Last week we discussed briefly the attitude toward authority that the Lord will bless. To a large degree, King David and his extraordinary and unique ability to touch the heart of God was the product of King Saul. It was mostly Saul's persecution and unrighteous treatment of David that helped fashion him into one of such remarkable character and grace.

This week we continue our study of the works of the flesh with “enmities.” The Greek word that is translated here is thumos, which is sometimes translated “fierceness indignation, wrath, hostility, or hatred.” In my search of the Scriptures I have only found two things that are legal for us to hate—sin and unrighteousness. To hate anything or anyone else actually opens the door for evil to prevail, not righteousness.

Last week we discussed how the ultimate slide of humanity into the abyss of darkness will begin with the betrayal of doctors with their most basic trust to save and preserve life. Instead, they will start to freely take lives. As this trend has been growing in the last few decades, we are not far from again seeing man rise to the ultimate arrogance—determining to play God by choosing who should live and die by their own discretion.

   One crucial aspect of being a disciple is we are called to be a disciple of Christ, not men. This does not mean we do not learn from others as our teachers, pastors, and even mentors in various disciplines and knowledge. It is a high privilege to sit under the great teachers and leaders of our times, but we are called to much more than this. We are all called to be first generation disciples of Christ Jesus Himself.

       To have a Christian worldview is to view the world as Christ does. The way we attain this is not by viewing the world, but by seeing Christ and being changed into His image as we behold His glory. Only when we become like Him in nature will we be able to see as He does. For this reason, the chief devotion of every Christian should be to see the Lord as He is, not as we want Him to be, and to keep Him as our first love and first devotion. We see this in II Corinthians 3:17-18:          

As I have shared with our local church, conferences, and through our Prophetic Bulletin over the last few months, it was only a matter of time before the media would realize the seriousness of the coming “bird flu” plague. That is now happening. The threat from this flu is very real, and it does have the potential to be just as deadly as the scientific community is stating. Even the terrible scenarios that are being projected are almost all being purposely understated to prevent panic.

         The word understanding came from the merging of two words, standing and under. The inference is that we cannot understand someone else until we stand in his or her place. To understand another, we must try to stop seeing from our perspective to see from theirs. With the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman tragedy, we have one of the greatest opportunities for understanding and a significant opportunity to gain a victory over racism.

The Deadly Enemy

         Last week we began addressing some of the lessons we received from the recent U.S. elections. I would like to carry the truth of Psalm 115:16 just a bit further, “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.”

We want to address some very basic and practical kingdom financial management principles. First, we need to go over a couple of principles that can help keep us on the right path.

          Most prophetic revelation is on the impression level. It is the “still small voice” of God, and we may be tempted to think these are just thoughts coming from our own souls. Test them. A good way to do this is to ask a question of the person you’re getting something for in the beginning.