knew they would challenge her faith, and she worried if she could withstand their fury.

When the storms of life rage all around us, we may ask: Is God real? How tangible and touchable is He? Does He care about what happens to me?

Throughout His life, Jesus demonstrated God's love for us. How marvelous was God's ability to create us and take on the form of His creation in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. Through Christ's humanity, God is able to see what we see; hear what we hear; smell what we smell; taste what we taste; and, feel what we feel.

Still, the question, "Does God care?" demands a definitive answer -- and that answer is: "Yes." Rest assured, God is not some cold, distant entity who is oblivious to our dilemmas. He is touched by the feelings of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15), and He invites us to cast all our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7).

Since these are absolute truths, only one question remains: As we look at life's storms in the light of God's great love, how can we not see how powerless they truly are by comparison?

(c) Bob Valleau has over 25 years of writing experience for the Christian market. He was once named Christian Writer of the Year by the American Christian Writers Association. Currently, he freelances and lives in Texas.

How your prayer language unlocks mysteries and establishes Godly strongholds in your life.

We’ve been talking about obtaining breakthrough in our lives. We’ve talked about our confession, fasting and how strongholds are built. However, there is another key piece to this puzzle of “breakthrough.”

Do you ever feel that in spite of all you do, you are banging your head against a ceiling?

On Sunday June 14, 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be going before his nation, and before the world, to deliver his much anticipated foreign policy speech.

The two issues he is certain to focus on are Iran’s nuclear threat and Israel’s negotiations with the Palestinian Arabs

Christians would do well to pay close attention to the changing face of American culture. Change has come and all of us will be affected by it both financially and spiritually, IF we remain idle.

The question, “Should Christians be involved in politics?” continues to be a mental blockade against righteous change. Some Christians wrongly steer clear from politics in fear of being corrupted by it. While Scripture does not answer this pesky question with an emphatic yea or nay, one cannot dismiss the fact that Judeo-Christian values have influenced and shaped modern civilization and its laws.

David Wilkerson is prophesying an imminent "earth-shattering calamity" – and he’s calling it the judgment of God.

Author of "The Cross and the Switchblade,” Wilkerson is predicting something major will happen in New York City and spread across the country and around the world.

In his blog, Wilkerson says he was "compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message" to those that follow his ministry.

Have you ever been sick and tired of being sick? You know that feeling when it seems you are never going to get over a cold and you are so tired you just don’t think you can take it anymore. You’ve been to the doctor; the medicine didn’t really help. You’ve coughed until your sides ache. You’ve blown your nose until it’s red and sore. You’ve lost sleep, work, and your sense of humor. The worst part is that you’re completely helpless against that cold.

In 1993, that was the story of my life. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I felt like everything about my life was going in a pointless circle. I felt like one day I was on top of the world and the next I was flat on the floor. I had just enough faith to get from one week to the next, my emotions always getting the better of me. My life was in a never-ending tailspin. I wanted the cycle to end, but it seemed the more I tried the more tired I got. I felt hopeless.

About this time last year I had a somewhat perplexing dream. In this dream, I was about five months pregnant. Now, for starters, I’m not married and had no reason to be pregnant. I was trying to deny it, but my mid-section was clearly swelling and it wasn’t from too many tasty empanadas from the corner Cuban café. In my dream, I asked a trusted friend what she thought. To my dismay, she said, “You’re definitely pregnant!”

To say I was none too happy would be a monumental understatement. A flood of thoughts rushed at me in my dream state. “How will I get all my work done with a newborn baby to care for? I’m too busy for this! My life is challenging enough as it is. This is certainly no time to complicate things with a baby!” I thought to myself. Even still, I knew there was no way of escape on this one. I had a sense that I really didn’t have a choice in the matter. This baby was coming in about four months whether I liked it or not.

Then I woke up…perplexed. Of course, I’m not spiritually dense. I understood the overarching meaning of the dream. God was birthing a new thing in my life. We were a little more than halfway through the incubation process, and I needed to align my will with His in a hurry. My fellow prophets chimed in as to what this “baby” could be. Some said it was a new ministry. Others said it would ultimately be a good thing though times were likely to get rough over the next few months. They were all right.

Change comes. Whether you like it or not, change comes. New presidents get elected, parents pass away, new children are born… change comes. Or does it?

Things seem so different and new. Yet, in the grand scheme of things, are they really new or just the same old thing in a different package? Are we just repeating some cycle that is so large we never even notice it? In 1993, I reached a place in my life where everything was the same. No matter how many adjustments I made … nothing really changed. I just kept repeating the same mistakes over and over. I wasn’t getting anywhere and I didn’t know how to change!

It’s easy for us to point fingers at people around us when we need to change. We have to remember that the only one we can change in our lives is us. And we have to remember that real change doesn’t start on the outside. It’s easy to change our appearance, but that’s not real change. No, real change starts in our spirits.

So how do we change ourselves from the inside out? When I was desperate to experience real change in my life, the first BIG thing God had me do was some fasting. As I did, I began the process of mortification, or dying to myself. It isn’t easy, but it sure has been worth it.

Why fast? For many people, when fasting is mentioned, they think “CULT!”  But Jesus fasted, as did his disciples and hundreds of thousands of early Christians. I believe it is a foundational principle for seeing change in our lives.

