The Secret to Survival - the Word!

By D.B. Berg

When I returned to college determined to study philosophy, psychology, and political science, rather than religion, I became seriously involved in the study of socialism and communism. However, I soon saw that the purportedly unselfish goals of these political systems could never be achieved without the love of God in the hearts of men, as in the pure Christian communism of the early church, made possible only by the power of the Spirit of God. Such voluntary sharing of the wealth with those in need could only come through Jesus.

Nevertheless, I could also see, as I’m sure most of us can who think honestly, that not all the rich would be willing to share their wealth with the poor, nor would all industrialists be willing to sacrifice their pollution to save our lives and environment, nor the politician his power, nor the militarist his weapons of war. Very few men are so idealistic as to be willing to give up their own sins in order to please God that they might try to save their fellow men—only a few!

The vast majority have often proved wrong. Therefore, the so-called democratic rule of the majority can never voluntarily bring perfect government and perfect peace on earth, a fair economy, a healthful environment, a godly education, nor a righteous religion. Only the direct intervention of God Himself with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to set up His own kingdom of totally righteous rule here on earth will ever bring such a reign of perfection, with peace and justice for all.

All other attempts at changes for the better, whether violent or nonviolent, by unregenerate and sinful man, will only bring more unregenerate and sinful governments, economies, pollutions, educations and religions and wars resulting from man’s sinful heart. To truly change these instruments and ailments of man, you must change man and his sinful heart, something that only God can do. Otherwise, you will only have revolution after revolution, war upon war, rich and poor, pollution and disease, political religion, and regime after regime, with empire following empire!

The Bible predicts that in the last days of man-made regimes on earth, a totally godless anti-Christ world government will arise, led by a Devil-possessed dictator who will bring a false peace on earth and a counterfeit utopia, and its price will be enforced worship of himself as the imitation messiah.

(Editor: In a way, we are seeing the counterfeit utopia with today’s European Union and other such economic unions which promise unequalled economic success through free trade and free movement within such unions. Immigrants from all over the world are clamoring to enter into Europe’s “Promised Land.” But those countries in both Southern and Eastern Europe have found that entrance comes with a price. Tided to the money these countries receive from Brussels is a moral and cultural agenda aimed at destroying the former beliefs and values of their countries. Brussels pushes for the new members of the union to liberlize their laws concerning marriage. They push to change the laws concerning abortion to be more abortion friendly. Governments are encouraged to adopt eutanásia or assisted suicide. Agriculturally governments must allow genetically modified seeds and widespread use of chemical fertilizes, etc.

(The European Union is also in favour of world agreements concerning the environment. Because of Codem – 19 the European Union cancelled all visits to the parlimentary chambers. However, Greta Thumburg, the young environmentalist from Finland, was not cancelled, although there has been an outcry from some European parliment members. Pope Francisco is also making a call for a new agreement on climate change. Now with the outbreak of corona virus or Codem-19 there may very well be another push for some global apparatus that will help the nations share important information amongst themselves. There will be calls for some international agreement to deal with such problems as the corona virus. Such an international agreement will seem necessary and innocent at first, just as the environmental concerns seem to be. But in the end these agreements will lead to a new world order with government in total control. This is what is prophecized in the Bible and this is where we are being directed by the powers that be behind the scenes.)

Finally, under the antichrist world government, all members of society will have some sort of mark or biometric number in order to buy or sell or obtain food or employment. (Editor: In China, because of the Corona Virus problem, the government has implemented a survellence device used with one’s mobile phone. This app helps the government know everyone’s where abouts. As technology advances some sort of biometric implant could be the famous “mark of the beast” predicted in the Bible as compulsory in the last days. But the Bible warns us that the “mark” has spiritual consequences and Christians are admonished to refuse it unto death.) Those who refuse to cooperate and receive the mark will be hunted, persecuted, and killed as terrorists by the Antichrist’s commandment—a time of Great Tribulation.

However, those who have the invisible seal of God in their foreheads, His own children, the true believers at the end who have Jesus in their hearts, will be hidden and spared by the miracles of God until the coming of Christ, when they will join Him in the air. The only way out will be up! And the ones saved will be all those who have had this supernatural, regenerative rebirth of the Spirit by God’s love in Jesus, being born again by accepting Him!

