Candace Cameron Bure to Those Who Mock Prayer: They've Never Experienced Its Power

Actress Candace Cameron Bure believes deeply in the power of prayer.
The "Fuller House" star stopped by the Faithwire newsroom in New York City on Monday to discuss faith, life, her new book and plenty more, spending a fair amount of time addressing the importance of prayer in her own life.
Bure, who released the book "Staying Stylish: Cultivating a Confident Look, Style, and Attitude" this week, specifically responded to those who say "prayer isn't enough" or who mock invocations in the wake of tragedy.
"It bothers me and I feel sad for the people who write it, because the first thing I think is, 'Well, they've never experienced the power of prayer. They just don't know,'" Bure said. "Prayer, for me, is always where you start. That's the start of your solution. Then, yes, you take action."
Bure went on to offer a detailed assessment surrounding why she believes prayer is the starting place.
"If you don't start with [prayer] there's no power behind it, because God's the power," she said. "God can do anything, change anything — change hearts. It's the heart of all of us that need to be changed and that's where God needs to get in."
Listen to Bure discuss prayer and plenty more below:
The actress also spoke about the daily role prayer plays in her everyday life, saying that she doesn't feel quite balanced when she doesn't take the time to give thanks to God, appealing to "his truths and not [her] own emotions."

Continued

This Man Smuggles God's Word into a Place Where Getting Caught with a Bible Is a Death Sentence

WASHINGTON — North Korea is widely known as the most oppressive place on earth for Christians. It's a place where believers practice their faith in secret. North Koreans cannot even own a Bible or speak the name of Jesus in public.
Possessing a Bible could get you 15 years of hard labor in a prison camp, or worse.
Vernon Brewer, President of World Help, knows that well. He spends his days equipping smugglers to bring Bibles into the hermit kingdom.

Why They Risk Death to Own a Bible
"If they get caught with a Bible, it's a death sentence. Yet they are willing to risk their lives every day to get God's word into the hands of a North Korea Christian, that has never even held a Bible. Let alone owned one. That's how precious it is to them. It is really good news," Brewer said.
Brewer believes of the some 300,000 Christians there, about 70,000 wither away in brutal prison camps because they were caught practicing their faith.

Brewer and his team just returned from the DMZ, where they worked to share the word of God by smuggling Bibles across the border.
   
"Much of the work we do to share the gospel, it's very secret. But I can tell you this: we are distributing Bibles because that is the greatest need. We have a goal to distribute 100,000 Bibles as soon as possible," Brewer told CBN News.

Continued

Let There Be Light

On the 700 Club Tuesday, Hannity told CBN's Pat Robertson, "I've always felt that Hollywood has a contempt for conservative values and Christian values."
That's why the Fox News Channel headliner has teamed up with a veteran Hollywood actor to create a new faith-based film called "Let There Be Light."

It's the story of a world-renown atheist, a near-death experience, and an encounter with the Creator of the universe.
Hannity is the movie's executive producer, making his first foray into filmmaking, along with Kevin Sorbo, who not only stars in the film but also directed it.
The movie is a true family affair. Sorbo's wife, Sam co-wrote the script and also plays his on-screen wife, while their two young sons make their own acting debuts.

Continued

Killing Kryptonite

The call for repentance needed in and from the church today is actually a call for what we need most: true love. The lack of true love in the church is filling our services, ministries, and homes with two extremes—tolerance and legalism.

The deception of tolerance is that it can look so much like love. We use the Bible to define love as patient, kind, never proud, not rude, not demanding its own way, along with other attributes found in 1 Corinthians 13. However, the love of the world can also have many of these characteristics. 

What separates Christian love from worldly love is that Christian love obeys God’s commands. “By this we know,” writes the apostle of love, “that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments” (1 John 5:2).

This means, if I’m patient, not rude, not jealous, and not boastful, but am cheating on my wife or if I condone sexual immorality, I am not walking in the love of God. 

True love is marked by both truth and love. Truth apart from love directs us down the road of the letter of the law, that which kills—legalism. And, sadly, people react to legalism by swinging the pendulum to the other extreme, avoiding correction and scriptural warnings, which are crucial to the health and building of the church. 

Let’s be candid—we view calling men and women to repentance as a lack of compassion, tenderness, kindness, and love. Yet consider this: If I see a blind man heading straight for a cliff that will cause him to fall to certain death, love demands that I call him to change course!

In our society, and with many in the church, such genuine love that calls for repentance is perceived as bigoted and hateful. This stronghold has emerged because many are only considering their life on earth, and not eternity. 