When I was growing up, fasting was presented as a way to get God to move in your life. Here’s the problem: fasting doesn’t move God. You can’t manipulate God into changing you! I think many people believe that if they fast long enough God will owe them something, and He is obligated to move in their lives because of their own sacrifice. The fact is that fasting doesn’t move God… fasting moves us! God has already done what He is going to do! He’s waiting on us to receive and act on His Word! The problem is, we’re usually too full of ourselves to find out what He has already provided for us. But when you fast, you’re hungry. Hungry people are sensitive. Hungry people are very aware of what goes in and comes out of their mouths and in and out of their minds. Hungry people seek to destroy the strongholds in their lives that limit them from receiving the things God has already provided in His Word!  To the hungry, Jesus becomes the Bread of Life.

When you fast, you are depending on your spirit to sustain you instead of your body. You are creating a sensitivity to your spirit over your flesh. But your body isn’t your only problem: your mind, will, and emotions are your problems, too. So, food isn’t the only thing you can fast. Maybe you have a mouth that likes to gossip. What if you fasted running your mouth for a month? Or maybe you have trouble keeping your finances in order. Have you ever thought of fasting shopping? Talk about creating a sensitivity and an awareness in your life to things that are out of order!

Fasting begins to unlock things stored up in the “fat” of our lives. The toxins, the poisons, and the unhealthy things that have trapped themselves in our physical and emotional reserves are unlocked as we begin to burn up the stored things in our lives. When we eliminate these ugly things, change begins.

Change doesn’t just happen because we want it to. It happens when we make up our minds that we need to change, and we start taking steps to change. So start your journey toward true change today. Try to pick something to fast for the next 30 days: try food, sweets, television, excess spending, or maybe even your computer. When you deny your flesh, feed your spirit. As you do, you will become more sensitive to God and true change can begin…from the inside out!

Every time we pray, if we do so correctly, God’s mighty power is released and made available to bring victory and breakthrough into even seemingly impossible situations. We do not need to overcome God’s reluctance when we pray. That is not the problem.

When we pray, we are breaking through resistance from the powers of darkness and taking hold of God’s willingness to do His plan in the earth. That prayer causes His power to be released on our behalf.

God’s power is in the spiritual world. We can’t always see it and sometimes we can’t feel it, but it is there nonetheless. In many cities and nations, it has been withheld for years; not because of God’s reluctance to act, but rather, because God’s people have lacked the spiritual understanding necessary to break through and use His power to see their prayers answered.

Everything we need is already paid for and created by the work of the cross. Now we must take hold of it through the heart of faith and the voice of prayer and make God’s power available in the earth. You have an active part in the Kingdom of God coming to earth as it is in heaven. Who is going to do this praying? Every believer is called to prayer. It is a gift that Jesus has given us.

God is calling Christians to watch and pray. Are you on your post?

Are you building walls of religion or towers of prayer? Your answer could denote the difference between a woe-filled fate and a fulfilled destiny.

Prophets obsessed by the fear of man or unholy desires will not fulfill God’s ultimate plan. We must be careful, then, not to prophesy according to the party line in order to establish and preserve popularity in ministry circuits. If we fall into this trap we find ourselves in danger of perverting the gift of God by building walls of religion.

True prophets are not always the most popular five-fold ministry gift on the block because they are bold enough to release a word of the Lord that deals with sin or that warns the local church of potentially unpleasant circumstances coming down the proverbial pike. In order to properly carry this mantle, genuine prophets must build towers of prayer.

False prophets build walls of religion that lead people astray with fabricated edification, misleading exhortation and counterfeit comfort. “These evil prophets deceive my people saying, ‘All is peaceful!’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to hold it together by covering it with whitewash! Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down” (Ezekiel 13:10 NLT).

The "opening of the prison" in Isaiah 61:1-2 is God's own figurative illustration of our release from bondage or imprisonment to sin, sickness and everything else that reached us through the fall. It covers every phase of our redemption and salvation. Jesus opened the prison for us by bearing our punishment.

What I have to say applies equally to every bondage known to man. To help the sick and afflicted I am, at this time, thinking of the physical phase of the Gospel. But if you are physically well and your problem is one of the many others covered by redemption, then think of your problem as an open prison, and follow these same instructions. You can thus keep God busy fulfilling His promise to you and live in the experience and enjoyment of your freedom.

The Opening of the Prison

What is meant by “the opening of the prison”? It means that the prisoners are free accordingly. Moffatt so translates it, “To tell prisoners they are free, to tell captives they are released.” Jesus opened the prison for us by bearing our punishment. “Jehovah hath caused to meet on him the punishment of us all” (Isaiah 53:6 Dr. Young’s translation).

In Deuteronomy 2 all sickness is listed among the punishment of God for rebellion. However in Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” This tells us that Christ redeemed us from sickness.

The Holy Spirit has given us a powerful prayer language that we can use as a weapon against the wiles of the enemy. Are you using all the weapons in your spiritual arsenal? Many are adept at wielding the sword of the Spirit and pleading the blood of Jesus against principalities and powers. Others do spiritual warfare through walking in obedience and love. Still others dispatch ministering angels, worship or prophesy against the enemy, declaring his ultimate doom. But Scripture teaches of another weapon that Spirit-filled believers can include in our artillery as we press in to do damage to enemy forces in the hostile clash between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light: praying in tongues.