Waking up this morning, I had desired to see the recent primary election outcome. Just as I turned on the news, the Lord spoke to me.

“I can use anyone I want and if I want to use someone you think is unworthy, will you accept that and support them?”

The next thing I heard was the Lord bringing up the Persian King Cyrus, whom I have not thought about nor read for a long time. Then He spoke again.

“Study my Word to see how I do things that many will find hard to accept”

As I started to read the book of Ezra, Isaiah and Daniel, I was reminded how God used a secular King to change the condition of Israel from one of slavery and bondage to freedom. Let me post just a few passages.

Sitting in Charlotte Airport this morning, I’m struck by the way King David seemed to regularly seek the Lord when making big decisions. This wasn’t his behavior just some time, but most times, like when going to battle.

2 Samuel 5:20
And once again David asked the LORD what to do. “Do not attack them straight on,” the LORD replied. “Instead, circle around behind them and attack them near the balsam trees.

I think all of us can or should confess we need to seek the Lord’s guidance more regularly, and with greater conviction. Yet David messed up at times, when engaged in a major event, when he should have known better. I’m referring to the time he brought the Ark.

This morning I wanted to share a video of one of my favorite apologist, who speaks on the subject, “Can man live a truly loving life without believing in God.” Ravi Zacharias answers questions to secular audiences with such respect and wisdom that it is both a joy and delight of my heart to listen to him. I may know many answers that refute the atheist position, but I probably will never master the grace and wisdom of this great man of God. I know of no other teacher who cares so much for people with honest questions to the Christian faith. I can never get enough of his wisdom.

Did you ever wish there was more to your Christian life? Too often the Christian life is reduced to going to church, attending meetings, serving God, and doing devotions. But Jesus promised us abundant life – a deep, intimate, satisfying connection with the living God. How do we access the abundant life that Jesus promised? The key is the presence and life of the Holy Spirit within us. Jesus said that the Spirit of God flows within us like a river – He is the River of Life. But we need to dwell in the river in order to access the Spirit’s fullness. In his latest book, 

I generally try to stay away from political statements or challenges on Facebook, but feel compelled to challenge believers to not lose perspective while cheering their candidate during this election cycle.

Let me state upfront, that if we go through another 4-8 years of selfish and arrogant leadership in this country, we will see lawlessness increase, that will undermine our foundation as a country that we may never recover from.

What does that mean? Not only will the standard of living crumble, but our children will pay for our sins in the moral and spiritual realms. We can’t keep becoming more selfish and evil and expect God to close a bind eye. God brought great judgements to nations when they headed in the same direction we are going in. God has blessed this nation because of the good we have done and when the scales are found wanting, judgement will come.

So, as we are nearing the end of this journey of self-denial, and I wanted to encourage all of you for stepping up to the plate in your spiritual life. Few believers today even consider self-denial, let alone practice any. I’m reading 2 Corinthians this morning and Paul talks about how much he and other believers have struggle with suffering in their Christian life. Some suffering by others and some purely because they live in broken world. He says –

2 Cor 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
[5] For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 

I trust you all are looking to the Lord to impart “Something New” into your soul and you’re holding onto the promise that “He” is able to impart to you more than you can think or imagine.

I had a few Scriptures written down that I wanted to use as encouragement during our fasting time, and I went to bed last night with my right eye starting to water and hurt. When I got up this morning, my lower eyelid was swollen and hurt like I was getting a sty. I used to get these when I was young because of eye lid operations when I was 6-7 years old, but haven’t had them in over 50 years.

The reason I’m sharing this is because of the scripture God put on my heart to share about today. Psalms 139 & Luke 24. Hopefully it will make sense by the time I finish this post.

As we continue down our path of fasting you may be asking yourself, where are we trying to go with this fast and how come I’m not there yet?

First, in the Bible, numbers mean a lot. Seven is the number often associated with God. It reflects “completeness” and “perfection”.

Secondly, in the Bible, the number Eight is related to the concept of “New Beginning”. Jewish writings say it is “One Step Above the Natural Order” where the supernatural is entered into.

I want to declare to you all that you are entering into the beginning phase of the supernatural where the Holy Spirit will start to pull back the covers to the spiritual realm and give you access to understanding and inheritance. Here is a beautiful verse in the book of Psalms that should capture our hearts.