When we remember that this life is less than a blink in light of eternity, we live differently. We must view life in an eternal context to comprehend true love. 

This is the love the church needs now—eternal love, true love—love that will confront sin and call for repentance, yet also a love that is patient, kind, and gentle.

From the Bible study, Killing Kryptonite by John Bevere.

Bible App.

Spirit of Baal 'manifesting' now in America

It’s the No. 1 prophecy book at Amazon.com and hit No. 5 on the New York Times bestseller list in its first week.

And it reveals the return of an ancient evil.

Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn, the New York Times bestselling author of “The Harbinger,” has produced his most ambitious and comprehensive work yet, “The Paradigm.”
On a recent appearance on SkyWatch TV, the man known as “America’s Prophet” detailed the implications of his newest biblical discovery.
“It [the paradigm] gives the modern leaders the amount of time they have to be on the national stage before they leave,” marveled Cahn. “I mean, it’s specific. … God uses everything, God weaves in everything. The paradigm is this master blueprint, from the Bible, that deals with a nation or a civilization that is heading away from God.
“Israel is the example, ancient Israel, when they turned away from God, what happened? ‘The Harbinger’ speaks of the signs of judgment, this [‘The Paradigm’] speaks of everything that’s happening. So everything we’ve experienced in our lifetime is all part of this paradigm and it takes us up to everything that’s happening right now. And then where do we go from here?”
One of the most consistent signs in a nation’s fall into apostasy is the reemergence of a certain spirit – the spirit of Baal. The rabbi detailed the highly important role of this false god during the apostasy of ancient Israel.
“Ba’al means lord, or master, or owner,” Cahn said. Switching to the more common pronunciation of “Baal,” Cahn explained how the pagan god has a symbolic meaning that goes far behind his actual historical importance.
“Baal’s importance, or his dynamic, is that when a nation has known God, as Israel knew God, and then they turned away from God, they turned to Baal,” he said. “Baal is the anti-God. Baal is the substitute god. Baal is the god of apostasy, of the turning away from God.”
Cahn linked Baal with the practice of idolatry, or the way humans can create their own god.

Read more at WND

Who are the real black ‘traitors’?

The pejorative “Uncle Tom” causes more damage than does the word “n––r.”

The “N-word,” when used by a white person as an epithet against a
black person, is an insult, designed to convey to the recipient that he
or she is a second-class citizen. It is designed to make one feel
inferior. But it hasn’t worked. My parents, as did the parents of my
friends, said no one can make you feel inferior without your permission.
Lesson learned. For decades, tests measuring self-esteem show that
teenage black boys and girls test higher than do white boys and girls.

“Uncle Tom,” on the other hand, when used by a black person as an epithet against

another black person, is designed to do one thing and one thing only –
to label that person as a traitor, a sellout, as a black person who
colludes with white racists to undermine the success of black people.

During my pre-election debate at an inner-city black church in Los
Angeles against Roland Martin of “NewsOne,” a “black” news show on cable
channel TV One, Martin advised me to “get in touch with my blackness.”
My crime? I supported the candidacy of Donald Trump, and predicted he
would attract a greater share of the black vote than did Mitt Romney. I
suggested that the damage done to the black family by the welfare state
was far more than the degree of racism in today’s America.

Because of blacker-than-thou people like Martin, the black community is not
having a robust debate about, for example, whether there is a causal
connection between the welfare state and the growing number of
fatherless households.

How bad is this lack of critical thinking? During the O.J. Simpson
murder trial, a New Jersey high school teacher wrote about the reaction
to the case by his mostly black and brown students. Out of 110 students,
only four thought Simpson actually did it. Whenever anyone dared
suggest an alternative theory, that possibly Simpson himself might have
murdered two people, he or she was denounced as a sympathizer for the
wrong side. Several thought Kato Kaelin, Simpson’s house guest, did it.
Another thought O.J. Simpson’s friend Al Cowlings did it, despite a
complete and utter lack of evidence. The teacher observed that the black
females in his class exerted what he called “social control” over the
others in the class to induce unanimity on Simpson’s innocence.

Read more at here.

Trump nails it at U.N.: Socialism sucks

While it is clear that desperation is

the prime motivator for those on the political left, having dramatically
amplified their subversive and incendiary rhetoric in recent months, it
must be acknowledged by those who do not share their views that this
deportment is manifestly dangerous, represents a clear and present
danger to our domestic tranquility, and merits amelioration by methods
and measures that, at this time, may have yet to be revealed.


It is my belief that those on the political left have forfeited their
right to participation in the political process and free speech
(particularly pertaining to the overly broad understanding of the latter
as it relates to the Constitution) because one of their chief
objectives is to strip all dissenters of those very rights. I will
continue to articulate this as progressives, socialists and radical
leftists continue to augment their efforts to corrupt and debase our
society and our culture at every conceivable level.

