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7 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-28-2024 March 28, 2024 Last night on the Flashpoint program, I shared about a dream sent to me from a friend. In the dream, I was at the U.S. Capitol singing a line from our National Anthem. Those of us on the program found it more than coincidental that a week after this dream, the bridge bearing the name of the anthem’s author was destroyed. (The dream did not mention the bridge.) I will share a post regarding this dream and my overall thoughts concerning it next week. Though the dream is significant, I do not feel it is appropriate to deviate from our posts regarding Christ’s Passion Week in order to address it. Again, we will do so next week. --------------------------------------------------------- Gethsemane “Leaving there, He went, as He so often did, to Mount Olives. The disciples followed Him. When they arrived at the place, He said, ‘Pray that you don’t give in to temptation.’” (Luke 22:39 MSG) “The place” spoken of by Luke was Gethsemane. It had become Christ’s favorite place of prayer; notice the phrase, “as He so often did.” This is how Judas, who had left the Last Supper early, knew where to take the soldiers to find Him. Christ would spend three hours there that night agonizing over the ordeal He was facing. During this time, He would wrestle with His natural, human desire for this cup of suffering to pass from Him: “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). The agony of these three hours was horrific, much worse than most people realize. Luke tells us Christ started this time of prayer on His knees. Matthew adds that He eventually fell on His face in agony. Mark added that He fell repeatedly. In other words, Christ would kneel, then eventually fall on His face. He would rise to His feet again, only to fall once more - first to His knees, then onto His face. At one point, the agony He was experiencing, as well as the knowledge of what was coming, became so intense that the capillaries in His face burst, and blood, mixed with sweat, oozed through the pores of His skin (Luke 22:44). This is a painful medical condition known as hematidrosis. “Doctors don't know exactly what triggers hematidrosis, in part because it's so rare. They think it could be related to the body's ‘fight or flight’ response… Sometimes, it seems to be caused by extreme distress or fear, such as facing death, torture, or severe ongoing abuse. It's probably where the term ‘sweating blood,’ meaning a great effort, comes from.”(1) “While the extent of blood loss generally is minimal, hematidrosis also results in the skin becoming extremely tender and fragile.”(2) I believe our redemption was actually beginning at this point when the first drop of Christ’s blood was shed, even before He reached the Cross. Through a blending of the Gospel accounts, and with more in-depth definitions of the words chosen by Holy Spirit, we can gain a more complete picture of what Jesus truly experienced in the garden. When He “withdrew” from the disciples to pray by Himself (Luke 22:41), Luke uses a stronger word than the other Gospel writers, apospao, which means “to tear away.”(3) Wuest [New Testament] translates it accordingly, “He tore himself away from them.” Probably more than any time in His life, Christ wanted the comfort of being with friends, yet He knew He would have to face this ordeal alone. We are told by Matthew and Mark that Yeshua became “sore amazed, exceedingly sorrowful, and very heavy” (Matthew 26.37-38; Mark 14:33-34 KJV). More literal definitions of the Greek words used give us poignant descriptions of what He was feeling: Sore amazed - ekthambeisthai: “to be exceedingly astonished, either with wonder or fear; to be in the grip of a shuddering horror.”(4) Exceedingly sorrowful - perilupus: “to be very sad, environed or surrounded with deep grief.”(5) Very heavy - ademonein: “to be troubled and in anguish, to be in a state of great anxiety; used of one who is rendered helpless, disoriented, agitated, and anguished by the threat of an approaching event.”(6) Wuest New Testament says Christ was “thoroughly alarmed” (Mark 14:33) and “entered a state of severe mental and emotional struggle to the point of death” (agonia) (Luke 22:44). Though Jesus knew in advance this trauma was coming, the intensity of it was even greater than what He had expected. Based on all of these definitions, the ordeal was alarming to Him, astonishing, disorienting, horrifying. Most of us don’t think of Christ as being capable of feeling these types of emotions. Yet, in His humanness, He could and did, allowing Himself to identify with us. Matthew also tells us Jesus was agonizing “to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). The word used demands that this be taken literally. Though death could never have overcome Christ before the time came for Him to “yield up” His spirit, nevertheless, His body was close to death. Again, I believe our redemption - specifically, taking the emotional wounds, rejections, and sorrows of the entire world upon Himself - began here in the garden of Gethsemane. Isaiah prophesied of Christ: “He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging, we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5 NASB) Don’t waste a moment of Christ’s suffering for you. Everything He did was redemptive. Every second of suffering and abuse was for you and me, taking our place. Let it bring healing to every part of your soul that may be hurting. Jesus wants you healed from every form of abuse, rejection, betrayal, and loss. He paid for this! Receive it. After three hours of emotional agony, it was enough. God sent an angel to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). Christ broke through into peace, and His spirit was now in complete control of every emotion. At this point, Judas came with soldiers and betrayed Christ with a kiss (kataphileo)(7). The word reveals that this was more than just the friendly kiss on the cheek (phileo),(8) a common greeting in many countries. The prefix kata(9) strengthens it, implying a stronger affection; perhaps he added a hug, or the kiss on the cheek lingered somewhat. That is why Jesus questioned Judas, “Are you betraying me with this type of affection, Judas?” (Luke 22:48). Christ then asks the soldiers, “Who are you seeking?” When they told Him, He simply said, “I AM” (John 18:4-5). Jesus did NOT say “I am He,” as most translations state. He spoke His God-name from throughout eternity: “I AM.” And the power of His words, of His name, knocked the soldiers backward onto the ground (verse 6). Christ is, indeed, Almighty God. At this point, Peter, perhaps emboldened by what happened to the soldiers, pulled out a sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, a servant of the High Priest. Jesus promptly touched Malchus and performed a creative miracle, healing his ear! (Luke 22:51) The great I AM, indeed! The Healer! The Great Physician! The Creator! And in this time of His suffering, the Savior is seen ministering to His enemies. At this point, Jesus was led away to be tried, beaten, and crucified. We will look at this tomorrow. Pray with me: Father, the agony You must have felt during Christ’s sufferings had to have been immeasurable. The temptation to answer His prayer, “Let this cup pass from Me,” must have been overwhelming. But You knew there was no other way to save us - our sins required a perfect, sinless substitute. You who spared not Your own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall You not also with Him, freely give us all things! (Romans 8:32). Thank You! And Jesus, words fail us. You, the Prince of Peace, suffered overwhelming mental anguish and emotional trauma for us. You allowed Yourself to feel the pressure until Your capillaries burst and Your skin oozed blood. Through this, You now give us unexplainable peace and unspeakable joy. We worship You today. We exalt You above all others. We love You from the depths of our hearts. May our incense of worship rise before You, bringing the pleasure You so deserve. As incredible as it sounds, we know we are the reward of Your suffering. Satisfy Your heart even more in this hour - send revival to the earth! Bring a billion souls into Your family in this coming revival. Your Father, who cannot lie, gave You the nations as Your inheritance. No one can take them from You. Holy Spirit, show the world just how wonderful this God-Man is. Open their eyes to His glory, His selfless love, His humility. Give them dreams about Him that awaken desire - a longing to know Him. Surely, there is no one like Him - give them a taste! Let not the wicked stop this. Ruin their plans, judge their strategies, thwart their efforts…and reveal this glorious Man. And in His name, we pray, Amen. Tomorrow, we will partake of communion together as we remember Good Friday, the day of Christ’s death. *********************** Click on the link below to watch the full video. --------------------------------------------- https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/hematidrosis-hematohidrosis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematidrosis This is a combined definition from these sources: Strong, James. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990. Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1977. Vine, W.E. The Expanded Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1984. Zodhiates, Spiros, The Complete Word Study Dictionary. Iowa Falls, IA: Word Bible Publishers, 1992. Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-27-2024 March 27, 2024 I want to thank my friends who filled in for me on the posts this past week while I was taking a few days off. I was able to get some much-needed rest. The Humanness of Christ Christ actually began experiencing the emotional pressure of the Cross several weeks before it occurred. Many people fail to consider the true human-ness of Jesus, that He possessed real emotions and the ability to feel pain. In His earthly life, Christ experienced grief, sorrow, anger, and disappointment; He enjoyed friendships, knew joy and laughter, felt hunger and thirst, and grew tired and sleepy. Though fully God, Jesus was also fully human, but without the Adamic fallen nature. He had to be human in order to represent us as our legal substitute. As one who was truly human, Christ didn’t shift over into “God-mode” when things got tough, in order to not feel the pain or trauma. Philippians 2:6-7 tells us that “Although He existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” Let Christ be human. As I stated above, weeks before the Cross, Christ began feeling the pressure. When He said, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62), Jesus was thinking of Himself. The passage begins by saying, “Jesus let nothing distract Him from departing for Jerusalem because the time for Him to be lifted up drew near, and He was full of passion to complete His mission there,” ‭‭(Luke‬ ‭9:51‬ ‭TPT‬‬). Jesus knew that in Jerusalem, He would face arrest, torture, and agonizing death. But He set off firmly and unflinchingly, committed to finishing His mission. There would be no backing out; nothing would deter Him from accomplishing His purpose. Isaiah prophesied about this determination: “The Lord God has opened My ear; I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord God helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed,” (Isaiah 50:5-7 NASB). Christ knew this passage was speaking of Him and realized He was entering the season of its fulfillment. So He set His face like flint, put His hand to the plow, and turning toward Jerusalem, began what would become His final trek to that city. Traveling by foot and stopping along the way to minister and rest, the journey would take several weeks. Luke, in his gospel, reveals the humanness of Christ more than the other Gospel writers. Under Holy Spirit’s guidance, each Gospel writer had a different goal in his version of Christ’s life. This is why each man shared different (not contradictory) accounts of Christ’s works and teachings. Matthew, for example, wrote his Gospel to reveal Christ as the King of God’s Kingdom. Mark presented Him as a man of action, filled with power and under authority. John revealed Christ as truly God. Luke presented the humanness of Christ. As a man, He was qualified to be our substitute at the Cross. In revealing Christ’s humanness, Luke wants us to know that Jesus felt the pressure; from this point onward, it was building in the Son of Man. Eleven times after the above verse (9:51), Luke reminds us that Christ was journeying toward Jerusalem and, therefore, the Cross. He was focused on His mission and refused to be deterred. In Chapter 12, Luke quotes Him as saying, “I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished” (verse 50). “Distressed” is the Greek word sunecho,(1) a very strong word meaning “to be held fast, like a prisoner.” It also means “to be confined, constrained, pressed together so as not to be able to move (like a city under siege);” figuratively, sunecho meant “to be in a mental state of anguish.” Kenneth Wuest’s expanded and very literal translation of the New Testament renders this verse: “I have an immersion by which I will be overwhelmed, and I am being hard pressed from every side until it be consummated.” In other words, though weeks out from the Cross at this point, the strain in Christ was already very intense! Jesus knew well of the coming suffering and was dreading it. The focus required in order to press onward to Jerusalem was so intense that it could be seen in His demeanor. In Luke 9:53, Christ was rejected by a Samaritan village “because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem.” Although there was great friction between Jews and Samaritans, Christ had earlier been accepted by a village in Samaria after ministering to “the woman at the well” (see John 4). On this occasion, however, the Samaritans would not receive Him. Why? They were offended because He couldn’t seem to take His focus off of Jerusalem. What did this look like? There must have been many pensive gazes, perhaps even grimaces, as Christ repeatedly turned His face toward Jerusalem…and the Cross. This preoccupation became so obvious that the Samaritans - rejected and looked down upon by the Jews - had finally had enough. Of course, they didn’t understand the reasons for His focus on Jerusalem. No one did. This was something Christ was having to endure alone. And with His face set like flint, He journeyed on - moving toward His destiny. “And He was passing through from one village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem” (Luke 13:22). For several weeks the journey continued, the pressure building until Jesus rounded the last curve and crested the last hill. When the city at last came into view, He burst into tears. Christ’s emotions were now raw, sensitive, and bottled up. Like a pent-up dam that could take no more pressure, He released His emotions. Jesus loved this city; He loved the people. Yet, He knew Jerusalem would reject Him and be His place of death. In the future, it would also experience great devastation. As this mix of emotions erupted to the surface, Yeshua let it all out. And He did more than just cry. Again, quoting from Wuest’s New Testament, “...having caught sight of the city, He burst into tears, weeping audibly over it” (Luke 19:41). What a picture. And what must the disciples and those following Christ have thought as He “burst into tears” and sobbed? How often this man surprised and amazed them. Power, authority, humility, wisdom, intellect, love, and passion were all exhibited by the Son of Man. And they would soon see His anger. After composing Himself, Christ went directly to the Temple and drove out those who were selling their wares, making His “house of prayer...a robber’s den,” (Luke 19:45-46). This was indeed anger, but it was not a temporary loss of self-control. His actions were prophetic. The Temple was intended by God to picture us humans, created to be the dwelling place/temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). The defilement Jesus was seeing reminded Him of the defilement in us, which He was about to cleanse at the Cross, just days from then. He was demonstrating what He had come to do: cleanse His temple - US! And Christ was very intense about this. Spend some time this week reflecting on the passion of Christ. Journey through the week with Him. Thank Him for the price He paid. Worship Him not only as God the Creator, but also as Son of Man, the Redeemer. And please…let Him be human. Pray with me: Father, thank You for Your incredible love and commitment to us. Thank You for the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. You are amazing. We are deeply moved by being able to call You Abba, Papa. And Jesus, thank You for the incarnation - being willing to become one of us. Isaiah called You Immanuel, “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). Daniel called You “son of man” (Daniel 7:13). Thank You for the tears. Thank You for the love. Thank You for the suffering and pain. Thank You for the Cross - thank You for dying. And, thank You for winning, for conquering death and the grave, for overcoming sin and its evil hold on us. Thank You for making Yahweh our Abba, for bringing us into the family, and for sharing Your throne with us. Manifest Yourself through us in this era, we pray. May the world see who You truly are, Yeshua, observing Your glory as the church You are building matures into the Ekklesia You envisioned. Continue to mature us into people worthy to bear Your name. Amen. Our decree: We declare that we have put our hand to the plow and will never look back. ************************** 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. no. 4912.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-26-2024 March 26, 2024 Introduction Much could be said of Jane Hamon. She and her husband, Tom, hear from Holy Spirit as clearly as anyone I know, and their words are filtered through a tremendous depth of biblical knowledge. As spiritual parents and apostolic leaders to many, their impact is huge, and they are in great demand around the world. Thank you, Jane, for being our friend and giving us your time today. Ceci and I thank you. You’ll enjoy hearing from Jane today. ------------------------------------------------------------ Victory Over Chaos It’s an honor to fill in for my dear friend, Dutch Sheets, as he takes a much-deserved break for his 70th birthday. Happy Birthday from the Hamon family, and may God refresh your body, soul, and spirit for all your future assignments. As I was seeking the Lord in this season, I heard Him say He is positioning the Ekklesia to experience victory over chaos and a time of recovery of all that has been stolen. It’s a time to focus on the victory ahead, not on the chaos that may be swirling around. It’s time to see the straight paths so we can speak to the crooked places and call the things that are not as though they are. It’s a time for fresh vision, to see the light that is invading darkness, to see how God sees, filled with hope and a future. We may not like the battle, but remember, there is no victory without a fight. Yes, I am afraid it’s going to be a wild ride: economic ups and downs, global instability, societal unrest, political manipulations, and a “the end justifies the means” mentality that skirts laws and defies principles. Yet in the midst of all this, there is an awakening taking place! People are waking up from their slumber, both in natural and spiritual things. Mindsets are changing, opening hearts to hear the gospel in a brand new way. The Kingdom of God will advance as revival continues to sweep college campuses, Hollywood, boardrooms, and yes, churches. Dark forces will try to inflame global conflict to stop this, but it’s not time for a World War III. It’s time for the church, the Ekklesia, to pray and decree God’s purposes. Back in August of 2020 the Lord gave me a word for the beginning years of this decade. He said, “Chaos is getting ready to increase.” (Yay! What an exciting word!). I knew Chaos was personified as a dragon named Rahab in Isaiah 51:9 which was an ancient god of chaos.(1) It represented evil of every kind at work in the earth, in people, and in the governments of nations. Chaos brings utter confusion, disorder, discord, and lawlessness. We have certainly seen chaos increase in the earth since 2020. The second thing God said was that He was going to use chaos to expose corruption, evil agendas, and secret deals being made to control the nations. Basically, everything that can be shaken will be shaken so that which cannot be shaken will remain, but remember, we serve a Kingdom which cannot be shaken (see Hebrews 12:27-28). The shaking will be our making! Then the third thing He said was, “Then tell them: The God of Peace is rising.” He said this part three times for emphasis. Romans 16:20 declares, “The God of Peace will soon crush satan under your feet.” Isaiah 9:6-7 says one of the names of the coming Messiah would be Prince of Peace. The word peace is Shalom in Hebrew, which means peace, safety, prosperity, happiness, wholeness, favor, and rest.(2) Rabbinical scholars, however, look at the letters used to form this word and the pictures represented by those letters. In this case, the pictures give a deeper meaning to the word Shalom: Peace comes when you destroy the authority of chaos!(3) This is our assignment: to destroy the authority of every demonic force of chaos through the power of the victorious blood of Christ! We must pray against the evil agenda of the enemy to stir up chaos, however, God promises He will use the very things the enemy has meant for evil to turn for our good (see Genesis 50:20). For example, Joseph received prophetic dreams of leadership and government positioning then all hell broke loose against him. When this word came, he was just the son of a shepherd. His journey of trials, and yes, chaos, shaped him for his destiny. In Potiphar’s house, he learned leadership and agriculture. In the palace prison he learned government and how the palace operated. What was he going to need to assume his position as Pharaoh’s right hand? He would need knowledge of leadership, government, and agriculture. Your trials are actually preparing you for your destiny. Don’t waste the process with bitterness or anger. Recognize God will cause all things to work for your good. Allow the peace of God to overthrow every kind of chaos in your life as the power of the God of Peace is made real. In Genesis 1:2, we are told in the beginning, the earth was without form and void. The phrase without form indicates a state of chaos and confusion.(4) The enemy is trying to bring nations under the power of chaos, without form, by destroying societal norms regarding the nuclear family, gender, and by removing righteous foundations. How did God deal with this primordial chaos? He spoke into the chaos and said, “Let there be!” Let there be light. Let there be life. Let there be order. The Voice of the Lord confronts chaos. Divine Order confronts confusion. We are in a time when His voice is being released in power through the mouths of His people, to decree divine order into the chaos of this world. This year, God is concerned about things being set in order in His house. We recognize judgment begins in the house of God (see 1 Peter 4:17). While God is setting His house in order, we must also set our own houses in order. Reset your faith. Reset your vision. Renew your commitment to righteousness. This will be a time to not just set our house in order, but also set our mouths in order! When God spoke to Israel to cross in to take their promised land, all they could see were the giants. They spoke about the problem rather than the promise. But there were two, Joshua and Caleb, who saw the problem but chose instead to speak the promise. “We eat giants for our bread!” Speak the promise, not the problem! Interestingly, this is the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese lunar calendar. I believe it is a time to confront and defeat this demonic dragon of chaos, by releasing the Word of the Lord and His powerful decrees through our mouths. Speak to the chaos and confusion, that which is out of order and lawless throughout the nations, and see this dragon, this leviathan, broken into pieces by the sword of the Lord that comes out of our mouths (see Isaiah 27:1). I hear the Lord say, “There a company of dragon slayers arising today. These are those who have looked death right in the eye and not given up, backed off, or been intimidated. They will operate with supernatural courage to confront chaos, confusion, and every emissary of lawlessness operating on the earth. Jesus, the ultimate dragon slayer, defeated death, hell, and the grave, paving the way for this new generation who will enforce his victory. Those who thought they would be broken by the harsh trials of the last season, yet held on to the Word of the Lord will prevail. I am waking up My people, reminding them of My prophetic promises and calling them to wage war by them, knowing My voice shatters the enemy every time (see Isaiah 30:31). So rise up, dragon slayers! Shake off all perceived defeat of the last season and rise into new authority and victory for the new day.” Pray with me: Lord, give me the courage of a dragon slayer. Fill my mouth with words of revelation and power and anoint me to confront chaos and confusion everywhere I go. Send an awakening in our land. Expose all corruption. Raise up your Ekklesia to release an increase of your government and peace by destroying the authority of chaos in our nation and in the earth. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Decree with me: The God of Peace is crushing satan under my feet! I decree divine order into every place of chaos, and crooked places are being made straight. I am a dragon slayer, in Jesus’ name! ************************ For more information, you might enjoy: Declarations for Breakthrough: Agreeing with the Voice of God, Chosen Books, Minneapolis, MN, 2021, or contact my website at JaneHamon.com. Click on the link below to watch the full video. __________________________________________________________________________ Got Questions, https://www.gotquestions.org/cut-Rahab-in-pieces.html. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, 7999. Discipleship Development, https://developdisciples.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/shalom-definition.pdf. Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Unabridged, Electronic Database, 8414, https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8414.htm.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-25-2024 March 25, 2024 Introduction I don’t need to tell you how much I love and respect today’s guest. His passion, integrity, wisdom, and revelation are unsurpassed. No one lives the messages he preaches more than my brother, Tim Sheets. A man after God’s heart, his pursuit of the Lord has given him a very weighty mantle. You will be inspired, encouraged, and enriched by Tim’s word today. Thanks, Tim, for sharing with us. ____________________________________________________________ The Covenant Healing Room Recently, Holy Spirit has given me several words, visions and dreams that will help us discern our times. We are moving into a supernatural, transformational and reformational era where the glory and power of the Lord is being amped up at much higher levels. Prophetic dreams, visions, prophecies and scriptures we have been decreeing are now accelerating. The Holy Spirit has consistently emphasized that healings and notable miracles are to be part of this era. They are coming in greater measure than at any other time in church history. This has occupied my spirit because the divine healing ministry is a part of my personal heritage. My roots go back to what is called “The Voice of Healing Movement,” a time when healing evangelists held healing and miracle meetings across our nation and many other nations. It was an amazing time, an inspirational time. All manner of sicknesses and diseases were healed, even incurable diseases where man is concerned, were healed by the power of God. Well-known ministers of that time were A.A. Allen, William Branham, Jack Coe, Kathryn Kuhlman, Oral Roberts, and many, many others. When I was a boy, my dad also began to be used greatly in the healing ministry, conducting healing services. My brother Dutch and I regularly worked at the altars, and we saw the power of God manifest time after time. I have seen many miracles happen with my own eyes, including incurable diseases healed, blind eyes opened, and deaf ears restored. I have also seen a man, crippled and twisted in a wheelchair, unwind and his body completely realigned and restored. Over the years, I have received many prophetic words about releasing the healing and miracle heritage from my childhood, and I believe Holy Spirit is now accelerating this assignment. It is time for supernatural events to happen on the earth as was seen throughout the Scriptures. Notable miracles will now help change history as was seen in the Book of Acts. It is God’s will to heal. We are moving into days when notable miracles will accelerate through Kingdom Ekklesias. They will flow into towns, cities, regions, states and nations. It is time to believe for supernatural power of the living God to come into our churches. Believe for God possibilities. Believe for God action to start being released all around us. Believe for God manifestations. Believe for signs, wonders, miracles, and thousands and thousands of healings. In light of these recent words and visions that I have received, Holy Spirit has prompted me to pray for healings and miracles quite often. I asked the Lord one day to give me prophetic understanding concerning these dreams and visions and He gave me a very unique dream and a word that connects to notable miracles. In the dream I was in a very large room with what looked to be around a hundred people. All age groups were represented from young children to the elderly. I could see each individual very clearly. I looked over to one side, and I saw a blind man standing, holding a white cane. I looked around the room and saw people who were obviously deaf because they were using sign language. I saw other people with sores all over their bodies. The sores looked infected, and I knew it was some kind of skin disease or cancer. I saw others who were extremely sick and in the last stages of a deadly disease. I saw some who appeared to be stroke victims. They were paralyzed and dragging their leg or couldn’t use an arm. I saw a few others in wheelchairs. It was as if I was in a sick ward with people experiencing all sorts of sickness and diseases. I could see the hollow look in their eyes, the fear and the hopelessness that was written on their faces. I remember in the dream, I was feeling so bad and sad for them that I wanted to get out of the room because I didn’t want them to see me cry. I didn’t want to make it about me. At this point in the dream, I knew I was to walk across the hall to a room on the other side. When I walked into this room, it also had a hundred people or so inside of it. However, these people were completely different from the others. They were happy, they were joyous, laughing, and the absolute picture of health. They were energetic, filled with life, and interacting with one another. I obviously noticed the contrast between the two rooms. I stood there for a moment and a man walked up to me that I’ve never met before, but I instantly recognized him. (It was T.L. Osborn, who is now in heaven. He was one of the famous healing evangelists who moved in the healing and miracle ministry during the days of “The Voice of Healing Movement.” I’ve seen videos of his healing crusades where dozens of wheelchairs and crutches were left behind at the altar. Notable miracles happened through this great man.) The dream continued: He and another person walked up to me. T.L. Osborn asked me if I recognized the other man. I replied, “No sir, I don’t think I do.” Then, he brought someone else over to me and asked if I recognized him. Again I said, “No, Dr. Osborn, I don’t think I know him.” He continued bringing people to me and asking if I knew them, and I continued to reply that I did not. Then, Dr. Osborn beamed at me with his broad smile and asked me to look very closely at each person. So I did, but again, I said that I did not recognize them. He then said to me, “You were just in the room across the hall with these very same people.” He pointed to one person and said, “This is the one who had sores all over their body, and a part of their face was disfigured. He gestured to another person and said, “This person was the one in the wheelchair over against the wall.” He continued pointing out others, “This one was the stroke victim who could not move her arm. These people were the ones in the last stages of cancer who could barely stand. And remember this man? He said, he was the blind man with the white cane. Here are the children that you saw that were so sick and in such pain they could hardly move, let alone try to play.” One after the other he began to introduce me to these people so healthy and transformed that I did not recognize they were the same ones I had seen across the hall in desperate conditions. Then Dr. Osborn asked me if I knew what room I was in. To which I replied, “No, I just wanted out of the other room, so I came into this one.” He smiled broadly again and said, “This is the covenant healing room.” He pointed to a sign on the wall that read, “By Whose stripes we were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) End of Dream. We are now in a season of great, notable miracles. King Jesus is stepping to center stage, with His Ekklesia by His side, to magnify His magnificent healing covenant. He went to the whipping post, took stripes upon His back, and purchased a covenant right to our healing. Holy Spirit is clearly saying it is time to press into the miraculous healing realm and believe for notable miracles. Pray with me: Father God, activate the gift of the workings of miracles and the gift of healing across this world in Jesus’ Name. We decree the King is rising to release notable miracles. Loose healings and miracles throughout all 50 states and around the earth. Loose them in our homes. Loose them in our families. Show us how big and how great You are. Holy Spirit, pour out power from heaven to activate miracles in our midst. We agree with heaven’s plan. We believe whatever the need, You can take care of it. Release Your healing power in Jesus’ Name, Amen. Our decree: All of the words, visions, dreams, and prophecies will accomplish their assignment concerning God’s healing power in the earth realm! The breaker anointing is rising and we will see notable miracles, signs, and wonders manifested. ********************** Today’s post was contributed by Tim Sheets. You can learn more about Tim at TimSheets.org. Click on the link below to watch the full video.

