Not only does Christ allow children to enter the kingdom, He requires all the rest of us to become like children in order to enter. Christ was so approachable that parents would bring their children to Him in mass. The disciples thought things were getting out of control. They thought they would do Him a favor and tried to hinder the children from coming. Little did they know. Jesus rebuked them and taught them a most significant kingdom principle they would never forget. The kingdom of God is for the childlike—for those who receive Him with wide-eyed innocence, enthusiasm and faith.   Read More

On this day, June 24, in the Year of our Lord 1936, the manifest presence of Christ flooded the African country of Rwanda. Groups of believers gathered to sing and worship, and they fell down under the conviction of the Holy Spirit in open repentance and conviction of sin. Following repentance came singing, dancing, and celebration late into the night. God gave them increased hunger for more and more of His presence.  Read More

Don’t ever underestimate the power that is released when one person in the family receives salvation. Zacchaeus is a remarkable case study of a life transformation. He demonstrated hunger for God when he climbed the sycamore tree. He demonstrated hospitality when he hosted Christ in his home. He demonstrated heart change when he voluntarily offered half his wealth to the poor and a payback of fourfold to any he had defrauded. In response, Christ made the awesome declaration, “Today salvation has come to this house.”  Read More

A healthy marriage is not just for the enjoyment of the husband and wife; it is also for the enjoyment of God Himself. There is nothing on earth that paints a more accurate picture of Christ and the church than a healthy marriage. The Apostle Paul makes this clear while giving marital counseling to husbands and wives in the city of Ephesus, located in what is now modern day Turkey. God not only wants every local church to fight to protect marriages against divorce, He wants marriages to thrive so that they demonstrate the robust, healthy, dynamic interplay between Christ and His people.  Read More

When you serve your spouse, you serve Christ, even when you don’t feel like it. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, he exhorted the husbands to follow the example of Christ in the home—for husbands to go the way of the cross first. Every marriage faces conflicts, issues, misunderstandings and problems. Christian marriages are no exception. Christians, however, have a unique dynamic in their favor—the example of Christ and the presence of Christ.   Read More

On this day, June 20, in the year of our Lord 1907, at the Wesleyan Hall in downtown Boston, Ira David, Bishop over a network of churches, led a corporate gathering where many members came under the power of the Holy Spirit. Several manifested with the gift of tongues. Several days later in Brockton, Massachusetts, many others received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Several weeks later, others gathered in Boston, experiencing many other Holy Spirit manifestations including singing in an unknown language, and seeing visions of the second coming of Christ.  Read More

It is easy to allow our marriage to become spiritually dry. If you are married, Jesus obviously did not join you together with your spouse, so that you would drift apart. There has perhaps never been a more profound statement defining marriage than the statement Jesus made when confronting the religious leaders of His day on the topic of marriage. Defining marriage, He said, “What God has joined together.”  Read More

Let’s be honest—most husbands and wives struggle to pray together. This is often an area of defeat in Christian marriages. Today is a perfect day to reverse this pattern and get the victory. When the Apostle Peter wrote his first letter to the church, he exhorted husbands to tenderly care for their wives, “so that your prayers may not be hindered.” Prayer is understood as an essential element in every marriage, and yet why do so many marriages fail at this point?   Read More

Declaring your family under the supremacy of Christ is one of the best declarations you will ever make. Joshua was a great leader in many ways. As a military leader, he was second-to-none on the battlefield. He was a world-class political leader. And as a spiritual leader of his family, he also set the bar high. Before his death, he declared the alignment of his family fully under the Lord God Almighty. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  Read More

Do you have a family member who does not know Christ? If so, you most likely carry a heavy burden for their salvation. Good news— when Christ come to us, He not only offers salvation to us, but to our entire household. There are many Bible examples of entire households coming to faith in Jesus Christ.  Read More

Some of the most radical transformations take place when we open the front door of our home to Christ. It’s time to invite Him to live with us inside our family life. When Christ spoke to the seven churches in Asia Minor, He used a vivid word picture while speaking to the church in the small town in Laodicea. He said, “I stand at the door and knock.” While this is intended to apply primarily to the local church, it also applies to everyone of our homes.  Read More

