In Ephesians 4:11-13 we are told, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of...

As we have discussed, after the Fall, the first one about whom it was said that walked with God was Enoch. We are told in Jude 14 that Enoch prophesied, and a good case can be made that everyone who truly walks with God prophesies. This does not necessarily mean predicting the future, but simply...

We are studying the increasing need to know the Lord’s voice, and for authentic, trustworthy prophetic ministry in our times. This is reflected in Acts 2:17-18, which is a quote from Joel 2: “And it shall be in the last days,” God says, “that I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind: and your...

The primary way we get to know the voice of the Lord is by being with Him, yet some principles we learn in our own personal relationship with Him can be helpful to others. He relates to each of His people in a unique and personal way. This is not because He is changing, but because we are all...

The strongest Christian life will have a deep understanding of the Scriptures, with a devotion to go deeper, as well as knowing the voice of the Lord, with a devotion to know Him better. This is our resolve for this year in our study. If we accomplish these two things, it will be a very successful...

The written Word of God, the Scriptures, is the basis for all Christian doctrine. The gift of prophecy is not used for establishing doctrine—rather it is used by the Lord to direct His people in the present and sometimes in revealing the future. When prophetic revelations have been wrongly used to...

This coming year is going to be one of the most important years of our lives and the world. As I began saying years ago, every election in the U.S. from now on will be more important than the last one, because we are entering times of such intensity. I think we can say this has been accurate so far...

The beginning of a New Year is always a good time for evaluation. Most of the time we want to say “good riddance” to the old, embracing the hope that this New Year will be better. Certainly it can and should be a much better year for every Christian. We are told in Proverbs 4:18: “The path of the...

In order to have a true prophetic perspective on the world that enables us to discern the times accurately, it must begin with a basic Christian worldview—to see the world as Christ does. To have His perspective, we must see from His perspective, which is from above. This is why we are told that we...

As we discussed last week, the grace of God is not just the forgiveness of repeated sins in our lives—it is the power to live a new life as a new creation that does not continue to be subject to the old nature. However, the battle is long and hard against our old nature, and the grace of God...