At this point, we are familiar with the agonizingly incessant efforts
on the part of the left to characterize President Donald Trump, his
surrogates, his supporters and those who favor his wife’s taste in
footwear as white supremacists despite there being no evidence whatsoever in support of such claims.
We’ve also witnessed the increasing audacity of the noxious individuals
and groups who have spoken out against those who hold traditional
values, law enforcement, America in general ̶ well, pretty much anything
or anyone that represents a divergence from leftist orthodoxy. Further,
leftists are becoming less and less inhibited with regard to advocating for violence as a means to their ends.


Read more at here.

Man with 500-Year Prison Sentence on a Mission to Bring 'Dead Things Back to Life'

SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas – As a former police officer, prosecutor, and a district judge, Robert Newsom would appear to typify Texas law and order.

Currently, he splits his time serving as Hopkins County's chief administrator and a part-time probate judge whose judicial philosophy is influenced by his faith and the principles of justice and compassion.

"I believe in the law. I promote the law. I stand with the law," explained Newsom, who is also an ordained minister through Christ for the Nations. "On the other hand, there's a place for mercy built into our law."

State officials have embraced a similar focus on rehabilitation, which has helped to make the Lone Star State a leader in prison reform. Since 2011, its crime rate has fallen and fewer Texans are behind bars (down from 156,000 in 2011 to 146,000). Texas is now on track to closing its eighth prison facility in six years by the end of September 2017, four of which shuttered this year saving the state a projected $49.5 million.

Continued
 

S Korea's Plan to Assassinate Kim Jong-Un: The Hit Squad That Could End It All

North Korea has made sudden progress in its nuclear and missile technology in recent months, and that has experts wondering, how are they doing this?
Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vows he's going to complete his nuclear weapons program despite sanctions and objections by world leaders.
CBN News has been working to explore what's behind the rogue regime's spike in missile launches and nuclear tests, and uncovering details about a new effort to potentially cut off the head of the snake.

Continued

ISIS Calls for 'Lone Wolf' Attacks on Hurricane Victims at Relief Shelters

The Islamic State is calling for lone wolf attacks on hurricane relief centers in Houston and Miami.
A confidential document from the Department of Homeland Security's Southeast Bureau details the threats. The document, obtained by CNBC, says ISIS is using social media to rally fighters and sympathizers to wage jihad against the hurricane victims.
"To all the (lone mujahids) in the U,S, (warrior), pop down to Houston and drop in at any of the relief centers housing displaced people from the Houston floods, make sure to bring lots of supplies, gadgets, toys to see if you can help put any (unbeliever) out of their misery," one post cited in the Homeland Security document says.
Others posts say that Allah sent the hurricane and that there were "a lot of opportunities for the soldiers of the Islamic State to target."

Continued

UN warns of ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Myanmar’s Muslims

Religious persecution is wrong. God wants all of us to live in peace no matter what is the color of our skin, our ethnicity or religion.

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus made this clear when he instructed us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
 
UN warns of ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Myanmar’s Muslims

Supreme Court allows part of Trump travel ban to continue

Supreme Court allows part of Trump travel ban to continue

Maybe it’s time to admit evolution is faulty

Maybe it’s time to admit evolution is faulty

Ron Paul: Why is U.S. 'taking military actions that benefit ISIS?'

President Donald Trump is veering from his campaign promises to destroy ISIS at all cost, says former presidential candidate Ron Paul.

On Saturday, a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian war plane after it attacked rebel forces being supported by Washington.
The F-18 launched from the USS George H.W. Bush in the Mediterranean Sea near Israel and shot down a Syrian SU-22 fighter over Syrian territory. This is the first time the U.S. has engaged in an air-to-air shoot-down since the U.S. attack on Yugoslavia in 1999.
In response to the U.S. attack, the Russians have suspended the use of the military hotline and announced that they will view all unidentified aircraft operating in the vicinity of Russian military aircraft as potential targets.
Paul is mystified by the Trump administration’s actions.
“The U.S. claims the attack was in self-defense, that the Syrian jet was threatening U.S.-backed rebel forces in the area,” he said in an emailed statement. “That claim has been debunked by even the pro-rebel Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.”
The shoot-down of the Syrian plane is the latest in a pattern of military actions against the regime of President Bashar Assad.
“This marks the fourth recent U.S. attack on Syrian government forces as they engage ISIS in attempt to eject the terrorists from eastern Syria,” Paul continued. “Each time, U.S. intervention has benefited ISIS.”
Paul put forth similar criticisms in a June 16 column titled “Why are we attacking the Syrians who are fighting ISIS.”

