For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms–all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6-7, New Living Translation)

Don’t forget the position God has given you. The Bible teaches a Gospel of joy, something possible because we know Him:

And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we are in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life. Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. (1 John 5:20-21, New Living Translation)

Don’t forget the position… always take the high road. Beggarly elements grow more beggarly but “those who do know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God] . . . are wise and understanding . . . and instruct many and make them understand.” (Daniel 11:32-33, AMP)

Declare the Lord’s Day! Declare your position with Him—above dark thinking and acting. Look to the Lord for wisdom, counsel, power and might. Look to Him and receive His character into all you do today. Take your seat beside Him – far above the principalities and powers of this age.

Amen.

Ephesians 2:6-7
1 John 5:20-21
Daniel 11:32-33 (AMP)

Transformation depends upon governmental authority – good or evil: The release of Light produces light and good, while the release of Darkness produces darkness and evil; the transformation is underway as agents of God’s authority, government, power and kingdom have their orders and agents of evil also have theirs.

The contest between light and darkness, between good and evil is obvious enough but those who know God hold the conclusion of the matter: The Creator and designer, the architect of it all, governs with LIGHT as it was in the beginning; the authority and government of Light swallows up darkness… always!

“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:16, NKJV)

Every created thing began with God—His Creation designed for good. The fact that some of God’s original design is corrupted is explained in the issue of government as a matter of authority. Mankind and all created things exist under authority of some kind and the authority over them determines the government of them – good or evil.

God qualifies us to participate in His government for the good of the entire creation. He gives us an inheritance among all those who choose light over darkness (v12), delivers us from the governmental authority of darkness, and conveys us into the government and authority of LIGHT, the Kingdom of the Son of His love (v13).

In prayer, declare:
Father, I reverence Your Name today and declare: Your Kingdom COME, Your will BE DONE on earth as it is in heaven—in both visible and invisible realms, over and concerning all thrones, dominions, principalities and powers. I declare everything created through and for You is marked afresh with Kingdom authority, power and government. I declare the government of God Most High: 1) deliverance from evil and 2) conveyance into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love. Amen – so be it!

Colossians 1

The world moves forward another day and history teaches the necessity that we intercede ahead of global trends, offering a vital link to those caught in the whirlwind of it all; but if we focus on just today, and that which we see naturally, or if we live in a previous glory, we cannot be relative to contemporary demands and history will then teach those who come after us that we abandoned our mission claim to the masses.

In Jesus’ day, madmen possessed by evil spirits attacked the minds of men to enslave them. The LORD’s response to their threats came with authority, not from the shadows and certainly not from the safe enclosures of religion. He called to account everything that raised its head to destroy, and ultimately gave His life to assure a future of chains for the oppressor.

Now we have inherited the present world scene. From the Cross of Calvary forward, today is ours to lose. And if we do lose it, the loss will have occurred in the matter of true prayer. The loss will be that we failed to interpret the trend and did not see clearly enough for ourselves to offer leadership to others, choosing instead to prioritize other things including attempts at prayer without the real spirit of prayer.

Amen.

Joel 2
Acts 2
Romans 8:26, 27
Hebrews 7:25-28

Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, a day of united prayer for Christians around the world who are suffering just because they are Christian. Being maligned, discredited, abused, tortured, imprisoned, discriminated against, and driven from home and family are just some of the ways Christians are penalized for practicing their faith or refusing to convert to other religions.

Christians around the world – whose belief in, and worship of, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – are publically beheaded, tortured to death, or killed en masse, while the world looks on.
Today we can change that with our prayers; with one voice we can SAY and PRAY, asking God to comfort and rescue our Christian brothers and sisters.

“So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17 AMP)

Amen.

For reliable background information and to learn more, refer to the Open Doors International website,

Be sure to utilize the list of the top 50 countries where persecution OF CHRISTIANS is most prevalent.

And then focus your prayer on the top ten countries, using the description provided.

Anytime there is impasse and nowhere to turn the Lord is willing to raise a standard unique to the situation – often a first ever of its kind. Whether nations or people, whatever the center of turbulence, an atmosphere of expectation serves to attract His providence so that suddenly things change, governments shift, and impossible structures move.

And if we know this, and specifically know HIM as our Source, then promotion connects to divine orchestration and we are free to trust Him completely; our part remains critical—our part is to pray. The Lord promised He will not leave His people without a prophet, and will not withhold His hand if they will ensure but the one thing, the humbling thing—to trust Him completely, with expectation.

Amen.

