The Gift of Understanding

I have had a bit of it. During my tense moments watching the results of last week's elections I sensed in my spirit that God said to me, "Get it all out of your system. You will have to respect him as President." OUCH!

Then I remembered a Scripture God had given me last week before the election. It is a snippet out of 1 Chronicles 28:19 "...the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me..." Oh Glory! Eyes fixed on Jesus, Hearts stayed on His Word, and a Nation stayed by the saving grace of God.

I am reading a book called Releasing the Prophetic Destiny of a Nation a book written by Chuck Pierce and Dutch Sheets. A few years ago they received a call to travel to all 50 states of the nation and pray with intercessors to reveal the destiny of each state. They went to each state twice and this book is the result of that journey. By way of introduction, each man writes a chapter telling how they came to the place where they joined the Lord on this call to travel, prophesy, pray and intercede. In Mr. Pierce's chapter (the second) he includes a quote from Mr. Sheets' book Intercessory Prayer which I felt was just too good not to share it with you today!

"Dutch also says in Intercessory Prayer when discussion Ezekiel 22:
...........God's holiness, integrity, and uncompromising truth prevent Him from simply excusing sin. It must be judged. On the other hand, not only is He holy, but He is also love and His love desires to redeem, to restore, and to show mercy... The passage is clearly saying "While my justice demanded judgment, My love wants forgiveness. Had I been able to find a human to ask Me to spare his people, I could have. It would have allowed Me to show mercy."

In other words, if we do not take our stand, then He ahs to release destruction to bring restoration of His purpose in the earth."

Throughout the Old Testament there is the picture of one or two taking a stand for the multitude. Think of it - Moses interceded on behalf of the nation of Israel when God intended to destroy them for their disobedience.

Daniel stood in prayer with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for the nation in captivity and for the pagan government that had rule over them. Mordecai and Esther stood for their nation in captivity, Nehemiah stood as well. Over and over again is the picture of one or two standing in the gap for the redemption of many. Will we take that stand?

Stay Focused. Stand on His Word. Pray the Heart of God. Declare the Name of Jesus. And Love them like He does. It is our time and place in history to rise above what we see and speak, live and intercede by faith in every way. Will you stand with me?

Marching in the tops of the trees...

Do you hear it?

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That rustling in the leaves. (I'll get to that in a minute.)

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Can I just tell you that we had several small earthquakes in North Texas over the weekend? Okay, I know there is a fault line that runs through Texas and I think into the central plains, but the geologists and seismologists have long said there is no reason to worry about the earth shaking that has taken place in other parts of the world because the fissure was minor in comparison to faults in the western coastal regions of North America. I guess they, like the weatherman, have been wrong. Earthquakes. Seriously 911 got calls about people's pictures falling off the walls and no one realized it was an earthquake.

I hear it.

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In 1 Samuel 5 and 1 Chronicles 14... God told King David when the Philistines came against him the first time in this account that he should go out and fight because the Lord was with them. So they went out and fought and the battle was won. The Philistines even left their idols in the valley in their hasty retreat.

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However, the Philistines obviously decided that the Israelites were definitely not going to have the last word. Even though their idols were burning in the valley with the Israelites. I sort of see the camps of David's fighting men warming their hands as those idols burned in their campfires.

So the Philistines amassed another strategy of attack. David again asked the Lord if they should go out and fight... God said, No. Go AROUND the MOUNTAIN and suprise them from behind. So David did, and again the battle was won.

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The one thing God told David is to wait for the marching to be heard in the tops of the trees. WHAT?

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Marching in the tops of trees. Birds on Parade? NO! It was the angels, assembling to do battle. The archangels went out against the fallen angels and preceded David's army in the victory.

As this election season draws to a climax tomorrow - remember one thing. This battle belongs to God - He usually does not fight conventionally. He usually sends out a choir and a trumpet section rather than an army to fight. Tonight, as you go to bed - listen for the angels in heaven asking, "Do we have enough Prayer Coverage?" (From one of Frank Perretti's books, "Piercing the Darkness" or "This Present Darkness.") Pray throughout this night and tomorrow. Don't pray a candidate's name, pray a repentant heart for the condition of this nation, pray for honor, integrity, truth and stewardship to be the heart of the next President of this United States and pray most of all for the man who takes office on January 20th (I am praying until that day) to have a heart devoted and pure before the Lord.

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Do you hear the marching in the tops of the trees? There is a great battle in the heavenlies this night for the future of this nation... PRAY. Do not lose heart my friends. If God be for us, who can be against us? His promises are true. He always preserves a remnant of the faithful and He will never let His people be put to shame. He will restore His favor to this land and no longer allow us to be a reproach to the nations. I'm praying the book of Joel for the elections. God is doing something mighty and it will result in revival. I believe it is true.

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Lord God, be with the hearts of Your people tonight and through the next 24 hours as we watch Your plans and will unfold in this election. I pray for peace, for truth and for most of all Your presence to be felt in every heart. We come before You asking for Clean Hands and a Pure Heart. God let us not turn our hearts to idols, let us not get our eyes fixed on circumstances or people, but seek first Your kingdom and righteousness.

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Lord, over and over I have heard you say - "Trust in Me, My daughter, with all Your heart. Lean not to Your own understanding because My ways are truly higher than your ways and My thoughts are higher than your thoughts... Commit your path to Me and I will make the way straight for you. I love you my child, the righteous have never been forsaken and I will preserve even Your life if You will serve me with all Your heart."

