Category Archives: spiritual warfare

May 14, 2019 · 8:03 am

Prayers for Businessmen (5/14/2019)

My rusty 1975 Chevrolet pickup soon needed brakes so I asked Wayne, a mechanic friend, to fix them. He did me a favor by fixing them on his lunch hour. Afterward, I drove the truck around the block, pressing on the brakes at each corner. Everything seemed okay.

I then moved out onto busy 1st Avenue South, heading toward my apartment. I hit the accelerator, the 350-engine roared to life as the truck quickly picked up speed. The upcoming light changed to red. I stepped on the brakes. The pedal went to the floor. No brakes! I pulled on the emergency brake. Nothing happened!

My hand hit the horn. I swerved out into the oncoming traffic lane to avoid slamming into the stopped cars ahead of me. The oncoming cars swerved out of my way while honking their horns and shaking their fists at me. I somehow missed everyone and turned into a parking lot with an uphill grade. The truck coasted to a stop. I shifted out of gear.

I sat there with my heart beating like a base drum inside a cave. The Holy Spirit then whispered to my heart: “Just like your truck was out of control, the American economy is also out of control.”

The Holy Spirit certainly had my attention at that moment, but was the American economy really out of control at that time in the spring of 1992?

The year 1992 was not a bad economic year. Dow Jones averages bottomed out at 3,137, inflation was a paltry three percent, unemployment stood at 6.8 percent, and gasoline cost $1.13 a gallon. The year ended up marking the beginning of an economic boom in America, which continued through the year 2000 with the Dow Jones rising to 11,750, inflation bottoming out at 2.1 percent, unemployment dropping to 4.5 percent, and gas inching up to $1.17 per gallon.

Even after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the American economy continued in a boom cycle. Houses, commodities, and stock markets skyrocketed.

But yet, the Holy Spirit spoke to me in the present tense back in 1992. What’s with that?

Our Lord is a now God. He sees the future, just like He sees the present. It is always now to Him. Thus, when He speaks prophetic words to us, we must consider His present tense words may be for the future, and not for the present. This is why we need discernment when we judge prophetic words.

Oh yes… What happened to my brakes, right?

Wayne forgot to put the cover back on the brake reservoir. The first few times I stepped on the brakes, the brake fluid sprayed onto my engine, emptying the reservoir. There was no fluid when I hit the brakes at the red light.

Wayne felt bad, but I told him an angel held a hand over his eyes so he would not notice the cover missing from the brake reservoir. He laughed until he realized I was serious about the angel’s handiwork.

(An excerpt from The Hunt for Larry Who by Larry Nevenhoven, © 2014, Amazon eBook)

It’s my belief this prophetic word will soon occur. Let’s prepare ourselves now.

My prayer for today:

Lord, I pray You give businessmen the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You and Your ways. I also pray that the eyes of their understanding are enlightened so they may know what You’re really saying with all prophetic words.” (Based on Ephesians 1:17-18).

Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for American men in the marketplace.

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May 10, 2019 · 6:32 am

Friday’s End-Times Bible Studies (Part 8)

There is an underlying story between the Book of Genesis and the Book of Revelation. That story revolves around God’s love for humans and how determined God is to redeem them.

In Genesis Chapter One, the first man –Adam – was created in God’s image and was given dominion over all of the earth.  Adam was created to walk and fellowship with God and then rule the earth as God’s ambassador. This was Adam’s birthright and therefore all of mankind’s birthright through Adam.

But soon, Eve was deceived by Satan and then Adam committed sin by rebelling against God’s commandment about not eating fruit from the tree of knowledge and evil. Adam’s sin cost him his birthright and therefore all of mankind’s birthright at the same time.

With his sin, Satan usurped Adam’s (and our) birthright and became the ruler of this world and the god of this age.

But here’s the good news: God created the heavens and earth. He also created the laws by which Satan and mankind must follow, concerning birthrights. These laws allow a male relative to buy back a birthright.

Now, all of mankind since Adam would have qualified as male relatives, but the male kinsman redeemer had to be without sin because of Adam’s sin of rebellion. This disqualified every man except one: Jesus, who is the last Adam.

