May 19, 2024
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses… Acts 1:8
Today, on Pentecost Sunday, I am praising God for the fresh enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Before beginning a very intense week I claimed Romans 8:11…And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal body… God kept His promise in an amazingly supernatural way. In addition to the busyness of travel, meetings, taping and speaking, my AFib was out of control.
The following pictures are in sequence outlining my week from May 12-18. The week began when I flew to Dallas to give the message at both Mother’s Day services at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, pastored by Dr. Tony Evans. It was the first time he had invited a woman to speak from the pulpit in the almost fifty years since the church’s founding. I was incredibly honored and humbled. I consider Dr. Evans currently to be the best preacher in America—a faithful Bible expositor who captivates his listeners with his energetic contemporary style that includes incredible illustrations and relevant applications.
I’ve known Dr. Evans daughter, Priscilla Shirer, for over twenty-five years. She has become like a little sister to me. It was a joy to have some time with her.
The next morning I was videotaped for two hours reflecting on my experience in Bible Study Fellowship, which I taught for twelve years. My reflections included my relationship with the founder/director, Miss A. Wetherell Johnson, whom I consider the premier mentor in my life—outside my family.
Following the taping I had lunch with the current director of BSF, Hollie Roberts, whom I found to be quite a visionary and very delightful.
I flew home, then on to Washington, DC, where I was joined by my family for the unveiling of my father’s statue in the Capitol on Thursday.
Friday I toured the Capitol to observe where my father’s statue was permanently placed. It is in the crypt, which is the most traveled area as it is the corridor that connects the House and the Senate. Only statues from the thirteen original colonies are allowed to be placed there. I pray that those who pass by it, including the president and all the dignitaries on Inauguration Day, will look up, and be reminded of God’s Word and God’s Gospel that are inscribed on the base…John 14:6 and John 3:16.
After returning home, the next afternoon Rachel-Ruth and I spoke under a tent at the annual picnic hosted by Coach Sylvia Hatchell (pictured below with Rachel-Ruth, Morrow and me). The atmosphere was very wet but cozy, with thunder rolling and rain pouring. But the audience was raptly attentive as we shared God’s promises of His presence with us from throughout the Bible, ending with Pentecost and His promise to not just be with us, but to be in us. We were preceded by Phil Ford, a UNC basketball superstar, who gave his moving testimony of the difference Jesus has made in his life.
So…If you are facing an intense week, month, or year with more to do than you can do, ask God to give you a down payment on your resurrection body. Claim Romans 8:11. I did,…and He gave me supernatural power to make it through not just somehow, but triumphantly!
Because God keeps His promises!
The Bible is filled with stories of people at their wits’ end who cried out to the Lord! He then heard and answered by delivering them. The Hebrew children enslaved in Egypt, their entrapment at the Red Sea by the Egyptian army, the three Hebrew men in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lions’ den, Mary and Martha at the tomb of Lazarus, and so many others too numerous to mention describe that desperate times can be stepping stones of experiencing God’s miraculous intervention on our behalf.
One story that is not as well known is that of the prophet Jeremiah who spoke God’s words to the defiant Judean king, Zedekiah. The king was enraged and had Jeremiah cruelly beaten and thrown into a dungeon for speaking the truth. The Bible says he was there for a long time.1 He was later released, but it wasn’t long before some other men became infuriated by Jeremiah’s boldness to speak God’s words to the people. These wicked men dumped him into a cistern of wet mud that he sank down into.2 A pit! There was no way out for Jeremiah who described his agonizing experience in Lamentations 3:53-57: They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off. I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”
From up in Heaven, God heard Jeremiah’s cry of desperation from down in the pit! He came near and answered! Ebed-Melech,3 an African, who was an important government official, heard what had been done to Jeremiah. God moved him to boldly go before the king and intercede on Jeremiah’s behalf. As a result, the king responded to Ebed-Melech’s plea by sending him along with thirty of the king’s men to pull Jeremiah out of the pit! The Bible describes details of the incredible deliverance! Ebed-Melech lowered down rags and cloths to put under Jeremiah’s arms, so when he was pulled up out of the sucking mud the ropes wouldn’t burn him. Jeremiah was not just pulled out of the pit, he was gently pulled to safety, then tended to and cared for in the courtyard of the guard.4
Are you at your wits’ end? Are you in the “pit” with no way out? Then take this thrilling story to heart as encouragement! Keep praying! God’s Word to Jeremiah and to us is: Pray but do not fear! No matter how desperate your situation is, God will hear your cry! And He will send help! One key to receiving a miracle is that He wants you and me to trust in Him completely! To put the full weight of our faith down on Him. In fact, that could be the reason He has allowed you to be at your wits’ end with no one else to turn to, but God!