Read more at WND

God is Greater than Satan

People of the Second Chance by Mike Foster

“Dispelling the Beautiful Lie”
Today I want to begin with a harsh truth. You see, most if not all of us believe what I call the beautiful lie.

The lie says this is what really counts: to be wealthy, powerful, influential, attractive, admired, talented, popular, and, above all, valuable. We must make a life that is worth something to others. Worth more than others. The world screams at us to hurry up and matter. Our lives become a reaction to this lie.

According to the lie, we must not be nothings. To be good for nothing is to be as good as dead. And death is what we fear most. The death that says our lives have no value.

So we thrash about in a pool of comparison and one-upmanship. Our lives become burdened by the heaviness of getting it right. Our joy becomes brittle, and our hearts slowly break. The only possible outcome of this hurry-up-and-matter hustle is the slow crushing of our souls.

But God offers real life, where our brokenness is redeemed. He says we can abandon society’s beautiful lie and allow him to breathe new life into us, his beloved.

I think of the passage in Ezekiel where the Lord leads the prophet through a valley. Ezekiel wrote: “God’s Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bone all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun” (37:1-2, msg). That’s our condition. We’re like dead, dry bones.

And yet God tells Ezekiel to prophesy—to reveal something by divine inspiration—over these bleached and broken things. The prophet does. And in the story the bones come alive. Broken things are made beautiful.

Here’s the point: God breathes life into our dead and imperfect things. So if we feel that we don’t measure up, that doesn’t mean we have to climb onto the build-your-worth treadmill. We already have worth. In God’s eyes. By his doing. And our worth is permanent, lasting far longer than any worldly attempt to uphold the beautiful lie could ever last.
Are you seeking your self-worth through redemption in Christ or through striving to gain others’ approval?

ISIS Surrounded: Trump's Plan to 'Annihilate' the Islamic Caliphate

ISIS is facing a major defeat as opposition forces backed by the United States are surrounding their capital city.
U.S. coalition forces are increasing the pressure in their battle against ISIS in Syria.

"Our strategy right now is to accelerate the campaign against ISIS," Defense Secretary James Mattis recently told CBS' "Face the Nation."
Mattis says his order from the president of the United States is to eliminate the Islamic terror group once and for all.

 "We have already shifted from attrition tactics where we shove them from one position to another in Iraq and Syria to annihilation tactics where we surround them," the secretary said.

So now a major battle is underway as Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by the United States are carrying out an offensive against Raqqa, Syria, which had served as the so-called caliphate or capital of the Islamic State.

For several months, U.S.-backed coalition forces have been encircling the symbolic and strategic city, which ISIS seized in 2014 and has used as a base to plan attacks abroad.

Up to 4,000 jihadists are reportedly defending Raqqa, and the coalition forces are wearing them down. Mattis says once the group is completely surrounded, they'll go in and clean them out.

"Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to north Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa, we are not going to allow them to do so. We are going to stop them there and take apart the caliphate," said Mattis.

Faced with defeat in Raqqa, ISIS is moving its forces elsewhere in the region. But as ISIS faces major setbacks in Syria and Iraq, the group is telling its followers not to give up.

In one of its recent magazines, the group tells readers to "worship your lord until death comes to you" and reminds fighters that "hardships cause a hidden strength."

It goes on to say that Islam needs men who are "inclined to work hard, find comfort in pain and toil, strong resolutions and those who refuse to be entangled by weariness… so roll up your sleeve."

In an audiotape released this week, an ISIS spokesman called on supporters to launch attacks in the US and Europe during Islam's holy month of Ramadan which began two weeks ago.

Since then, there have been 95 terror attacks by radical Muslims that have killed roughly 1,100 people, including victims in Britain, Egypt, Iran and the Philippines.