7 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-22-2024 March 22, 2024 Introduction There is no ministry in America more significant than Intercessors for America, and they’ve had no better leader than David Kubal. Kingdom-hearted to the core, Dave lives to see Christ glorified in our nation. Like his namesake, King David of old, Dave is giving his life to see God’s purposes fulfilled in our generation. Thank you, Dave; we appreciate you and your labors, and for giving of your valuable time to Give Him 15 today. _______________________________________________________________ Global Crescendo of Freedom: Will It Continue? The year 2024 is like no other year in human history; it is a year where there is a historic crescendo of global freedom. As we consider the upcoming U.S. Presidential Election, I believe we need to understand its importance in light of what God is doing around the globe. What do I mean? Fewer than 300 years ago, not a single country in the world allowed people the opportunity to elect those in authority over them. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States created the first nation ever to use a democratic process to choose the country’s leaders. Slowly, over time, this idea of freedom that our Founders championed crept across the globe. America is founded on the fact that God gives us our rights which impacted the way we choose leaders; the process of freedom was infectious, and it spread. By 1900, 25% of the world’s people were able to participate in selecting their leaders. One hundred years later, that percentage had grown to 50%. And over the last 20 years, even more growth has happened. Now, two-thirds — or 6 billion — of the world's 8 billion people help choose their leaders. Sixty-six countries will hold elections this year. Half of the world's population — that’s 4.1 billion people — will have an opportunity to participate in an election in their country thanks to the freedoms established by our Founding Fathers. This has never happened before in human history. It’s as if a global reset button is about to be pushed on half of the world’s population —a global freedom reboot. Will this global growth of freedom increase, or will global freedoms decrease? How should we focus our prayers for both the U.S. and the global elections? What are the three most important cultural elements to pray for? Secular research confirms what the Bible teaches. (CLICK this link https://ifapray.org/promo/world-elections-2024/ to download Intercessors for America’s Special Report “Unprecedented Shift in Global Power.”) GOOD GOVERNMENT Studies by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and Statista agree: nations thrive when governments focus on reducing corruption, emphasizing the rule of law, and ensuring a trustworthy electoral process that generates the most satisfied and economically productive inhabitants. Good government is essential if nations are to thrive. THRIVING CHURCHES What is the single most important element for people to find fulfillment in their lives? Let’s look at a Pew Research study of over 25 nations. Actively religious people are 50% more likely to describe themselves as “very happy.” Do you catch that? Secular researchers are saying that people find the most fulfillment when they’re part of a faith community! That means that nations with religious liberty will necessarily thrive. Like Jesus said, He will build His Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So, as we consider praying for the increase of freedom worldwide, good government and religious liberty are important. One last consideration: TWO-PARENT FAMILIES What produces the most well-adjusted and economically successful people? The answer is found in numerous studies, including one by the American Enterprise Institute that concluded this: Children who grow up in a two-parent home are the most behaviorally adjusted and have the greatest economic success as adults. It’s not that children growing up in a one-parent home are doomed, but if a nation has a choice, it should always encourage two-parent households.(1) Good government; thriving faith communities; healthy two-parent families: For men and women of faith, this is no surprise. These studies illustrate truths found in God’s Word that have been known for centuries. In fact, good government, thriving faith communities, and healthy two-parent families sum up the three institutions God created to care for us. The biblical pattern of God’s design for government is first found in Exodus 18, when Moses set up a representative republic based upon law. Each tribe had leaders and judges, with Moses judging the most difficult issues. This is the genesis of the global freedoms we see today; the United States was the first representative republic after Israel, and it is patterned after Old Testament government. God created government to care for our civil lives. God created the Church to care for our spiritual lives. God created the family to care for our personal lives. Government, the Church, the family: At the core of every election across the globe this year, these will be on the ballot, one way or another. But some say, “Jesus is coming back. So, why should I care about my nation?“ To that objection, I say that every generation is entrusted with spreading the news of Christ’s kingdom. Let’s consider Matthew 24:12-14: “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Jesus himself tells His disciples that their generation will not pass until the unfolding of His second coming. This set in the hearts of His disciples that the second coming was imminent, and could even be in their lifetime. But really, we are watching His second coming unfold as He uses His church to spread His Kingdom. The disciples believed Christ’s second coming was imminent and so they shared the gospel with urgency. Most of the New Testament epistles record Paul’s journey sharing God’s Kingdom even with the governmental leaders of his day. If they had stopped spreading the gospel, or if any other generation had stopped, where would humanity be now? What if the Lord tarries another 10 years, 100 years, or 1,000 years, and it is said of our generation that the gospel died because we thought Christ was returning? We must have faith in Christ’s return and at the same time be salt and light to our generation. Some quote Matthew 24:12, which suggests the rise of evil will be unstoppable. So why try to influence the world or government? Let’s go back to Matthew 24:12: “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Jesus says evil will increase as time goes on, but between that increase of evil and His physical second coming, the gospel will be preached to all nations. Evil will increase; the gospel will spread; then He comes back. That’s the pattern. The rise of evil is not the time to give up! Just the opposite: Now is the time for the good news of His kingdom to go to all nations. Salvation and freedom come through Christ. In a way, the rise of evil should encourage us. This is the environment where the goodness of God becomes clearest. For example, LGBTQ activists have fought for their right to legalize immorality. This has progressed to the point where states like California have passed laws protecting homosexual activity with minors — legalizing pedophilia. Evil becomes so gruesome that it highlights the goodness of God. The contrast between darkness and light brings into focus the need for God and for those moral absolutes of the timeless principles in the Bible. So, we return to Jesus' words to the disciples: Evil will increase, and then the gospel goes to the nations. This is the period we are in. I believe we’re in a critical time of God’s plan for the church that’s greater than any other in history. So, we go back to where we started. This year darkness has never been darker. Globalists have never been as well positioned to control nations. Yet, the freedom set in motion by our Founding Fathers — because of their understanding of biblical principles — is being seen this year in the greatest number of elections ever in the history of mankind. Now is not the time to stop praying. Now is not the time to stop acting. Just the opposite: Now is the time to assist God in this greatest period of the Church in history. We’re on the verge of seeing some incredible supernatural activity! Let’s pray: Father, we thank You for the increase of freedom across the world over the last nearly 250 years. We thank You that so many citizens of nations around the world will have the opportunity to participate in elections in 2024. We pray for a global shift of power in accordance with Your will and Your plan for each of the 66 nations holding elections this year. We pray for the three institutions that You created to care for us. We pray for good government that will enable us to live peaceful and godly lives and to share the gospel. We pray for the Church to be holy and bold and to be used by You to bring about Your purposes. We pray for strong, two-parent families that will raise children to become stable citizens of free nations. We pray, Lord, that You would stir up in us fervent prayer and faith for what You are planning to do across the world in 2024. Our decree: We decree that we are not those whose love will grow cold, but we are those who will stand firm to the end and will see the gospel go to all nations. ************************ Today’s post was shared by Dave Kubal from Intercessors for America. You can find out more about Dave at IFApray.org Click on the link below to watch the full video. --------------------------------------------------- https://www.aei.org/articles/it-takes-two/

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-21-2024 March 21, 2024 Introduction No individuals have impacted their state (AZ) more than Hal and Cheryl Sacks. Their depth, revelation, incredible insights, and practical wisdom, ministered through sincere hearts and gentle spirits, make them irresistible to all they meet. Ceci and I love and admire them. Today, Cheryl is bringing a word of faith, encouragement, and instruction to us. Listen, apply it, and watch things change. ________________________________________________________________ The Power of Two or More How many believers does it take to ignite a revival? Maybe fewer than you think. In fact, almost every revival recorded in history started with as few as two or three people praying together! From these humble beginnings, the seeds of revival multiplied into dozens and even hundreds of clusters of praying believers, until entire cities and nations were ablaze with the presence and power of God. Don’t get me wrong: massive prayer gatherings are vital and powerful! My husband, Hal, and I have participated in many of these. The most memorable was “The Call DC” in 2000 when more than 600,000 (mostly young people) gathered at the Washington, D.C., mall to pray for America. Hal once participated in an all-night prayer meeting in Kampala, Uganda, where intercessors filled 18 sports arenas throughout the city, calling out to God with one voice to send revival. In one coliseum alone, 20,000 people were praying. Hal described the sound of intercession as like the roar of a freight train. But how did these massive prayer gatherings and other historic, large-scale revivals begin? They started with “two or more” believers united in prayer, such as: The First Great Awakening (1727–1742), which was marked by multiple small clusters praying in cities, towns, and regions; The “Haystack Prayer Meeting” in the USA in 1806, which started with five Williams College students praying for revival—contributing significantly to the Second Great Awakening; The Businessman’s Revival (1857–1863), began with six men praying in a church in New York City and grew to 30, 60, then 300, then 2,500. News spread, and prayer groups sprang up from city to city, and country to country. Within a year, one million people were saved! What’s remarkable about these groups is how quickly they multiplied: In 1905, when American evangelist R.A. Torrey visited Australia, he witnessed 2,100 prayer cells with 20,000 people praying in homes. The meetings had an atmosphere of revival, and there was a remarkable harvest. The Hebrides Revival in Scotland (1949–1953), also known as the “Cottage Revival,” began with two sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith, ages 84 and 82, praying every night in their little cottage for revival to come to their island. At the time, churches were dead and practically empty. Not one young person attended church. It wasn’t long before others on the island joined Peggy and Christine in prayer each night from their cottages. The revival lasted four years, and 90 percent of the island was saved—especially the teenagers and young adults under 40. This pattern holds true in modern-day revivals as well. In our book, Fire on the Family Altar, Hal and I tell the story of our friend Chris, who traveled to Uganda to document stories of how revival began there. He had seen large stadium events attended by multiple thousands who gathered to worship and pray for their nation. At one gathering, President Yoweri Museveni proclaimed Uganda to be a Christian nation. When Chris interviewed Christians who had participated, they talked about how the revival had actually started in their homes. It became clear that family units praying together were the real foundation of the revival. People shared stories of how marriages were healed, prodigals came home, and family members were delivered from addictions. From their homes, the Ugandan Christians expanded their prayer clusters and invited Holy Spirit into their schools, workplaces, and every sector of life—even to the Bank of Uganda, the President’s office, and Parliament. And Now…It’s Happening Again! We are entering the beginning of a God-breathed, worldwide Great Awakening like never seen before—marked by a growing societal awakening and a desperation for the healing of our nation and the brokenness of her people. Already we are seeing believers responding to the call of God’s Spirit to pray for lost friends, colleagues, and fellow students. They are gathering in homes, churches, schools, and workplaces, crying out for Him to send conviction, healing, and transformation. This sense of calling is driven by Holy Spirit, not by any human. No one is organizing this. There is no template or formula for how these clusters of believers are forming—though it’s extraordinary how closely they resemble the practice of the early Church in the book of Acts, who worshiped, prayed, and fellowshipped from “house to house”! Believers emerged to share the gospel with boldness and in demonstration of Holy Spirit’s power to heal, save, and deliver. We see the same emphases developing in prayer clusters forming today: Families Praying “House to House” Praying with family and friends for revival in their households and nation, Opening their homes for other believers to join in fellowship, teaching, sharing meals, and prayer (Acts 2:42). Praying for Holy Spirit’s Power Praying to share the gospel with power, evidenced by healings, miracles, and deliverances, Praying by name for friends, family, and colleagues to know Christ and be set free. Becoming Watchmen and Gatekeepers Serving as spiritual gatekeepers for families, schools, cities, and the nation, Occupying and transforming the spheres for which they are praying. Clusters are forming in neighborhoods everywhere. Christians are intentionally getting to know their neighbors, reaching out to help elderly neighbors and single moms with home improvement projects, taking meals, and praying for those who are sick. Many who are being befriended, prayed for, and ministered to are accepting the Lord. For example, our friends Guy and Teri Chadwick began sharing a weekly “Taco Tuesday” meal with four other couples. The couples challenged one another to pray for revival in their individual homes every night at 8:00 p.m. Then, on Sunday afternoons, they all meet together to pray for revival in their city of Manhattan Beach and for the nation, often prayer-walking the neighborhood. Guy and Teri always include in their prayers that “not one family member or friend will miss the revival—they will all be saved and fervently serve the Lord.” One professor we know encourages her students to form clusters to pray for one another and for revival on the university campus. We heard of a city official who formed a cluster with her fitness trainer. They pray together every time she goes to the gym. The New Wine Is in “the Cluster!” You might notice that these prayer groups are unconventional. That’s why, rather than more familiar terms like “prayer groups” or “prayer cells,” I like the term “revival prayer clusters” when referring to the new thing the Lord is doing. The prophet Isaiah speaks of this when he declares, “‘Thus,’ says the Lord… ‘the new wine is in the cluster…’” (Isaiah 65:8 KJV). The emphasis here is on the cluster, not individual grapes. The grapes are not plucked individually, but must remain together to produce the new wine. New wine speaks of the Holy Spirit’s anointing. The Spirit of God is doing a new thing! No one needs to sit on the sidelines in this next great move of His Spirit. We can all actively PRAY FOR and BE THE REVIVAL! We can be part of producing the “new wine.” It’s as easy as calling a friend to start praying together or inviting your neighbor to coffee and seeing if there is a need you can meet or something for which you can pray. Remember Jesus’ words “…if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:19–20). What a powerful promise! Pray with me: Lord, let not one of Your disciples be found sitting on the sidelines of this emerging revival. We declare we will obey Your command to “go” share the gospel (Mark 16:15–20), and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18–20). We pray that we, Your Ecclesia, will be activated like the church in the book of Acts—to share the gospel in power and that thousands will be added to the church daily. Our decree: We decree that Your light in us will shine brightly so the world will see and give You glory! *************** Cheryl Sacks is the author of six books, including Fire on the Family Altar, a guide to igniting revival in your home and nation (Amazon). You can learn more about Cheryl and Hal Sacks’ ministry at BridgeBuilders.net. ************************** Click on the link below to watch the full video.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-20-2024 March 20, 2024 Introduction There are some people God brings into your life who are integral in helping you accomplish your destiny. Chuck Pierce is one of those individuals in my world. Without his influence, I would not be who I am today. And, Chuck is always there for me - he was quick to say yes when asked to cover a day of GiveHim15. Thanks, Chuck. You’ll be blessed by his post today. Here’s Chuck. ______________________________________________________________________________ The Power of Redemptive Prophecy Blessings to all of you on Give Him 15. I always love the opportunity to be with Dutch Sheets Ministries. Dutch and Ceci are wonderful friends, and we have a very long history, starting in 1990. Dutch and I are as different as night and day, but our gifts synergize when we work together, meaning that there's a greater strength. I love to be a part of what Dutch Sheets Ministries is doing because it causes my gift to be stronger. I received a prophetic word in 1977 that I had both an evil inheritance and a godly inheritance. That's how I see our nation. We've done so many bad things, but we're a nation that the goodness of the Lord has developed within. We are at a critical point in this new historic era that we're living in – an era of war over the voice that will rule. We are living in a very chaotic world, and I see the Lord calling us to stir the winds of God, transform the chaos of our past and present, and gain new access to our future. We have a future, and what is happening right now is a revival of prophecy. The first place we find the word revive used in Scripture is in the life of Jacob (Genesis 45:27). Years earlier, Jacob thought his future had died when his sons brought back Joseph's mantle and said, “Joseph is dead.” When they came back years later and said, “Joseph is alive, and he's ruling Egypt,” that was very hard for Jacob. It was hard for Jacob to accept the truth because his heart was filled with grief and unbelief for the future. In this revival of prophecy, God is removing layers of grief, layers of hope deferred and unbelief, and causing His Word to come alive again. We prophesy according to our faith. Faith will come alive this year, and we will decree! Prophecy is expressing the heart and mind of God in a new way. It's not just about truth; it's about how God feels and thinks about a situation. The Word activates hope and produces a gift of faith in us. Faith will give us strength to turn this battle at the gate of this nation. It will give you the strength to turn the battle you're part of. The real war you're in is a war for your hopes and expectations. Expect God to move for you in a whole new way! There is a door of hope for your future. God gave Israel that promise while they were in Babylonian captivity – captivity was their door of hope. Even in that difficult situation, God made Himself available to them. The same thing is happening with us today. We should see our difficulties as doors of hope into a greater grace and miracle power from God to transform troubles into triumph. Remember that God has an order for recovery, restoration, prosperity, and breakthrough. God has an order for your life, an order for this nation, and for every state. We must find that order and get in that process to see recovery, restoration, prosperity, and breakthrough occur. We are living in the Hebrew decade of the 5780s (which corresponds to the 2020s). The number eighty in Hebrew is represented by the Hebrew letter pey. This letter pey is also a pictorial symbol of “mouth,” “breath,” or “voice.”