It may be that you are not at your wits’ end, but someone you are concerned for is. Then could you be like Ebed-Melech? Go before the King of kings on their behalf! God may use you to respond to someone else’s prayers as He sends you, along with His Angelic Royal Guard, to pull your loved ones out of a pit!
Your prayers matter! For yourself and for others. Your prayers of desperate faith in God, and God alone, bring the power of Heaven down to hopeless situations. He is the God of the impossible! He can make a way when there is no way!! When you have God, you are never without hope! Even in a world that has gone mad, God is still on the throne. He still responds to prayers of desperation with all the power and might of Heaven! No one or nothing is out of His grasp! So… pray with all your heart! Don’t stay in your pit of despair, hopelessness, desperation, and ruin! God will make a way, and He uses our prayers to catapult His deliverance. Pray! Trust! And wait with expectancy for the God of the impossible to move!!!
When pressures or problems or pain envelop our lives, we tend to trust God…plus our doctor or our lawyer or our counselor or our banker or our leaders or our own effort or our_____(fill in the blank). Yet God seems to demonstrate His power and glory to those who trust in Him alone. Which is why He often allows us to reach the end of our human resources or run the limit of conventional wisdom before He steps in and does the impossible. The miraculous. So when you are at your wits’ end…
Click here for the Bible Study especially developed for this newsletter.
Christ Community Church in Montreat, NC, was the church where I was raised, baptized, gave my first testimony, and was married! My mother and father, as well as Rachel-Ruth and Steven, were also married in this incredibly meaningful place. Rachel-Ruth and I were each given a morning session to speak at their women’s conference, challenging the ladies to receive and pass truth to those who follow. After lunch, I included my youngest granddaughter in a Q & A as a living example of three generations of faith.
Anne Christiansen was our bold and courageous Just Give Me Jesus revival chair in Oslo, Norway in 2007. She was told by national church leaders not to book the Spektrum Arena because she would be humiliated when few people came. But she forged ahead by faith, and the arena was filled! She is gorgeous, articulate, and passionate about reaching the next generation for Jesus. We had a wonderful visit when she and her husband Stephan recently visited AnGeL Ministries. Please visit Anne Christiansen’s website here.
RR: Coach Sylvia Hatchell is one of our dearest friends!! She was the head women’s basketball coach at the University of North Carolina for 33 years, won a national championship, and is in the Naismith Hall of Fame. Eleven years ago she asked if I would teach a Bible study she started for some of her staff, UNC faculty and friends, which I did. When COVID hit, we had to go online, and the study grew so much that we have kept it online. Coach Hatchell asked my mom, my youngest daughter, Riggin, and I to join her for the UNC-NC State men’s basketball game. The last time I was at a UNC game, two years ago, I had a SCAD heart attack…I left the game and called 911. So thankful God allowed me to come back and have a wonderful time. God is faithful!