Source: George Thomas, CBN News

Parable of the Fertilizer

In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus describes His followers as salt and light. Like salt, they’d be a preservative in society. As light, they’d illumine the beauty and presence of God to dispel the darkness that blinds us to all that is good in the world.
When I was a kid, my family lived in a small North Jersey town not far from New York City. Being Italian, we had a very large garden. Every spring, a large amount of fertilizer was delivered to help us prepare the soil for planting. It had quite an aroma, as you could imagine! But it was effective when used properly.
Now, I’m taking liberty with what Jesus said and adding another trait of the Christ-follower’s persona. We are to be like fertilizer, along with salt and light. We are meant to spread throughout the land and nourish the environment so that things can grow and be fruitful. Today, our culture needs more than just preserving. It needs replenishing. Ideally, we as Christians should be known by the way we enrich the world by our presence.
But, take that same fertilizer and store it for too long and it begins to fester and smell. It’s not a pleasant aroma when that happens. Instead of contributing to the overall productivity of the soil, it becomes useless.
So, ask yourself the question. Am I preserving the land? Or do you remain in the saltshaker clumped together with the rest of the salt? You know what happens then. The longer it stays in that shaker, the harder it is to shake loose.
Is your light pleasant to be around? Or is it blinding? Just what are you illuminating anyway?
And, finally, are you acting like fertilizer? Spreading out to enrich the land—or stockpiling yourself with other believers?
By the way, what’s that I smell? Just thought I’d ask.

Question: How are you spreading the love of Christ throughout your land to enrich those around you?

Source: The Politically Incorrect Jesus by Joe Battaglia

Deliverance From Temptation

We face a very clear and present danger in our generation. Behind the scenes a battle is being fought for the very hearts and lives of men, women, and children across the planet. This invisible war is being waged between the forces of evil and the forces of good, between God Himself and a created being known as Satan.
We, as believers, are in this battle and we're in it to the very end. We are not tourists on a vacation in this world if we're following Jesus. We are soldiers on a mission for Him. And the only way to win this war is to prepare and to pray.
Jesus taught us to pray in order to overcome the temptation of the enemy. When we pray, we are protecting our faith, our future, and our families. In these times, we must remember that we are fighting a spiritual battle that can only be won with the spiritual weapons God has provided. God has promised deliverance for His children if we pray.
Maybe you're in the throes of temptation right now and you're tempted to compromise your purity. You're in a test of your faith. Perhaps you are tempted by unhealthy habits or to say words that are better left unsaid. What do you do? Turn to God for strength in times of temptation and realize that He understands the pressure you are experiencing. In a world filled with temptation, we have a stronghold against the enemy because our God is a deliverer.
Pray this day for the power of Jesus Christ in your life to deliver you and the ones you love from temptation.

Listen to prayer

Find peace, purpose and strength with Jesus in prayer.

Source: 30-Day Prayer Challenge, YouVersion Bible App.

PRAY FOR OTHERS

Perhaps one of the greatest ways to experience the power of prayer is through intercession - praying for others. Intercession is the graduate level of prayer.
The Bible names several specific groups of people for whom we are to pray.
Those in public leadership. This includes the President and Congress, our national leaders, our state and local government leaders, police officers, teachers, and others in authority. Whether or not we agree with their policies and opinions, we are to pray for them - that they would come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Our spiritual leaders. The devil aims his biggest guns at God's leaders, and today, many are discouraged, hurting, and even falling into sin. God's people need to pray for God's leaders. I ask you from the depths of my heart to pray for the pastors, missionaries, and Christian leaders in America and throughout the world.
The lost. Are you praying for those in your life who do not know Jesus? Prayer is the means by which we help point others to faith in Christ. You and I know people who have yet to receive God's gift of grace, and the first step we ought to take is to commit the matter to prayer. Only God, by His Spirit, can reach a neighbor, rescue a prodigal child, and turn a wayward heart toward Him.
Our country. We need to cry out to God and pray for our country. And if you love this country you will pray for God to revive His Church. Pray that God would renew our families and our communities. We need to pray for our fellow citizens and our neighbors, and turn our prayers to action. Psalm 33:2 says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD." Let us join in prayer that our nation will return to its roots of honoring God.

Source: 30 Day Prayer Challenge, YouVersion App 

Yuuuuge! Trump hits ISIS with biggest U.S. non-nuke

President Trump told the American public Thursday that the U.S. military’s decision to drop a giant bomb – the largest non-nuclear device in the U.S. arsenal at 21,000 pounds – on ISIS in Afghanistan was a “another very, very successful mission.”
Officials announced the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB – also known as the “mother of all bombs” – was dropped in Nangarhar Province near the Pakistan border.
It was the first time the weapon ever has been used in combat.
The president, addressing the media only briefly on the topic, said he had given U.S. military commanders in the Middle East region “total authorization.”
“That’s why they’ve been so successful lately,” he said.
His orders to the military comply with a campaign promise to bomb and destroy ISIS.
“We have an incredible military,” the president said. “Another very, very successful mission.”
What do YOU think? What are your thoughts on Trump dropping the Big One? Sound off in today’s WND poll!
Asked if bombing ISIS sent a message to North Korea, he responded: “I don’t know if this sends a message. Doesn’t make a difference if it does or not.”
He added, however: “I think China has been working very hard. I have gotten to like and respect President Xi. He’s a very special man. I think he’s going to try very hard.”