Our only hope of survival in this life and the future, therefore, is to be prepared spiritually and even practically, with both the personal experience of salvation—this change of heart by God’s love in Jesus—and by a working knowledge of His Word and what it advises us to do under the conditions of the difficult days that the Bible predicts are coming.

As a young Christian leader with years of experience in the churches, I could plainly see that most Christians were unprepared for these certain eventualities so specifically predicted in the Scriptures. Many Christians today do not know their Bibles, or memorize Scripture for remembrance and encouragement, inspiration, and instruction.

I’ve read through Bibles many times, because I believe it. Therefore, I read it. I know it’s the Word of God, because I know it works, and that’s the best proof you’ve got. Just try it, it works! That’s the best proof of the inspiration of the Bible. That’s the best proof that this is the miraculous, supernatural Word of God Himself, by trying it. Why don’t you give it a chance? You’ve tried everything else, why not try Jesus? Why not try the Bible? You read everything else.

We talk to people time and time again who’ve been through college and they’ve read hundreds of books, huge tomes and textbooks and all kinds of books, but have never even cracked the Bible, never even read the Bible! The most wonderful, supernatural, miraculous, amazing, marvelous book in the whole world, which can tell you the answers to everything—where we came from, how we got here, why we’re here, and how to survive and be happy while here, how to have love and peace now and forever, and yet many have never even read it.

The Bible also tells us how to leave this life and know where you’re going, and to know that you’re going to be happy forever with God and His Son Jesus Christ in heavenly places. Not far off in the stratosphere or outer space someplace, but right here on earth! A new earth, that’s true, a remade, renovated earth, the old surface all burned away and purified and all that pollution completely swept away, a newly created earth, sort of like the first one in the days of the Garden of Eden—beautiful and pure, with a new heavenly city.

That’s where we’re going, and we won’t have very far to go, because it’s going to be right here. When it’s time for the new heaven and new earth, we’re not going to heaven; we’re going to spend eternity right here on the new earth in the new heaven.

John saw that heavenly holy city coming down from God, out of heaven, right down here to this earth, so he said, “God is going to dwell with man.” He doesn’t say man is going to go up and dwell with Him, but God is going to dwell with man.

Will you know what to do? Will you be prepared to survive and help others to do so, as well as to continue to worship God and encourage others in the faith during days not unlike those of the catacombs church of martyrs under Roman persecution? These things have already happened and continue to happen to Christians in many nations. Will you be prepared and will you know what God expects you to do under such conditions? Your best preparation is the Word of God!

Edited by Dennis Edwards of fightforyourfaith.blogspot.com originally published on Anchor found at https://anchor.tfionline.com/post/secret-survival-word-god/

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Are we there yet?

 March 2, 2020
By Mark McMillion

Are we there yet? Are we now actually in the very final events just before the second coming of Christ? Some utterly mock that whole concept. But many millions know what Jesus said would happen before His return. I’ve studied these things all my adult life and looked almost daily at “the signs of the times” to try to find where exactly we are in relation to what Godly prophecy reveals of the final signs before the end of this age.

They were made fools of while the truths of Bible prophecy were made to look false

But I’ve often shied away from getting into “the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3) when it comes to current events and daily occurrences. So many teachers have gone out on a limb about something, only to find that they’ve prematurely predicting some specific final event in the Word of God which didn’t happen as they’d come to think it would. And they were made fools of while the truths of Bible prophecy were made to look false because of their misguided pronouncements. I made a video about some things like this called “Famous Failures of Prophetic Interpretation.”

However, common sense will tell you that simply because someone has falsely called “Wolf, Wolf!” and been proven wrong, certainly that doesn’t mean there are no such things as wolves. And if you know the end of that little story, eventually there did turn up a wolf when the people had come to no longer believe because of the false cries of “Wolf!” that they’d heard for so long. And the wolf had his way because the people, calloused and hardened in unbelief, didn’t take heed when the real wolf appeared among them.

Are we there yet? Where are we?In the videos I’ve done on this subject, mainly based around the prophecies of Daniel, I’ve tried to keep to the most explicit, definite things that Scripture points out will happen in the last years of this age.