For Women’s History Month, Study Gateway asked me to share who my most influential female mentor was. I was blessed to answer that outside of my family, it was Miss
A. Wetherell Johnson, founder of Bible Study Fellowship.
RR: In March I went to San Antonio to speak at a Youth for Christ Fundraising Gala! My grandfather was Youth for Christ’s first evangelist way back at the beginning of his ministry!
The Daniel Prayer
Based on Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9, will help you pray effectively for your nation, for your family, and for yourself. Click to Order
Why?
Anne shares her heart and God’s teachings on the universal problem of suffering, using the familiar story of Lazarus. It will help you understand and deal with suffering by leading you to the One Who knows your needs, shares your grief, sheds your tears and promises glory to come! Based on John 11. Click to Order
Daily Light Journal
Since she was a young girl, Anne has read Daily Light, the life-changing devotional of Scripture compilations given to her by her mother, Ruth Bell Graham. Anne decided to write out her thoughts on the Daily Light to sharpen her attentiveness to the voice of God. This journal is the result.
Click to Order
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April 15, 2024
One week ago today America experienced an amazing total solar eclipse. Two days before, on April 6th, I posted a blog entitled, What does the April 8 Eclipse Mean? (SEE BELOW)
Thank all of you who warmly received it and posted affirmative comments. In reading through some of the responses, I encountered two issues of disagreement that I would like to address. The first issue was with my statement that the United States was founded on faith in God. I quoted from the Pledge of Allegiance, not because it was a founding document, but because it so succinctly states that we are “one nation under God.” Our very first president, George Washington, immediately following his inauguration on his very first day in office, knelt in prayer along with his entire government and dedicated the United States of America to the glory of God.1 It was an incredible act that established us as a nation under God.
The second issue was with this statement: The paths of the three eclipses over our beloved nation form the Hebrew letters that represent the first and last letters of the alphabet… the beginning and the end… the Alpha and the Omega…which is also one of the names the Lord God gives for Himself (Revelation 1:8). I stated the paths of the eclipse represent the Alpha and Omega. They do not spell it out, which is where the confusion lies. The paths of the three eclipses actually spell out Aleph-Tav which in ancient Hebrew means “completed alphabet.” In Hebrew, Revelation 1:8 would read: Ani h’aleph v’tav – I am the Aleph (א) and Tav (ת). 2 Or, I am the Alpha and Omega.
Thank you for caring enough to read the blog and push back on things you believe are not correct. I want to be held accountable. I apologize for not explaining more clearly what I heard the Spirit whisper to my heart when I was in prayer and meditating on His Word the morning of April 6. While no one can know for certain if the three eclipses are a sign and/or warning from Heaven, I believe they may be. What I do know with certainty is that it’s time for us to repent of sin, return to God and get right with Him. Now. While there is still time.
In my blog below I shared a prayer that could help someone establish a right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. For those of us who know we belong to God through faith in Jesus, join me in praying King David’s prayer of Psalm 139:23-24 as you tune your heart to listen…then follow through in obedience… to the Spirit’s answer:
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
[1] https://allianceforreligiousfreedom.com/educate-yourself/america-dedicated-to-god/
[2] https://www.cepher.net/what-is-the-aleph-tav.aspx
April 6, 2024
…And God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs… Genesis 1:14
On Monday, April 8, 2024, the United States will witness the third total eclipse within a seven year period. This is the first time in over 1000 years that any nation has seen something like this. The paths of the three eclipses over our beloved nation form the Hebrew letters that represent the first and last letters of the alphabet… the beginning and the end… the Alpha and the Omega…which is also one of the names the Lord God gives for Himself (Revelation 1:8).
Could God be giving us a sign from the sky? Is He giving us a heads-up warning that time is running out for our nation? In a significant way, God is the Alpha of the United States of America. He is our beginning. We were founded as “one nation under God.” Is He now putting us on notice that He is also our Omega? Is He warning us that the end is near for America as we have known her?
While I don’t know the answer to those questions, I do know everything means something.