(1) In the pey decade of this new era, without prophetic utterance from redemptive revelation, we won’t find His order. God has redemptive revelation for every situation. That is what produces vision. Where there is no prophetic utterance from redemptive revelation, people perish. That means they go backward and, eventually, are “no more” in the plan of what God determined for their ultimate destiny. Without the Word creating the boundaries of our life new and fresh during this era, we will stray. In the prophetic realm, we're coming into a power of redemptive prophecy that we have never experienced. There are five levels of prophecy to understand: comfort, encouragement, exhortation (which means tearing down as well as building up because God does not just tear down without having a word to rebuild), directed prophecy, and redemptive prophecy, the highest level. What is redemption? Redemption means ransoming, cutting loose, rescuing, delivering, and preserving someone’s future. Redemption is us enforcing what God paid the price to bring about. We are called to ransom the captives. God’s ultimate desire is to free people. No matter what they've done and no matter what shame they're carrying, His desire is to see them free. Even when we miss the mark, that doesn't change God's heart to free a people or a person and set them back on His path. Redemption means that when something has been lost, you can buy it back. Even if it’s no longer there, a price has been paid to get it back in place in a new way. Redemption requires a deliverer/redeemer, someone stronger and in a better position to levy freedom for someone else. We are coming into a place in our nation to ask, “What is God’s redemptive plan?” When we prophesy His plan, it will enter the atmosphere and begin to manifest. When we prophesy redemption, we suddenly get positioned at the gate of access for our future and are ready to go through that door of hope and enter a better place. Redemption is like taking a yoke off someone. Shame is probably the worst yoke we find. At the Fall, man and woman immediately knew shame and tried to cover it. But God already had Plan B: redemption for them. When we make mistakes, He has a plan B, C, D, E, and so on, but we must take the opportunity to get in that plan for redemption. God has given us the ability to repurchase, avenge, rectify, and restore. In doing that, we'll forget our shame. Remember that repentance is a privilege; it's not shame-oriented. Repentance says, “Oh my, I see clearly! I'm going to change my mind and go down a different path.” When you see that, you start prophesying by faith that you can get on and stay on that path and see a manifestation of God's ultimate will in the earth. We prophesy and move according to faith. See, revelation is a great blessing for us because it uncovers what the enemy has tried to cover over. Redemptive prophecy uncovers the path for our future. Ask the Lord to stir up that gift of prophecy within you. We're not all prophets; we do not all stand in that office, but we all prophesy. Let Holy Spirit in you stir up prophecy. See the best and prophesy the best. Prophesy for this nation that it will find and uncover the path of redemption so we can walk into the future with hope. God is ready to activate the gift of faith in His people in a new way so His plan of redemption can operate in their lives. Pray with me: Father, thank You for the power of redemptive prophecy and how You are reviving it in Your people! Let the prophetic utterance rise up out of us that is necessary for this season, all that must be decreed for the fullness of Your redemptive purposes to come to pass. Thank You that, as we open our mouths in this “Pey” decade and prophesy from a place of faith, we can see this nation shift into its destiny according to Your original intent; thank You. We can see the same thing happen in our individual lives as we move through each door of opportunity that You set before us. Open our eyes to those doors and our spirits to Your voice so we will know what to speak and when to speak it to move into our promise of victory. Father, we ask You right now to stir up Holy Spirit, stir up the anointing that is in us, and cause the gift of prophecy to come alive and activate the faith within us to redeem what's been lost. Our decree: We decree that we are God’s remnant people who move in the power of faith, hope, and expectation produced by His Word. We are a people who rise up in redemptive prophecy and agree with Him over our future and the future of our nation! ***************************** 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. no. 6310.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-19-2024 March 19, 2024 Introduction As I begin my R n R today, YOU are going to blessed by my friend Gene Bailey, whom you know from his very significant program on the Victory Network, Flashpoint. I don’t have to tell you that Gene is making a huge impact in our nation, and it is a true honor to have him fill in for me today. Thanks, Gene. ________________________________________________________ Transitional Moments Hello, I’m Gene Bailey, and I’m honored Dutch and Ceci asked me to fill in for Dutch today. In thinking and praying about this post, I was reminded of something I wrote a while back about “Transitional Moments.” Right now, this nation is certainly in a transitional moment. We are wanting to see a turnaround in our leaders, yes. But I believe you and I are also in a transition. Let’s look at the first book of Joshua. “Moses, my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them” (Joshua 1:2). Imagine how Joshua must have felt when God spoke these words to him. He’d walked closely and faithfully with Moses for years. He’d witnessed miracles by Moses’ hand and had watched him struggle through periods of sin. He was well acquainted with the quirks of the Israelites and had seen Moses intercede for them. And one day, out of nowhere, it happened. Moses was dead. “Moses is dead? I’m in charge? Now?” Gulp. I wonder if anyone was more surprised than Joshua that it was time for him to take God’s people into the Promised Land. Joshua had been thrust into a transitional moment. That’s how transitional moments happen—we don’t expect them, and we often don’t realize we’re in one until we’re really in one. Transitional moments take us from where we are into what God has next. I think it’s safe to say that we’re in a worldwide transitional moment. Everything we knew previously, or everything we thought we knew, has been shaken away. But remember, when things get shaken, God promises that there is always something that remains. As a believer in Jesus Christ, that “something” is you! Christ in you is the hope of glory (see Colossians 1:27). There are some things to consider as we stand in this very uncomfortable time of transition. Remember that a little farther down in Joshua 1, the Lord spends some time encouraging Joshua with several things: that He would be with him, just as He was with Moses; that He would be strong and courageous; and that He would keep the Word before him, constantly meditating on it. Most of us are aware that the things we did in the last season no longer work, but we haven’t yet figured out what to do in the season we’re heading into. We would do well to heed the Lord’s encouragement to Joshua, rather than trying to wiggle our way out of this uncomfortable transition. We must wake up and take seriously what is happening around us. Evil forces are threatening to destroy our country, and we cannot afford to sit idly by as we try to ignore our discomfort and go on with “life as usual.” There is no more life as usual—that’s the point. But God has great plans for us, just as He had for Joshua and the Israelites. Israel had tried for years to cross into the Promised Land. After many years of walking around the desert with Moses, they still hadn’t gotten there. Their hearts weren’t ready for what God had for them. But when God raised up Joshua to lead them, Joshua became the power relationship that Israel needed to get them through the transition and into their promise. When they got into agreement with the right guy, they were able to cross over into the Promised Land! This same principle also rings true for us—we cannot pass through transition and into the new season unless we have the right connection. When we are aligned with “the right guy,” the one who is our power relationship—in our case, Jesus—we are well able to cross over into what God has for us! Immediately after the Lord commissioned Joshua, he stepped into Moses’ shoes and assumed his leadership role. That was a huge shift, not just for Joshua but for all of Israel, who were now looking to him for guidance. He led them through the Jordan, and just a few chapters later, they came to Jericho. When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?” “Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army.” At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did as he was told (Joshua 5:13-15). Joshua was now leading his army and they’d arrived close to Jericho. I’m sure he felt no pressure, right? Ha! Can you imagine how he must have felt? I think he knew his best bet was to listen to what the Lord had instructed him—so the first thing Joshua did was pray. When he did, an angel came and told him exactly what to do. Good advice. It’s easy for us to try to come up with our own solutions when we’re thrown into a new season. Sometimes, we don’t take the time to seek the Lord for instruction because we react out of fear, frustration, or uncertainty. We know that all these things have been rampant in our country and across the world for well over several years now. We would do well to follow Joshua’s example and pray— expecting that the Lord will show up and give us specific instructions on how to move forward. God only lights the step we’re on. Faith takes the next step. We usually can’t see very far down the path. We may only get instructions for one move at a time, but as we continue to follow Him, He will continue to reveal the next steps! Another thing to notice about Joshua—his first question to the angel was, “Which side are you on?” Sound familiar? Surely there are only two sides in every battle, right? We all want the Lord to be on our side, to champion our cause, and back our opinions and our limited understanding. We should always be firm in our stand for righteousness, but we must be careful not to view life as one big contest with two opposing sides, political or otherwise, or to view people through the lens of “friend or foe.” When we do this, we are like Joshua—wanting God to be on our side, rather than aligning ourselves with what He is doing. In the battle where Joshua saw two sides, friend or foe, the angel didn’t have a side—he was aligned with the Lord. Once Joshua understood this, he submitted to the angel’s authority and instruction. Let’s pay attention and learn this lesson from Joshua. It’s a great reminder that God doesn’t take sides— He has His own plan and agenda. We can choose to respond, “I am at Your command,” or we can get caught up in the “us vs. them” mentality and miss our true enemy—the one who is always working to steal, kill, and destroy. Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, lead us today in our life choices, no matter how insignificant they may seem. We choose to rest in You and Your plan. Forgive us when we get ahead of You and implement our own plans or worry about the plan itself. We roll that care over on You. We are indeed Yours to command. Our decree: We decree we are equipped and positioned where God needs us to be. We pray, stay in Christ, and are guided by Holy Spirit through transitional moments. Our strength and courage come through standing for Christ’s righteous causes. We are confident we will win and that “America shall be saved!” ************************** Thank you for joining me today. Portions of today’s post come from my book, Flashpoint of Revival. You can find out more about it at GeneBailey.com. Click on the link below to watch the full video.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-18-2024 March 18, 2024 God Put Me In His River Rivers can be peaceful, violent, lots of fun and sometimes destructive. I’ve had several interesting river experiences. I remember floating down the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. At that time, the country was named Rhodesia, and embroiled in a great internal conflict. Due to the constant threat of attack, an army patrol boat continually circled us, watching for terrorists; a nice, relaxing cruise! Then there was my trip down the Passion River in Guatemala, where an army of voracious ants crawled onto me as I lay sleeping in the boat. They had been hidden in the lumber we were transporting. When they were all in position, the ants began to bite all at once and with incredible precision. Actually, gnaw would be more accurate. Fifteen screams, one boat-rearranging conniption fit, and several dozen dead ants later, I regained my peace like the unflappable man I am and went back to sleep. Just like Jesus, sleeping through the storm. On one occasion, I went skiing on the Ohio River near Cincinnati. I was in the water, not yet up on my skis, when my friend at the helm decided a barge was getting a mite too close. My buddy screamed, “Grab the rope!” and he hit the throttle. I did grab the rope, leaving my skis behind, and was dragged headfirst across the Ohio River out of harm’s way. It was a real drag. On March 9, 1997, God put me in His river. Though interesting, even exciting, my previous river adventures pale in comparison to what happened to me on this particular Sunday. Along with several others, I was praying for people during our regular morning service. Suddenly, someone laid their hands on me and began to pray. I ended up on the floor receiving a vision from God. I lay there for 45 minutes, sometimes laughing and, at other times, weeping as God took me on a spiritual journey. Not being a person particularly given to this sort of thing, it took me completely by surprise. I’m rather reserved and somewhat cerebral. I’m a teacher. I study, do word studies, run references. I think didactically; figure things out. I have to know why and how. My little cerebral, didactic mind wasn’t prepared for what occurred. Maybe this surprise invasion of my cranial disposition didn't blow my mind, but it sure stretched it out of shape. Does it bother you when God does something you can’t quite explain or understand? If asked, I’d be the first to say I don’t have God or His ways completely figured out. This doesn’t bother me. It’s when He demonstrates it that I get a little weirded out. Just like you, I have my comfort zones. What happened while I was on the floor was nothing less than amazing to me. In this vision, I found myself in a river about waist-deep and perhaps 30 feet wide, frolicking with Jesus! This might offend your concept of the Lord, but He was in a very playful mood. We swam, we splashed, we laughed. He even dunked me! (I tried to dunk Him.) We did all the things people do when they play in the water. At one point, Jesus put His head under the water, then came up shaking His head from side to side, throwing water all over me. Intending to do the same to Him, I put my head underneath the water but was distracted by what happened. As I put my head under the water and began to shake it, impurities were washed off me and began to float downstream. Each time I was immersed in it, the river brought cleansing to me! Just as Naaman the leper was healed by dipping in the Jordan River (see 2 Kings 5:1-14), God’s river was purifying me of my uncleanness. Another thing I found quite interesting was that I couldn’t drown in this water. When my head went under and I accidentally breathed in, the water didn’t choke me as water typically does. Instead of going into my lungs, causing me to gag and choke, it flowed throughout my entire body, bringing refreshment and vitality. It was, indeed, the river of life (see Revelation 22:1). We continued to frolic for a while, just having fun. I can’t overemphasize how much Jesus was enjoying Himself. Psalm 46:4 became a reality to me: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High” (emphasis mine). Throughout the vision, no matter what we did, Jesus was having fun. Imagine that - God having fun. Until this experience, I don’t recall the thought of God having fun ever entering my mind. I guess I thought He was too cerebral and didactic. A group of people on the shore were watching us. For reasons unknown to me at the time, they were hesitant to get in the water, seemingly afraid of it. I realize now that this group represents those who are somewhat cautious or even fearful of the manifestations of Holy Spirit. As these people stood on the shore watching us, trying to decide whether or not to get in the water, the Lord looked at me and said, “Let’s splash them!” We began to do so, and, without exception, when the water touched those on the bank, they instantly wanted to get into the river. The water was infectious. Then they, too, began having fun with us. The water not only quenched thirst, but also created it. What a paradox! At one point, I asked Jesus why the water was only waist-deep. I recalled from Ezekiel’s vision of God’s river in Ezekiel 47 that the river became progressively deeper, “trickling…ankles…knees…loins…enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded” (Ezekiel 47:2-5). He replied to me that this level was for the Church—for cleansing, refreshing, and renewal. “The deeper water,” He said, “is when the river flows to the nations.” Instantly, the water rose until it became a deep, swift current that swept us away. Though it was strong and overpowered me, I was not afraid. After this demonstration, we were brought back to the original place and water level. As people were moving in and out of the water, I saw a lady diseased with cancer. Jesus looked at me, smiling. He said rather matter-of-factly, “Well, go heal her.” I walked over and put my hand on her. As I did, the Lord moved behind me and placed His hand on the middle of my back. When He did, the power went from Him, through me, and into this lady, healing her. We then went back to playing in the river. Throughout the vision, Jesus took me in the spirit to several places throughout the world. The river was present everywhere we went, and we ministered to many. Then the Lord said, “Let’s go.” “Where?” I asked. “You’ll see,” He again responded, and off we went once more. This time, we landed on a beach. It was similar to a public beach with places to play, relax, or rest. “What are we doing here?” I inquired. “It’s time for some rest and relaxation,” He replied. “But who will go to all the other places and tell them the good news?” I asked Him. “Oh, I have lots of others who’ll go,” He responded. “It’s time for you to rest.” And I did. Rest is good. My sweet wife has arranged for 6 national leaders to cover the GH15 posts for the next few days, starting tomorrow, giving me a week of rest and prayer for my 70th birthday. I will introduce each one (via a recording), and they will bring a strong word to you. You will be very blessed by these voices, beginning with Gene Bailey of Flashpoint. Pray with me: Father, thank You for the river of living water that flows from Your throne. It is a river of life, a river of joy, and a river of refreshment. As I take a week to be refreshed and relax with You, I pray that You will speak clearly to me. I also pray that You will refresh Your people, allowing them to drink deeply of Your presence, and hear clearly from You through these voices that are so graciously blessing me for the next week. We also ask You for the river of revival to flow in our land, going to a much deeper level this year. Your river carries refreshing, healing, salvation, and revelation. Cause it to flow powerfully in our land and throughout the world, cleansing and transforming. We ask for this in the name of Christ. Amen. Our decree: We decree that the river of God is rising, and will flow powerfully throughout the Earth. ************************** Click on the link below to watch the full video.