God’s Kingdom is not shaking. Today we progressively receive, we are receiving, this unshakable Kingdom, inviting Him into each detail: “Lord, I pray that Your unshakable Kingdom come, [so that] Your will be done, on earth in the same way it is done in heaven.”

The Kingdom is the container, the setting, the mindset, the strategy, the prayer, the intellect
for the inheritance we are presently receiving–reserved for us in heaven, and brought into our today as we pray: Thy [unshakable, incorrupt, undefiled and clear-as-a-picture] Kingdom, COME!

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. (Hebrews 12:27 NKJV)

Amen.

Unshakable Kingdom Hebrews 12
Reserved (in heaven) 1 Peter 1:3-10

Time is my investment. Opportunity comes from God but I control the investment. The kingdom is like a man who sowed seed. In the fullness of time the seed sown determined the man’s harvest—its value, quality, amount and size. The time I have today is mine to command, but the way I invest time is one qualifier for my position when the Lord returns (John 14: 3, 27-28).

In the Bible, fullness of time is time that’s full: the point at which the wait for anything appointed to take place, and the timing for it to take place merge. Therefore, in consideration of the time the Lord has given me, I discipline my flesh and conscience to commit the first and best of my day to Him—looking forward to His return and the completion of this time.

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” (Matthew 25:1-13 NKJV)

Amen.

John 14: 3, 27-28
Matthew 25:1-13

Have you ever entered into something simply because someone believed you were sufficiently capable to be successful? Or have you ever done something simply because another person placed a requirement upon you to do it? The principle is a proven one: we do things we never thought we could do, or would even attempt to do, because someone trusts in our ability to do it. The principle is also a spiritual one: Surrounded by people of faith, we grow spiritually because their faith is placing a demand upon the gift-deposit God has placed within us.

Another question: Have you ever wanted so much to hear from God that you actually began to pull on Him in a given situation, desperate to hear? Actually, that’s another proven principle: Jesus said knock and it will be opened, seek and you will find. (Matt. 7:7, Lu. 11:9, Rev. 3:20)

In the Kingdom these principles measure our relationship with God; they also determine our spiritual growth. The Lord Himself called us forth by His own faith. Realizing His determination to see to our success in righteous matters, we then have confidence in that success as well. A natural by-product of the process is spiritual growth, producing spiritual maturity. The spiritually mature man recognizes what God is asking of him, so that God can bring forth success for him.

Amen.

Pressure is a revealer. The pressures of life uncover things I’d never go looking for on purpose. The reason I am pressured is that I have arrived at a place I do not fully have faith to address and my natural ability to ‘keep going’ must be recruited to fill in the gap. The problem for me then is that I go into an automatic compensation mode, trying to work my way through without God’s affirmation; my lack of faith figures heavily into the anatomy of the pressure. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Stress is another revealer. I am stressed because my capacity to believe God is short-circuited somewhere. Without the light of God’s Word already stored in my heart, I fully participate in the stresses that certainly come. The anatomy of stress is actually a process, beginning with pressure and multiple pressures resulting from the faith-crisis already mentioned, and advanced by self-doubt, God-doubt, and doubt concerning others. Stress is not what it’s cracked up to be. Stress is not cool. Stress is sin.

Concerning such revealers we should do as David did at a difficult time in his life; the difficulties he faced ultimately brought him to an understanding: The Lord “desires truth” in the most inward part of man; in the deepest, and therefore most hidden, part of who we really are. It is time to consider matters of heart we would never go looking for otherwise; it is time for an honest self-judgment as to why we yield to the things we yield to. We should do as David did.

Amen.

Truth in the inward, hidden parts. Psalm 51:6
David’s Repentance. Psalm 51
Cutting between soul and spirit. Hebrews 4:12

Theology is the study and knowledge about God, consisting of two kinds of knowledge, natural and revealed: Natural theology is the knowledge we have of God from his works, by the light of nature and reason; revealed theology is that which is to be learned only from revelation.

God is interested in our theology—our knowledge of Him, and the Bible teaches He wants to reconcile (totally change) us from the place we may have wandered, to the place of correct theology of Him. Our reconciliation to Him means our theology should constantly change as we learn more about Him—as we increasingly learn from Him.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven. Colossians 1:19-23, NKJV

If God’s provision is available to totally change me, why do I remain the same? Good question. The answer is a “revelation” away but often our theology blocks the way to what God wants for us. Much of what is going on may be divine intervention—the Lord wants to totally change some things.

Amen.