Read more at WND

A Hundredfold Return

He was brought up on one of the roughest estates in Manchester. His father was an alcoholic. He left school at fifteen. He ran away from home. He lived on the streets. He joined a gang. He got involved in crime and ended up in prison. When he came out he joined the army. He went through two divorces.

In 1994, he walked into HTB and did Alpha. He gave his life to Christ and was filled with the Holy Spirit. He started visiting prisoners. He joined the HTB staff to head up the work in prisons. He started an organisation to care for ex-offenders. He set up a homeless project. He started a course to help those with addictions and courses to help those struggling with depression and debt.

Under his leadership, Alpha for Prisons has spread through the prisons in the UK and seventy-six countries around the world. Thousands have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Hundreds of men and women have been placed in churches through the ministry of Caring for Ex-Offenders. The ministries he now heads up have the potential to touch millions of lives around the world.

Paul Cowley is an example of someone who was the good soil on which the seed fell. He has a noble and good heart. He heard the word, retained it and by persevering has produced a crop hundreds of times more than was sown (Luke 8:8,15). He encountered Jesus as his Saviour, Sower and Shepherd.

Ncky Gumbel
YouVersion, Bible App.

Traps, Tests and Temptations

Ajay Gohill was brought up as a Hindu and worked for the family business in a newsagent in North London. At the age of twenty-one he contracted erythrodermic psoriasis, a chronic skin disease. His weight dropped from 11.5 stone (73kg) to 7.5 stone (47.6kg). The disease was all over his body from head to toe. He lost all his friends. His wife and son left him. He wanted to die.


As Ajay lay dying in hospital he cried out to God. He looked in his locker and found a Bible there. He opened it at Psalm 38 – the psalm for today. Each and every verse seemed relevant to him. He prayed for God to heal him. He fell into a deep sleep. By the next morning he was totally healed. His skin was new like a baby’s and his life was turned around. He was reunited with his son. I interviewed him in one of the services at HTB. He said, ‘Every day I live for Jesus.’


Life is not all plain sailing. You will face many challenges. Whatever you are facing today, God is able to rescue you.

Nicky Gumbel,
YouVersion Bible App

Psalm 28:1-9

Develop a pattern of prayer

Prayer is a key way to develop a relationship with God by speaking with him. There is no set way to do this. There are hundreds of different prayers in the Bible. Sometimes, it is helpful to follow a pattern (such as the Lord’s Prayer). Another pattern that I have found helpful is using the mnemonic ‘ACTS’. These elements are often found in the prayers we see in Scripture.
The context of this psalm is fear – possibly the fear of premature death. David may be facing illness or deep despair. He fears that he might die in disgrace and go down ‘to the pit’ (v.1).
His prayer to God includes the following:

• A: Lord I adore you
  ‘Praise be to the Lord’ (v.6a); even in the midst of a difficult situation, David chose to praise God. Whatever the circumstances, praise God for who he is and what he has done. We see another example of this in the New Testament passage as the people worship Jesus (Mark 11:9–10).


• C: I confess
  ‘Hear my cry for mercy’ (Psalm 28:2a); ask God’s forgiveness for anything that you have done wrong. This is also a moment to forgive anyone you need to forgive. As Jesus says in todays’ New Testament passage, ‘When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins’ (Mark 11:25).

• T: I will give you thanks
  ‘My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him’ (Psalm 28:7c). Thank God for health, family, friends and so on. The importance of thanksgiving can also be seen in the Old Testament reading for today (see Leviticus 7:12–15).

• S: Hear my supplication
  ‘… as I call to you for help’ (Psalm 28:2a). Pray for yourself, for your friends and for others. Interestingly David says, ‘I lift up my hands’ (v.2b). This seems to be almost synonymous with prayer. Hands raised in worship is not a modern idea; it is actually one of the most ancient forms of prayer.

Lord, I adore you. I worship you today. Praise be to the Lord...
I confess my sins to you... Hear my cry for mercy and forgive my sins.
I will give thanks to you for you are good. Thank you, Lord, for…
Hear my supplication. Today I call on you for help…

Nicky Gumbel

YouVersion

 

God Multiplies

Hattie May Wiatt, a six-year-old girl, lived near Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia, USA. The Sunday school was very crowded. Russell H. Conwell, the minister, told her that one day they would have buildings big enough to allow everyone to attend. She said, ‘I hope you will. It is so crowded I am afraid to go there alone.’ He replied, ‘When we get the money we will construct one large enough to get all the children in.’