Jesus prophesied that right before the end there would be signs in the sky that include the sun being darkened (Matthew 24:29). The Old Testament prophet Joel declared the same thing (Joel 2:31). Are we near the end as a nation?
But His warning carries with it implied hope.
God would not warn us if there was not opportunity to change depending on our response to it. Like Nineveh of old, could God be giving us a warning of impending disaster…a warning followed by a window of time to turn away from our sin and return to Him? (Jonah 3:1-10)
While the eclipse is a fascinating natural phenomenon that deserves our attention, I don’t want to miss the sign from Heaven that it may be also. If it is a warning, how will you and I wish we had responded to it when the end comes? I believe it’s time to get right with God as a nation. Now. The prophet Joel, quoted above, says it best as he implored his nation: …Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…who knows but that He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing… (Joel 2:13-14)
It’s also time to get right with God as individuals. If that’s your desire, pray this simple prayer:
Dear God,
I want to get right with You. I acknowledge that I have done wrong things, and I’m sorry. I have turned away from You and gone my own way. I ask You to forgive me. I now turn to You. I claim the death of Your Son, Jesus, as Your sacrifice for my sin and wrongdoing. I receive the eternal life He rose from the grave to give me. I surrender the control of my life to Him. I invite Him to come into my heart, and choose to follow Him from this day forward, all the way to Heaven.
Amen
If enough of us prayed that prayer, we could save our nation. But even if you are the only one who responds to God’s heavenly sign by getting right with Him, you may not prevent the end from coming, but regardless of what happens, you will be safe…forever!
A Tav is a Cross, the last letter of both the ancient Hebrew and Egyptian alphabets. The Aleph is an A, the source of our modern letter. They are the first and last letters, the Alpha and the Omega essentially.
The April 8 2024 eclipse creates all three letters within minutes by crossing the lines created by the first two eclipses from south to north.
Paleo-Hebrew was the script in which the Old Testament was written, not the modern script that is currently used ( which was being standardized around 200 B.C.) .
On the left is a Tav–the last letter (22nd) of the Hebrew alphabet– essentially a cross or X in the above illustration.
On the right is the Paleo-Hebrew Aleph–the first letter of the alphabet. The Tav is being written by the shadow of the moon on both locations.
The Aleph ( where we get Alpha and our letter A) is written by shadows of the 2017, 2023 and 2024 eclipses on the USA.2
1 Click world crosses section and American maps to consider peculiarity.
2 https://eclipsewitness.com/american-eclipse-judgment
Some time ago, while sitting on the porch of a beach house, I was enjoying watching people walk by. I began to be curious as four people approached because I noticed that the two guys were dressed exactly alike, and the two women walking with them were dressed exactly alike! Not only that, the four of them were walking with two dogs that were exactly alike! As I watched, I thought this can’t be! So I closed one eye, and sure enough…there was only one couple walking one dog! When I opened my other eye, I saw four people and two dogs. That’s the first indication I had of double vision.
Double vision is exhausting because everything looks confusing. Straining to constantly focus is wearying. I can’t see clearly unless I wear glasses, or close one eye…does the pastor and/or worship leader in church think I’m winking at him?
While physical double vision is exhausting, spiritual double vision is more so. Life can become confusing, a wise decision can turn into multiple choice, our goals can become divided, our reason and purpose for living can become ambiguous, and weariness takes over.
In Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus said: The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Put another way, He is saying that your focus determines the direction of your life. If your focus is healthy, your whole life will be full of light. But if your focus is off…if you have spiritual double vision…you will become confused, susceptible to deception, and end up lost on the road going nowhere with a life that is wasted.
Spiritual double vision produces an erratic, inconsistent walk. Some days you read your Bible—some days you don’t. Some days you pray—some days you don’t. Some things you surrender to the Lord—some things you hold on to. Some time and money you give Him…some time and money you spend the way you want. It’s exhausting.