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I hear You saying this to our nation tonight, Lord. I hear You saying the time is coming when You will put the sickle to the harvest of wickedness as the multitudes come before You in the valley of decision. You will then restore and resurrect Your church and Your people. You will pour out Your Spirit on all peoples and the gifts of the Spirit will be made manifest in every life. You did it before Lord, and I believe You will do it again. A double portion restoration will come as You bring in the harvest sewn by our ForeFathers when they included You in every detail of planning this country and every aspect of governing her future. You are bringing in the sheaves for us by sending us the blessing for Latter Rain. I believe in You. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayers tonight. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Tuesday's In Other Words: Do Justice, Love Mercy

“A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself,

but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.”

by A.W.Tozer

I am growing to LOVE A. W. Tozer and his concise, rich writings and teachings on the Christian journey. This reminds me of a song that Big Daddy Weave sings called Pharisee. I guess maybe this hit a cord in me because I am dealing with laying down judgmental attitudes that I developed over the years. Not judgments against others so much... God really has shown me that people in glass houses should NEVER. THROW. STONES. Because, of course, you never know when you might get it back.

I wrote a devotion for my curriculum about Embracing Grace that often times I will hear Christian leadership be critical of others and in so doing they are really sinning themselves by passing judgment on the circumstance of another. It doesn't prompt me to boycott their program, it prompts me to pray for their heart. To ask God why they are doing what they do, and how it is that people devoted to His Word could get so tied up in "doing" the law they miss the grace of God that is at its heart. The point I made in the devotion is that God set at work in the law His grace, not just by offering His Son in final atonement... But also in the fact that the observance of the law exemplified the grace of God at work in our own lives. Think of it - the first four commandments are the mark of devotion and love for God and the last six express His heart for mankind. Grace at work in the Law. We don't live under separate covenants - it is all one covenant with two parts. We don't live under grace and exclude the law anymore than we are to live under the law and exclude grace. They are not mutually exclusive, but were always purposed together to express the heart of God toward His people.

Now... I guess at this point I should say this - the reason for keeping the law is to keep ourselves lined up with God both in priniciple and deed.

Micah 6 tells us we are to "DO" justice and "LOVE" mercy. I think this pretty much sums it up for me. Doing justice means I do what is right, but loving mercy means that I extend grace to others.

Does this mean that I condone sin? NO! But, it doesn't mean I can willy nilly go around policing the lives of others based on my understanding of the Word of God. If someone has not given me permission to speak into their life, am I truly honoring God by beating them down with His Word?

Truth. I must carefully weigh the value. Case in point. My brothers and I were raised by honorable, Christian parents. I do not wish to dishonor them in any way. They were no more flawed or perfect than anyone else's parents both having backgrounds steeped in good moral values and skewed perceptions of the church and its role in the Christian walk. I spent much of my life passing judgment on their parenting by rebelling against it while my brother a year younger towed the line, did as much as he could to please them and seldom took up offenses on behalf of either of my parents.

After I began attending church in my late 20s I discovered that I had been pious, self-righteous and indignant toward my mother whom I blamed for nearly every trouble I had. I had to forgive her, accept her limitations and surrender her to God in prayer in order to find peace. Laying down any wound I felt was her responsibility and living with her in Paul's words, "As far as it depends on me, live at peace with all men."

Only more recently have I let go of the heavy wounds that I held against my father. Not because he was less deserving, but because those wounds did not add the strain to our relationship that the mother wounds had left in my relationship with my mom.

A few years back, my brother went through Christian counseling where he apparently was encouraged to confess any bitterness he harbored against others, especially in his family. He did so with my mother and me. It seemed that neither mother nor I anticipated, expected nor understood what he was trying to accomplish because the offenses he confessed did little more than insight hurt feelings and more offenses because we did not know what the point of the confession was. I totally missed he was asking for forgiveness and felt very judged and I am guessing my mother felt the same. Not... To dishonor my brother - he was only working through his own brand of misery and difficulties... It just turned into a big mess. One I would gather he did not intend to create.

The truth is, we all live in this human condition and have skewed motives and value systems based on a fallen existence. However, when rightly submitted to God - we have the power to forgive, to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and extend kindness and grace to others even when we ourselves feel they do nto deserve it. Why?

Because Jesus Himself did the very same thing on our behalf more than 2,000 years ago and to not do so would be denying His sacrifice, His love and His grace at work in our own lives.

Do Justice and Love Mercy... Perhaps I talked all around it this morning and missed the point of my own post. Or perhaps somewhere in this jumbled mess of thoughts and feelings is a message about God's heart that I have been learning and walking through the last 10 years. Either way I pray you are blessed and able to gleen from the mumblings of this humble servant. Be Blessed.

AMY at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 is hosting this morning. Please stop on by and check out what others are saying "In OTHER Words." And, thanks Amy for a great quote!

El Chay - The Living God

My soul yearns, yes, even pines and is homesick for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out and sing for joy to the living God.
Psalms 84:2 (AMP)

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In her book, Praying the Names of God, Ann Spangler writes, "This title sets Israel's God apart from the false gods of the surrounding nations. Unlike idols of wood and stone, made by human hands, the Living God is himself Maker of heaven and earth. He alone is the source of life. We live because he lives." (p. 228)

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She further explains this attribute of our God in this way: "Scripture constantly warns against the worship of false gods. The first of the then commandments is itself a proscription against idol worship. The title El Chay, the Living God, empahsize's god's role as Creator of all that is, in contrast with idols made of metal, wood, or stone, which are merely the creations of human hands." (p. 230)

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From Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionary we find this definition:

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El - See my post on El as the name of God we studied here. (Strong's Number 410)

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Hebrew Strong's Number: 2416
Hebrew Word: ‏חַי‎
Transliteration: ḥay
Phonetic Pronunciation:khah'ee
Root: from
Cross Reference: TWOT - 644a
Part of Speech:
Vine's Words: Live (To)

Usage Notes:

English Words used in KJV: live 197, life 144, beast 76, alive 31, creature 15, running 7, living thing 6, raw 6, misc 19 [Total Count: 501]

from (chayah); alive; hence raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literal or figurative :- + age, alive, appetite, (wild) beast, company, congregation, life (-time), live (-ly), living (creature, thing), maintenance, + merry, multitude, + (be) old, quick, raw, running, springing, troop.—Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary

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From the Lexical Aids of the Old Testament, Complete Word Study Old Testament (AMG Publishers):

2416. Chay; this adj. come from chāyāh (2421). Some of its meanings are: living, alive, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, live forever, be quickened, revive from sickness, discouragement, or even death; vigorous; fresh, running (water); by the life of, as one lives (as used in oaths and exclamations), livelihood, life, refreshment. The OT places a high value on life and views it as being good. It came from God (Gen. 2:7), but death ensued because of sin. Man was no longer allowed to partake of the tree of life (Gen. 3:22). God is the Source of life (Ps. 36:9, 129:13ff.) and the Lord of life and death (Job 12:10). Chay is a set of experiences, not an abstract principal of vitality which is separate from the body. The Hebrews viewed man holistically, i.e. body, mind [soul, empahsis mine] and spirit were a unified whole. Life was associated with health, prosperity, vitality, etc., while death was the very opposite.

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In the Bible Knowledge Commentary Old Testament (Victor Books), (p. 821)

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(36:8) Moreover, Eden and Creation are suffested in the next blessings - drink for the river of delights ("delights" is "Eden" in Heb.), and life and light (i.e., understanding, joy, and life) come from God, their Source. So in contrast with the corruptions of the wicked, and obedient believer's life is characterized by security int he Lord, abundant provisioins, life, and understanding in God's presence.

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Now to our Scriptures:

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But the LORD is the true God;

he is the living God, the eternal King.

Jeremiah 10:10a (NIV)

Our living, true, eternal God. He is the source of life, the very breath we breathe and the heartbeat that vibrantly pounds out each footstep, each heartache and each moment of our lives. He is eternal - the source of life, all life is eternal. In Genesis, as we watch the creation of the world unfold one by one, God created and breathes life into each of the living creatures. He crowns His creation with the man and his bride - we are the crown of creation - the finishing touch of life as God created it on earth. He is our source of life, if we are breathing we have a purpose given to us by the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

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"I issue a decree that in every

part of my kingdom

people must fear and

reverence the God of Daniel.

"For he is the living God

and he endures forever;

his kingdom will not be destroyed,

his dominion will never end."

Daniel 6:26 (NIV)

Even pagan kings saw the Living God's hand upon His people. As Daniel was sent into the Lion's Den to be slain, the Living God came and shut up the Lion's mouth. When King Darius returned and found Daniel alive, He declared Daniel's God the Living God, the God who endures forever whose Kingdom will not be destroyed and whose dominion will never end. The God who not only gives life, but preserves and prospers life even in times of great peril. He proves Himself, El Chay, the Living God.

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"Jesus replied, 'Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!'" Mark 12:24-37 (NIV)

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Here Jesus is answering the Saducees who question Him about life after the resurrection. He tells them, you read the Scriptures and are learned in "Spiritual" matters, but you concern yourself with temporary conditions. Marriage is not necessary once we are raptured up in the resurrection of the dead. It is not necessary because as a whole, we are the Bride of Christ... We will serve one husband, be united with our Bridegroom - Jesus Christ. He is not the God of the dead, but the living. We are mistaken if we think these earthly concerns and temporary things we contend with on earth are all there is to life. Tonight at my group for bereaved mothers we were talking about our children and one of the mothers looked at pictures and said, "I know that I may be way off here, but that is not your son anymore.... That is not how he is now..."

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I said, "I know. He is better now. He is his best self. All the bad is gone and only the good remains and it is better than it ever would have been here."

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We should not hold onto life here on earth as it is the temporary trappings that distract us from our purpose and the life God has given us to live. How much freer would we be if we simply followed God in a surrendered life rather than running around trying to make our lives work out as we plan hoping God will bless it? Much to ponder here... I'll leave you to your thoughts.

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I want to leave you today with the ultimate expression of our Living God - Emmanuel, God with Us. We will read a chapter from the book of John this day. Note anything the Spirit reveals to you through this passage about our God, El Chay, the Living God. Jesus, that's His name.

As you weigh the Word you might consider what John is saying about the Jesus He met. Examine carefully what John the Baptist says about Him and then consider what Jesus' interaction with those He first called shows us about His life giving nature! Blessings sweet friends... This is a special treat - A Time in the presence of El Chay (The Living God).

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John: Chapter One

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1 In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

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2 He was in the beginning with God.

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3 All things were made through Him,

and without Him nothing was made

that was made.

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4 In Him was life,

and the life was the light of men.

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5 And the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness did not comprehend it.

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6 There was a man sent from God,

whose name was John.

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7 This man came for a witness,

to bear witness of the Light,

that all through him might believe.

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8 He was not that Light,

but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

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9 That was the true Light

which gives light to every man

coming into the world.

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10 He was in the world,

and the world was made through Him,

and the world did not know Him.

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11 He came to His own,

and His own did not receive Him.

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12 But as many as received Him,

to them He gave the right to become children of God,

to those who believe in His name:

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13 who were born,

not of blood,

nor of the will of the flesh,

nor of the will of man,

but of God.

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14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

and we beheld His glory,

the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,

full of grace and truth.

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15 John bore witness of Him

and cried out, saying,

"This was He of whom I said,

'He who comes after me is preferred before me,

for He was before me.' "

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16 And of His fullness we have all received,

and grace for grace.

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17 For the law was given through Moses,

but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

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18 No one has seen God at any time.

The only begotten Son,

who is in the bosom of the Father,

He has declared Him.

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19 Now this is the testimony of John,

when the Jews sent priests and

Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,

"Who are you?"

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20 He confessed,

and did not deny,

but confessed,

"I am not the Christ."

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21 And they asked him,

"What then? Are you Elijah?"

He said, "I am not."

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"Are you the Prophet?"