One of the things that I watch most closely is the possible rebuilding of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem

Personally, one of the things that I watch most closely is the possible rebuilding of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem , “the third temple” as it’s called. I believe that a temple like that, and subsequent animal sacrifices there, will be one of the most significant and definite signs that the final months and years before the second coming of Christ will have definitely started.

And you ask, “How’s it going with that?” Well, it’s surprisingly very far along.

And you ask, “How’s it going with that?” Well, it’s surprisingly very far along. You could do a Google search on “The third temple” or “The Temple Institute” to discover how much work has already been done towards this in modern Israel. There are even reports of some who’ve begun to offer animal sacrifices again there. However, I don’t think that it’s yet fulfilled what is spoken about this in Scripture.

But now there are also many other things. Jesus told His disciples, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. Then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:14) Certainly for 18 or 19 centuries that verse had not been fulfilled. Just as certainly, now in the last 30 to 100 years it has been.

It’s very easy for skeptics to just say, “Yes, but that has always been happening”. And of course in some ways they’re right.

And other verses about the final days are also becoming more and more relevant. Jesus said, “There shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places” (Mathew 24:7). The problem I’ve always had with these verses is that it’s very easy for skeptics to just say, “Yes, but that has always been happening”. And of course in some ways they’re right.

It’s just that in our times, right now, there really are a lot of things going on. It remains to be seen how this current crisis with the Corona virus will go. Some say it will all just blow over and we’ll go back to business as usual. But many in the scientific community are saying that it’s just about time to call it a worldwide pandemic and to prepare accordingly. Already, at the time of the writing of this, substantial changes are happening daily in the economies of nations around the world in response to the Corona virus.

It was just a few weeks or months ago that Australia experienced the worst fires they’ve ever had. At the same time, the unprecedented melting of the permafrost in the Arctic religions is releasing huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to the climate change that is already a major concern of much of the world.

This gets almost no news coverage but it is pervasive everywhere and ongoing.

As you know, I could go on. It is common knowledge that here in America the country is as politically and socially divided as it has been since the Civil War over 160 years ago. Another concern that many parents are only now coming to realize is that there are agendas being relentlessly pursued in most Western nations now to make mandatory indoctrination of elementary school children in the most explicate elements of the “gay” perception of sexuality to be something that parents’ of these children have no legal rights to oppose. This gets almost no news coverage but it is pervasive everywhere and ongoing.



This would also tend to fulfill another of the things that Jesus pointed out would be a sign of His imminent return, “As the days of Lot, so shall also the coming of the son of Man be. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:28 & 29) So it would seem that elements of Sodom and Gomorrah are also predicted by the Lord to be a part of the spirit of the times, just before His return.

Recent events have caused me to look again at how I’ve been viewing these things.

And to go back to my original question, “Are we there yet?” Recent events have caused me to look again at how I’ve been viewing these things. I’ve always expected that there would need to be some kind of major international economic/social crash or war to bring on conditions that would be ripe for the final days of the endtime. But there are just many increasing earmarks on every side that certainly look like the things I was expecting to see many years ago. It all very much bears watching closely, as well as being prepared for, both spiritually as well as physically.

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Clouds Without Rain

By Justin Peters

The Word-Faith Movement (W-F), more commonly known as the Health and Wealth, Name It and Claim It, or Prosperity Gospel, dominates what we see today on Christian cable and satellite television. Networks such as TBN, Daystar, The Word Network, It’s Supernatural Network, etc., regularly promote this theology which holds that it is always God’s will for a Christian to be financially wealthy and physically healed. You can be rich, and you never need to be sick as long as you speak the right “positive confessions,” exercise your faith and, of course, sow a seed (translated: send money) into a particular ministry so you can reap a harvest. Some of the more prominent leaders of this movement include Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, Joseph Prince, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and Bill Johnson.

The prosperity gospel appeals to two of the most basic and universal of all human desires; to be wealthy and physically healed. The message is that if you become a Christian, then your money and health worries are over. There are about 7 billion people on the planet who desperately want those things. But is that the real Gospel? The answer, of course, is no.

The prosperity gospel promises people a life of luxury. The true Gospel calls people to a life of sacrifice. The prosperity gospel calls for self-indulgence. The true Gospel calls for self-denial. The prosperity gospel promises alleviation from trials. The true Gospel promises God’s sufficient grace in the midst of trials. The prosperity gospel promises a life of ease. The true Gospel promises a life marked by persecution for the glory of God.

