Don’t look back: Three words that together make up what I believe is a timely prophetic utterance for the Body of Christ in this hour. Let me write them again: Don’t look back.

Many are carrying hurts and wounds from the past. We don’t shake them off and come up higher because we keep looking back to the people and circumstances that crushed our hearts. Instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to use the injustice to propel us to places of greater authority in the kingdom like Joseph did, we rehearse our past in our own minds like a scratched CD. Out of the abundance of the bitterness and resentment in our hearts, our mouth speaks poison that defiles us. And we remain less-than-effective in proclaiming the kingdom of God because we won’t bury the dead and say farewell to the past. The good news is, Jesus is our past, present and future healer. read more

Are you building walls of religion or towers of prayer? Your answer could denote the difference between a woe-filled fate and a fulfilled destiny.

Prophets obsessed by the fear of man or unholy desires will not fulfill God’s ultimate plan. We must be careful, then, not to prophesy according to the party line in order to establish and preserve popularity in ministry circuits. If we fall into this trap we find ourselves in danger of perverting the gift of God by building walls of religion.

True prophets are not always the most popular five-fold ministry gift on the block because they are bold enough to release a word of the Lord that deals with sin or that warns the local church of potentially unpleasant circumstances coming down the proverbial pike. In order to properly carry this mantle, genuine prophets must build towers of prayer. read more

Picture this: Elijah was running for his life—from the wicked queen Jezebel.

At a time when he needed all the friends he could get, Elijah found himself isolated in the wilderness battling fearful imaginations of Jezebel’s henchmen making good on her death threat. His servant was supposed to protect him, to stand with him—to run with him if necessary. Instead this unnamed servant stayed behind in Beersheba (1 Kings 19:3). The Bible says Elijah left his servant there, but there’s no indication that the servant even so much as tried to stay by his side.

That has always puzzled me. Elijah’s servant had just watched God bring rain to the land at Elijah’s word after a long drought. This servant had just witnessed Elijah call down fire from heaven. Elijah’s servant had witnessed the man of God defeat 850 prophets with his sword. God only knows how many other miracles Elijah’s servant witnessed. Yet at the first sign of trouble, the servant stayed behind in Beersheba, a fertile land of plenty, while Elijah isolated himself in the wilderness. read more

People will remember David Wilkerson, who was killed in a head-on collision in Tyler, Texas on Wednesday, for many different things.

Some will remember him for his books, like The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-selling phenomenon with more than 15 million copies sold in over 30 languages. Others will remember him for launching Teen Challenge, a nationwide ministry to reach out to people with life controlling habits. Still others will remember Wilkerson for his sometimes controversial prophetic words.

I will remember Wilkerson for all of that and more, but there is one particular message this general of the faith preached more than a decade ago that I believe needs to be shouted from the rooftops in these last days. (Indeed, many of Wilkerson’s uncompromising messages need to be trumpeted in this hour, but a particular sermon he preached in Moscow in 2000 has weighed heavy on my heart since I first saw it a few years ago.) As was often the case with Wilkerson’s sermons, it was relevant when he preached it but it grew even more relevant as time went on. read more

“Mommy, can I take my Bible to school today?” Nine words that brought both delight and concern to my heart. Delight that my then 10-year-old darling would love Jesus enough to take Him to school with her in leather-bound form. Concern because I knew that love would breed persecution I wasn’t sure she was yet ready to fully understand.

So I did what any good parent would do. I said, “Of course you can take your Bible to school. Remember, Jesus’ words are in red.” Then I prayed for the prophetic youngster and sent her off to the public school system with a homemade lunch in one hand and the Word of God in the other. Knowing I wouldn’t be there to protect her—and not knowing what devil she might face when she opened the good book during the after school care program—I committed her to the Lord’s covering and believed the best.

Do you know what happened? (This is the cool part.) Within 15 minutes of the school bell ringing she had assembled a small youth group that was quite intent on hearing her declare what Jesus had to say about attitudes, money and other issues they deal with on an every day basis. One little boy, she later told me, was even taking notes. It was a bona fide Bible study—and then it happened. One of the teenaged counselors barged in on the peaceful gathering, shrieking, “Put that book away! You might offend somebody!” read more