Rick Joyner Rick Joyner has authored more than fifty books, including The Final Quest Trilogy, There Were Two Trees in the Garden, The Path, and Army of the Dawn. He is also the Founder and Executive Director of MorningStar Ministries, a multi-faceted mission organization which includes Heritage International Ministries, MorningStar University, MorningStar Fellowship of Churches and Ministries. Click here to take a look at Rick's latest Rant #ricksrants

Trials Are the Gateway to the Kingdom - The Great Commission, Part 5

          Our God is so big and so wonderful we will be marveling at Him for all of eternity, so it is good to get started! Because the first commandment is to love Him above all things, the ultimate issue by which it will be determined if we are successful human beings or not will be by how much we love God. Therefore, this should be the greatest devotion of our lives.

Taking the Land, Part 69

Before proceeding, I would like to address one more little stumbling block that hinders some Christians from sound financial planning. Because the Law of Moses forbade God's people from charging interest to a fellow Israelite, many feel that it is not right to do so today. If this is something you wrestle with, please consider this: The Lord's own teaching in the Parable of the Talents condemns those who do not at least get interest for what they have been entrusted with, and that does not conflict with the Law of Moses.

Abiding in the Presence of the Lord - The Path of Life, Part 10

     We discussed in a previous Word for the Week how discernment may operate through impressions, which is where we start to feel in ourselves what someone else is dealing with. One reason many prophetic people suffer depression is because they pick up on so much spiritually around them that they think it is their problem and fail to distinguish this as the gift working. Just because we feel depression does not mean that we have depression, but we may be feeling what someone close to us is dealing with.

The Candidates

     The most frequently asked question that I receive is for my opinion of the Republican Presidential candidates. There is much evidence that people are more engaged in the process this time and have a resolve to know the candidates. Many believe that President Obama did not get vetted by the media or even his challengers, and there is good evidence the citizens of the U.S. will not allow that to happen again. This engagement is cause for hope.

Day 134 - The Goal of Life Is Life

As we have considered in our study, our goal is not just knowledge or power, but life. In our pursuit of life we will seek knowledge and the power to authenticate our message, but these are just means to the ultimate goal. The life we seek is the person of Jesus—He is the Life.
 
The life of God is found first in His nature, and then His works. We do not serve Him because of what He does, but because of who He is. Likewise, our calling is not just to do, but to be.

Knowing Our History—The Book of Revelation

         As we have covered, the biggest falling away from the faith began after the Roman Empire made Christianity the imperial religion. This brought a flood of unsavory and selfishly ambitious people into the church. They sought leadership positions in the church, viewed as the easiest and quickest path to wealth and power. Quickly, the church was transformed from a vitally alive and powerful force spreading faith throughout the world in the face of relentless persecution to little more than a political pawn of the state.

Day 86 - The Great Commission

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20).

Honoring Those Who Came Before- The Greatest Christian Life

     My purpose in sharing these brief biographies of great Christian lives is to encourage you to go deeper in study of the lives of those who especially inspired you. Their stories can influence us in a way that is like being one of their disciples. The stories of those who walked with God still have power and an impartation, as do many of the biblical accounts.

The Fruit of the Land, Part 11

As we begin our study of the individual characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, we need to remember that this is exactly what they are—individual characteristics of the “fruit of the Spirit,” singular, not fruits, plural. If we have one fruit, we should have them all. If we lose one fruit, we will lose them all. They are inseparable.

The Nazis and the Antichrist

Last week we reviewed and looked a little more deeply at how we recognize and enter the kingdom of God. We also looked at how righteousness and justice are the foundation of the Lord’s throne (see Psalm 89:14). Therefore, we can expect to find these at the base of everything that God is doing in preparation for the coming of His kingdom. The wise will learn to recognize His righteousness and His justice, and only give themselves to building on the same.