And he answered, "No."

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22 Then they said to him,

"Who are you,

that we may give an answer to those who sent us?

What do you say about yourself?"

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23 He said:

"I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

"Make straight the way of the Lord,"

' as the prophet Isaiah said."

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24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.

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25 And they asked him, saying,

"Why then do you baptize

if you are not the Christ,

nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"

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26 John answered them, saying,

"I baptize with water, but there stands

One among you whom you do not know.

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27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me,

whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."

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28 These things were done in Bethabara

beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

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29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him,

and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away

the sin of the world!

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30 This is He of whom I said,

'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me,

for He was before me.'

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31 I did not know Him;

but that He should be revealed to Israel,

therefore I came baptizing with water."

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32 And John bore witness, saying,

"I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove,

and He remained upon Him.

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33 I did not know Him,

but He who sent me to baptize

with water said to me,

'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending,

and remaining on Him,

this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

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34 And I have seen and testified

that this is the Son of God."

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35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.

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36 And looking at Jesus as He walked,

he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

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37 The two disciples heard him speak,

and they followed Jesus.

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38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following,

said to them,

"What do you seek?"

They said to Him,

"Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher),

"where are You staying?"

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39 He said to them, "Come and see."

They came and saw where He was staying,

and remained with Him that day

(now it was about the tenth hour).

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40 One of the two who heard John speak,

and followed Him, was Andrew,

Simon Peter's brother.

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41 He first found his own brother Simon,

and said to him, "We have found the Messiah"

(which is translated, the Christ).

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42 And he brought him to Jesus.

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said,

"You are Simon the son of Jonah.

You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).

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43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee,

and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."

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44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida,

the city of Andrew and Peter.

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45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him,

"We have found Him of whom Moses in the law,

and also the prophets, wrote--Jesus of Nazareth,

the son of Joseph."

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46 And Nathanael said to him,

"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

Philip said to him, "Come and see."

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47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him,

and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed,

in whom is no deceit!"

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48 Nathanael said to Him,

"How do You know me?"

Jesus answered and said to him,

"Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree,

I saw you."

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49 Nathanael answered and said to Him,

"Rabbi, You are the Son of God!

You are the King of Israel!"

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50 Jesus answered and said to him,

"Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,'

do you believe? You will see greater things than these."

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51 And He said to him,

"Most assuredly, I say to you,

hereafter you shall see heaven open,

and the angels of God ascending and descending

upon the Son of Man."
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(NKJV)

Ish - Our Bridegroom, Our Husband

This week our Name of God is Ish, which is translated more than 1600 times in the Old Testament. Of those 1600 times, there are 69 specific instances when this word is translated Husband. Our Royal Bridegroom. Our Husband. Our God.

Many Scriptures came to mind as I prepared to write this post. And as I considered the undertaking of this particular name I heard God very gently and sweetly say, "Write this one from Your heart. Tell them who I've been to you, Beloved."

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Tears sting my eyes as I sit at my kitchen table with a sense of awe is overflowing in my heart while I consider all the things I can tell you about my Royal Husband, my Bridegroom. But Scripture does it well and I want this more than anything to be a confirmation of who God says He is and how I have found that to be true, than to state anything that might be stretching or turning the truth in any form or fashion.

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A word about this "Key Scripture" from Psalm 45. That Scripture is more literally translated, "The King is enthralled (desires) with your beauty." That word translated "royal husband" in the New Living Translation is actually Melek as we studied two weeks ago, but I wanted you to picture God as Your Husband and I think that this Scripture gives us a beautiful picture of God's appreciation for you as His Bride.

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I remember the day I came to acknowledge Christ as my Bridegroom, the first day I experienced His Love washing over me in a deeply intimate form and fashion. I realized in hindsight that the Holy Spirit had come upon me in a powerful way that day, but I had no idea what that would mean until years later as I pursued the Baptism of the Holy Spirit --- to understand it as God speaks of it in Scripture, to embrace it as a benefit of my calling and to walk fully empowered by the grace and beauty of such a completely satisfying gift. Some of us may acknowledge this type of God experience in different words, but in truth it is the fullest expression and experience of God that I've ever known in my life and it brought great power to me.

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I was at a conference for Pregnancy Resource Center workers where Andy Merritt, the gentleman who pretty much founded and set the model for the PRC as it exists in America today shared the Keynote Message on Saturday, May 3, 2003. His message "So You Could Be His Bride..." Mr. Merritt thoroughly and in great, painstaking detail described a literal word picture of the agony of Christ's arrest, trial, scourging and Crucifixion - it was quite frankly the Passion of the Christ in graphic description. He would describe a snapshot of the painful torment of our Savior and conclude the picture each time with these words: And He did it so YOU could be His Bride.

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After some twenty or so snapshots that ended in "And He did it so YOU could be His Bride..." I was not only weeping, I was face down at the front of the auditorium surrendering myself as His Bride. The next thirty-six hours of my life were life changing. That night I called my father and made not waste of time getting to him to tell him all about my experience with God. My father understood exactly what I was saying as I enthusiastically shared, "Daddy, God showed me today that until I have this love...." Motioning vertically between the sky and my heart, "This love..." Motioning horizontally indicating relationships with people, "...Will never be right."

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I cried the entire drive back home that night and woke up the next morning with fresh awareness of my extreme encounter with Christ. As I bathed and dressed for church my heart, my mind and my entire being was completely centered on who Christ is and just glorying in the fact that He had chosen me.

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My poor husband walked into the room while I was in the midst of one of these glory moments and tears were flowing from my eyes as I tried to dab a mascara wand to paint the black creamy liquid on my lashes ... It was really a useless endeavor that day. I can only say now that as I looked in the mirror I felt as if I would burst and also that I was glowing from the inside out.

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My husband asked me, "Are you okay?"