7 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-15-2024 March 15, 2024 God Never Lies, and He Never Loses Nehemiah, Chapter 6: “When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there were no more breaks in it—even though I hadn’t yet installed the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent this message: “Come and meet with us at Kephirim in the valley of Ono.” “I knew they were scheming to hurt me, so I sent messengers back with this: ‘I’m doing a great work; I can’t come down. Why should the work come to a standstill just so I can come down to see you?’ “Four times they sent this message and four times I gave them my answer. “The fifth time—same messenger, same message—Sanballat sent an unsealed letter with this message: “‘The word is out among the nations—and Geshem says it’s true—that you and the Jews are planning to rebel. That’s why you are rebuilding the wall. The word is that you want to be king and that you have appointed prophets to announce in Jerusalem, ‘There’s a king in Judah!’ The king is going to be told all this—don’t you think we should sit down and have a talk?’ ‘I sent him back this: ‘There’s nothing to what you’re saying. You’ve made it all up.’ “They were trying to intimidate us into quitting. They thought, ‘They’ll give up; they’ll never finish it.’ “I prayed, ‘Give me strength.’ “Then I met secretly with Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, at his house. He said: “‘Let’s meet at the house of God, inside The Temple; Let’s find safety behind locked doors because they’re coming to kill you, Yes, coming by night to kill you.’ “I said, ‘Why would a man like me run for cover? And why would a man like me use The Temple as a hideout? I won’t do it.’ “I sensed that God hadn’t sent this man. The so-called prophecy he spoke to me was the work of Tobiah and Sanballat; they had hired him. He had been hired to scare me off—trick me—a layman, into desecrating The Temple and ruining my good reputation so they could accuse me. “‘O my God, don’t let Tobiah and Sanballat get by with all the mischief they’ve done. And the same goes for the prophetess Noadiah and the other prophets who have been trying to undermine my confidence.’ “The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul. It had taken fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard the news and all the surrounding nations saw it, our enemies totally lost their nerve. They knew that God was behind this work. “All during this time letters were going back and forth constantly between the nobles of Judah and Tobiah. Many of the nobles had ties to him because he was son-in-law to Shecaniah, son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. They kept telling me all the good things he did and then would report back to him anything I would say. And then Tobiah would send letters to intimidate me.” (Nehemiah 6:1-19 The Message) PARALLELS TO TODAY This account of Nehemiah and the remnant working with him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem is in many ways a parallel to our efforts in restoring America. The enemies of God, led by Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, were trying desperately to keep them from succeeding, and the remnant had to be very diligent in order to succeed. Who were these enemies? “The Horonites (Sanballat) and Ammonites (Tobiah) were two of the people groups God had driven from the Promised Land for the Israelites. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were regional governors serving under the king of Persia [present-day Iran]. Sanballat, called a Horonite, was probably from Horonaim, a city of Moab. Tobiah the Ammonite was governing an area east of the Jordan River. Geshem the Arab was most likely from the region south of Judah. Generations after Israel had first possessed the Promised Land, some of their old enemies were back, seeking to keep Jerusalem in ruins.”(1) Their “schemes” (verse 2) were significant and diverse, but all were intended to intimidate (verses 9, 14, 19). The phrase “trying to undermine my confidence,” (verse 14) is key to what satan, through these men, was trying to accomplish, just as he does today. Satan cannot overpower God’s people; his strength is his ability to deceive. He uses this method to attack our faith. In this scenario, satan used: Mocking: (They did so here in chapter 6, but this is especially emphasized in chapter 4.) False prophets: They were used in attempts to try and trap Nehemiah into moving presumptuously; and also to erode his confidence by causing him to question whether or not he had truly heard from God. Spies and traitors: Nehemiah's enemies planted individuals who pretended to be friends, but were actually trying to get information in order to use it against him. A read of the entire book of Nehemiah, which is a fascinating and easy read, will reveal other tactics the enemy used. REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS What was required of Nehemiah and the remnant in order to succeed? Faith: The workers had to keep themselves focused on what God had said, which is the way in which faith comes and is sustained. Faith is not positive thinking, the absence of negative thoughts; that can be accomplished without God or His Word. Biblical faith comes when we allow Holy Spirit to bring God‘s words alive in us. They grow until fully developed, at which time we are confident that He will do as He says. This produces not only confidence, but boldness and fearlessness. Hard work: What God wanted to accomplish, would not occur simply because of His sovereignty. Nehemiah and the remnant would have to do their part, which included hard work. The same is true for us today. To say that God will send revival and reformation, healing and restoring our nation, without His people doing their part, is untrue. I have quoted the great Jack Hayford before, but do so again now, “The quest of Jesus Christ on the Earth is greatly crippled by wrong notions of the sovereignty of God.” Determination: Call it perseverance, tenacity, or steadfastness, it doesn’t matter the term. Churchill had it right, one of the most important keys to victory is refusing to quit. Nehemiah and the remnant had to persevere. Satan and his allies will always attempt to wear believers down through relentless attacks (Daniel 7:25). One of the men who mentored me through his teachings and messages, Norvel Hayes, once said, “You have to be more stubborn than the devil.” That revelation may not be eloquently stated, but it will get you through a lot of “stuff”! Inconvenience and sacrifice: Nehemiah and his workers had to pay a price. Most Americans, including Christians, don’t want to be bothered with hearing about the true condition of our nation or challenged to be a part of the answer. When they gather, they want to fellowship and party, not war. So, God uses the few who are willing to be inconvenienced, and to sacrifice their time and energies for His cause. My advice to the remnant: get over it, and keep working. Discernment: False prophets, spies, traps - all were used to try and deceive Nehemiah. He had to stay focused on what God was saying and rely on Holy Spirit’s discernment to shield him from these attacks. We must do the same. Our enemies accuse us of wrong motives, of wanting to end democracy, of being racists and bigots, of wanting to control everyone else, of being religious fanatics, yada, yada. They even find allies in the church. Don’t allow these lies to intimidate or distract you. Nehemiah said, “I’m doing a great work. Why should I waste my time meeting with you or listening to you?” (verse 3). Anyone who tells you God does not want to send revival and restore America is ultimately maligning His heart, character, love, and mercy, not yours. He loves to save even his enemies. Love them and let God do the rest. Prayer: Nehemiah had to pray. “Give me strength,” he asked the Lord (verse 9). “Don’t let them get away with it,” he prayed (verse 14). We must continue to appeal to heaven. Our requests are used by God. Our voices of declaration, of saying what He says, are the swords He wields. The authority of Christ is released through our mouths and actions, as is the power of Holy Spirit. We are His access to the Earth; we are His methods. Don’t back up, and don’t back down. He is using our prayers to save millions. Finally, Nehemiah and the team finished the task of rebuilding the walls and hanging the gates. And God was glorified: “When all our enemies heard the news and all the surrounding nations saw it, our enemies totally lost their nerve. They knew that God was behind this work” (Verse 16). America, too, will one day know that God has prevailed and healed our land. We will not gloat, but we will rejoice. And we will invite them into the family. Millions will say yes. Pray with me: Father, we thank You for our brothers and sisters led by Nehemiah who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. They inspire and instruct us. Thank You for their sacrifices, their love for You, their faith, and their perseverance. As obedience to You always does, You used these actions to generate Your will. You never lie, and You never lose. We are determined to follow their example. We pledge to You that we will not quit; we will not yield in our faith and perseverance. We have put our hand to the plow, and will not look back. Our love for You, and for the lost and hurting will keep us motivated. Your cause is our cause; Your mission is our mission. We will persevere until we hear “Well done.” We will run the race and finish our course, always pressing toward the end line You have given us. We decree that Christ will have His harvest; He will reap the reward of His suffering. Your promises to Him will not go unfulfilled. And we pledge to You that we will not be a generation You have to skip over in order to give this to Him. Like David, we will serve Your purpose in our generation. And we will never stop declaring, “Kingdom of Jesus Christ, come! Will of Jesus Christ, be done on the Earth!” May the sword do its work! Our decree: “A mighty fortress is our God…and He will win the battle!”(2) ********************* Click on the link below to watch the full video. --------------------------------------------------- https://www.gotquestions.org/Sanballat-Tobiah-Geshem.html https://hymnary.org/text/a_mighty_fortress_is_our_god_a_bulwark

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-14-2024 March 14, 2024 Remember “I lie awake each night thinking of you and reflecting on how you help me like a father. I sing through the night under your splendor-shadow, offering up to you my songs of delight and joy! With passion, I pursue and cling to you. Because I feel your grip on my life, I keep my soul close to your heart.” (‭‭Psalms‬ ‭63‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭TPT‬‬) There is perhaps no force on earth more powerful than music. It can soothe, agitate, bring joy, trigger sadness, arouse passion, stir energy, awaken memories, connect us to others, and more. I believe the primary purpose for its creation by God was worship, though I enjoy other expressions of music, as well. Another powerful creation the Lord gave us is the memory. Used appropriately, it can serve us in incredible ways. Periodically, I revisit worship songs that have been especially meaningful to me over the years. I have found that as I do so, I often experience the same impact in my heart, spirit, and emotions as I did when the song first impacted me. Our memories are more than file cabinets; they are alive, capable of “reliving” events and feelings. Scripture tells us to remember, to rehearse what God has done for and in us. There is power in doing so; it keeps the fruit of what He did in the past alive today. In the Hebrew language, the words testify and remember actually contain the concept of “doing again.” I remember well in 2008 when I was instructed by Holy Spirit to stop EVERYTHING in the church we were leading in Colorado Springs, and do nothing but 24/7 worship for 90 days. As we obeyed, we didn’t do typical worship “sessions” with a variety of styles and songs, but only vertical, worshipful songs directed to the Lord. The purpose was simply to lavish love and adoration on Him. It was life-changing, and I remember many stories from those 90 Days. I remember walking into the sanctuary one evening - I spent several hours each day and night there - and found my friend and spiritual son, Jeremy Burk, standing in a puddle of tears, singing the words “This is no ordinary love.” After worshipping for several hours, Jeremy had become overwhelmed with the Father’s love for us, and these words flowed up from his spirit. The song he wrote from that experience is entitled “Jealous Jealousy.” Here are a few of the words: “This is pure love This is holy fire This is the real thing; it’s righteous desire This is no ordinary love.”(1) It’s a classic and still rekindles what I felt during those 90 days. I teared up today as I remembered them. I remember the first time I heard Klaus Kuhn lead worship. I was already overwhelmed with the presence of the Lord; then he sang his song “When I’m With You.” It wrecked me. If you can’t tell, Klaus is another of my all-time favorite worship leaders. His passion for God, released through his unsurpassed talent, stirs me at deep levels. Here are some of the words to the above song: “When I’m with You, my heart is satisfied, When I’m with You, my spirit can fly, When I’m with You, all the cares of my life just fade away, ‘Til all I want, ‘til all I need, is You.”(2) (Here come the tears again.) I remember when I first heard Klaus and Kari Jobe singing “Wonderful, Merciful Savior.” This wasn’t live, but from a recorded worship set. The hymn has 3 verses - one each for Jesus, Holy Spirit, and the Father - and a chorus. Here is the first verse: “Wonderful, merciful Savior,Precious Redeemer, and Friend Who would have thought that a Lamb Could rescue the souls of men Oh, You rescue the souls of men”(3) As I listened, I was smitten by the phrase, “Who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men?” Yes, the tears flowed. (I know, I’m a wuss.) When I listen to this song, it always moves me. We’re soon coming up on the Easter weekend, or as I prefer to call it, Resurrection Sunday. Though not the exact days on which the Cross and Resurrection occurred - and they should be celebrated daily - Christ’s death and resurrection are especially remembered on those particular days. I still remember my second Resurrection Sunday after I was restored to the Lord; it was March 30, 1975. I was so filled with revelation of the risen Christ that early, around daylight, I grabbed my “boom box,” opened my back door, and played “The Easter Song,”(4) sung by the group, Second Chapter of Acts, FOR THE ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD! (I realize some of you have no idea what a “boom box” is, and thought the second chapter of Acts was only a portion of Scripture. You should get informed!) For most people, the song’s most climactic line is, “Joy to the world, He is risen!” This classic song was written by Annie Herring and recorded by Second Chapter of Acts in 1974. I’m not sure if the neighbors appreciated my announcement, but I wanted the whole world to know Jesus was alive. I recall times of worship during my two years as a student at Christ For the Nations. In fact, I remember my very first worship experience there in 1977. The student body started each day with 30 minutes of worship, and also had services every Tuesday night and Sunday afternoon, which included longer worship sessions. My first time of worship there was Sunday, January 2, the opening service of my first term. That day, the worship team led us in the song, “Sing Alleluia to the Lord.”(5) As 1200 radical Jesus lovers sang, played, and worshipped with this song - and for some reason, as the violin began being heard more clearly - I distinctly remember thinking: this is what heaven will sound like. I will never forget it. Moments like these have no expiration date; their shelf life is eternal. Pull them down once in a while and feed your spirit and soul with their rich nutrients. Take some time to reflect on experiences with the Lord that have deeply impacted you. Listen to songs that have been meaningful in the past. If you do so, Holy Spirit will visit you again. You may want to linger there. For those interested, below are links for the songs I mentioned. Give ‘em a listen. But more importantly, don’t forget to remember. Pray with me: Father, thank You for the pleasure of meeting with You in worship. We’re so glad You’re a relational God who loves to experience our company. Thank You for the powerful minds You gave us, including our memories. Remind us to remember. In fact, please bring to our remembrance times we should recall and reflect on. As we do so, cause the benefit in them to be re-experienced. We choose hunger, and we ask for Holy Spirit to make us more hungry. We ask also for a new and higher level of intimacy with You. As Paul said, we want to know and understand You more. Release a greater understanding of worship in the body of Christ, and increase the anointing and revelation of worship leaders. More than any other spiritual gift or dynamic, we want this next great revival to be a “presence movement.” Moses said the only thing that distinguished Your people from other nations was Your presence (Exodus 33:16). Come to our homes, our schools, our parks, our streets, and our businesses. Come to the cities and the rural areas. Infiltrate our government and our education system. You are what all people hunger for, though many don’t know this. When they taste of You, they will know. Hover over this and other nations, releasing Your thick weighty presence. You have said through prophets that revival and reformation begin this year. Your presence will release it. Bring it. In Yeshua’s name, we ask. Amen. Our decree: We declare that we will remember, and we will relive our past experiences with the Lord. ************************** Click on the link below to watch the full video. ------------------------------------------------------ Jealous Jealousy (Words and music by Jeremy Burk, ©2008 Jeremy Burk Music, JeremyBurk.net) Sung by Jeremy Burk: https://youtu.be/-dLu28RFeYE?si=8lG8SxPSNv56Tyzr When I’m With You (Words and music by Klaus Kuhn, ©2003 Gateway Create Publishing, KlausMusic.com) Sung by Klaus Kuhn: https://youtu.be/gqxsGswt6n0?si=YbbSqg1LV7Bai5y7 The Easter Song (composer: Annie Herring, ©1974 Latter Rain Music) Sung by Second Chapter of Acts: https://youtu.be/8ClwvRJMmZY?si=FmJ8KfHQrJ2eLG06 Wonderful, Merciful Savior (Written by Dawn Rodgers, Eric Wyse, ©Word Music, LLC/Dayspring Music LLC) Sung by Kari Jobe: https://youtu.be/Wl2Lcd5d_uM?si=5aOQmFHl4evJ5w0T Sing Alleluia to the Lord (Written by Linda Stassen, ©1974 The Song of One) Sung by Maranatha Music: https://youtu.be/bkImsExajgQ?si=yWv5aA8yGUXxKnTi

9 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-12-2024 March 12, 2024 INTRODUCTION Greetings and welcome to Give Him 15. I’m Ceci Sheets and today, I’ve given my husband the day off. I’m a very private person and haven’t yet shared this, but on December 31, 2021, I was struck with an illness that incapacitated me for the next year of my life. I was in a wheelchair for the first 2 months, then used a cane, unable to drive for 6 months, and life didn’t return to basic normal for 10-12 months. I was diagnosed by a specialist at the Medical University of South Carolina with Unilateral Vestibular Neuritis. It was debilitating. I had lots of prayer, physical therapy, and time with Jesus. During that season, I became re-acquainted with what really mattered - what was truly important in my life. I had lots of time to evaluate and assess my life. I’m a go-getter by nature, a fixer. I work to make other people happy and take care of them - mostly my family. I find value in serving others. And I like to fix problems, make others’ lives easier; I like to organize, and find solutions. But in 2022, life flipped, and I had to be served and helped. It wasn’t comfortable for me, but it was essential, nonetheless. As I had those long conversations with Jesus, I made some life-altering decisions. I realized that Ceci needed to slow down and not take life so seriously. My checklist of daily tasks really doesn’t have to be accomplished today. Some can spill over to tomorrow, or even next week. My desk doesn’t have to be tidy at the end of the day, or my floors swept before I go to bed. I learned to take deep breaths, enjoy hearing the birds sing, and think more about those whom I love. And that’s where I’m leading up to… It was important to me that my husband of 46 years be celebrated well for his 70th birthday. Dutch gives and gives. He spends hours each day studying and praying about the GH15 posts and the assignments God has given him. He takes them seriously. So today, I’ve given him the day off. On Sunday, we celebrated Dutch well as a family, with our children and grandchildren. We had his favorite meal, Mom’s famous carrot cake, and shared stories, memories, and gifts around the kitchen table. It was perfect. We ended the day with a big surprise: one of his closest friends, Ken Malone, walked in the front door. Today, I chartered a boat and guide for the two of them to fish to their hearts’ content. I have another gift for him that we will tell you about soon. Today, instead of a teaching from me, I’ve decided to share with you one of my top 5 favorite GH15 posts. This one is taken from his book, The Pleasure of His Company. In 2021, Dutch took us through the entire book, trimming each chapter down a bit to fit into 15 minutes. The Pleasure of His Company has 30 stand-alone chapters and can, therefore, be used as a devotional. But this is his most candid writing with personal stories. So today, I hope you will enjoy The Lingerers. _______________________________________________________________________________ The Lingerers When I was a student at Christ For The Nations Institute thirty-five years ago- back when I could run for miles and still had a six-pack, all my hair, and no wrinkles- I was diligent to spend quality amounts of time every day with God. I had actually developed this lifestyle prior to attending CFNI. Before work each day I'd wake up an hour or more earlier than necessary in order to spend time praying and reading the Word. I loved hanging out with God then, and still do. My practice while a student was to pray and/or spend time reading Scripture for at least an hour before school began with chapel at 8:00 a.m. Chapel didn't consist of a message but was thirty-five minutes of glorious worship. Combining these two things meant that I had a good hour and a half at the beginning of every day to enjoy the pleasure of His company. Many days I would also pray another thirty to forty-five minutes after our last class ended at noon. I would then rush to the cafeteria before it closed at 1:00 p.m. During these forty-five minutes I would pray and meditate over what I had learned that day, as well as anything the Holy Spirit would bring to my mind to intercede for. These times of lingering became special to me, and I believe they were to the Lord, as well. I mention the two-plus hours per day I spent with the Lord not to boast, but to emphasize the fact that anyone can develop a love for His presence. I was anything but a spiritual giant at this time of my life, only very hungry for God. One afternoon at my usual 12:45 time, I came down from the balcony, where I often spent the last forty-five minutes with the Lord. The student council was selling tickets for a banquet, and they were just putting their supplies away, preparing to leave. Two of them, a guy and a girl, were carrying a folding table to a closet. The girl, whom I had never met, was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I decided right then to marry her! I quickly grabbed her end of the table, demonstrating my chivalry and muscle. The student council member on the other end of the table, whom I knew, introduced us. It took me a few weeks to get the nerve to ask her out, but when I did, she quickly said yes. She, too, was smitten. Ceci and I were married nine months later. That, my friend, is what happens when you linger with God! Okay, you may not be rewarded with a spouse, but good things do happen to "lingerers." I've always believed God orchestrated the timing of our meeting just to demonstrate how much He enjoyed our times together. It would be just like Him to do so - He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Of course, the greatest reward is simply the privilege of connecting with Him. One definition of linger is "to leave slowly and hesitantly." If you don't find yourself leaving God's presence slowly and hesitantly, there's a short somewhere in the connection. When you truly connect with Him, it's like a warm bed on a wintery morning - you don't want to leave it. Regular visitors to the throne of grace become lingerers, pure and simple. Charles Swindoll shares this story: “I vividly remember sometime back being caught in the undertow of too many commitments in too few days. It wasn't long before I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at meal times, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day. Before long, things around our home started reflecting the pattern of my hurry-up style. It was becoming unbearable. I distinctly recall after supper one evening the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She hurriedly began, ‘Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin'andIwilltellyoureallyfast.’ “Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered, ‘Honey, you can tell me... And you don't have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly.’ I'll never forget her answer: ‘Then listen slowly.’”(1) You'll never find yourself having to say to your heavenly Father, "Then listen slowly." He has plenty of time for you and loves it when you linger in His presence. In fact, His biggest problem is our limited time with Him, not our lingering. We are often in such a hurry we actually want Him to listen really fast. But He isn't our spiritual Santa Claus, wanting us to take our two minutes in His lap, give Him our wish list, and be on our way. He is Abba...Papa. Our Father is not easily offended. He is patient and long-suffering, and His loving-kindness is everlasting. But still, I can't help but wonder if He doesn't get offended at the way we treat Him. We give Him such little time, expecting Him to listen fast and perform quickly. I have a friend who actually believes the Lord once told him, "Don't defile My presence with your impatience." Ouch. David, the shepherd and psalmist who became king over Israel, was a lingerer; he loved being in God's presence and he left slowly and hesitantly. David once said, "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple" (Psalm 27:4). Notice the words dwell, behold, and meditate. Those are lingering terms. He also said, "O Lord, I love the habitation of Your house and the place where Your glory dwells" (Psalm 26:8). You don't make statements like that unless you've learned to linger. First we learn to linger, then He becomes addictive and we love to linger. Listen to David's language: "I love the habitation of Your house." I enjoy reading about David and his walk with God. It has been revealing and enriching to observe their relationship in the Scriptures - the good, the bad, and the ugly. One thing I especially like is that David kept it real, sharing with God his most intimate thoughts. Whether he was joyful, discouraged, lonely, or on top of the world, David talked to the Lord about it. He knew God wanted to be involved in his world, and he wanted to be in God's. Eventually, a change came in their relationship, a change so subtle that most people never think about it. Many people love God's presence. Thankfully, the worship movement of the last thirty to forty years has taught many of us the difference between singing and worshiping. And as we have learned to truly worship, we've discovered the glorious truth that it attracts His very presence (Psalm 22:3). Through this process, we've come to expect and enjoy the presence of the Lord. David understood this and was a passionate lover of God's presence. As much as he loved the Lord's presence, however, David was never called "a man after God's presence." He had the awe-inspiring honor of being referred to by the Lord as "a man after My heart" (see Acts 13:22, italics mine). There can be a huge difference between pursuing God's heart and experiencing His presence. It is possible to be in a person's presence and never make it into their heart. There are plenty of people I'm willing to hang out with, but very few I’ll allow into my heart. That part of me is reserved for the people I've spent enough time with to know I can trust their motives and intentions. I need to be confident my heart has value to them. It is breakable; I want it handled with care. God is no different. His heart can be broken. His emotions can be wounded and His hopes dashed. He allows many into His presence but is much more selective with His heart. His presence is free, but His heart will cost you time and effort. But oh, how worth the effort He is. Pay the price to find His heart, no matter what it costs you! I emphasize to young leaders that when considering their futures, not to focus first on developing a vision or a big dream. So often, young people are challenged to dream big, to develop a large vision. Personally, I've discovered how easy it is for my own ambition and selfish desires to sneak into my plans when I begin with the dream itself. I urge them to seek God's heart, not a dream. When they find His heart, hidden inside, they’ll also discover their purpose and destiny. Then they can dream, knowing it's God's dream for their life. Sadly, you may not encounter much competition on this quest for God's heart. Many love His presence and are willing to sing a few songs once or twice a week to enter it. Few, however, are after His heart. Choose to become one who is. Don't settle for a cursory look; be a lingerer. Talk to Him slowly, listen to Him slowly, and leave Him slowly. Pray with me: Father, you are worthy of our time and attention, of the greatest affections of our hearts. You are generous in rewarding those who diligently seek You with greater glimpses of the beauty of Your heart. Forgive us for our impatience, Lord, when approaching Your throne of grace. Like Joshua at the Tent of Meeting, we want to be those who love to linger in Your presence, leaving slowly and hesitantly. This one thing we ask for and seek: to dwell in Your house all our days, beholding Your beauty and meditating upon Your Word. Lingering... lingering… We want to go further still than enjoying the glorious place where You dwell. We love to enjoy the pleasure of Your presence, but also want to seek after Your heart. We know there's a high price that must be paid to enter that intimate place, but we’ve determined to give the time and effort to find and know Your heart. We will linger, longer still… In Christ’s name...Amen. ************************* Today’s post was taken from my book The Pleasure of His Company. (Dutch Sheets, The Pleasure of His Company (Grand Rapids, MI: Bethany House Publishers, 2014), pp. 165-173.) Click on the link below to watch the full video. ----------------------------------------------------------- Charles R. Swindoll, Man to Man (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), p. 272.