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. (Revelation 5:1)

The scroll is a legal document because only these were written on both sides. I believe it is Adam’s lost birthright, the title deed to the earth. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the only Man who will be found worthy to open the seven seals so that the scroll will be totally opened.

In simplistic terms, I believe the opening of the seven seal judgments by the Lamb of God (Jesus) and then the resultant seven trumpet judgments are the acts our Kinsman Redeemer must perform to buy back the earth from Satan.

At the seventh trumpet, loud voices in heaven will proclaim:

The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)

Question: Who sets the buy back terms for a birthright to be redeemed by a kinsman?

Answer: The owner of the birthright.

Thus, Satan set the terms by which the seven seal judgments and seven trumpet judgments are required to buy back what Adam lost in the Garden of Eden.

(Continued in Part 9…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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May 7, 2019 · 8:47 am

Prayers for Businessmen (5/7/2019)

“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).

Alfred, an owner of a company with one hundred employees, read the above verse and decided to act on it. He told his employees, “I attended a seminar that changed my life, and I’d like to try to share with you what God is teaching me. So once a week I’m going to shut down our plant for an hour, and I’m going to share what God’s Word says I should be doing for you. The meetings are voluntary, but everyone is welcome. From this point on, I want you to hold me responsible to be the kind of Christian employer that God expects me to be.”

The next Monday, when the plant stopped for the meeting, every one of Alfred’s employees was there. He began to share what he should be doing as a Christian businessman. Sometimes he would say, “I can’t implement this immediately or it would ruin our company, but eventually I am going to do this to the best of my ability.”

One of the programs Alfred wanted to implement was a benevolence program to help employees with special financial needs, such as medical bills, family crises, or special education expenses by providing company- sponsored grants.

To do this would first require reeducating the employees so that those who didn’t receive this benefit would not resent those who did. It also would require establishing an employee committee to oversee the fund and evaluate the candidates. But Alfred was determined to get it started.

About a year after the meetings began, Alfred asked me [Larry Burkette] to speak to his employees. At one point in my talk I asked, “How many in this room have personally accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior?” Out of more than 100 employees, about 25 hands went up.

A year later I went back. This time I asked, “During the last year, how many of you have personally accepted Jesus Christ as a result of the influence of your boss?” Hands went up throughout the room. In one year, more than 60 people had come to the Lord through Alfred’s influence, and he didn’t even know it. Evangelizing his employees hadn’t been his goal. His goal had simply been to become more Christlike in his business.

The apostle Paul tells us we reap in the measure that we sow. Alfred learned that truth when he ran into some business and financial difficulties.

During an economic downturn, business got so bad he needed a large infusion of money in order to continue operating. The high interest rates at that time made borrowing out of the question. Word of the company’s financial problems spread to Alfred’s employees, several of whom got the idea of banding together to lend Alfred the money (almost $300,000) themselves. They raised the needed funds from among the other employees and provided Alfred with an interest-free loan.

Alfred was simply reaping what he had sown. When he began following God’s principles, he didn’t know that more than half of his employees would accept Christ as their Savior through his witness or that his employees would decide to lend him $300,000 interest free. He had simply sown biblical principles such as “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” and he reaped the benefits of those principles.

Employees, especially unsaved employees, have the tendency to believe what they see rather than what they hear. If what we do doesn’t match up with what we say, they will usually discount our words.

(The above powerful excerpt is from Business by the Book by Larry Burkett, © 2010, Thomas Nelson or you can read a free PDF of it here.)

My prayer today:

Lord, help Christian men who work in the marketplace to be doers of Your Word and not just hearers only, so that we do not deceive ourselves into thinking we are following in Your footsteps. (Based on James 1:22)

Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for American men in the marketplace.

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May 1, 2019 · 3:07 am

Thou Shalt Not Eat Sweets

“In two decades, I’ve lost a total of 789 pounds. I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.” (Erma Bombeck)

Since I graduated from college in 1968, I have struggled with my waistline. The only times I haven’t struggled was when I jogged five miles each day or was a painting contractor, climbing ladders. My times without struggling would amount to maybe six or seven years out of my fifty-one years since college.