The Word-Faith movement is now the face of Christianity around the world. We in the United States have created this false gospel and have exported it to nearly every nation on the planet. As bad as this movement is here, it is far worse in countries in Central and South America, Asia and especially Africa. The poor, the sick, the desperate, and the widows are being exploited. Worse than that, though, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is being distorted.

One of the things that make false teachers so appealing to people and so dangerous at the same time is that not everything that they teach is false. Some of it is right. But there is enough error and heresy mixed in with it to corrupt the entire thing. Remember that the Bible describes false teachers as wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15) and that Satan “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

I am so honored with the invitation to speak at the 2020 Answers for Women Conference at the Ark Encounter, organized by Georgia Purdom. In my presentation, I will provide an overview of the Word-Faith Movement and will have video clips from some of today’s most popular preachers so that you can see and hear for yourself what they are actually teaching. We will then correct each point of error by scripture.

Some would say that calling out false teachers is not something we should do or is negative in nature. It is noteworthy, however, that 26 of the 27 books in the New Testament directly warn about false teaching and/or false teachers (only Philemon does not). The Apostles warned about false teachers and even called them out by name. So did Jesus Himself. So, it is a task that we must undertake, for it is a mandate from Scripture. It is not, however, a task to be taken lightly. We should not call someone a false teacher for minor theological differences. The error in the Word-Faith movement is not minor as we shall see.

Some would say that pointing out error is not a loving thing to do. But the most loving thing we can do for someone is to tell her the truth. It is the truth that sets people free from spiritual bondage and deception. It is my prayer that our time together will be one of both teaching sound doctrine and refuting those who contradict per Titus 1:9and of equipping the saints to “speak the truth in love” per Ephesians 4:15.

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Relationship and Union with God

A compilation

Audio length: 11:21
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The focus of the Gospel is relationship with God. Our God is a relational God who created us out of the overflow of loving relationship within the Trinity, and who intended us for perfect relationship with Him throughout eternity. The culmination of the Christian narrative is a wedding feast, a marriage. Christ the bridegroom and us His bride, the Church.

When we look to heaven, as John 14 makes so beautifully clear, we are not looking for a where—a place, somewhere far away where we will be well. We are looking to a who—the person of God, and the wonder and joy and fulfilment of relationship with Him.

The Bible is full of the expression of God’s relational heart toward us—as a Father, a husband, a friend—and it carries through from Genesis to Revelation.

When in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve turn their backs on God and rebel against Him, we see immediately the tone is set for the rest of the ages, as God’s response is not ‘What have you done?’ but ‘Where are you?’1 And the whole of the rest of the story is God winning us back, paying the price Himself, making a way for us to be with Him.

It is a great love story, an epic adventure of a lover pursuing His bride. God Himself wooing and pursuing mankind. It is a breathtaking reality that we are inundated, in the Word of God, by His call for us to live in relationship with Him… 1 John 3:1 rings out with joy: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

The biblical emphasis is on a God who has revealed Himself: through nature, through the Scriptures, and ultimately through the living Word—the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus looks to His disciples and says to them that in knowing Him, they know the Father,2 and that knowing Him is to have eternal life.3 The self-revelation of God is a foundation point for Christian theology and the basis on which our security lies. It is one of the most profound truths of the Christian message, that whilst we may at times be in the dark about what God is doing, we are (praise God!) not in the dark about God.

What makes this even more wonderful is that knowing Him is not simply a matter of abstract possibility, but of God’s own heart desire, as He speaks through Jeremiah: “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”4—Tanya Walker

Being “in Christ”

Our union with Christ is captured in that simple prepositional phrase “in Christ,” used by Paul in one form or another 164 times. Only as we are “in Christ” are we chosen, called, regenerated, justified, sanctified, redeemed, assured of the resurrection, and given every spiritual blessing.5

This union with Christ spans space and time—so that Paul can say that the Christian has died with Christ,6 the Christian has been resurrected with Christ,7 the Christian has ascended with Christ to share now in his reign in the heavenly places,8 and the Christian is destined to share Christ’s coming glory with him.9

No wonder some call our union with Christ one of the central messages of the New Testament. Theologian John Murray called it “the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation.”