There are normally five elements to an encounter with Christ. The first is high worship. The second is deep repentance. The third is forgiveness and freedom. The fourth is being filled with the Holy Spirit. The fifth is being empowered for ministry. When Isaiah encountered the manifest presence of God, he was led in high worship and deep repentance. Before his encounter was complete, however, he was enlisted into God’s service, called, validated, commissioned and sent out.  Read More

There are normally five elements to an encounter with Christ. The first is high worship. The second is deep repentance. The third is forgiveness and freedom. The fourth is being filled with the Holy Spirit. When the early church encountered the manifest presence of Christ on Pentecost, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. God kept His promise—the promise of power and the promise of His manifest presence.  Read More

There are normally five elements to an encounter with Christ. The first is high worship. The second is deep repentance. The third is receiving forgiveness for sins and, when necessary, deliverance from evil strongholds. When Peter saw the full force of the supernatural power of Christ at the unmistakable miracle of a boatload-sized catch of fish, he fell down at Jesus’ feet and cried, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.”  Read More

There are normally five elements to an encounter with Christ. The first is high worship. The second is deep repentance. When Isaiah saw the Lord in all His holiness, no one had to tell him to repent. His sin was exposed. His heart was laid bare. There was nowhere to hide. It was a moment of ultimate vulnerability.   Read More

There are normally five elements to an encounter with Christ. The first element is high worship. When Isaiah encountered the manifest presence of Christ, he was awestruck. Overwhelmed. He saw the Lord, “high and lifted up.” He felt the threshold of the temple shake, and he heard the angels calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” This is a significant example of high worship.  Read More

Good parenting flows from the inside out, from the hearts of fathers and mothers. When Malachi finished his prophetic book and declared Holy Spirit anointing that will come in the last days he said it would “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.” God was making a promise to each of us. This promise must not be wasted.  Read More

Today is a good day to remember to embrace the Trinity, one God, three Persons. Understanding the trinity is essential to effective prayer. When Jesus was baptized, the One God, three Persons, is seen distinctly active. Christ was being baptized. The Spirit of God descended on Him. The Father spoke, “You are My beloved Son.” In that one moment, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are seen together.  Read More

The final unreached people on earth will never be reached through a lukewarm church. They will only be reached through a revived church that is consistently encountering the manifest presence of Christ. When Christ rebuked the church in Laodicea for being lukewarm, He spoke a word of judgment and ultimatum.  Read More

God wants to manifest His presence to you in every life situation. Because the promises of God are a means by which God wants to encounter you, there are promises of God waiting for you today. Joshua is one of the most productive, dynamic leaders in the entire Bible. He made it a habit of praying the promises of God.  Read More

More than a warehouse of information, the Bible is more like a gymnasium full of exercise equipment. It is sitting there waiting for you to use it. Today, there are promises of God waiting for you to take hold of like hand weights and begin lifting! It’s all too easy to get down on ourselves, to lose hope.  Read More

Praying the promises of God is a healthy habit. The Apostle Paul learned to pray the promises of God. Three times Paul pleaded in prayer for his thorn in the flesh to be removed. Instead of removing his problem, God gave Paul a promise—My grace is sufficient. That promise changed everything.  Read More

Healthy lives are made up of healthy habits. There is no more healthy habit than learning to pray the promises of God. Jesus made a habit of praying the promises of God. Toward the end of His forty day fast, He was hungry, and the enemy tempted Him. Because He was in the habit of praying the promises of God, He was able to quote one of the promises as He resisted the devil’s temptation to turn the wilderness stones into loaves of fresh bread.  Read More

Consistently praying the promises of God is your daily cross-training for your faith. There is no more relevant promise in the Bible than the promise of His manifest presence consistently with you. Before Jesus ascended into heaven He made a significant promise, “I will send Him [the Holy Spirit] to you.” When He made this promise, He promised the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Read More