I remember when I first surrendered everything to the Lord. I did so because I was tired. Tired of the multiple decisions I made every day, “Do I do this His way? In obedience to His Word? In accordance to His will? Or do I do things my way, according to what I want?” Finally, it just seemed easier and less exhausting to let Him have everything and give me back what He wanted me to have. So I did. I surrendered all. Immediately I felt a release. A sweet peace. My life, my decisions, my goals that included family and ministry, were in His hands. And my focus was clear. I would live for Him alone. For His pleasure. For His glory.
Over the years, God has taken me deeper in that surrender as I have been challenged in new ways: to surrender my children…and my grandchildren…their decisions and well-being; to surrender the future of the ministry He has entrusted to me; to surrender my time and the way I use it as I seem to get busier and busier; to surrender my health, or lack of it; to surrender my reputation as I come under assault; and the list goes on.
The blessing has been not only peace and spiritual “rest” from the striving, but also a clearer focus on my supreme goal of pursuing Him…of knowing Him, loving Him, pleasing Him, serving Him, glorifying Him until I see Him face to face.
So at the beginning of this New Year 2024, check your focus. What consumes your time? Your thoughts? What are your goals? Your priorities? Do you lack deep inner peace because without realizing it, you have gradually developed double vision? If so, it’s time to surrender all. Make the words of this classic hymn by Judson Van DeVenter not just your New Year’s resolution but your prayer for life:
All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.
All to Jesus I surrender,
Humbly at His feet I bow;
Worldly pleasures all forsaken,
Take me, Jesus, take me now.
All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.
All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.
All to Jesus I surrender,
Now I feel the sacred flame;
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His name!
I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior
I surrender all.
For His Glory,
Click here for the Bible Study especially developed for this newsletter.
Rachel-Ruth has overcome daunting, life-threatening health issues not just somehow, but triumphantly, as she has kept her eyes fixed on Jesus. Her life, as well as her message, impacted the hundreds of Intercessors for America who gathered in Washington, DC as she shared the platform with Michele Bachmann, Richard Blackaby and Eric Metaxas.
The King’s personal Christmas gift to me this year was the opportunity to speak at a women’s event at Cornerstone Church in Leesburg, VA, as a substitute for Rachel-Ruth whose doctor did not want her to fly. Two thousand women were seated before me and 3500 were watching by live stream, as I challenged them to surrender their hearts to The King for His birthday. I’m excited to welcome Cornerstone’s pastor, Gary Hamrick, as a teacher at my Cove seminar this November 1-3.
Dino Kartsonakis and his beautiful wife, Cheryl, led worship for my Cove seminar in November. The Cove training center was filled to capacity, with 1500 watching on live stream, as Dino thrilled us with his music. He will be back to lead worship at my Cove seminar November 1-3. The seminar was truly a mountaintop experience as we were all challenged to get ready to meet Jesus—He’s coming!
Thanksgiving was a small celebration in our beloved NC mountains near my father’s house. My spirit was refreshed as I walked around the town I grew up in with my youngest granddaughter, Riggin, and my Golden Retriever, Churchill.
As the world keeps getting darker morally and spiritually, as rumors of wars increase, as nations rise against nations, as anger boils over in homes and on the streets, as our culture has gone so woke it denies the basic science of gender identity…and the list goes on…followers of Jesus are on high alert. The signs of His imminent return are more and more obvious. It’s time to get ready to meet Him face to face!
These messages were recorded at The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove and are more timely today than they were even then. Dino Kartsonakis has graciously given us his permission to include his Cove seminar concert as a bonus track.
Getting up early in the morning to fix your eyes on Jesus through prayer and reading His Word is like setting your spiritual compass. Because no matter what faces you during the day, or how “lost” and confused you can become…He invariably leads you on the right path.
Our prayer is that the devotions in this updated deluxe edition will help you fix your eyes on Jesus every day, so that you, too, can set your spiritual compass.
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