How do we grow in this season as “truth tellers” and not “offense takers”? We are presently living in a very combative, volatile society. Ten years ago, we never would have imagined that this is where we would be standing, the battles we would be fighting, the words we would be speaking… We never would have imagined that we would sit in a school board meeting and hear pornographic material read aloud or that we would need to fight against race being stringently defined and people being shamed for the color of their skin OR shamed for not speaking the right narrative or argument. We never imagined where the us vs. them would be so magnified and yet at the same time the lines would be so blurred. We never imagined the day where the ”gold star” (“I got the stab”) would be celebrated, encouraged and mandated (strongly encouraged…).

Which camp do you walk in? Which camp do you embrace? Who is your commander-in-chief?

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Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. (Mt 12:30)

The lines are blurred. The argument is misunderstood.

The mandate of heaven is clear and yet too often we set our eyes on present circumstances which skews our perceptions. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20) and yet we live in “Babylon.” How do we live in the reality that “we have been bought and paid for” (1 Cor 7:23)?

Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary. You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, use your body to bring glory to God! (1 Cor 1:19-20 TPT)

It is so easy to lock into the chaos of this world and lose sight of who we are, of who HE is. It is so easy to become consumed with our present world and circumstances and lose hopeful expectancy.

And yet… I know who my God is. Do you? If you have become weary, fill yourself with a good dose of stories/testimonies that REMIND you that our faith and our God are not boxed in by reality. We tap into another kingdom – one in which Jesus taught us to pray “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Impossible does not define our God.

• He SPOKE the world into being.
• He parted the Red Sea and made a way for His people to walk across DRY ground. He made a way for their deliverance in spite of a controlling, tyrannical leader.
• Three men were thrown into a fiery furnace to die. In fact, the heat was so hot that those throwing the three men in died. When called their by their king, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego emerged and “(t)hey saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them” (Dn 3).
• God called a man named Saul – a man known for his deep contempt for the Jewish people and a zeal for persecuting and destroying the early Church. Jesus appeared to this man and called him to be a witness to those who were perishing. This man, renamed Paul, gave up everything he once knew and went on to write much of the New Testament, leading multitudes to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
• And Jesus! The WORD became flesh when Jesus entered our world as a baby. He lived an earthly life to set the stage for the world’s greatest victory known by man. He willingly gave up His own life so that we might LIVE! He was condemned to death by the hands of mere men, died upon a cross and three days later HE CONQUERED DEATH when He rose from the dead. His resurrection set the stage for the Church and our lives today!

Salvation is the greatest miracle – where the “old man” dies so that “the new” may come alive – a new birth! And yet our God does not stop there. The Word is alive and active, has the power to throw mountains into the sea, break every chain and set captives free! Our God is incredibly involved and invested in our lives today. The WORD come alive didn’t end when the last word in Revelation was penned. We are called to be revealers of His Truth today! Our lives bear witness to the Gospel and the God that we serve – the God who calls us sons and daughters!

PRESENT-DAY MIRACLES FROM IFA’S HEADLINE PRAYER

We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony (Rev 12:11). I never tire of rehearsing the stories of where God has moved today:

• Imagine the child struggling with their sexual identity…

“My mom refused to call me Jake and her stubborn insistence on calling me Laura was a tether to reality for me. At the time I hated it, but it became a lifeline.” And then one day, God spoke so directly and tenderly, “If you stood before me tonight, what name would I call?” That question stopped me in my tracks. I had hoped so desperately that God accepted me as Jake. But then in the most loving voice I have ever heard, the Creator of the Universe whispered to me, “Let me tell you who you are.”

• Imagine the man addicted to crack/cocaine and in a moment of surrender set free completely from that addiction…

“I think God was chasing me throughout my life.” In fact, it was the drug dealers who set up to do an intervention! “You’ve been telling us for years that this pillow company is just a platform for God and you’re going to come back and help us all someday and we’re not going to let you die on us.”

• Imagine the mom who left her career in order to care her son with a debilitating illness – constantly calling out to the Lord to heal him…

She came across the verse that calls on us to call the elders to pray and anoint with oil (Js 5:14). “To my shock, they worsened…so severe he couldn’t function.” The sudden intensity caused the doctor to order a test, which in turn became a catalyst to a dramatic turnaround.

• Imagine the grandma who asks God why she’s still here, wondering for what purpose she could still be here for…

“I literally thought ‘I am no one…’  I’ve always wanted to be valuable to the Kingdom of God, to bring glory to God with my life!  I’ve just been in the ‘trapped’ situation where I am not able to bring glory to God.  But now I know that I can.   I thank HIM that He sustained me.  It has brought me to this time where I can fight for our nation, where I can pray and intercede and know that my heart is pure before God.  And because of that, my prayers are powerful and effective.”

• Imagine the prodigal – the daughter who each time she was rescued turn back again and again to addiction, a lost cause by the world’s standards…

Today, she and her husband serve alongside her father at their church. “God’s hand was always with me through everything. I had parents who were praying for me. I always tell parents to never give up praying for their kids. If you have kids still living in your home, make sure they attend church with you. Everything I learned from my parents and church came back to me in my darkest hour. Like it says in Isaiah 55:11 “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”

IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE, BUT TAKE COURAGE… We are not guaranteed a simple life when we make Jesus Lord and Savior of our lives.

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.] (Jn 16:33 AMP)

When we accept Christ, our lives don’t suddenly become untouchable; in fact, in fact, there is often a battle for our lives, for our children’s’ lives. When one decides to live for Jesus – he/she must count the cost.

Too often it is presented as this sweet salvation gift, tied up in a pretty package – a “get out of jail card”…  Yes, you will live freer, “richer”, a victor… But there is a cost to walking with Jesus – a daily struggle to take every thought captive (2 Cor 10:5). Think about the disciples; if you have watched any of “The Chosen”, you have seen the battle, the arguments with the world and with family on WHY “the Way” is the right path, the best path, the ONLY way to the Father!

HE is the only way! If you are like me, you have experienced your own set of miracles, those stories that are impossible by the world’s standards, but a revelation to Our Father’s true nature. Press in, invite others to join you in praying those “impossible prayers”. Pray for our government officials who are ensnared by darkness. Like Paul, like the prodigal, like those in our own lives who have been set free, our God is in the saving business and it is not over until He says it is over!

A teacher reinstated, Critical Race Theory banned, protections for unborn children, sanctuary cities, ballot audits – do you see it? These are answers to prayers in just the last couple of weeks, and the list is by no means exhaustive. Your prayers matter, they are working – impossibilities are becoming reality!

This is what God says, the God who builds a road right through the ocean, who carves a path through pounding waves, the God who summons horses and chariots and armies—they lie down and then can’t get up; they’re snuffed out like so many candles: “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’—the coyotes and the buzzards—Because I provided water in the desert, rivers through the sunbaked earth, Drinking water for the people I chose, the people I made especially for myself, a people custom-made to praise me. (Is 43:16-21 MSG)

He is at work! Do you not perceive it? He is making ways where there were no ways.

What are you pressing in and believing for? Where have you seen God move mountains? Share below so we can join in with hopeful expectancy!

(Written by Suni Piper. Photo by Alicia Quan/UnSplash)