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"I'm better than okay." I gushed. "Scott, the only way I can describe it is that the scales have fallen off and all I can do is see God everywhere."

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I thought perhaps I would be able to garner some control and sensible expression of my emotions during worship service that day, but no... I really couldn't. By the second song, I was in a FULL. ON. UGLY. CRY. I mean NOT. A. DROP. OF. MAKEUP. was left on my face at the end.

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Then our pastor got up and as he spoke it felt as if the floodgates of heaven poured out into our sanctuary that day. I stopped trying to prevent myself from crying and just gave into to the wonderful, joyful tears of love that were coursing down my cheeks. Our pastor spoke words that directly addressed my heart cry to God the previous few weeks. I mean nearly word for word.

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At the end of the service I went down and asked for prayer... In the midst of my sobbing, laughing request. I must have looked hysterical now that I think of it - I huffed and sputtered, "I... don't know what's happened... but it's .... like all I c-can do is... See God Everywhere. I-I'm j-just so H-HAPPY."

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The worship pastor came to me after the service and said, "I couldn't help but notice you during worship, are you okay?"

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I nodded and muttered, "I'm just happy, that's all."

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He gave me a strange look and nodded. "Okay..."

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Since that time, I have discovered over and over again... That God is my husband and when I love my own husband out of that pure love that was overflowing in my heart that day, all is right with my world.

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At Gateway Church, there is a strong emphasis on male leadership in the home and the church. They have a vision of empowering men to be the "Priest, Prophet and King" of their homes. Our church has women who pastor select areas of ministry in our church, but the eldership and governing of the church is a council of godly male ministers and businessmen - a pretty even split. I honor the role that Gateway encourages the men to take in our homes. I believe it is key to our children growing into healthy, strong spiritual adults.

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God showed me through Gateway that one of the ways my husband is the Priest of our home is that he is the covering for our home. But, it is not my job to make him live up to that role. It is my job to support and encourage him in that role. How? Prayer, and trusting God to be my ultimate covering for my children and our home when I don't see my husband owning that responsibility.

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He also showed me that I need to understand my husband's vision and goals for our family. Even if it is very limited, I need to come in line with what God is directing my husband to do and allow my husband to begin to walk in the role of Prophet in our home. Even if that means that I don't see any fruit of him being a Prophet, I will trust God to be faithful to me in the plans and direction of our family EVEN IF MY HUSBAND DOES NOT LIVE UP TO HIS END OF THE DEAL.

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And, finally - I am to treat my husband as a King, in deferrence to my Lord, not because I am to worship Him and be subject to him, but because by honoring my husband - I honor my King. He is the "Lord" of our home in the same manner that Sarah called Abraham Lord and was honored for her submission. I recently heard a precious man of God say, "Subjection is when you come under authority because you have to or are forced to... Submission is what you willingly give up to place yourself under the authority that has been placed over you."

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Because of Eve's role in the fall, women are not entrusted with the responsibility of decision making and vision casting in the family - why? We are vulnerable to deception. We should always check out visions and plans with our husband to remain in line with God's will. If the truth is told, I am grateful for that.

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Pastor Jimmy Evans says that women were given an extra layer of accountability to men because of the lead Eve took in the sin in the Garden, but on the other hand, Adam was given an extra layer of responsibility because of the lead he deferred to his wife in the sin in the Garden. He went on to teach that when men are living in rebellion it often looks like "passive indifference" while women live in rebellion by being "willfully independent." As those words passed through his lips I felt God tap me on the shoulder and say, "Listen up, this is for you." Willfully independent described my entire life!

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Recently God has really been dealing with me about how I do not trust Him. He has been stirring up areas of my life where I live making my plans, manipulating my circumstances and then asking Him to bless it. One of those areas is finances. So much so that I have made an incredible mess of our finances over the years. I am constantly and shallowly manipulating and "robbing Peter to pay Paul" so much so that I miss God's blessing every time. No area of my life has been more out of line with my royal husband and my earthly one than finances.

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In July I had a moment where I was calculating our debt and what we would need to pay all our current, past due and creditory obligations by the end of the year. The answer I came up with from the "ha, ha" calculator in my head was $30,000. I was contemplating trying to find myself a $30,000 a year job when I sensed God saying, "Wait... What are you doing? More money will not solve your problem, what you need is more faith and more responsibility. Why don't you ask me what I would have you do instead of making YOUR plans and THEN asking me to bless it?"

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I said Okay.