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-11-2024 March 11, 2024 The American Dream You may not be aware of it, but you have a dreaming nature. (I’m speaking of visionary dreams regarding the future, not dreams that occur while sleeping.) You inherited this part of your disposition from your Creator. He created us in His image and likeness so our hearts could relate to His and in order that His dreaming heart could find millions of expressions. You were designed to dream, and you must dream - both for yourself and for God. In fact, if you don't dream with Him, He can't experience all of His dreams, and you'll never achieve your destiny. Abraham was a dreamer, maybe one of the greatest ever. God liked that about him - at that time in history, He desperately needed a dreaming friend. The Lord had been waiting for just the right dreamer to come along, one He could partner with to recapture His dream. These two friends walked together for many years, enjoyed a special covenant with one another, and modeled for all of us the power and beauty of divine-human partnership. Their story begins in Genesis 12, where God initiates His plan by instilling a dream in Abraham. “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you…’” (Genesis 12: 1-2a) Please notice that God began His journey with Abraham by appealing to his dreaming nature. How fascinating is that! “I’m going to make you My partner in rescuing My dream, Abraham. And I’m going to begin by giving YOU a dream.” Why, when looking for someone to help him recapture His dream, would God approach it this way? He could have just demanded that Abraham do what he wanted. But the Lord is well aware of the strength of our dreaming nature. He placed it there, after all. And also, He loves it when we dream. With this in mind, God knew that for this partnership to endure for a lifetime, Abraham would need the freedom to release this God-given nature. It couldn’t be a one-sided dream. Therefore, God began by placing a dream in Abraham’s heart regarding the birthing of a great nation. An incredible dream-marriage was born: “I will make from you a great nation” - Abraham’s dream. “And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed” - God’s dream (Genesis 12). (The Messiah would come through this nation.) Having established the all-important fact that God was including Abraham in the dreaming process, two very important principles concerning dreaming are revealed in this inaugural meeting. The first of them is that when we become dreaming partners with God, He must always be the Senior Partner. Yahweh was inviting Abram into His world, not vice versa. He is the Lord and Creator; we are the created. He’s the Leader; we follow His leading. Though promising a great blessing to Abraham, God was obviously the one offering the terms and conditions: “Go to the land I will show you…I will make you…I will bless you…I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:1-3). Twice in the passage, Abraham is seen building altars and worshiping the Lord. This clearly demonstrates his devotion and submission to Yahweh. The order is clear: God, the Senior Partner, is offering a conditional partnership to Abraham, not the other way around. The rewards for Abraham were great, but only if he chose God’s terms and conditions. So often we reverse this, acting as though we’re doing God a favor by allowing Him into our dreaming world, even going so far as to approach Him in a deal-making manner: At times, we offer God token pieces of our dreams, time, money, and desires, all the while acting as though we’re doing Him a favor. How preposterous! The other important principle shown to us in Genesis 12 is that dreaming requires risk-taking. It required a huge risk and great faith on Abraham’s part to pursue the dream God was offering. Don’t forget, the Lord was requiring Abraham to relocate to an unknown place. Yahweh refused to give him many details up front, even refusing to reveal where He was leading him. “You just go, Abraham, and I’ll lead you along the way. Pack everything and follow Me.” What a challenge! The faith this required was incredible, and for Abraham, the risks were monumental: What if I’m not hearing God correctly? Or, what if this isn’t actually God talking to me? To Abraham, however, the dream was worth the risk! He took the chance, and God never forgot the trust he demonstrated. Holy Spirit was still thinking about it hundreds of years later when He inspired the book of Hebrews. “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place where he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8) Those who need the comfort of the familiar or the security of the known should forget about dreaming. The required leap of faith will always be a bit too unsettling. They’re like the African gazelle, which can jump fairly high and up to thirty feet in distance. In spite of this, they can be confined in zoos with only a three-foot wall. The reason: Gazelles won't jump if they can’t see where they will land. We are often like the gazelle, blessed with great ability and potential, yet imprisoned by the fear of the unknown. Predictability and mapped-out routes are for nondreamers and Google Maps. Dreamers, on the other hand, will be found heading into the unknown…going out on a limb…and, at times, hanging by a thread. Pick your own risk cliché; just know you’ll have to do it. But when God is the source of the dream, that makes Him the limb, the thread, and the guide into the unknown. True faith is not reckless, but neither is it riskless. Dreaming with God always requires the inconvenience of change and the unsettledness of risk. Abraham took this risk and, though he didn’t know it at the time, stepped into the greatest partnership imaginable: working with God to save the world. “In you,” the Lord told Abraham, “all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Though I’m certain Abraham didn’t fully understand the phrase, in hindsight, it is clear. “If you’ll trust Me with your future, Abraham, I’ll let you in on Mine. You can be My partner in redeeming the world - the Messiah will come through you!” Incredible! Dreaming with God to save the world! In His quest to redeem the world back to Himself, God is still looking for partners. He places dreams in human hearts, and takes one of His in it. He always has a dream of His own hidden in the dreams He gives us. God had a dream of another nation that would partner with Him to save the world. Any nation can do this, of course, if they so desire. But this one He birthed for that very purpose. That nation was America. When God placed the dream of religious liberty in the hearts of those who came to this land, He had a dream hidden in theirs: That the gospel would go forth from these shores to all the nations of the Earth. America forgot God’s portion of the dream, and in doing so turned the American Dream into wealth and possessions. We also rejected God as the Senior Partner, going so far as to banish His influence from our government and anything publicly owned. But without the Dream Giver, dreams decay. The spiritual death and self-centered nature of fallen man destroys them. And now the American Dream is teetering on the edge of total destruction. Can it live again? Yes, it can. It can be revived. That’s what revival does. God is going to restore America to His purposes. And perhaps the greatest surprise of this revival will be regarding a generation of young people Satan believes he has total and permanent control of. Their dreaming nature will be infused with God’s nature, and they’ll dream with Him of changing the world. And they will. Pray with me: Father, You’re looking for those who will allow You to dream through them. We honor You as King and Lord, and desire to dream what You have planned for us, not generate our own dreams and ask You to bless them. We want You to be our Senior Partner. We also want to dream fearlessly. When You place dreams in us that require high levels of faith, help us to respond as Abraham did, being willing even to venture into the unknown. We ask You to finish the task of restoring America to Your dream. We want the partnership restored, just as You have said would occur. As we prepare for the coming season, we dream with You of a BIG harvest. We are dreaming of salvation and reformation to entire nations. We declare that we are free from earthbound dreams only and have been launched into Your world of eternal, heavenly dreams. We declare this and ask these things in the name of Christ, Your dreaming Son. Our decree: We declare that we are a people of faith, dreaming big dreams with and for God. ****************** Portions of today’s post were taken from my book Dream. Click on the link below to watch the full video.

5 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-8-2024 March 8, 2024 Rebuild the Altar, Ask For the Fire Hebrew is an amazing language. Though I am no expert regarding it—I simply know how to use various tools—I do have a great appreciation for its brilliance. As I have said at times, it is a pictorial language: letters represent pictures, which are combined to present concepts. Meanings are understood, in part, based on the context of the letters’/pictures’ use. This obviously means a Hebrew word can represent numerous things. For example, Passover, leap, skip, lame, halt, and limp are all the same word in Hebrew (pesach/pasach)(1). The picture, obviously, is the up and down, side to side, halting movement. Interestingly, though seldom used as such, it is also a word for “dance”(2)(3). Again, this is because of the movement the letters picture. WHAT IS PASSOVER? Passover is a joyous celebration, commemorating Israel’s exodus from Egypt, when God judged the Egyptians with the death angel but “passed over” the Israelites. The exodus was their deliverance from slavery and oppression. This, of course, was a picture of Christ, our Passover Lamb, whose blood delivers us from spiritual death and bondage. After Israel’s deliverance, they celebrated at the Red Sea with timbrels, singing, and dancing (Exodus 15:20-21). Though dancing in this passage is a different Hebrew word, it nonetheless was a picture of the great joy of Passover. In 1 Kings 18:21, Elijah asked the Israelites how long they would “halt” (pasach) between opinions. Other translations use different words here - hesitate, waver, limp, hobble, and more. Elijah is obviously confronting their inability to decide between serving Yahweh or Baal, their back-and-forth double-mindedness. But by using pasach, the play on words cannot be missed: You could be, and should be, dancing the dance of pasach, Passover - celebrating the deliverance and freedom given to you by Yahweh. Instead, you are limping the limp (pasach) of Baal! What a picture! Israel had gone from a dance to a limp, from freedom to bondage, from God to demons. They had moved from the provision of God to the oppression of Ahab and Jezebel. The Psalms speak of God turning our mourning into dancing (30:11); they had allowed Baal to turn their dancing into mourning. Baal worship, or yielding to any other demonic influence, often begins with dancing. Satan paints a picture of sin as fun, freedom, and joy. But the temporary pleasure always ends in mourning, and the dance becomes a limp. The same word for Israel’s limp (pasach), by the way, is used for the “leaping” and “dancing” of the Baal worshippers trying to persuade this spirit to respond to them (verse 26). AMERICA’S LIMP America once danced the dance of Passover, celebrating the goodness of God and salvation of the Passover Lamb, Jesus. We rejoiced in our prosperity, freedom, wholeness, and partnership with Yahweh; we were the envy of the world, a light into darkness, rescuers. Who in their right mind now questions the fact that we are lame, limping around the altar of our new god, pleading for him to answer by fire and prove that he is everything we thought he was? Like the Laodicean church of Revelation, we still pretend to be “rich…wealthy, and have no need of anything,” and won’t admit that we are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,” (Revelation 3:17). We sacrifice our homes, children, health, and wealth to this false god, hoping that he will give us back our dance. We elect liars and fools to government, Ahabs and Jezebels who worship this god, hoping they can give us back our dance. But our limp becomes more pronounced, our leaders stumble off of platforms, while the world laughs and mocks our downfall. What is the solution for this crippling demise? It is the same today as it was in Elijah’s day: we must reject the worship of this false god and return to the God of Passover. Like the church at Laodicea, we must stop our denial and do as they were told, “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and eye salve to apply to your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent,” (Revelation 3:18-19; NASB). A good time to begin doing so would be Sunday mornings. Limping into powerless gatherings with broken-down altars, acting as though everything is fine, while Baal steals our children and rules our nation, is tolerating evil Jezebel. When Elijah asked Israel how long they would waver between opinions, they were silent (verse 21), just as many in the church today. Elijah rebuilt the altar and asked for fire. What would happen if thousands of pastors around our nation rebuilt the altars of intercession, in what Jesus said should be “houses of prayer?” What would happen if desperate cries for the fire of revival and its cleansing power were issued from the pulpits and pews of America? We know the answer to this: The God who answered Elijah by fire would answer our cries, as well. The rain would fall, Baal’s strongholds would be torn down, and our land would once again dance the dance of the Passover Lamb. Now, for some good news. Though the majority in Israel did not join Elijah in his prayer that day, God, nevertheless, answered and sent the fire. He didn’t require a majority. And Elijahs are being raised up in our day, a remnant is joining them, and God will respond to their repentance and prayers. They ARE rebuilding the altar, they ARE asking for the fire, and the fire WILL fall. Pray with me: Father, we thank You for Christ, our Passover Lamb. We thank You for the many benefits You have given our nation, and the blessings that came from serving and partnering with You. We have danced with You, rejoicing in our salvation, freedoms, and abundant blessings. No nation has been blessed with the abundance of this land, and it has all been because of our loving and serving You. We are proof that “blessed is a nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). And yet, this once dancing nation now walks with a terrible limp, the limp of Baal. We are the Laodicean church: wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. If not for the supernatural healing You can provide, we would never dance again. But You also said to this church, “I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him” (Revelation 3:20). Though not a majority, many are hearing this knock, opening the door through repentance, repairing prayer’s altar, and asking You to enter with Your fire. And we believe You will do as You said. We dare to ask that the latter glory be greater than the former. We ask that this next dance be the greatest dance in America’s history. We ask that the false god Baal be overwhelmed by You, the true and living God, just as he was at the Red Sea and on Mt. Carmel. We declare that our mourning will be turned into dancing again, that we will put off our sackcloth and be wrapped in the garments of gladness. We and our children will once again sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear You, Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For all the nations will come and worship before You, For Your righteous acts have been revealed” (Revelation 15:3-4; NASB). Our decree: We declare that the fire of God will fall on America again, our limp will be healed, and we will dance like David as the Ark of His Presence returns. ********************** 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. no. 6453 and 6452. Ibid., ref. no. 6452. https://sfdh.us/encyclopedia/biblical_roots_in_jewish_dance_codman.html#:~:text=Another%20particularly%20interesting%20synonim%20for,style%20was%20associated%20with%20the

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-6-2024 March 6, 2024 The Grace Place Today, I want to tell you about Anna, but first… Review Yesterday, I spoke to you about Shechem, and briefly mentioned another important place, Penuel. Penuel, meaning “the face of God,”(1) is where Jacob wrestled with the Lord all night, received his transformation and new name, Israel (Genesis 32). He then went to Shechem, where he demanded that all of his family members bury their idols. Yes, they had idols. Why did Jacob choose Shechem as the place to bury them? He was finally connecting with and honoring the covenant God had made with his grandfather, Abraham. This was the place where God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham (Genesis 12). Jacob was honoring his covenantal roots when he buried the idols at this significant place. He also built an altar there, which he named El-Elohe-Israel, meaning “God, the God of Israel.” In naming it this, Jacob was not referring to the nation of Israel – that did not yet exist - but to himself. God had just given him the name Israel, after his transformation at Penuel. When Jacob wrestled all night with the angel of the Lord, he was demanding the blessing of protection from Esau, based on the Lord’s promise to him at Bethel (Genesis 28). Actually, God had every intention of keeping His word and providing this protection; His purpose for the wrestling was something else entirely. The Lord was wrestling with Jacob’s nature, and was determined to transform him from being a conniving, what’s-in-it-for-me, manipulator to a man with a pure heart…a man He could use. A Look Back to Bethel Penuel wasn’t God’s first meeting with Jacob. The two had met 20 years prior to this at Bethel, which means “house of God” (Genesis 28). Here, the covenant Yahweh had made with Abraham, then continued through Isaac, was passed on to Jacob. In essence, the Lord said to Jacob at Bethel, “I am going to bless you, and I am going to bless the world through you.” How would God bless the world through Jacob? Messiah would come into the world through his lineage, just as promised to his grandfather, Abraham. Though he didn’t grasp the revelation of God’s ultimate intent, Jacob did realize this encounter at Bethel was important, and that the place was special, a “gate of Heaven,” (Genesis 28:17). It is important and somewhat surprising to know that at the time of Bethel’s visitation, Jacob was not honoring and serving the Lord as the only true and living God. Yahweh was simply the God of his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac. There were many gods worshiped in that region at the time, and Jacob had not yet made up his mind which one he would serve. It had been almost 100 years since Abraham had met with the Lord and built an altar there at Bethel. Over time, the importance of the place, the covenant Abraham had with the Lord, and his special friendship with Yahweh had lost its significance with Jacob. He didn’t even realize he was in one of the places Abraham had met with the Lord. Two things let us know that Jacob had not yet decided which “god” he would serve. First, after the visitation at Bethel, Jacob actually said, “If you do all of these things you just promised me, I’ll make you my God.” (Verse 21) Secondly, over the next 20 years, six times Yahweh is referenced as the God of Jacob’s fathers, but never is He called Jacob’s God. (See Genesis 28:13; 31:5, 29, 42, 53; 32:9) This did not change until after Jacob’s transformation at Penuel. It was then and there that his self-serving nature was overcome, his name was changed, and he gave his heart and allegiance to Yahweh. The altar he then built at Shechem was a public statement and declaration that the God of Abraham and Isaac was now his God - the God of Israel. This was the change God needed. It is not enough for us to have a “Bethel encounter,” where we enter God’s house and family. That will get us to heaven, but it won’t impact earth. Holy Spirit wants to renew our minds, teach us His ways, then connect us with His heart at Penuel. Only then can He use us to partner with Him in releasing Yeshua to the world. He must be our God, not just our fathers’ God. The synergy of the ages is vital, but it only occurs when Yahweh has truly become our God, not just the God of our forefathers. America is filled with “Christians” who have been to Bethel - they are part of God‘s family - but they haven’t experienced Penuel where they meet Him face-to-face and their hearts blend with His. Many remain self-serving believers, with what’s-in-it-for-me mindsets. The coming outpouring will be a “Penuel revival” and will change this. Christ’s Birth Now to Anna. She was a prophetess, so devoted to the Lord that for decades she had spent all her time in the temple worshiping and praying. After hearing Simeon's prophesy over the newborn Messiah (Luke 2:25-32), we are told, “While Simeon was prophesying over Mary and Joseph and the baby, Anna walked up to them and burst forth with a great chorus of praise to God for the child. From that day forward, she told everyone in Jerusalem who was waiting for their redemption that the anticipated Messiah had come!” (Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭38‬ ‭TPT‬‬) Would you be surprised if I told you Anna had a special connection to Penuel? Her name means “grace, favor.”(2) Her father’s name was Phanuel,(3) who was from the tribe of Asher,(4) one of Jacob’s/Israel’s sons. Phanuel is the Greek spelling of Penuel (“the face of God”), Jacob’s place of transformation. Penuel was perceived as so important in Jacob’s life that hundreds of years later his descendants were still being named Penuel. And one of them had produced Anna. Through this miraculous series of events and names God is showing us that “grace and favor” (Anna) flow to us when we seek His face (Penuel), just as they did to Jacob. Revelation also flows when we seek Him - Anna was one of two who received a revelation that the Christ-child was the Messiah. Seek Him. Do not seek first for wealth, success, or earthly possessions. Do not follow after religion, religious leaders, or churches. Seek His face. One lexicon actually said Penuel means “facing God.” Turn your face to Him; He has much to show you. He will enable you to trade your weaknesses for His strengths, your self-serving ambitions for His great cause, and a temporal destiny for an eternal one - just as He did Jacob. But most importantly, He will reveal Himself to you, and you will find He for whom your soul longs (Song of Solomon 3:4). For America, my prayer is that she will find her way to the wrestling mat of Penuel. There, she will find Cape Henry’s cross, the Mayflower’s compact/covenant, the Wesleys’ fire, Finney’s repentance, and William Seymour’s baptism of power. She will once again love the Lord her God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength, and carry Messiah to the ends of the earth. Pray with me: Father, the blood of Jesus saves us, bringing us into Your family. We are Bethel people. Your Word and presence shape us into Your image from glory to glory, through the power of that same blood, making us a Penuel people. So we face You today, knowing that Your heart is love, that You are for us as our Abba. As we turn our faces to You in worship, and as we feed on Your Word, our hearts will become one with Yours: We’ll want what You want, love what You love, and hate what You hate. We declare that like Jacob, “we won’t let go until You bless us” with this. We repent for asking You for all the benefits of being in Your family, while ignoring the portion of the promise that says You want to bless the world through us. Please give the church in America this revelation. Grace us with it as you did Anna, and her grandfather, Jacob. And we pray that America would find her way back to Penuel. Our nation exists to make Your name known in the earth. You blessed us, just as You did Abraham, and that blessing was not intended to be only for us. We are carriers of Yeshua. He is IN us and wants to be revealed THROUGH us. Give us a revival that wrestles our nation to her knees, causing us to walk with the blessed limp of Penuel. We ask for this in Jesus’ name, amen. Our decree: We decree that America will make it to Penuel. ******************** Click on the link below to watch the full video. ------------------------------------------------- 1. James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 6439. 2. Ibid., ref. no. 451. 3. Ibid., ref. no. 5323. 4. Ibid., ref. no. 836.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-7-2024 March 7, 2024 Restoring the Dream We have been looking at Jacob and his two encounters with God at Bethel and Penuel. Bethel means “house of God,”(1) and Penuel means “face of God.”(2) A "house of God" relationship allows one to know the blessings of salvation without ever experiencing true intimacy with Him. At this level of relationship, Jesus is more a Savior than a friend, and God is more of a distant ruler than an affectionate Father. A Penuel, face-to-face relationship, on the other hand, changes everything. Jesus becomes our Friend (John 15:15), God becomes Abba-Papa (Romans 8:15), and the Holy Spirit becomes our close Helper (John 14:16). Penuel comes from paneh, the Hebrew word for “face.”