Two years later, in 1886, Hattie May died. After the funeral Hattie’s mother gave the minister a little bag they had found under their daughter’s pillow containing 57 cents in change that she had saved up. Alongside it was a note in her handwriting: ‘To help build bigger so that more children can go to Sunday school.’
The minister changed all the money into pennies and offered each one for sale. He received $250 – and 57 of the cents were given back. The $250 was itself changed into pennies and sold by the newly formed ‘Wiatt Mite Society’. In this way her 57 cents kept on multiplying.
Twenty-six years later, in a talk entitled, ‘The history of the 57 cents’, the minister explained the results of her 57-cent donation: a church with a membership of over 5,600 people, a hospital where tens of thousands of people had been treated, 80,000 young people going through university, 2,000 people going out to preach the gospel – all this happened ‘because Hattie May Wiatt invested her 57 cents’.
The theme of multiplication runs throughout the Bible. What cannot be achieved by addition, God does by multiplication. We reap what we sow, only many times more. What we give to the Lord, he multiplies.

Nicky Gumbel

                                            

Judge wears 'pussy hat' in court, probe launched

(BREITBART) — A short investigation was launched after a Travis County judge wore a pink, knitted “pussy hat” in her courtroom late in January causing, some to doubt her impartiality from the bench.
Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt started her session on January 24 by putting on the pink knitted hat that has become associated with the Women’s March protests held the day after Donald J. Trump took the oath of office to become the 45th president of the United States.
The judge’s shocking partisanship was first noted by Reddit users and soon caused residents to quiz Texas authorities as to whether or not a sitting judge is allowed to wear partisan political paraphernalia on the bench.




Read more  here.

Syrian Arab women battle IS, social stigma

 

Though fighting the most-feared members of the militant Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, hundreds of Arab female fighters are also battling with the disapproval of their relatives and society.

"I braved my tribal clan, my father, my mother. Now I'm braving the enemy," says 21-year-old Batul, who is part of an Arab-Kurdish alliance battling to capture IS's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

She is one of more than 1,000 Arab women who have joined Kurdish male and female fighters in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, according to a spokeswoman.

Read more: 'I joined the Afghan army to save lives'

Standing in the desert some 20 kilometres from Raqqa, Batul speaks passionately about her decision to fight IS, which holds the nearby village of Al-Torshan.

"My parents told me, 'Either you put down your weapons or we disown you'," she says, wearing an ammunition vest and a floral scarf around her shoulders.

Her parents have not spoken to her since.

 

 Batul, a 21-year-old female Arab fighter among the Syrian Democratic Forces, talks to a comrade of hers. ─AFP

 

Batul comes from the Al-Sharabiyeh tribe, one of the best-known of the Arab tribes of northeast Syria.

Her family views her as a rebel, who removed the headscarf worn by many Muslim women and refused her father's orders to pray in front of him.

But she is proud of the decision she took two years ago to join the Kurdish Women's Protection Units, more commonly known as YPJ, which is an all-female Kurdish military organisation and a key component of the SDF alliance.

Also read: Women soldiers: If the boot fits, why shouldn't they wear it?

"I joined the YPJ to liberate my homeland, but also to free women from slavery," she says.

"We must no longer remain cloistered behind four walls." 

Continued, here.

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

A one-year-old boy shattered his back falling down a flight of stairs. He spent his childhood and youth in and out of hospital. Gavin Read, the former Bishop of Maidstone, interviewed him in church. The boy remarked, ‘God is fair.’ Gavin stopped him and asked, ‘How old are you?’ ‘Seventeen,’ the boy replied. ‘How many years have you spent in hospital?’ The boy answered, ‘Thirteen years.’ Gavin asked, ‘Do you think that is fair?’ He replied, ‘God has got all of eternity to make it up to me.’
We live in a world of instant gratification that has almost entirely lost its eternal perspective. The New Testament is full of wonderful promises about the future: all creation will be restored. Jesus will return to establish ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Revelation 21:1). There will be no more crying, for there will be no more pain and suffering. Our frail, decaying mortal bodies will be changed for a body like that of Jesus’ glorious resurrected body.
Suffering is not part of God’s original created order (see Genesis 1–2). There was no suffering in the world before rebellion against God. There will be no suffering when God creates a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:3–4). Suffering is, therefore, an alien intrusion into God’s world.
This, of course, is not a complete answer to the question ‘Why does God allow suffering?’ As we saw yesterday there is no simple or complete solution, but each of today’s passages gives us some further insight.

By Nicky Gumbel

YouVersion

Your Most Valuable Possession

 

Raj was one of six children born into a very wealthy Brahmin family - the highest caste in the Indian caste system.