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I confessed the horrible stewardship of our finances and took full responsibility. I confessed that I didn't see a way for our budget to work and for us to ever get out of debt. I told God that short of Him depositing the money in our account I felt like it was hopeless so I needed Him to show me how it would work.
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A few weeks later God began to show me how the Spirit of Mammon was ruling my life and the life of our family and household. I heard a message on breaking that Spirit within a few hours of that revelation. As I made out the tithe I felt strongly led to go down and ask for prayer over the offering and to confess that I needed the Spirit of Mammon broken off of our home and life. I asked my husband to go with me, but he declined. I was crushed. I didn't sense it was my place to go without him. So, I asked him, "Do I have permission to go down without you?"
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He nodded his agreement. "If you need to..."
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In that moment I saw how my handling of our finances had dishonored my Lord and my husband. How my husband's heart had turned hard toward God in the matter and it was partly my responsibility. I was so broken. I confessed everything, and followed the example the pastor had given of asking for a spiritual harvest in place of our tithe. I asked for one hundred faithful generations of good stewards. I will never know how that turns out this side of the veil, but I know this - My God is faithful, My husband provides - and He honors a heart that repents and comes before Him broken and seeking His will and I believe it is His will that the next hundred generations and more will be faithful stewards to His Kingdom.
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What followed was strange by explanation at best. Suddenly, I lost all desire to shop. What I would willingly spend $5.00 on weeks before had become an outrageously extravagant expense. I just refused to give into that kind of wasteful spending. At the same time, the regular overtime my husband had been getting at work that was just making our lives barely comfortable disappeared. Not that his role or status at work changed - just the on call work that he had been doing regularly this summer had come to a "natural" halt. In other words, there were no damaged or cut cables to repair.
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I was worried, but I kept telling myself God is faithful even when I am not. I just kept holding on and praying in faith believing we would have what we asked for. Then Hurricane Ike reared his ugly head. "An Act of God?" Not an act of judgment, but a natural phenomenon that wrought havoc and destruction... On Thursday before Hurricane Ike made landfall my husband's supervisor called and asked him if he wanted to volunteer for the hurricane? My husband said, "Not during the hurricane, but I will go down after and help clean things up."
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I really didn't think Ike would come on as strong as it did. I believed it would be like Rita had been a few years back when my husband went down and helped out for a couple of weeks of decent overtime. Then when Monday passed and we got no call, I thought he had been passed over. Oh ye of little faith.
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On Tuesday afternoon my husband called and said, "We're leaving in the morning." Then I started with, "Oh great, now we have to support two households while he is away..." and he was stressing while he was packing. It was nuts. He left that next morning and called me that evening. "Early reports are that it could be six months or more of work."
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He is working 12 and 13 hour days right now. Yesterday, I began to calculate his next paycheck based on the hours he is working and it actually is more than three times what he normally makes in a two week period. We could literally pay all our monthly expenses out of one check.
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The net of the check is more than 10% of what I asked God for this summer to pay our debts. If my husband is out of town for 24 weeks like some are projecting... that will be 12 paychecks of similar standing. Think about that for a minute. I declared our need at approximately $30,000 and if this check is more than 10%... Do the math...
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A King provides for, protects and acts in the best interest of his subjects. A father provides for, protects and acts in the best interest of his family. But, a Husband is one with His wife, He shares everything with her and promises everything to her on their wedding day. Christ is our royal husband - in Jewish tradition, at the wedding feast (maybe the betrothal feast) the bridegroom pours a cup of wine and drinks from it extending it to his bride and if she drinks it means she accepts his offer of marriage. They become one by that act. We become one with our Bridegroom when we accept His cup of sacrifice - the communal cup of the blood. He calls us His own, He sacrificed all to attain us. He loves us with an unfailing, unending love. He provides only the best for us and we don't have to worry that some day He will put us out by divorce. And the best part... When we fail Him, He pursues us. How beautiful is that?
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As I read through Song of Songs recently I realized something about this relationship to Christ as our groom. Now this is a pencil sketch kind of realization, not a firm doctrine... But, I think it bears witness with truth. We are promised the role of co-heir with Christ as we have been adopted by spiritual covenant and blood atonement into the family of God at salvation. Yet, we would indeed be considered "second" sons and not equal to Christ. I realize God's economy is different, but here is the thing - in our economy now a woman is the primary and sole heir to her husband's estate unless they elect to otherwise surrender that right as a couple. God says that when we are united in marriage - the two become one flesh. When we are united with Christ through Salvation - the two become one Spirit. Here is how I see that inheritance - the way we are eligible for the full portion - the double portion as a first born heir - is through the marriage covenant of the Lamb. It was His plan to unite us to draw parallels with our everyday lives and prove to us how He provides, how He loves and what His true intentions are by sharing with us the ordinary in extraordinary ways.
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He is our Husband. The term husband comes from the word, Husbandry. That word is literally, "caretaker" it is a caretaker in the sense that His role is to place us in and to sustain an environment where we will grow into and reach our full potential that He created us for. Live in His will for You as His Bride. Embrace the marriage covenant and know that He pursues you, He loves you and He is enthralled with your beauty.
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This week, I am not going to post a Chapter of Scripture for reading. I am going to give you an assignment: Read all of the Book of Hosea and then all of the book of Song of Songs. Personalize those Scriptures and find out what God has to say to you about being His Bride. These are treasures you will never forget!
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Love You all Much. Many blessings.

40 Days of Prayer

Click on the picture above to go to the "I Live Values" website.

"Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place."

2 Chronicles 6:40 (NIV)

Solomon's heart cry to God during his reign as King of Israel.

If you carefully read the Old Testament you will find that most of the times the great movement of God among His people occurred because someone went face down or kneeling before Him in prayer. Read on...

God's response to Solomon's heart cry...

"14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place."

2 Chronicles 7:14-15 (NIV)

The book of James tells us that the prayers of the righteous are prevailing - they avail much - and are effective. We must be faithful to the call upon our nation right now to go face down before God and seek Him in national repentance, national fervor, a national heart cry.

George Barna, founder of the Barna Group, who does extensive research in religious trending both nationally and internationally has the following report posted at his website.

Here are the statistical reports from the Barna Group on Born Again Christians:

In Barna Research Group studies, born again Christians are not defined on the basis of characterizing themselves as "born again" but based upon their answers to two questions. The first is "have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?" If the respondent says "yes," then they are asked a follow-up question about life after death. One of the seven perspectives a respondent may choose is "when I die, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior." Individuals who answer "yes" to the first question and select this statement as their belief about their own salvation are then categorized as "born again."