(3) It is interesting and revealing that paneh is also the word for "presence." Turning the face toward someone, as in face-to-face encounters, obviously requires being in their presence. Thus, the word for “face” became the word for “presence.” When the Scriptures speak of individuals having face-to-face relationships with God, or that God’s face shines on us (Numbers 6:25; Psalm 80:3, 7, 19), they obviously aren’t implying we’re supposed to see His physical face. Rather, we’re being reminded we can live in His presence, the intimacy of which is so personal it’s akin to a face-to-face meeting with a friend. The circumstances leading up to Penuel, the beginning of Jacob’s face-to-face walk with God, are important to see. Jacob is about to go home, where he will face his brother, Esau, out of whom he had swindled the coveted firstborn birthright inheritance twenty years earlier. On the journey, Jacob moves ever closer to a confrontation with powerful Esau, who has heard of his approach and is on his way to meet Jacob with four hundred men. For Esau, revenge would be sweet. True to form, conniving Jacob devises a plan to appease his still-offended brother, sending a series of gifts ahead. As he continues on his way, he ultimately sends everything he owns to Esau, including his servants. Eventually, he even sends his family. It must have been a painful sight as he watched them cross the stream called Jabbok, wondering if he would ever see them again (see Genesis 32:22). Jabbok means “pouring out,”(4) and what an irony it is that this was the place where all of Jacob’s accomplishments and wealth—his “house of God” blessings— were poured from him. God is determined to deepen the relationship and realizes that to do so, He'll have to empty Jacob, at least temporarily, of all that matters more than Him. What a scene this became. Jacob, who has spent his entire life conniving his way around and through every obstacle in his path, is wealthy—very wealthy—and has proven he is at the top of the food chain when it comes to manipulating circumstances. Or so he thought. God had an appointment scheduled with Jacob here at Jabbok, and in a day, everything was gone, poured out to the brother he had swindled twenty years earlier. All in all, forty years of hard conniving were gone in a day. The next verse sums up Jacob’s circumstance and sets the stage for what is about to occur: “Then Jacob was left alone” (Genesis 32:24). Jacob has bought and connived his way out of trouble and into prosperity for the last time. He isn't yet aware of it, but Esau has become the least of his worries— he is alone with God, and this time, it isn't for sweet dreams, as it was at Bethel! As preposterous as it sounds, Jacob and God will spend the night wrestling (see v. 24). That doesn't sound like fun! The heavenly adversary begins by dislocating Jacob's thigh. In Scripture, a person's thigh represents his or her strength. Not only have Jacob’s possessions and family been “poured out,” God has now removed his strength. But there are not many people who could be as stubborn as Jacob. Still, he fought. “I won't let you go until you bless me,” he says to his opponent, whom many scholars believe was an Old Testament, pre-incarnate appearance of Christ Himself. What is this blessing Jacob wants? Protection from Esau, of course. The Lord, however, is about to bless him with something so much greater! His initial response to Jacob's statement is so bizarre it almost sounds like a verse or two have been omitted. “What is your name?” He asks Jacob (Genesis 32:27). Try to picture this: two men fighting, one limping but holding on for dear life while demanding a blessing, and the other—who obviously knows His opponent— demanding to know his name. It could actually come across as humorous, if not ludicrous, if you didn't know what God was doing. The Amplified Bible gives the clearest explanation I’ve seen or heard for this scenario. It translates Jacob’s response in verse 27 as follows: “And [in shock of realization, whispering] he said, Jacob [supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler]!” Jacob was acknowledging his true nature: "I'm a conniving schemer." Finally! Jacob was pursuing one thing; God was after something altogether different. Jacob was seeking another blessing - protection; God was seeking Jacob. “It isn’t your possessions, servants, or family I want, Jacob [The Lord gave all of that back.] It's your old nature I'm after. You can con everyone else, but you can't con Me. I want you to realize, once and for all, that your strength is not what I need from you. I need you to acknowledge your weakness-who you really are. Only then can I pour it out from you, delivering you from yourself. I want a far deeper relationship with you, one accessing your heart, not some ‘deal’ we cut involving temporal, earthly benefits. And since I’m God, by the way, I could kill you, but I'd rather just conquer your heart. Then we can run together, and I can use you to help me save the world.” Amazing. The fight was over the moment Jacob acknowledged his true condition. God's goal wasn't to win a fight but a friend. In a matchless display of His grace, wisdom, and persistent love, God transformed this conniving swindler into a prince and patriarch, just as He intends to do with each of us. His sovereign actions clarified the bigger picture: “Now we can get on with the dream I gave you at Bethel, Jacob. Because the dream wasn't just for you; it was for Me, as well. And for the generations to follow! I told you I would bless all the nations of the world through you. I need a nation through whom I can demonstrate to the world My ways and heart, and through whom I can bring the Messiah. You're going to birth that nation for me, and you're going to do it from Penuel - my presence.” When God wrestled with Jacob, He was fighting for the heart of a man and warring for His dream of redeeming the human race! Israel, leaving the fight with a life-altering limp, decided to name the place Penuel. Twenty years earlier, Jacob entered Bethel, “the house of God,” and found a dream. This day, he had seen “the face of God” and found the Dream-Giver. He would never be the same. Pray with me: Father, though Jacob still walked in his selfish, conniving nature, You led him to Bethel where You made great promises to Him, and inserted him into the great dream of redeeming humankind. Thank You for your ability to look past our faults and see our potential. Thank You for loving us and sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinful, and even Your enemies. Your great love, and Your infinite wisdom led Jacob to Penuel, where You had planned a face-to-face encounter with him. You poured out his self-sufficiency, and the power of Your presence transformed his nature, removing his self-centeredness. Then You replaced it with a heart to partner with You, and Israel gave us the Messiah. You can do the same for America. A great Penuel revival of Your presence and face is being birthed. We pray that You would do such a powerful work that we, as a nation, would become Your friend and partner again. We boldly and confidently declare that Your dream for America is not dead; it will live again. We are moving towards this, and our momentum will not be stopped. We declare this and ask these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Our decree: We decree that great transformation is coming to America, and will turn our hearts back to our Father and Friend, Almighty God. *********************** Today’s post came from my book The Pleasure of His Company, published by Baker Books. 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. no. 1008. Ibid., ref. no. 6439. Ibid., ref. no 6440. Ibid., ref. no. 2999.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-5-2024 March 5, 2024 Realigning with God’s Purposes God often used places in the Old Testament to give us pictures of spiritual truths. A picture, as they say, is worth 1000 words. Shechem is one of those places; it actually pictures several spiritual truths. First, Shechem speaks of promised inheritance. This was where God initially spoke to Abraham in Canaan, promising the land as an inheritance for him and his descendants (Genesis 12:7). Figuratively, God is calling America back to Shechem, asking us to reclaim our inheritance: “I gave you this land to steward, and partnered with you in the establishing of it. Now, reclaim it.” All of the earth belongs to God (Psalm 24:1), and He has the right to assign stewardship of it to whomever He sees fit. As those to whom He assigned this land, we must not allow its destiny to be stolen. Just as Israel had to fight for their inheritance, so must we. This inheritance applies to ALL Americans, regardless of our backgrounds or ethnicities. Evil people want to divide Americans based on class and ethnicity, in order to further their own evil agendas. God hates this, calling it an abomination (Proverbs 6:16-19). The word used for “abomination” in this passage means disgusting, abhorrent, and repulsive.(1) Those who work to divide us for political and/or monetary gain disgust the Lord. Their actions are abhorrent to Him and should be to us. They know they are intentionally dividing us for gain, just as they know women and children are being trafficked for the same reasons. These abhorrent people don’t care. Second, and as is clearly shown in Genesis 12:2-3, Shechem reveals God’s desire to partner with His family. “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God is asking America to partner with Him again, to agree with and realign with His purposes for establishing this nation. Since creation, His plan and desire have been to work on the earth through humans, not independently of them. Dr. Peter Wagner spoke of this partnership in regard to writing Earth’s history. “Our sovereign God has for His own reasons so designed this world that much of what is truly His will He makes contingent on the attitudes and actions of human beings. He allows humans to make decisions that can influence history.”(2) Profound. Weighty. Extremely consequential. The third principle associated with Shechem can be easily deduced from the first two. Shechem pictures responsibility. This is also hidden in a Hebrew word used in the following verse: "And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants, I will give this land.'” (Genesis 12:7) The word "give" comes from the Hebrew word nathan,(3) which I’ve mentioned in previous posts, but is well worth repeating. This word is not only used in the sense of conferring ownership, but also to give a charge or an assignment. God was not only giving the land to Abraham and his family, He was also assigning it to them. God’s gifts are often His assignments. My children were gifts, but they were also assignments. My abilities are gifts with which I can prosper, but they also come with responsibilities: serving, giving, providing, etc. The incredible wealth and prosperity of America is so much more than just a gift. It is a very important responsibility from God, an assignment we must steward. This stewardship is fulfilled through prayer, sowing into the preaching of the gospel, voting for individuals with biblical values, speaking out against evil and standing for truth, and more. We must understand that all who enjoy America’s benefits will also give an account of how they stewarded them. Fourthly, at Shechem, idolatry was cleansed. In Genesis 32, Jacob was transformed, receiving a life-changing, face-to-face encounter with Yahweh, through which he was delivered of his rebellious nature and received a new identity. At the conclusion of this encounter, God renamed him Israel, and he (Israel) renamed the place, Penuel, “the face of God.” (There was as yet no nation of Israel, only this man.) In the following chapter, Genesis 33, after Israel’s (Jacob’s) encounter with the Lord at Penuel and his peaceful reunion with Esau, he took all of his family and servants to Shechem, this place where God had met with his grandfather, Abraham. There he built an altar of remembrance and called it El-Elohe-Israel, meaning “God, the God of Israel” (Genesis 33:20). Jacob/Israel was referring to himself, not a nation, declaring that El was now his God. Not just Abraham’s God, not just Isaac’s God, but he was declaring that Yahweh was his God. As a demonstration of this, two chapters later, Israel commanded his family and servants to bury all of their idols at Shechem: “So they gave Jacob all the [idols and images of the] foreign gods they had and the rings which were in their ears [worn as charms against evil], and Jacob buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.” (Genesis 35:4 AMP) Again, figuratively God is calling America to Shechem, asking us to rid the land of idolatry: materialism, pleasure, greed, lust, pride, false religions, etc. Obviously, this will occur through revival and salvation - not by force - as those threatened by the church like to falsely accuse us of desiring. Just as Jacob went back to his roots - the place where the Lord met with Abraham and promised him the land - God is asking America to go back to her biblical, Christian roots. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Yes, Joshua gave this famous speech at Shechem! Here is more of Joshua’s message that day: “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24-14-15 NASB) Finally, in Joshua 20:7, Shechem became one of the cities of refuge. These weren’t for those who entered the land illegally, as they are in America, but places in Israel where those who accidentally took someone’s life could flee for protection from vengeance. It was forbidden for any retaliation to be taken against them while they lived in these towns, and precautions were put in place accordingly. According to Hebrews 6:18, the cities of refuge picture Christ, who became our refuge: "We who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us." God is offering Christ as America’s refuge. So many places in our nation are now filled with violence, murder, poverty, and fear. Serving other gods leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13); the way of the transgressor is hard (Proverbs 13:15). God wants to transform these devastated places into safe havens, cities of peace and refuge. He desires to send revival to inner cities, impoverished neighborhoods, gang-controlled and drug-infested streets. God is a refuge in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). Pray with me: Father, You have given us an amazing inheritance in this nation. We have been blessed beyond words. These blessings are not only for our enjoyment, but are gifts to be stewarded in blessing others. We repent for our lack of discipline, for spending ourselves into poverty and debt, squandering Your blessings on our lusts. Send a revival that not only saves and restores our spirits, but an awakening that transforms our souls from ungoverned desires and lusts. Cleanse us from idolatry, free us from ourselves - just as You did Jacob. Give us a face-to-face encounter; take America to Penuel! Transform us into noble people who can partner with You to save the world. Give us righteous leaders who do not want to divide us. Deliver us from these abhorrent people. Yes, we pray for their salvation; but until their hearts change, we do not want them to rule over us. Silence voices in the media that work to divide us. Bring Your deliverance to us from this evil activity. In Christ’s name, through His authority, we pray these things. Amen. Our decree: We decree that America will be led to our Penuel, experience her transformation, and bury her idols at Shechem. ********************* 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. no. 8441. C. Peter Wagner, Confronting the Powers (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1996), p. 242. Strong’s Concordance, ref. no. 5414.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-4-2024 March 4, 2024 Angels: Supernatural Enforcers I was in a service with my brother, Tim Sheets, a few weeks back, and Holy Spirit moved in profound ways. The Lord had brought revelation to various leaders before the meetings, which came together that night, and produced great breakthroughs. It was a very significant night. In today’s post, Tim shares the majority of information; I contribute some, as well. Tim shares: ********* “I believe Holy Spirit has revealed a Kingdom strategy for the Ekklesia that has now been activated at a new level. This will demand that we function as a true Ekklesia, the word Christ used to define the church. Remember, ekklesia, the word translated as “church” in the New Testament, is a Greek word that refers to a judicial or legislative body.(1) The word is used 113 times in the New Testament, proving it was intentional, an on-purpose name for the church. This meaning MUST be understood in order for us to comprehend our mission statement. “Our church recently hosted a Prophetic Summit, a night in which the Ekklesia convenes and presses in to hear from the Lord regarding our current season. As I was praying on the morning of the Summit, Holy Spirit allowed me to see into the spirit realm. “While praying I had said, ‘Lord, people are coming from around our nation, some driving many hours to be here. I want it to be beneficial to them and worth their time. Some are even flying in.’ When I said that, I heard Holy Spirit very clearly say, ‘They aren’t the only ones.’ I was immediately given a vision. “In this vision, I saw a host of angels coming to the meeting. Holy Spirit revealed that they were coming from other nations throughout the world. Based on the way they were dressed, I recognized different divisions of angels: I saw government angels, which partner with the prayers and decrees of a governing Ekklesia/church; and I saw seraphim, which are the mightiest order of angels. During this vision, I could sense the power, strength, and delegated authority of these mighty angels. Hundreds of them were coming to this convening of the King’s Ekklesia. “I trembled in the holy presence of God and knew Holy Spirit was revealing a supernatural level of assistance, and it was dramatically increasing. I began to weep as I saw the hosts of heaven coming from other nations and realized this would be a game changer. “I spoke that evening at the Summit, but did not share this vision. In fact, I hadn’t shared it with anyone. My brother, Dutch, was also one of the speakers and at the end of his message, invited a prophet, Clay Nash, to share a dream he had been given. In this dream, an angel, referring to himself as a ‘justice gate angel,’ told Clay this Prophetic Summit would be a ‘white stone meeting.’ My spirit leapt when he said this, and I instantly knew it was why the angels I had seen were coming to the meeting. “Revelation 2:17 (KJV) says, ‘… To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.’ When this verse was written, the giving of a white stone had two meanings. First, in the Roman athletic games, a white stone was given to the winner of a contest, race, or competition. The person’s name was inscribed on the stone, which served as a ‘ticket’ to attend an awards banquet.(2) “However, another meaning of giving someone a white stone occurred in the court system of Rome, which is what I feel the justice gate angel was referencing. Roman courts used juries, similar to our justice system. The jury would hear a matter, deliberate, and then issue a decision, just as we do today. When the verdict had been reached, a clear vase was set before the jury. They placed a black stone in the jar to indicate ‘guilty,’ and a white stone for ‘not guilty.’(3) DUTCH SHARES For the angel to state this would be a “white stone meeting” could mean two things: 1) We, the Ekklesia, were going to receive a favorable ruling from the courtroom of heaven; or, 2) We, the Ekklesia, were the jury and would be issuing the verdict! That is certainly a different perspective. Could it be? Were the angels actually coming to hear our ruling, and then would take action accordingly? Matthew 16:18-19 (KJV) says, “On this rock of revelation I will build my church [ekklesia]; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” In his book, Prayer Is Invading the Impossible, respected leader Jack Hayford (now in heaven) - based on a literal rendering of the Greek verbiage - says the following is a careful amplification of the above verses: “Whatever you may at any time encounter (of hell's counsels which I'm declaring my church shall prevail against), you will then face a decision as to whether you will or won't bind it. What transpires will be conditional upon your response. If you do personally and consciously involve yourself in the act of binding the issue on earth, you will discover that at that future moment when you do, that it has already been bound in heaven!”(4) Incredible..! Notice the portion, “You will face a decision whether you will or won’t bind it. What transpires will be conditional upon your response.” Not God’s response! This is amazing! And when Tim heard what the justice angel said, he knew in his spirit this was why the angels had come: to hear our “decisions” and “responses” in order to enforce them. They were waiting for Christ’s Ekklesia to hear what God was saying, judge situations based on His laws, and issue His verdict with their decrees. BACK TO TIM “When I heard the words that this would be a ‘white stone meeting,’ I knew Holy Spirit had sent the angels to hear the verdict of the Ekklesia: what it would forbid and what it would permit. In a sense, the Prophetic Summit was a court session and, based upon Matthew 16:18-19, what transpired would be conditional upon our response. “Job 22:28 (KJV) says we decree a thing to see it established, and Psalms 103:20 (KJV) says angels hearken to God’s words and decrees. When we decree verdicts based on God’s Word and will, they bring His/our words to pass. Angels are waiting to hear the ruling in order to enforce the verdict. They’re the enforcers of the Ekklesia’s biblical and Spirit-led rulings against evil, lawlessness, and corruption in their territories. Holy Spirit is releasing these powerful angels at a far greater level to enforce the Ekklesia’s verdicts, rendered in the King’s Name. “The supernatural enforcers have arrived. Will we issue the verdicts they need in order to battle hell’s forces? Or will we, through unbelief and silence, be a hung jury that can’t make up its mind?” ********* Pray with me: Lord, let this revelation seep into our hearts. You are revealing that the church’s authority reaches to greater levels and measures than we have known. The angel gate is open, and these mighty ones will hearken to Your words through us. They will enforce our binding of evil, and our loosing of nations, cultures, and governments from demonic rule. As our decrees for revival and reformation go forth, give us stunning victories and divine surprises in this season. We ask for these angels to enforce breakthrough decrees and verdicts against Baal and his activities. We accept our role as Christ’s ekklesia and declare that we do rule and reign with Him. In Christ’s name, we will open doors no man can close, and close doors no man can open. We will say what You say; Your Words will be our words! May Your Kingdom and Ekklesia rise for Your glory. May Your power be released in the lives of individuals. Let healings, breakthroughs, and victories be released, and may angels be assigned to minister in our personal lives, families, and businesses. In Yeshua’s name, we pray. Our decree: We decree that the supernatural enforcers are with us to carry out the declared promises of God. ************************** 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. ------------------------------------------------------ 1. James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 1577. 2. https://bethelchapelchurch.com/will-jesus-give-you-a-white-stone/ 3. https://renner.org/article/why-did-jesus-promise-a-white-stone/ 4. Jack W. Hayford, Prayer Is Invading the Impossible (South Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1977, revised edition, Bridge Publishing, 1995), p. 140, 1977 edition.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/february-2-2023-1 February 2, 2023 Revival and Reformation, Part 2 Due to the fact that the GH15 posts have to be written and recorded the day before they are posted, I was not able to say much about the Day of Repentance in yesterday’s post. I did make a brief comment at the end regarding how excellent it was. The day fits well, however, with the few teachings I’m doing on Revival and Reformation, so I want to make a few more comments today. First, I find it ironic, at the very least, that while we were involved in a time of repentance over the sins of America, the Senate was conducting a necessary hearing with the leaders of several social media outlets regarding the promotion of sexually explicit material to children. Regarding this heinous activity, two verses I quoted in a post earlier this week from Jeremiah come to mind: “Everyone is after the dishonest dollar…They have no shame. They do not even know how to blush” (Jeremiah 6:13-15, The Message). Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, appearing on the Faulkner Focus (Fox Network) to discuss the hearing stated, “There is some research that says every day 100,000 kids are force-fed sexually explicit material on these sites. It is being pushed to them. They are not looking for it; it shows up in their feed.” She continued, “We have 42 state Attorneys General suing [social media companies] because of the addictive features they are pushing forward on children.” While addressing Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of META (formerly known as Facebook), during the hearing, Senator Blackburn said, “Children are not your priority; children are your product. You see children as a way to make money.” She told Faulkner that at the hearing, “Kids were wearing T-shirts saying, ‘I’m worth more than $270,’ which is what Zuckerberg said a teen was worth to them on social media.” How astonishing and indicative of America’s condition that this hearing was taking place as many in our gathering were weeping, asking for God’s mercy and cleansing of our nation. I was not able to hold back tears as I read Revelation 3:17-18: “…you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have no need of anything,’ and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to apply to your eyes so that you may see.” (NASB) After saying this to the church at Laodicea, Christ went on to say it was love motivating Him to bring this discipline (verse 19), and He concluded by telling them He was standing at the door and knocking. If they would open it through repentance, He would come in and sup with them (verse 20). Christ’s desire was not to judge them; He was offering cleansing, transformation, and a return to their relational connection with Him. I felt that on Wednesday, the “knocking Savior” was doing so through His tears. Hundreds of people gathered for this Day of Repentance, including a couple of dozen members of Congress, Speaker Mike Johnson among them. Many more people watched online. Several leaders attended from other nations to join us in our repentance and prayer, both for our nation and theirs; at least two or three dozen. It was a very emotional day. In describing last year‘s gathering, convener Jim Garlow (along with Tony Perkins) simply said, “God showed up.” I can assure you, His presence was with us again this year. And I’m sure that the Lord, like all of us, had mixed emotions: grief over America’s sins and rejection of Him, along with the satisfaction of our repentant, interceding hearts. Thank you for joining us. I know our prayers and repentance made a difference. (If you would like to watch a replay of the National Gathering of Prayer and Repentance, you can do so here: ngpr.org.) Now, I want to comment on revival and reformation, then connect it to the Senate hearing I just mentioned. In yesterday's post, I said that our commission from Christ in Mark 16 was to preach the gospel and restore God’s family. When breakthrough in this activity occurs, creating mass conversions, we call it revival. I also said that Christ’s commission in Matthew 28 was to disciple these new believers, not just individually but corporately - entire nations. When this occurs in mass, resulting in societal transformation - the changing of culture, laws, government, education, etc. - we call it a reformation. In most revivals of the past, believers thought only of winning the lost (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, as in the following example. The great Charismatic Movement of the late 60’s through the early 80’s, which included the Jesus People Movement, saw millions of people in America come to Christ, and tens of millions around the world. It was a wonderful example of Mark 16 occurring with great momentum, a significant revival. However, there was little understanding of the church’s assignment to do Matthew 28. The concept of discipleship that existed at the time was limited to discipling converts regarding their personal lives. We did not instruct and train believers to use the momentum of revival to disciple nations by modeling Christ’s ways and teaching His principles in all of society. Therefore, during the Jesus Movement/Charismatic Movement of the ‘70s, Christians did Mark 16. But while millions of people were being saved, humanists, secularists, and atheists were busy doing their version of Matthew 28 - discipling a nation. How incredibly ironic. We saved individuals; they discipled a nation. We preached the gospel; unbelievers taught dogmas and doctrines. We went to church once a week on the weekend; they indoctrinated in our schools and universities five days a week. We enjoyed a new wave of expanded Christian TV; they made movies, programs, and increased their hold on the industry. We sang and worshipped at church; they took over the airwaves and discipled a generation with their music. We bought a few cameras and thought we had arrived with our Christian TV; they took over technology and monopolized social media. The result: America experienced one of the greatest revivals in history…AND LOST THE NEXT GENERATION TO DEMONIC CONTROL AND INFLUENCE! This is almost incomprehensible! The irony is beyond belief, and the tragedy of it beyond words. Yet, it occurred. And now, the generation discipled by humanists, secularists, and atheists is in charge of our nation - governing, teaching, entertaining, etc. AND, they are grooming the next generation, our kids, as the Senator told us. Overall, social media has far more influence over the minds of our children than their parents. This is the fruit of Mark 16 without Matthew 28, revival without reformation. We must not make this mistake again. There is another powerful outpouring of Holy Spirit coming that will produce a great revival. In this outpouring, the body of Christ, His Ekklesia, must accomplish both commissions. If we do so, it will produce the greatest transformation in Earth’s history. More on Monday… Pray with me: Father, thank You for the gathering that took place in our nation’s capital on Wednesday. Thank You for your humble and sincere hearts of repentance and intercession. We know You heard our prayers and that they make a difference. You are answering the prayers and will heal our land. On behalf of our nation, we answer Your merciful knocking and say, “Please come in.” Father, You created family members in Genesis 1, then assigned them the responsibility of multiplying the family and also managing their home, planet Earth. This plan of Yours is still intact. Jesus restored it, and said He would build an Ekklesia, a family the gates/government of hell would not be able to overcome. Then He recommissioned them to begin again the plan of multiplying Your family, and of stewarding the earth for You. We embrace these commissions! This 2-fold plan of Christ’s is gaining momentum. His bride is growing in numbers and the Ekklesia’s revelation of its authority is growing. Bring another wind that increases this even more. Cause the greatest season of revival and reformation in earth’s history to take place - Mark 16 and Matthew 28 simultaneously. Release the greatest wind of evangelism the world has ever experienced, and fully reveal Christ among the nations. We love You, Father, and pray these things in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen. Our decree: We decree that the two Great Commissions of Christ WILL be fulfilled by His family and co-laborers. ****************************** Click on the link below to watch the full video.