My biggest problem has always been sweets — cookies, pies, cakes, donuts, ice cream, peanut butter, jams, jellies, ketchup, honey, muffins, cinnamon rolls, pastries, chocolate covered peanuts, M&Ms, Snickers, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and whatever else.

“Larry, would you like some ice cream with your pie?” 

“Yes, ma’am, and could you pour some hot fudge syrup over it, too?”

After I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1985, I became an avid reader of the Bible. This opened my eyes to some disturbing verses about gluttony and overeating.

Oh dear! What should I do with these verses?

In a way, I ignored them.

But what I really did was justified my bad eating habits to myself.

You see, my Christian walk has been one long trial after another. Marital separation. Divorce. Loss of friends. Fired from five consecutive sales jobs. Minimum wage jobs by the dozens with not enough money to pay bills. Marriage to a wonderful woman, but still not enough money to pay bills. Moving thirty-five times to nine different states and numerous cities. And so forth.

So, I allowed sweets to become one of my comforters.

“Well, you know, God knows my heart!”

Just so you know: the Holy Spirit has been working on my poor eating habits during my whole thirty-four years of walking with the Lord. And at the same time, I was crying out to Him for His help because sweets had a stranglehold on me.

Then, we moved to Gilbert, Arizona.

We moved without much money in the bank, but this wasn’t unusual because all of our other moves followed this same pattern. Our hope has always been in Him and for Him to speak to us and show us what to do.

After spending time in prayer, it seemed that we needed to sell an item on eBay. We listed the item and sold it for a great price. Both of us prayed over the item and shipped it off to the buyer.

But then disaster happened!

The item was damaged in shipment and the buyer refused it. Because of an eBay glitch, we did not purchase insurance for the product. The refund to the buyer drained our bank account.

We were devastated!

When something like this happens, I always seek the Lord on why He allowed it to occur. Hey, we prayed! Our faith was in Him! Satan is a weakling compared to God! So, what happened?

While waiting on the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: “Your gluttony opened a door for Satan to rob you.”

The fear of the Lord came upon me. I repented and meant it this time with all of my heart for the first time ever.

The Holy Spirit eventually let me know that this was my last chance. If I didn’t change my eating habits, I would not be able to fulfill His destiny for my life because bad health would soon derail my walk with Him.

Can others learn from my testimony?

My advice for those who have longstanding issues, whether it’s gluttony, porn, drugs, alcohol, lust, pride or whatever: keep crying out to the Lord for Him to help you. Plus keep professing that you want Him to be Lord over every area of your life. Do both of these, not just one or the other.

I guarantee He will eventually show up and set you free. How He does it will be up to Him and not you.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom… (Proverbs 9:10)

I now eat lots of fruits and vegetables…and no sweets!

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April 23, 2019 · 7:10 am

Prayers for Businessmen (4/23/2019)

My emphasis today is on praying specifically for men in the various business arenas. This does not mean I am discounting the importance of women in the workplace because I’m not. But I believe it’s time for American men to quit sitting on the sidelines, to stand up, walk onto the field and be true sons of the living God.

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

Our Lord has placed His emphasis on men before.

The last time being the Businessmen’s Prayer Revival of 1857. In this move of the Holy Spirit, businessmen came together over a lunch hour to pray and encourage other men. The outcome of this revival was that 6% of the population of America gave their lives to Christ and believers rededicated their lives to Jesus Christ.

All of this was done outside the confines of traditional religion at the time and without clergy leading the groups. It was a laymen-led move of the Holy Spirit.

My prayer today:

Lord, I ask Your Spirit to open the hearts of American men in the workplace to yearn for fellowship with You and other men so the Kingdom of God’s fruits of righteousness, peace and joy come forth in our nation. (Based on 2 Thessalonians 2:10 and Romans 14:17)

Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for American men in the workplace.

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April 18, 2019 · 9:01 am

Prayers for Leaving All and Following Jesus (4/18/2019)

When I got saved on May 20, 1985, I almost immediately made up my mind that I wanted to abandon everything and follow Jesus. My reasoning was simple. You see, I had spent thirty-nine years of my life as an unbeliever, much of that as an agnostic, and I didn’t want to meet Jesus at the Judgement Seat of Christ empty-handed, with only excuses in hand for my lukewarm lifestyle.