Beliefs

Compared to 72% of all adults, 92% of born again Christians believe "the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches." (2007)

Three-quarters of born again Christians (74%) believe they "personally have a responsibility to tell other people their religious beliefs" compared to 52% of all adults. (2007)

Nearly all born again Christians (99%) say their religious faith is very important in their life, compared to 87% of all adults. (2007)

Half of born again Christians (46%) agree that Satan is "not a living being but is a symbol of evil." (2007)

37% of born agains believe that if a person is good enough they can earn a place in Heaven. (2007)

26% of born agains agree that "while he lived on earth, Jesus committed sins, like other people," compared to 41% of all adults. (2007)

Born again Christians are more likely than non-born again individuals to accept moral absolutes. Specifically, 36% of born agains said they believe in moral absolutes, compared to just 16% among non-born agains. (2006)

How Many

Looking across the past decade we find the following percentages of born again Christians:

2007 - 42% 2006 - 45% 2005- 40% 2004-38% 2002-40% 2001- 41% 2000- 41% 1999- 40% 1998- 39% 1997- 43% 1996-39% 1995-35% 1994- 36% 1993-36% 1992- 40% 1991- 35%

There are approximately 101 million born again Christians. (2006)

Who

Residents of the South are more likely than average to be classified as born again Christians. More than half of those living in the South (53%) are classified as born agains, compared to 45% of individuals who live in the Midwest, 34% of those living in the West, and 29% of individuals who live in the Northeast. (2007)

Half of all born again adults (50%) are married. (2007)

Protestant church attenders are more than twice as likely than are Catholic church attenders to be born again Christians (61% to 26%, respectively). (2007)

Religious Activities

More than three out of five born agains (62%) have read from the Bible in the past week compared with 42% of all adults. (2007)

59% of born agains attended church in the last week, compared to 43% of all adults. (2007)

Born agains are more likely than the average adult to have volunteered their time to help their church in the past week (32% to 22%, respectively). (2007)

Non-evangelical Born Agains

35% of the adult population is born again, but not evangelical. (2007)

86% are registered to vote. (2007)

65% likelihood of voting, compared to the national average of 67% among registered voters. (2004)

36% are politically conservative. (2007)

35% is associated with the Republican Party, while an even greater percentage is aligned with the Democratic Party 42%. (2007)

So what exactly does this mean? We need to be in prayer. Here's why:

George Barna also reports the following about the Generational Differences that exist in the lives of born again Christians:

The statistics and analysis in this archive come from national surveys conducted by Barna Research.

For more information about generational differences, be sure to check out the related resources and news releases featured on this page. Also, watch for new information to be added to this archive in the months to come.

Definition

Mosaics - those born between 1984 and 2002

Buster - those born between 1965 and 1983

Boomer - those born between 1946 and 1964

Builders - those born between 1927 and 1945

Senior - those born in 1926 and earlier

Activities

Mosaics are less likely than any other generation to volunteer time to their church (12% of Mosaics report volunteering). Conversely, 23% of Busters, 29% of Boomers, 34% of Elders

(Builders and Seniors) have volunteered at a church in the past week. (2006)
Small group participation appears to be positively correlated with age, with 26% of Elders, 24% of Boomers, 19% of Busters and 20% of Mosaics reporting that they participated in a small group in the past week. (2006)

Compared to 60% of Elders who have a "quiet time" during the week, 54% of Boomers, 39% of Busters and 35% of Mosaics do the same. (2006)

33% Mosaics, 43% of Busters, 49% of Boomers, 53% of Elders attend church on a given Sunday. (2006)

In a typical week, 32% of Mosaics, 42% of Busters, 47% of Boomers, 58% of Elders (Builders and Seniors combined) read the Bible. (2006)

Mosaics are the age group least likely than any other age group to pray to God. In a given week, we found that 65% of Mosaics, 82% of Busters, 90% of Boomers, 88% of Elders (Builders and Seniors) report praying to God. (2006)

Faith

Boomers emerge as more likely and Mosaics as less likely than any other generation to be born again (33% of Mosacis, 38% of Busters, 53% of Boomers are born again, compared to 48% of Elders). (2006)

Mosaics are the least likely age group to indicate that faith is a very important part of their life. Only 51% of Mosaics say their faith is very important in their life, compared with 62% of Busters, 73% of Boomers and 79% of Elders. (2006)

61% of Mosaics, 67% of Busters, 77% of Boomers, 74% of Elders believe that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator that rules the world today. (2006)

Self-Descriptions

Busters are more likely than the other generations to be searching for meaning in life: 44% of

Busters compared to 32% of all others are searching for their purpose in life. (2001)

Busters are the generation most likely to feel "too busy." Compared to 53% of Busters who maintain that they are too busy, 49% of Boomers, 32% of Builders and 27% of Seniors feel the same. (2001)

Older individuals are also more likely than younger individuals to describe themselves as a "born again Christian." 49% Seniors and 47% of Builders call themselves born again, compared to 42% of Boomers and 31% of Busters. (2001)

Financial comfort appears to come with age. We found that 38% of Busters say they are personally struggling with finances, compared to the 32% of Boomers, 23% of Builders, and 20% of Seniors. (2001)

Busters are almost twice as likely as are Seniors to indicate that they are stressed out (41% to 22%, respectively). Likewise, 32% of Boomers and 27% of Builders said that "stressed out" is an accurate description of them. (2001)

And when it comes to Goals and Priorities, George Barna's Group found the following information to be the trend:

The statistics and analysis in this archive come from national surveys conducted by Barna Research.

For more information about Americans’ goals and priorities, be sure to check out the related resources and news releases featured on this page. Also, watch for new information to be added to this archive in the months to come.
U.S. adults

44% of adults say that having a satisfying family life is their highest priority in life. (2005)

18% of people said that completely understanding and carrying out the principles of their faith was the highest priority in their lives. (14% of men versus 18% of women) (2005)

We have become a society driven by our wants and desires rather than our faith in the One True God - Yahweh Elohim. The God of the Bible, Maker of heaven and earth. We have traded our status as the most prosperous, God-honoring, free nation in the world to one of a bankrupt (financially and morally), dishonorable, mentally enslaved nation in the free world. We sell our soul for the things of this world - the "American Dream" they call it - of the bigger better house, the bigger better car, the bigger better job, the bigger better education, and more importantly for the Washington D. C. crowd the "Bigger is Better Government." The church has settled for the role of secondary, crisis intervention mode and has been neutralized by new age relativism and the imploding of the American Church as it is denominationally at war with itself. Political talking heads know how to speak our language.