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/march-1-2024 March 1, 2024 Re-igniting, Uncapping, and Birthing the New I continue to ponder my time at Lou Engle’s conference this past Sunday night in Colorado Springs. It was a profound night. When introduced to speak, I hadn’t yet landed on exactly what Holy Spirit wanted me to share. So I began simply by mentioning my experience a couple of weeks back, when my spiritual father played the song, America the Beautiful, for a small group of us (read post here). The words to this song came in part to Katherine Lee Bates while on Pike’s Peak, which she wrote down when she returned to her hotel right there in Colorado Springs. Then I related how listening to the song and witnessing Jim’s heart for America had reminded me of, and renewed in me, the visitation I had from the Lord in 2000. This, like the song, occurred there in Colorado Springs. I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence that God reminded me of all this just before my return visit to that city. As I shared this that night, all heaven broke loose. Our good friend, intercessor and pastor, Terri Brown, wrote the following unsolicited account from her perspective, as well as what she heard from Holy Spirit during the service: ********* “I was able to participate in Lou Engle’s recent 222 Conference in Colorado Springs. Though very encouraging, it was also challenging, and at times heart-wrenching. “Although the entire conference was rich and significant, I’ve especially been pondering the last night when Dutch Sheets was the scheduled speaker. Many have described this as the most amazing, intense prayer gathering they have ever been in. There was unity, travail, worship, intense intercession, and a feeling of birthing and breakthrough. “Before giving you a word the Lord shared with me that night, let me give you a backdrop regarding Colorado Springs, our calling to this city, and some history. This will help you understand my perspective as I share. “Much was said during the weekend regarding the significance of what has been birthed in Colorado Springs over the years. Cindy Jacobs and Lou Engle rehearsed many of the significant prayer events, as well as entire movements that have been birthed here. I remember being present at some of these events and hearing the stories of others. “My husband, Jack, and I don’t just ‘live’ in Colorado Springs; we are ‘called’ here and have worked to steward its destiny. Therefore, these stories felt like part of our heritage, our birthright. Cindy emphasized this to a group of Colorado Springs leaders while here, reminding us that we must steward these spiritual wells in our region. This is important, not so our lives here will be more pleasant and prosperous, but because of the calling on this city to be a spiritual warfare hub, birthing prayer into the nation and nations. “As I surveyed the room on Sunday night, I saw so many in the room who were active members at Dutch’s church when he pastored here. These were people present the night the Lord encountered Dutch with His heart for America. They remember being quietly ushered out of the sanctuary when he was left alone with the Lord those 3 1/2 hours. These were the people who gathered to pray night after night with Dutch in December 2006; Chuck Pierce had prophesied to him that he was in a battle with Baal and needed to call for 21 days of prayer. These were the folks marked by the presence of God when the Lord came and rested here for 90 straight days in 2008. “Many of these individuals are now in their 60’s, 70’s and 80s. They came out in force for Dutch’s session Sunday night. I also saw many from the host church that have for years battled spiritually in our city. And, of course, there were many from Lou’s faithful tribe. It was an interesting mix of over 700 like-minded people. “As I pondered this that night, I was reminded of the word the Lord gave me for 2024 in November of last year. At that time, I heard Him say, ‘I am calling up the Reserves.’ Then I heard a call go out, ‘Report for duty!’ “When I think of the Reserves, I think of three types: Soldiers who have served in full-time active duty but have now retired and serve in the Reserves. Those who are ‘weekend warriors,’ soldiers on the weekend but focus during the week on their jobs and families. Those who want an education and see this as a way to pay for it; they are being trained and educated while serving. “I saw all 3 of these types of Reserves in God’s prayer army throughout the room Sunday night, and they were being called up to active duty. “As the meeting started, Holy Spirit led me to Isaiah 35:3-4: ‘Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance; with the recompense of God, He will come and save you.”’ “The Passion Translation words these verses: ‘Strengthen those who are discouraged. Energize those who feel defeated. Say to the anxious and fearful, “Be strong and never afraid. Look, here comes your God! He is breaking through to give you victory! He comes to avenge your enemies. With divine retribution, He comes to save you!”’ “As I pondered these verses and the word regarding calling up the Reserves, I was reminded that there were two fires that day in Colorado Springs. One was on the Air Force Academy grounds, the other on Fort Carson. In over 25 years of living in this area, I have never heard of fires at both bases at the same time; and I can’t remember fires ever occurring this time of year. Many times, what is happening in the natural realm is a sign of what God is doing in the spiritual realm. As I pondered this, I felt the Lord was showing me that He was reigniting His prayer army, not only the ground troops, but also His Air Force. “As Dutch got up to speak, we could tell God was engaging with him in a powerful way. He shared his encounter with the Lord 24 years ago here in Colorado Springs when He received the Father’s heart for America. Then he spoke of a recent experience that similarly ‘marked’ him for America. There seemed to be a convergence of those encounters that night, and Dutch seemed to be weighing what the Lord desired him to do. “As He yielded the meeting to the Holy Spirit, travail suddenly broke out all across the room; we went into a place of intercession that was rare and incredible. In this time, we experienced a reigniting of the prayer movement, an uncapping of the wells in this city, and a birthing of the new prayer army for this time and season. “Regarding what the Lord shared with me concerning calling up the reserves, Holy Spirit also said: ‘There will be fresh uniforms/mantles.’ ‘There will be updated spiritual weapons of warfare.’ ‘We must let go of the past season - of both victories and defeats - in order to step into the battle before us with fresh vision and faith.’ ‘We need to be rightly connected with other believers.’ “This is a critical time; so much is hanging in the balance. We must pick up the fresh mantles, allow the Lord to replace weakness with strength and refreshing, and put new spiritual weapons in our hands, enabling us to war victoriously.” ********* Pray with me: Father, You are more than amazing, orchestrating events in our lives when we are totally unaware. I did not even remember that I had an upcoming trip to Colorado Springs when You renewed what You did in me there, and used the song written there to do it. We can trust You to lead us. We thank You for the reigniting of the prayer movement, and for calling up the Reserves. Thank You for the fresh mantles and updated weaponry, which would surely mean greater revelation of the spiritual weapons You have given us. Thank You for all that was birthed that night in Colorado Springs. I will never forget the roar of travailing intercession released, nor the roar of Your promise: America shall be saved! We declare Your promise and heart once again today: America shall be saved! We also declare the connection of this to the nations: The greatest outpouring of Holy Spirit in earth’s history is coming to the nations of earth. The greatest harvest will result. This will NOT be stopped. And we thank You for this, asking in Yeshua’s name. Our decree: The prayer movement is being reignited and re-outfitted. And the plans of hell are being unraveled. ********************** Click on the link below to watch the full video. ---------------------------------------------------------- You can view the service Terri mentioned by clicking here. You can learn more about Terri Brown at TerriBrown.live.

5 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/february-29-2024 February 29, 2024 Unraveling The Schemes Of The Enemy I mentioned the word luo in yesterday‘s post. What I stated regarding this subject is vitally important. I want to pick up on it again today. In review, I said: “An interesting word is used in 1 John 3:8 that adds insight into what happened at the Cross. The verse reads, ‘For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil’ (KJV). ‘Destroy’ is the Greek word luo, which has both legal and physical meanings. Understanding its full definition will greatly enhance our knowledge of what Jesus did to satan and his works. “The legal meaning of luo is: to pronounce or determine that something or someone is no longer bound; to dissolve or void a contract or anything that legally binds.(1) “Jesus came to dissolve the legal hold satan had over us and to pronounce that we were no longer bound by his works. He ‘voided the contract,’ breaking satan’s dominion over us. “The physical meaning of luo is to dissolve or melt, break, beat something to pieces, or untie something that is bound.(2) In Acts 27:41, the boat Paul traveled on was broken into pieces (luo) by the force of the storm. In 2 Peter 3:10-12, we’re told that one day the elements of the earth will melt or dissolve (luo) from a great heat. “It is very significant to know that Jesus used this same word, luo, to describe what we, the Church, are to do through spiritual warfare. Matthew 16:19 tells us, ‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ The word ‘loose’ in this verse is luo. “So, did Christ luo the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), or do we luo the works of the devil (Matthew 16:19)? The answer is ‘Yes!’ Although Jesus fully accomplished the task of breaking satan’s authority and voiding his legal hold on the human race, someone on earth must represent Him in that victory and enforce it. Satan is a thief and a trespasser. The fact that he has no legal right (authority) to do something does not keep him from doing it. Only the authority of Christ, combined with the power of Holy Spirit, stops him from doing so. Both flow from/through us. In Christ’s name, we release His authority, and Holy Spirit backs this up with His power. “In all spiritual warfare, always remember that our responsibility is not to re-defeat satan, but to enforce his defeat. My confidence increased dramatically in the context of ‘binding,’ ‘loosing,’ ‘wrestling’ with principalities and powers, ‘pulling down strongholds,’ etc., when I finally understood it as enforcing the victory of Calvary.” MORE ABOUT LUO After writing yesterday's post, I thought about the incredibly evil plans being implemented in America. As I did so, I heard Holy Spirit say, “It is all coming unraveled.” I knew He wanted to give me more insight regarding this so I began studying, only to find that Holy Spirit had more to reveal regarding this word luo. When I looked up the Greek word for “unraveled,” my lexicons led me to analusis,(3) which they said comes from the root word, luo, translated as destroy in 1 John 3:8 and loose in Matthew 16:19. It’s fairly easy to see why: when the strands of a rope come “loose,” they are “unraveling.” The word “analysis” is also derived from analusis, which is easily seen from its spelling. Analyzing a situation is breaking loose, disassembling its components - unraveling the strands - so that we understand the situation more clearly. As I read this, I heard Holy Spirit say, “As the church has been releasing Christ’s authority, ‘luo-ing’ the plans of satan in America, it has enabled Me to unravel (analusis) and expose his plans.” God is, indeed, exposing satan’s schemes and plans. Americans are beginning to see just how corrupt our government has become. They see the two-tiered system of justice. They are observing the insanity of plans to remove our borders, destroy our families and children, distort our history, and steal our nation. They see the dishonesty and deceit. They are coming to grips with the disheartening and horrifying truth that for many of our leaders, votes and power mean more than the lives of the American people. The corruption is all being unraveled, enabling the American people to analyze what is truly happening. The truth is painful, but necessary. And throughout this year, 2024, the process will intensify. The revelations will be amplified, and Americans will not like what they see. This is all part of God‘s deliverance process. America is receiving her MRI. That which is hidden on the inside is being revealed, and the level of revelation will increase. We asked for this, and it is occurring, exposing the cancer of sin eating away at the life of our nation. Keep praying. Do as Jesus instructed us in Matthew 16: bind the plans of the enemy; loose, dissolve, untie, unravel his evil schemes (verse 19). Do as He instructed us in Matthew 6: command His Kingdom rule into our land; command His will to be done (verse 10). Ask Christ to pour out His Spirit, bringing life to America’s dry bones and healing our land. Ask Him for revival, the great ingathering, and the transforming of our nation. Yes, grieve over what Holy Spirit is exposing, but don’t be discouraged as you witness it. Be encouraged that we are getting a proper diagnosis in order to receive the cure. Don’t allow the shaking to shake you. Determine to keep praying and standing in faith that America shall be saved. Decree it daily. Your prayers are saving our nation and releasing salvation to a billion people around the world. Never stop. Pray with me: Father, thank You for answering our prayers, for exposing and revealing the true condition of our nation, even though it is painful and grievous to see. We ask You to continue unraveling the evil structures and plans. Show us where satan has entrenched himself in our nation; reveal his schemes and tentacles; enlighten us to what must be repented of. Root out evil at all levels. Go deep. And even as we pray against the evil, we ask for the salvation of those who are deceived and partnering with the evil one. Help us to remember that You love the lost, that Your mercy is great, and just how powerful of a cleansing agent is the blood of Jesus. Keep us from the sins of pride and stone-throwing. Deliver those who are deceived and walking in darkness; open their eyes to truth and the gospel; soften hard hearts. Do these things here and around the world. We also pray again today for the protection of our family members and leaders. We pray for Justice Thomas and all those on the Court, that every scheme to take their lives would fail, and every deceitful plan to assassinate their character would be exposed. We pray for Donald Trump’s protection from physical harm and judicial injustice. Turn it all for good. We pray for the protection of our water resources and structures, and for protection from all forms of terrorism. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Our decree: We decree that the unraveling of evil schemes in America will continue, that darkness will be exposed, and truth will prevail. ************************** Portions of today’s post were taken from my book Intercessory Prayer, published by Baker Books. Click on the link below to watch the full video. ----------------------------------------------------- Spiros Zodhiates, Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible–New American Standard (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1984: revised edition, 1990), p. 1583. Ibid. James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 359.

7 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/february-28-2024 February 28, 2024 Enforcing Satan’s Defeat by Wielding Our Sword The Hebrew word for intercession, paga, means literally “to meet.”(1)This can be a meeting of people, the boundaries of two pieces of land, the earth, and sky (the horizon) - it really doesn’t matter what the context is; the point is that two entities come together. Intercession is birthed from our communing with our Father, God. We meet with Him in a relational sense, and from that connection, other meetings are created. Not all meetings are pleasant, however. Some can actually be violent. Proverbs 17:12 tells us: Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly. “Meet” is this Hebrew word paga. I’ve never met a she-bear in the wild with or without cubs, and hope I never do. But years ago, a wise old woodsman, instructing me in the art of surviving bear encounters, gave me the following piece of wisdom: “Son, try to avoid them, if possible! But if you can’t and it’s a female with cubs you meet, never get between mama and those cubs. Because if you do, the meeting is about to go to a whole new level, up close and very personal.” Now, before I’m harangued for a contextual violation of Scripture, let me say I am not insinuating that this verse is talking about prayer. I am saying, however, that the word used for “meet” in the verse is this same Hebrew word (paga), elsewhere translated “intercession.” Other Hebrew words could have been used, but this one was chosen partly because it often has a very violent connotation. In fact, paga is frequently a battlefield term (for examples, see Judges 8:21; 15:12; 1 Samuel 22:17-18; 2 Samuel 1:15; 1 Kings 2:25-46). “Meetings” can be unpleasant! Some can be downright ugly, such as the one satan had with Jesus at Calvary. Satan had come between God and His “cubs.” He ought not to have done that! Satan’s worst nightmare came true when, with 4000 years of pent-up fury, Jesus met him at Calvary. The earth rocked, and I do mean literally, with the force of the battle (see Matthew 27:51). The very sun grew dark as the war raged (see v. 45). At the moment of what satan thought was his greatest triumph, he and all his forces heard the most terrifying sound they had ever heard: God’s laugh of derision (see Psalm 2:4)! The laughter was followed by the voice of the Son of Man crying with a loud voice, “Tetelestai.” This Greek word is translated, “It is finished” in John 19:30. Please don’t think Jesus was talking about death when He spoke that word. HE WAS NOT! Tetelestai means to fully accomplish something or bring it to its completed state,(2) just as the word “finished” would imply. However, it was also the word stamped on invoices in that day, meaning “paid in full.”(3) Christ was quoting from Psalm 22:31 when He chose this statement. Three of His seven sayings on the cross come from this Psalm. The Hebrew word He quoted from this verse is asah. He may have actually been speaking Hebrew, using this very word, even though it is recorded in Greek in John's gospel. The word means, among other things, “to create.”(4) It is used in Genesis, for example, when God created the earth. I believe that not only was Christ saying, “The debt is paid in full,” He was also saying, “Come forth, new creation!” No wonder the earth shook, the sun reappeared, the centurion was terrified (see Matthew 27:54), and Old Testament saints were resurrected (see Matthew 27:52-53). Don’t tell me God doesn’t have a flare for the dramatic. The Cross defines drama. And yes, behind the scenes, it was violent. Captives were rescued (see 1 Peter 3:19; 4:6; Isaiah 61:1), bruises were inflicted (see Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24), keys were taken, and authority was transferred (see Matthew 28:18). An interesting word is used in 1 John 3:8 that adds insight into what happened at the Cross. The verse reads, “For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (KJV). “Destroy” is the Greek word luo, which has both legal and physical meanings. Understanding its full definition will greatly enhance our knowledge of what Jesus did to satan and his works. The legal meaning of luo is: 1. to pronounce or determine that something or someone is no longer bound; 2. to dissolve or void a contract or anything that legally binds.(5) Jesus came to dissolve the legal hold satan had over us and to pronounce that we were no longer bound by his works. He “voided the contract,” breaking satan’s dominion over us. The physical meaning of luo is to dissolve or melt, break, beat something to pieces, or untie something that is bound.(6) In Acts 27:41, the boat Paul traveled on was broken into pieces (luo) by the force of the storm. In 2 Peter 3:10-12, we’re told that one day the elements of the earth will melt or dissolve (luo) from a great heat. Jesus not only delivered us legally, but He also made certain that the literal consequences of that deliverance were manifested: He brought healing, set captives free, lifted oppression, and liberated those under demonic control. Our responsibility is not to re-defeat satan, but to enforce this victory as we, too, meet the powers of darkness. It is interesting to know that Jesus used the same word, luo, to describe what we, the Church, are to do through spiritual warfare. Matthew 16:19 tells us, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” The word “loose” in this verse is luo. So, did Christ luo the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), or do we luo the works of the devil (Matthew 16:19)? The answer is “Yes!” Although Jesus fully accomplished the task of breaking satan’s authority and voiding his legal hold upon the human race, someone on earth must represent Him in that victory and enforce it. With this in mind and remembering that the Hebrew word for intercession, paga, means “to meet,” let’s state it this way: Through prayers of intercession, we meet/encounter (paga) the powers of darkness, enforcing the victory Christ accomplished (luo; tetelestai) when He met (paga) them at the Cross. When we encounter them, we use His authority to bind and loose (luo) them, releasing the provision and fruit of what He accomplished. My mindset changed dramatically in the context of “binding” and “loosing,” “wrestling” with principalities and powers, “pulling down strongholds,” etc., when I began thinking of it as enforcing the victory of Calvary. Satan is a thief and a trespasser. The fact that he has no right (authority) to do something does not keep him from doing it. Only the authority of Christ, combined with the power of Holy Spirit, keeps/stops him from doing so. Both flow from/through us. In Christ’s name, we release His authority, and Holy Spirit backs this up with His power. We must wield the sword of God’s Word, just as Jesus did, and bind demonic attacks against our bodies, families, homes, cities, and nations. Declaring the promises of Scripture are not only to encourage and increase our faith; they are weapons. Let’s use these powerful, God-given tools. Pray with me: We declare over our bodies that “by His stripes, we are healed;” over our minds that “we have the mind of Christ;” that His blood “cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness.” We boldly agree with God’s Word that tells us there is “no more condemnation” toward us for ANY sin we have committed when it is under the blood of Jesus. And we declare that “no weapon formed against us will prosper” - NONE! (see 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Corinthians 2:16; 1 John 1:9; Romans 8:1; Isaiah 54:17) We declare over our nation that “America shall be saved.” We declare that God’s destiny for America is “the gospel of the kingdom shall go forth from these shores to every nation of the earth.” We declare that Holy Spirit is “manifesting the multifaceted wisdom of God to principalities and powers in the heavens through the Ekklesia.” We declare that “the gates of hell will not prosper against or overcome this Ekklesia.” (Ephesians 3:10; Matthew 16:18-19) And we declare that “the kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.” We declare that “God, His Father, has promised Him the nations of this earth as His inheritance.” We declare that the Spirit of God will be poured out over all the earth, that it is His will “for all to be saved and none to perish.” We declare that “Christ is king over all the nations,” and we release His kingdom rule and authority to bring His will to pass. We declare that Christ’s family in heaven will consist of people “from every tribe, tongue, and nation,” and that the revival beginning around the world will not be thwarted. (see Revelation 11:15; Psalm 2:7; Acts 2:17; 2 Peter 3:9; Revelation 7:9) And we declare that the fruit of these decrees shall not be stopped, because we make them in the mighty name of Jesus. Our decree: We decree that the sword of the Spirit, the spoken word of God, is more powerful than ALL the forces and plans of the enemy. ************************* Portions of today’s post were taken from my book Intercessory Prayer, published by Baker Books. 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. no. 6293. Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary (Iowa Falls, IA: Word Bible Publishers, 1992), p. 1375. Ibid. William Wilson, Old Testament Word Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1978), p. 263. Spiros Zodhiates, Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible–New American Standard (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1984: revised edition, 1990), p. 1583. Ibid.