At the age of twenty-three, Raj encountered Jesus Christ. His family disinherited him. They cut him off. As far as they were concerned he was dead. They even held a funeral service for him. Neither his parents, nor his brothers and sisters have ever spoken to him again.
For several weeks he wandered around the streets of Bangalore. He had virtually no food to eat. He walked all day and slept in the park at night.
He started a new life. He began to speak about his new-found faith. Through him, thousands of other people encountered Jesus. He went on to lead a prayer movement of over 3 million people. Then, for several years, we were privileged that he was the National Director of Alpha in India. He said to us recently that he has had a blessed life and that God has more than compensated for his losses. Although he left ‘everything’, in Jesus Christ he found the ‘pearl… of great value’ (Matthew 13:45–46).
Relationships are your most valuable possession. There is one relationship for which you were created. This is the most valuable pearl of all. It is worth selling ‘everything’ in order to get hold of it.

By Nicky Gumbel.

YouVersion 

Nicky Gumbel: Soft on Crime?

Devotional

Soft on Crime?

Newspaper headlines frequently express outrage at judges who are ‘soft on crime’ and fail to impose the appropriate penalty for the offence committed.
When I worked as a barrister, I noticed that the legal profession did not respect judges who were regarded as too lenient. We expect judges to execute justice. We do not expect them simply to be merciful.
On the other hand, we do expect mercy in our personal relationships. A loving parent will be merciful to their child. We expect friends to be merciful to one another. Justice and mercy do not normally go together. We tend to see them as alternatives. We expect either justice or mercy, but not both at the same time.
Yet God is both a God who judges with justice, and also a God of mercy. How can he combine these two apparently contradictory characteristics? The answer is that the sacrifice of Jesus has made it possible for God to combine both justice and mercy.
When I first encountered Jesus, this illustration helped me to understand what Jesus achieved for us on the cross: Two people went through school and university together and developed a close friendship. Life went on and they went their separate ways and lost contact. One went on to become a judge, while the other’s life spiralled down and he ended up as a criminal. One day the criminal appeared before the judge. He had committed a crime to which he pleaded guilty. The judge recognised his old friend and faced the dilemma, which, in effect, God faces.
He was a judge so he had to be just; he couldn’t simply let the man off. On the other hand, he wanted to be merciful, because he loved his friend. So he fined him the correct penalty for the offence. That was justice. Then he came down from his position as judge and wrote a cheque for the amount of the fine. He gave it to his friend, saying that he would pay the penalty for him. That was an act of mercy, love and sacrifice.
The illustration is not an exact one. Our plight is worse – the penalty we face is death. The relationship is closer – your Father in heaven loves you more than any earthly parent loves their child. And the cost is greater. It cost God far more than money – he came himself, in the person of Jesus, and paid the penalty of sin.
God is not soft on crime. In his justice, God judges us because we are guilty. Then in his mercy and love he comes down in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, and pays the penalty for us. Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God is both just and merciful.

Source: YouVersion 

 

How to Fight Fear

 

 

 

 

 

Devotional

How to Fight Fear

At one level, fear is healthy. ‘Fear’ is an emotion induced by a perceived threat. It is a natural human emotion. It is God-given. It is a basic survival mechanism. It keeps us alive. It protects us from danger.
However, there is also such a thing as unhealthy fear. The Greek word commonly used in the New Testament is phobos – from which we get the word ‘phobia’. This is unhealthy fear. It is disproportionate to the danger posed. It is ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’. It is when I catastrophise – overestimating the danger and underestimating my ability to cope.

Common phobias include fears in relation to health, finances, failure, growing old, death, loneliness, rejection, messing up, public speaking, flying, heights, snakes and spiders. They also include things such as, what is now called, FOMO – the fear of missing out, the fear of not being special.

In my own life I have experienced many fears – from a fear of heights to panic attacks and other irrational fears, fears about preaching and a fear of doing anything that might bring dishonour to the name of Jesus.
Whereas the Spirit of God does not produce negative fear, there is a kind of healthy fear – the fear of God. This does not mean being frightened of God. In fact, it means the opposite. It is an understanding of who God is in relation to us. It means respect, reverence, awe, honour, adoration and worship; and it could even be translated as love for God. It recognises the power, majesty and holiness of God Almighty. It leads to a healthy respect of God and is the antidote to all other fears and phobias we experience in life. Fear God and you need not fear anything else or anyone else.

It is no coincidence that as the fear of God has decreased in our society, all the other fears have increased. We need to return to a right relationship with God.

Source: You Version

 

John McCain Admits He Spread Trump Hooker Hoax