A. W. Pink said, “The subject of spiritual union is the most important, the most profound, and yet the most blessed of any that is set forth in sacred Scripture.”

Cambridge scholar B. F. Westcott wrote: “If once we realize what these words ‘we are in Christ’ mean, we shall know that beneath the surface of life lie depths which we cannot fathom, full alike of mystery and hope.”

Union with Christ is that spiritual reality whereby we as believers are joined to our Lord such that what is true of him becomes true of us. This spiritual union is the means by which space and time are transcended and we share in all the benefits of Jesus’ work in history on our behalf. It is central to our understanding of who we are as Christians.—Bill Kynes10

A passionate union

The relationship between God and His people—Christ and His Church—is likened in the Bible to that of a bridegroom to his bride. The Bible tells us, “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name,”11 and that we are “married to Him who was raised from the dead [Jesus], that we should bear fruit to God.”12

The marital metaphor used in the Bible describes the intimate spiritual relationship between Jesus and His Church and is meant to represent the passionate union of heart, mind, and spirit that Jesus seeks with each of His followers.

Bible scholars and theologians throughout the ages such as John Wycliffe, Bishop Reynolds, and Matthew Henry, among others, have written that the Song of Solomon is an allegory in which the beloved or the bridegroom represents Jesus, and the woman Shulamite represents the Church, illustrating the Lord’s love relationship with His bride.

In Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, he refers to this relationship as the “great mystery concerning Christ and the Church.”13

The Bible makes numerous references to the deep, enduring personal relationship between Jesus and His bride, the Church, also referred to as “the Body of Christ,” of which every true Christian is a part. “I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.”14 “For we are members of his body.Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”15

In our Scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament, the relationship between God and men—between the Lord and Israel, between Christ and His Church—is presented as the relationship of bridegroom to bride. The Scripture uses other images as well—God is our father, our shepherd, our king, our healer, our savior. “But the marital metaphor is the most frequent one, the central and basic scriptural metaphor.”16

Religious author Celia Hahn states that Old Testament “images of Israel as God’s cherished though often faithless wife are echoed in many New Testament references to the church as the bride of Christ.”

The great love that Jesus, the heavenly Bridegroom, holds for His beloved was a subject of frequent discourse by the famed 19th century English evangelist Charles Spurgeon.17 In a commentary on the scripture where God tells His people, “I am married unto you,”18 Spurgeon writes:

Christ Jesus is joined unto His people in marriage-union. In love He espoused His Church as a chaste virgin. On earth He exercises towards her all the affectionate offices of Husband. Let the love of a husband be ever so pure and fervent, it is but a faint picture of the flame which burns in the heart of Jesus. Passing all human union is that mystical cleaving unto the Church, for which Christ left His Father, and became one flesh with her.

In His Word, Jesus beckons: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest unto your soul.”19 When we come to Him in prayer, humbly confessing our need for Him and His love, and invite Him into every part of our life, we enter into true relationship with Him. “If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him, and will dine [fellowship] with him, and he with Me.”20

To know Jesus is to love Jesus, for “He is altogether lovely.”21 Once you “taste and see that the Lord is good,”22 you can truly “know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”23—TFI

Published on Anchor March 2020. Read by Jerry Paladino. Music by John Listen.

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1 Genesis 3:9.

2 John 14:7.

3 John 17:3.

4 Jeremiah 24:7.

5 Ephesians 1:4, 7; Romans 6:5; 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:3.

6 Romans 6:1–11; Galatians 2:20.

7 Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 3:1.

8 Romans 5:17; Ephesians 2:6.

9 Philippians 3:20; 1 John 3:2.

10 http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/webfm_send/480.

11 Isaiah 54:5.

12 Romans 7:4.

13 Ephesians 5:32.

14 Hosea 2:19–20.

15 Ephesians 5:30–32.

16 Charles A. Gallagher, George A. Maloney, Mary F. Rousseau, and Paul F. Wilczak, Embodied in Love (New York: Crossroad Publishing Co., 1983), 117.

17 1834–1892.