They memorize Scriptures and shake hands with preachers.

They speak from pulpits about humanitarian issues without recognizing that God through His Son, Jesus Christ is the true solution to the human condition. We give them that role, we applaud them for it and then we wonder why it is that when they get into office they don't do what they say they will do from the pulpits of our churches.

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American politicians have sought to be the "Savior" of the world and have failed miserably at honoring the values - JUDEO-CHRISTIAN values - that this nation was founded on - so founded on that the founding fathers wrote it into every document, opened every governmental session by ininvoking not only the name of Jesus but the Name of Jehovah as well. Most of the founding fathers were Bible scholars and teachers and developed a Bible institute to perpetuate these values. As recently as the 1950s the Supreme Court ruled that taking prayer out of our schools would not only be unthinkable, but it would be detrimental to the core values and nature of our society.

Since prayer was taken out of schools, and has been challenged as "Constitutional" - a Constitution which would by the new definitions rendered by the Supreme Court be unconstitutional. The First Amendment says nothing of Separation of Church and State, and was intended to ensure that the government did not establish a "state religion" as was observed in England and many European countries at the time. (Check your history - there was a great war between Church of England and the Catholic Church that ended in a power struggle before the Golden Age of Queen Elizabeth) This amendment has been redefined to mean "Freedom from Religion" and it inherently means "separation of church and state." Okay, so the "Freedom from Religion" connotation comes from agnostics and atheists who are a small portion of our society with an apparent big voice in Washington via our Supreme Court and liberal politicians. Separation of church and state is found no where in the Constitution... as the first Amendment reads:

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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

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So why are we as Christians laying down our rights --- our Constitutional, first amendment right. Children in this country are being persecuted for their Christian beliefs by being labelled offensive for wearing t-shirts proclaiming the name of Christ, for praying over their meals before they eat or talking or displaying their religious faith in classroom assignments. WHY? Because someone said that their "free exercise" of their religion infringes on someone elses right to be "free of it." WHAT? Where does the Constitution read that way?

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As a nation, we have stopped calling on God individually and corporately. We have told God to butt out of our government, our schools, our finances, our national security and most of us have told God to butt out of the lives of the unborn and our personal relationships. We tip Him at church on Sunday, we live like the devil the rest of the week and we wonder where He was when the Terrorists set their sites on our nation as their next target! Why? Because we told God we didn't need Him that's why. Our family values have disintegrated into broken families with fatherless homes and our children shooting each other in the streets. They are free to dress, live, have sex and abort their babies if they so choose and all sacrificed on the altar of freedom.

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What has happened to America? We bought it - hook line and sinker - so much so, some evangelical churches in this nation are selling it, too. A watered down, feel good "Gospel" about prosperity and problem free living without an emphasis on personal relationship and responsibility through our faith. The "American Dream" rooted in foundational faith, family values and a legacy we can be proud of has been traded for the "bigger is better" Spirit of Mammon and it robs God of His glory, robs God of His praise and it robs God of the opportunity to show Himself mighty among us.

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Dr. Richard Land and the International Mission Board is calling for Forty Days of Prayer from September 24th (Tomorrow) through November 2nd. They have a prayer guide - so we can pray in agreement, Scriptural support and they are asking for an even bigger committment of hourly prayer the last forty hours. We are on the cusp of history, my friends. A time when God is calling us to stand for what we believe, seek Him in humility and confess nationally the way we have allowed the voices of a few to cloud our judgement as His people and to shake things up in our federal government like it has not been done before the Revolutionary War.

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Dr. Land says that Washington will not change until we do. Praying for our nation, voting our religious and moral convictions based on the position of our faith and living up to being a good steward of the free-est society in the world is a place to start. A nation on its knees for forty days, wonder what God would do with that?

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I know what He did when the nation of Israel went "fly in God's face" for hundreds of years (sound familiar?)... He set up a pagan king to rule the world, and they lived in captivity for more than 400 years, with God being silent most of that time. By the time He showed back up in the person of Jesus Christ the nation of Israel and its leaders barely recognized their Messiah - why?

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Because they could not recognize the voice of God when they heard it.

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Because they were so sold on their own ideas of what being blessed looked like they missed the blessings of God all together.

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Because they had lived in "relative freedom" in their captivity for so long that they said to Jesus, "Why do we need to be set free? We've never been held captive."

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And, when they said that - they had been in foreign exile twice for more than 400 years AND were under the oppression of foreign government by way of the Roman Empire even while in their own country.

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What does that look like these days? Hollywood? Washington? The United Nations?

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The Roman Empire? What happened to the greatest world government system that ever existed? Well, you see they started feeding Christians to the Lions and they destroyed the Temple after persecuting and dispersing the Jews. They worshipped foreign gods and guess what - they were no more. Now, there is only the Roman Catholic Church, a city in Italy bearing the name Rome and the all encompassing catch phrase... "When in Rome..."

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Let's not do as the Romans did. Let's live above ourselves, beyond our limits and trust God to show Himself through our prayers.

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"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 (My memory)

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"Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you." Matthew 6:33 (My memory)

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"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength." ~Jesus (Deuteronomy 6:5, Deuteronomy 13:3, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27) All of these Scriptures sum up in their entirety the first four of the ten commandments... and "Love your neighbor as yourself" the other six.

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Finally, remember that no matter what happens, God is our source, His is our provider and protector and He will look after the faithful remnant no matter the outcome of any election or war.

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"The LORD your God is with you,

he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

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And, He requires something of us...

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"The Lord has told you, human, what is good;

he has told you what he wants from you:

to do what is right to other people (do or act justice/justly),

love being kind to others (love mercy),

and live humbly, obeying your God." Micah 6:8 (NCV)

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Is forty days for the future of our children to much to ask... forty days for the future of our nation and our faith. Forty days for God. Please pray.