5 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/february-27-2024 February 27, 2024 Holy Spirit Warnings Last Friday, I received a strong warning from a prophetic friend regarding prayer for Supreme Court Justices. The warning had to do with an assassination attempt and a plan to remove another Justice through false accusations. We live in a day when violence has become rampant, out of control. You no doubt recall a short time back when a young man flew to DC intending to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh. When dropped off in front of the Justice’s home, he changed his mind for some “unexplainable” reason, and turned himself into the police. I certainly believe this was divine intervention. The violence in our land is no doubt caused to a great degree by the curse associated with the shedding of innocent blood. The blood of 65 million babies has fed the spirits of Baal and Molech, giving them unprecedented access to our nation. Even though we are overcoming these strongholds through repentance and prayer, the hold of demonic spirits on many individuals will only end if and when they are born again. We must be very diligent in this season to cover ourselves, our family members, and our leaders with prayer. Some we should pray for daily, and others as prompted by Holy Spirit; we are all called to be watchmen. Ephesians 6:18 tells us to be alert and watchful for one another, and pray when alerted by Holy Spirit. When an uneasiness comes for someone, never assume that this is coincidental or unimportant, as the following account illustrates. GUATEMALA MISSIONS TRIP In 1976, I was one of 40 to 45 individuals traveling to a remote place on the Passion River, in the Peten Jungle of Guatemala. Our mission was to help build a combination clinic and outreach station on the river, as well as do some preaching in the nearby villages. After arriving in Guatemala City, we spent our first night there (Friday), and had arranged for the Guatemalan airlines to fly us the following day (Saturday) into the jungle. On our arrival at the airport Saturday afternoon, we were informed that they had changed their plans and could not fly us to our destination that day. They would do so the next day, Sunday. Due to the limited amount of time we would have to accomplish this mission, our leaders felt an urgency to leave as scheduled. Consequently, they pressed the airlines off and on for three hours to honor their original agreement and take us that Saturday afternoon. "No," different managers said in broken English, "We take you tomorrow." "But you agreed months ago to take us today," our people countered. "We have no pilot available," the airline official stated. "Please find one," we pleaded. "What is your hurry? Enjoy the city," they encouraged us. And so it went for three hours, in and out of offices, meeting with one official, then another. Finally, in exasperation, one of them threw up his hands and said, "Okay, we take you now! Get on that plane. Quickly!" Miraculously, they had pulled a pilot from another flight to take us. We hurried to the plane, throwing our bags and tools into the baggage area ourselves, wanting to leave before they changed their minds. That night, with us now safely 250 miles away, an earthquake occurred in Guatemala City, where we had been, and killed 30,000 people in 34 seconds! Had we stayed in the city one more night, as we almost did, some of our team members would have been killed and others injured. We know this for certain because on our return to the city, we saw the building we had stayed in the night before the earthquake - and would have been staying in again had we not left on Saturday - with huge beams lying across the beds we had slept in, and would have been again had we stayed. Now, the Ephesians 6:18 prayer connection. On that Saturday afternoon, during the 3 hours of negotiations with the airlines, an intercessor in our home church had felt a strong burden to pray for our protection. For those three hours, she was in intense intercession for us. We didn't know that our lives depended on getting out of Guatemala City that day, and she didn’t even know about the discussions taking place. But God knew, and she was alert to His prompting, as Ephesians 6:18 instructs us. Be on the alert. CONSISTENCY IS KEY We should pray daily for family members, and our leaders. Not a large number - perhaps our Congressman, Senators, and one or two others. When the Holy Spirit highlights a person or group, such as the Supreme Court, add them for a season. This responsibility doesn’t have to be burdensome or overwhelming, with long periods of prayer each day. Consistency is key. Form a habit of praying and declaring protection over these individuals at the same time each day - perhaps during your quiet time, on a commute, while doing a household chore, when taking a walk, or while dressing for work. Doing it at the same time each day will help you remember it and also will establish it as a disciplined habit. Every church should also have intercessors assigned to each service. Sadly, there are terrorists and deranged people who would love to destroy an entire group of believers, even at the cost of their lives. Trained security is important, but often isn’t enough; prayer can make the difference. We absolutely should not live in fear, but neither should we take these matters for granted. Continue to declare protection over America’s borders and over your state. Do not neglect to keep your faith operative in this regard. Stay locked in. Also, remember to cover the water supply, waterways, ports, and dams in your area. Keep your faith engaged and be alert for any promptings of Holy Spirit. I feel we must stay engaged regarding these issues throughout 2024. And as you pray for other government leaders, remember to pray for Donald Trump and his family. Though he isn’t currently in office, he is hated like very few people, including by foreign countries and terrorists. Please be faithful to pray over these people and issues. Let’s do so now. Pray with me: Father, we pray for protection over the Justices on the Supreme Court. We ask You to expose and thwart every attempt to harm them. I am led to pray especially for Justice Thomas, so we cover him now in prayer. We bind every demonic plan to take his life. Protect him in every way Psalm 91 describes. As this Psalm states, we declare that no evil will harm him or his wife. We also pray against any strategy to falsely accuse and remove any Justice on the Court. We ask that all false accusations, slander, and evil plans be revealed and fail. We also pray for President Trump, asking that he be protected from plans to harm him. Also, vindicate him from unjust accusations and lawsuits. Turn it ALL for his good. Protect his family as well, and those around him. We ask You to give the Secret Service, police, and protection details of all these individuals great alertness, and enable them to discover any and all attempts to harm them. And we pray for divine protection over America’s water resources, dams, and ports. Protect them from destruction and harm. Expose any plot to damage them, and keep it from succeeding. We ask all of this in Yeshua’s name. Amen. Our decree: We decree that every plan to harm members of the Supreme Court will fail, in Jesus’ name. ******************* Click on the link below to watch the full video.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/february-26-2024 February 26, 2024 Letter To The American Church Recently, I found myself considering the importance of forerunners, voices of change who point the way toward the right path, and thought of Eric Metaxas. The journey of forerunners is always difficult as they challenge the status quo and ruffle comfortable feathers, but God gives them steel backbones and steadfast hearts. They are usually blessed with great intellect and remarkable communication skills; Eric is no exception. You may have read one of his exceptional books. Amazing Grace, the story of the great reformer, William Wilberforce, deeply impacted me, as did the powerful book on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer entitled Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Metaxas has other great books, but today I want to highlight once again his latest book entitled, Letter to the American Church, and the amazing documentary and film adaptation with the same title. I believe the message of this book and documentary is urgent. Today’s American church has failed to be the voice we were called to be; thanks to people like Eric Metaxas, this is changing. Eric’s appeal to the church is passionate, intellectually and factually sound, historically reinforced, and biblically based. In the words of Erwin W. Lutzer (pastor emeritus of The Moody Church, Chicago), “This book [and now documentary] is like a bucket of cold water thrown into the face of a sleeping church.” And from Anne Graham Lotz (author of eleven books, including Just Give Me Jesus), “We would do well to heed this five-bell alarm.” Michael Youssef (Ph.D., senior pastor of the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia, and executive president of Leading the Way), says of America’s great need and the importance of this book: “Back in the 60s when I escaped with my life from the socialist dictatorship of President Nasser of Egypt, I only wanted to come to America. Why America? Because its system of government has never been duplicated. The founders ensured that the ultimate authority under God is not the President, nor the Congress, but ‘We the people.’ Thus, they drafted the greatest political document in all human history, the U.S. Constitution. Yet many of my fellow pastors who claim to relevantly and contextually interpret the Word of God fail to take this ‘unique’ blessing of ‘We the people’ as the governing authority to heart. They sold out this blessing and exchanged it for selective silence against the modern scourge of the evils of wokeness. Nay, some of them even baptized this evil into their church’s catechism. Unbeknownst to them, they are handing over the keys of their own freedom to preach the Gospel to the enemy of their souls. Perhaps there is no modern writer who can draw a comparison of this selective silence on the part of many American pastors to the German church in the 1920s and 1930s like Eric Metaxas. In the pages of this book…there is a solemn warning. Read it, heed it, and pass it on to many others.” Please watch this film! Pastors, show it to your church! Eric has done the hard part by producing this powerful documentary - now let’s do ours. Consider giving a copy of the documentary to your pastor or a friend. Here are a few paragraphs from the book’s introduction; after reading them, we will pray. ********* “The German Church of the 1930s was silent in the face of evil; but can there be any question whether the American Church of our own time is guilty of the same silence? Because of this, I am compelled to speak out and to say what - only by God’s grace - I might say to make plain where we find ourselves at this moment, at our own unavoidable crucial crossroads in history. “It is for good or for ill that America plays an inescapably central role in the world. If you have not read Alexis de Tocqueville on this subject, you likely nonetheless understand that the extent to which that central role has been used for good and for God’s purposes has had everything to do with our churches, or with the American Church, as we may call her. So if America is in any way exceptional, it has nothing to do with the blood that runs through American veins and everything to do with the blood shed for us on Calvary, and the extent to which we have acknowledged this. America has led the world in making religious liberty paramount…It was this that made Tocqueville marvel most: that while in other nations - and especially in his own nation of France - the Church was adamantly opposed to the idea of political liberty, in America, it was the churches that helped encourage, create, and sustain a culture of liberty. “Because of the outsized role America plays in the world today, the importance of whether we learn the lesson of what happened to the German Church ninety years ago cannot be overstated. Though it may be a gruesome thing to consider, the monstrous evil that befell the civilized world precisely because of the German Church’s failure is likely a mere foretaste of what will befall the world if the American Church fails in a similar way at this hour. “And at present, we are indeed failing. “We should underscore the idea that the centrality of our nation in the world does not mean that we are intrinsically exceptional, but rather that God has sovereignly chosen us to hold the torch of liberty for all the world, and that the Church is central to our doing this. So the idea that He has charged us with this most solemn duty should make us tremble. Nonetheless, we must carry out that duty in a way that is the opposite of prideful, and that is meant to be an invitation to all beyond our shores. If we should aspire - in the words of Jesus as quoted by John Winthrop - to be a ‘shining city on a hill,’ the idea is that we should exist and shine for the sake of others and not for ourselves alone. President Abraham Lincoln said that we in America were God’s ‘almost chosen people’ and acknowledged that this placed upon us an almost unbearable burden. It is a certainty from the Scriptures and from our experience over the centuries that apart from God, we can do nothing. So if God has chosen us for some task, we must do all we can to shoulder that task, and must know more than anything that unless we lean on Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways, we are guaranteed to fail. “If anyone would feel that believing God has chosen the American Church for such a vital role somehow smacks of an egotistical nationalism, they have already bought into the Marxist and globalist lie that America is nothing special - or is probably a force for evil at this point. In any case, they miss the point and have only leapt away from one ditch to fall headlong into another. It is a fact that God, in His sovereignty, chose the German Church to stand against the evils of its day, but it shrank from acknowledging this and from standing. Germany has been living with the deep shame over it unto this day. So for the American Church to say that God has not chosen us is as bad as saying He must choose us because we deserve to be chosen. Both stances are equally guilty of the sin of pride. It is far easier to ignore God’s call than to acknowledge it and rise to fulfill it, but it is more difficult and painful than anything to live with the results of ignoring God’s call. Let the reader understand.”(1) ********* May God help us truly understand and embrace these poignant words. Link to the trailer and info regarding how to find the film is here. Pray with me: Father, thank You for raising up voices to point us in the right direction. Though forerunners often make us uncomfortable, they nonetheless prepare the way for needed change. We ask You to breathe great momentum into this book and documentary by Eric Metaxas. Use them to awaken the American Church, especially, but not limited to, leaders in the Church. We see signs that a remnant in the Church has been awakened, and we thank You for this. But we ask for this to increase exponentially. Rain fire, passion, and great zeal onto Your people in America. Revive us, as You have promised. Breathe great favor and momentum into the voices of change. As always, we thank You for your promise that America shall be saved. We declare our faith that You will do this, as we appeal to You based on Your obvious will and purposes. Continue to deliver us from evil and bring Your Kingdom authority to bear in our land, and the nations of the world. We thank You for this, and pray it in Yeshua’s name. Amen. Our decree: We decree that voices of change will be heard, and America will once again embrace her God-given calling. *********************** You can learn more about Eric Metaxas at EricMetaxas.com. Click on the link below to watch the full video. ---------------------------------------------------------- Eric Metaxas, Letter to the American Church, (Washington, DC: Salem Books, 2022), pp. ix-xi.

6 min read https://www.givehim15.com/post/february-23-2024 February 23, 2024 Marked! “Then the sons of Judah approached Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word which the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God on account of you and me in Kadesh-barnea. And now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the Lord my God fully. So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘The land on which your foot has walked shall certainly be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God fully.’ I am still as strong today as I was on the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in. Now then, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim was there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I will drive them out just as the Lord has spoken.” (Joshua 14:6-12 NASB) In the above passage, the great warrior Caleb, said he was just as strong at 85 as he was at 40. “Now,” he stated, “give me my mountain!” Then he proceeded to conquer the city in the Promised Land ruled by the biggest giant! Caleb had a “different spirit” than most, and “followed God fully”(Numbers 14:24). My spiritual father, Jim Hodges, turned 85 this week. Like Caleb, he has a different spirit and has followed God fully. He has also conquered his share of spiritual giants, starting with the “religious spirit” back in the 60s. Jim walks in more revelation than the average spy agency, and has more knowledge stored in his cranium than the local library. Yet he’s humble! Those of us privileged to run with him have often joked that “he doesn’t know how much he knows.” Jim’s wisdom and/or revelation has “marked” me often - he was one of Ceci’s and my professors in Bible School, and has been our spiritual father and mentor for almost 40 years. While the wisdom that sometimes (not always) comes with age is frequently spoken of, a word often overlooked when describing this wisdom is “perspective.” The higher you climb, the further you see. Eighty-five years is pretty high up the mountain of life. I sometimes laugh when I hear arrogant and dogmatic young leaders trying to correct or enlighten the body of Christ. Then I remember some of my younger days and blush. The problem with our youthfulness is often not knowing what we DON’T know. Oh well, at least I was zealous. I’m always moved when I read the passage in Ezra when the Temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt after decades of desolation. The Lord moved on the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to allow those who so desired to relocate back to Jerusalem and rebuild this place of worship (Ezra 1). After the foundation was laid, a celebration occurred: “And they sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever.’ And all the people shouted with a great shout of joy when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, because the people were shouting with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.” (Ezra 3:11-13 NASB) Different perspectives. We’re left to wonder why the old timers were weeping. Were they remembering the glory in the previous Temple? Did they realize more clearly just how far they were from completion? Were they remembering the horrible devastation of the cruel Babylonians, perhaps thinking of family members they had lost? Were they mourning the sin that caused their captivity? We don’t know. But we do know they had a different perspective, and were seeing much more than the younger ones. I was on a Zoom call last week with Jim and 6 or 7 leaders in his ministerial network, hashing out some future plans. As we finished and were about to end the call, he said, “Wait a minute; I want to bless you all with something.” Jim held his phone up to his iPad, and I thought he was going to play something humorous - Jim has a great sense of humor. Then the song, America the Beautiful, sung by Lee Greenwood, began to play. We could see Jim clearly behind his phone. No one spoke; we just watched and listened intently, and the moment became holy. After a minute or so, Jim’s hand went up in worship. Then he began to weep…so did I. And Jim Hodges marked me, once again. I’ll never forget watching as he worshiped and wept over our nation. No one asked why he cried; no one needed to. Jim loves America, especially her calling to partner with God. He is aware of her failures, remembers her greatness, sees her current devastation, and has hope for her restoration. I stayed up until 2:30 AM that night listening to the song over and over. And yes, I cried again. It took me back to 25 years ago when the Lord visited me and imparted His heart for America. He told me then that He needed this nation in order to reap the great harvest He was planning to gather throughout the world. I felt His love for the nations, and for America. Then He and I wept together over her for 3 1/2 hours. That night, Christ marked me. Those who tell me it’s wrong to love America as I do are too late. The propagandists who call me a “Christian Nationalist” because I believe America has a distinct calling to SERVE all other nations by partnering with Christ, taking His gospel to them, can babble on. I am unmoved. I’ll continue kneeling with “misguided” Hunt on the beach at Cape Henry and reading the Mayflower Compact with the “deceived” Pilgrims. Of course I know that God loves all nations as much as America - don’t insult me with such uninformed and ridiculous accusations to the contrary. Those who tell me to stop speaking from the pulpit about our nation, government, schools, etc., lost that battle when God encountered and overcame me as I stood at my pulpit that night 25 years ago. The issue was settled as He wept with me on the floor next to said pulpit. Those who hate the flag, and those who believe it is heresy to connect it with delivering the gospel, lost the argument the night I wrapped myself in Old Glory, while the Lord and I wept over it for three hours. And don’t insult me with your weak arguments and heretical statements about the subject of government being evil and off-limits in church services, when God IS government and began discussing it with us in the FIRST chapter of the Bible! And by the way, yes, I know what makes America truly great. It isn’t military power, wealth, size, or natural resources. It is serving God and His purposes. And, no, Donald Trump is not my messiah, as disingenuous liars suggest. But he did give us Supreme Court Justices that overturned Roe vs Wade, brought law and order to our borders, is patriotic, kept tyrants around the world in check, honors God and the church, and is hated by crooks and God-haters. I prefer him over an open border, the dishonoring of God, child mutilation, and a trans White House. Don’t waste your time telling me not to love, talk about, and pray for America so much - you’re too late. You arrived AFTER the encounter with my weeping Heavenly Father, and AFTER the 40 years I’ve walked with my “Calebesque” spiritual father. Your lower perspective will never unmark me. To all of you who are marked by love for America and God’s plans for her, do yourself a favor: use the link I’ve provided and listen to “America the Beautiful.” Make that today’s prayer. And thank Jim Hodges. “America the Beautiful” sung by Lee Greenwood via YouTube: click here. “America the Beautiful” sung by Lee Greenwood via Spotify: click here. You may be able to find this on other music outlets, as well. ************* Click on the link below to watch the full video.