I also knew me. I knew if I didn’t go 100% for Him, I’d back off into a barely-get-by mode. So, my choice was really one or the other. I chose to sell out for Him as best I could.

My heroes became William Carey, David Brainerd, C. T. Studd, Hudson Taylor, Praying John Hyde, George Mueller, William Booth, Leonard Ravenhill and others. I read every book that I could find on them because I wanted to be like them.

Do you remember the Burundi and Rwanda civil war during the 1990s? Hundreds of thousands of women and children were slaughtered. I asked the Lord to send me there almost daily for weeks because this is what my heroes would have done. Eventually, a prophetic friend of mine stopped by to let me know the Lord wasn’t sending me there. (Just so you know, I told no one about my prayers of wanting to go to Rwanda. No one!)

Instead, it turned out the Lord had different plans for me, long term ones with deserts to cross and mountains to climb. Then I met a wonderful Christian woman and got married in 1996. Wedded bliss, right?

In twenty-three years of marriage, we have moved thirty-five times to nine different states and more than twenty different cities. We felt all of these moves were instigated by the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus.

Well, this morning I was praying for our four children and six grandchildren and it hit me: “I don’t really know our children and grandchildren.”

Oh, I’ve talked to them on the phone and have visited them a few times over the last twenty-three years, but we’ve hardly ever been there for any Christmases, Easters, birthdays, baseball games, school concerts, to babysit them, change diapers and so forth. They’ve grown up and we’ve grown old without them. These years can’t be replaced. They’re gone!

And what were we always doing? Moving and trying to survive.

You can probably imagine how sad and emotional I felt this morning. As I sat there looking at what we’ve missed the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: “Just know that I have not let one person down who has left all and followed me. Not one!”

I broke down and cried, realizing the Lord has never let us down. I had foolishly looked back at what we had missed, rather than praising Him for what He has done and will do for us.

Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s,30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. (Mark 10:29-30)

My prayer today:

Lord, raise up a generation of believers – young and old – who are willing to turn their backs on everything and follow you, no matter what it costs them.

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for the Body of Christ in America.

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April 16, 2019 · 9:29 am

Prayers Against Race Wars (4/16/2019)

 

Over twenty years ago, I had a vision that really disturbed me.

In it, I saw black youths raiding upper middle-class and wealthy white neighborhoods. They were armed with AR-15s, AK-47s and large knives. They plundered valuables, killed white people and burned down their homes. I saw them dancing and rejoicing about what they had accomplished with their mayhem.

I knew as I watched on that decades of pent-up hatred and anger by black people toward white people had fueled these black youths into carrying out their murderous actions.

Then, the vision changed.

In this part, I saw white mercenary armies going into black neighborhoods, hunting down young black men and killing them. Bodies of dead young black men piled up in the streets, resulting in the loss of a great percentage of a whole black generation.

For nation [people group] will rise against nation [people group]… (Matthew 24:7)

Even though we live in the time of the last days when nations and various people groups (racial, religious or whatever) will go to war and kill each other, this doesn’t mean we are to remain passive and just watch it happen. We are called by Jesus to stand in the gap and intercede for lives and souls.

My prayer today:

Lord, we cry out for Your mercy to fall upon black Americans and white Americans. We ask that You break down the middle wall of separation between these two races and abolish all hostility between them so that You create one new man from the two races, thus making peace and reconciling them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby eliminating hatred and anger between them. (Based on Ephesians 2:14-16)

 Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for America.

 

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April 11, 2019 · 8:37 am

Prayers for Unity (4/11/2019)

Two major titans came out of the First Great Awakening which swept across Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in America during the 1720s – 1750s. These two men worked well together early on, but the differences in their doctrine caused them to quit fellowshipping and talking to each other after a while.

Once, while one man was in England and the other in America, they decided to send letters to each other. Their mail ships even passed each other in the Atlantic Ocean. The opening line in both letters were similar: “The Lord has shown me that I’m right and you’re wrong!”

The two men finally reconciled after a few years. They agreed to differ on certain issues but to love each other as brothers in Christ.

The two men: John Wesley and George Whitefield.

John Wesley held Arminian beliefs and George Whitefield was a moderate Calvinist. The big snags for them was the issue of grace and eternal security.