18 Jeremiah 3:14.

19 Matthew 11:28–30.

20 Revelation 3:20.

21 Song of Solomon 5:16.

22 Psalm 34:8.

23 Ephesians 3:19.

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A Prayer for Labourers

By Maria Fontaine

Audio length: 6:58
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“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”—2 Corinthians 5:18–20

These verses are expressed in “The Message” as follows: “All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.”

Thank You, dear Jesus, for the exciting vision You’ve given us of reaching out to those in the world who have yet to hear about You, those who will want to help Your work in some way and help to win the world for You. Help us to soak ourselves in Your Word about our commission on this earth, so that it’ll be deeply ingrained in our hearts, and the desire to win souls, disciples, and laborers will be part of the very fiber of our being.

We depend on the Spirit’s power to help us to have a heart for the lost. Give us an anointing of love and sacrifice, so that we’ll be motivated to reach out to those who have yet to know You or to grow in their faith. Help us to be willing to forsake anything in our lives that would be a hindrance to our witness to others—any worldliness or bad habits that may have crept in.

Help us, Jesus, to have soul-winning mindsets, so that when we go out and about in our work, ministries, studies, and business, we’ll be attuned to the checks of Your Spirit and we’ll be instant witnesses. Direct us to those who are searching for Your truth. Give us a burden and love for the people of the community, neighborhood, and country we live in, so that we can become one with them and lead them to You. Help us always to be looking for new ways to witness and share our faith with the people You place in our path each day.

We pray that even now You will prepare the hearts of those who each of us will meet in the future who will be so excited that they will want to share that great love with everyone they meet. Please work in their lives today, in whatever way You know is best, so that they’ll be ready for what You have planned for them in the future. Help each potential new believer and disciple to be yielded to Your Spirit and influence in their life, even if they don’t presently know You personally. Help them to learn and experience things in their lives now that will aid them in their future service to You.

Help those that we reach and lead to You to develop a love for Your Word and Spirit. Please put that desire within them even now—a desire for the truth that can only be found in You, the source of truth. Help them to desire and feel the hunger for more of Your truth, spiritual realities, and godly things.

Please do prepare these people today, so that when the time comes, they’ll be able to make the right decisions to receive salvation and grow in their faith. Give them the faith to receive the spiritual truths in Your Word, even though they may not have had much or any experience with them. We claim the gifts of boldness and faith for them even now, so that they’ll be able to use these gifts in their witnessing and winning souls and disciples when the time comes.

Dear Lord, we ask that You’ll open their minds to Your Word, and that they will take on the mind of Christ.1 We pray that You will strengthen the faith of these who will one day be our brethren, one in heart and spirit with us. Please give them the training and experience they need, so that when we meet them, they’ll be at a point in their lives where they’ll be prepared to use their skills for Your glory.

We pray for the anointing to fulfill the Great Commission You have given us. Help us to be diligent to study and review the Bible and the many other devotional materials that You have blessed us with‚ so we’ll always be ready to give an answer to those who ask us.2 We don’t know everything that we need in order to do the job, because we don’t know Your plan for each situation. But You do, so we depend on You to do whatever is needed behind the scenes even now, so that we’ll be prepared to do our part to help reap the great harvest.

Help each of us to be open to Your Spirit and willing to make any changes needed so we can continue to fulfill the Great Commission. Help us not to get complacent; please help us to continue to be proactive in our personal relations with those around us, so that we can be prepared in season and out of season to share our faith “with great patience and careful instruction.”3

Help us, Lord, to always be striving for ways to improve and to learn and grow, so we will not get stuck in a rut. We know that as we follow You step by step, You’ll never fail to guide us in Your will. It seems too big a job‚ too monumental for any of us, but we know it’s not too big for You. You have begun the work, and we know that what You start, You have promised to complete.

Help us to have the faith, initiative, fortitude, inspiration‚ and dedication to stand on the promises in Your Word and to trust in You to answer our fervent prayers in the ways You know best. We thank You in advance for Your answers to our prayers in the immediate future, and for those that You’re going to perform further down the road.

The future for all who love You is indeed a bright one! We have so much to look forward to as we pave the way through prayer for the new souls we will reach and the disciples that will be won by faith in the days ahead! Amen.

Originally published July 2007. Adapted and republished March 2020.
Read by Carol Andrews.

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1 Philippians 2:5.

2 1 Peter 3:15.

3 2 Timothy 4:2 NIV.v

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