John Wesley preached at George Whitefield’s funeral. A woman asked him afterward, “Dear Mr. Wesley, do you expect to see dear Mr. Whitefield in heaven?”

A lengthy pause followed, after which Wesley replied with great seriousness, “No, madam.”

The lady at once exclaimed, “Ah, I was afraid you would say so.”

“Do not misunderstand me, madam. George Whitefield was so bright a star in the firmament of God’s glory, and will stand so near the throne, that one like me, who am less than the least, will never catch a glimpse of him,” replied John Wesley.

38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using Your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” 39 “Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in My name will soon be able to speak evil of Me. 40 Anyone who is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:38-40)

My prayer today:

Lord, help us Christians to make every effort to keep ourselves united in the Spirit with one another and also give us the understanding that there is one body, one Spirit, one hope for the future, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through us all. (Based on Ephesians 4:3-6)

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for the Body of Christ in America.

 

 

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April 10, 2019 · 9:48 am

With 60 Million Aborted Babies, Why Hasn’t God Removed America Yet? (Part 7)

We have this misguided thought that prophetic voices all work off the same page when they prophesy, but this isn’t true. The Lord reveals to each of His prophetic voices the individual insights He wants each to have so each can bring the specific word of the Lord for his generation.

For instance, Habakkuk and Zephaniah were contemporaries of Jeremiah, but only Jeremiah received the following insight:

Therefore do not pray for this people [Judah], nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. (Jeremiah 7:16)

This should make all of us shake our heads in amazement that God would ask His mouthpiece – and also a chosen intercessor – not to pray for a nation, heading toward judgment.

And just to make sure that Jeremiah heard Him, God repeated Himself a few days later:

Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble. (Jeremiah 11:14)

Let’s put this in context, okay? The Lord is speaking about a specific nation – Judah – in these verses, not individuals. Nations have specific seasons when they must repent and change while individuals can repent right up to their dying breaths.

But what if Habakuk and Zephaniah truly believed Judah might repent and thus stave off God’s judgment? Wouldn’t these two prophets have spent much of their time praying and fasting for Judah? Of course, they would have.

So, on the one hand, there were probably two of God’s prophets praying and fasting for Judah to repent and change, but on the other hand, there was Jeremiah who had been told not to pray because God was going to judge and carry off Judah to Babylon.

Was God confused?

No, absolutely not.

God uses His prophetic voices to draw people to Him, to give them hope and to prepare them for the days lying ahead. But we have to remember that not all people walk at the same spiritual level. So, God sends prophetic voices to encourage believers to move to higher spiritual levels without overwhelming them ahead of time.

I like to think of God’s prophetic voices being like the grains in a 12 Hour Contac Cold Capsule. Each grain of cold medicine is a different size from the others. Some are really minute while others are really large. It takes different amounts of time for the stomach to break down each grain size. In this manner, the cold capsule combats cold symptoms for each of the twelve hours.

Hopefully, this helps to explain why sometimes prophetic voices seemingly contradict one another when they talk about a nation. Some may be talking about revival while others may be talking about God’s wrath.

(Continued in Part 7…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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April 9, 2019 · 9:03 am

More Prayers for a Love of the Truth (4/9/2019)

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Do you ever look at America, shake your head and wonder how things could have changed so much in just a short time?

Abortions. Same sex marriages. LGBT. Transgenderism. Racial problems. Youth rebellion. This list could go on and on.

Why?

For the mystery of lawlessness [rebellion against divine authority and the coming reign of lawlessness] is already at work; [but it is restrained] only until He who now restrains it is taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:7 AMP)

Things are bad, right?

Well, hang onto your hat because you haven’t seen anything yet! How can I say something so pessimistic as this, especially when so many people are talking about a great revival?

You see, most people ignore the following two verses:

Because of this God will send upon them a misleading influence, [an activity of error and deception] so they will believe the lie, 12 in order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe the truth [about their sin, and the need for salvation through Christ], but instead took pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)

God would never lie or deceive any person, but He will stand out of the way and allow people who continually ignore the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts to believe their sins are okay with Him.

Maybe that’s why South Bend’s gay Mayor Pete Buttigieg could say, “If you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my Creator.”

Now is the time to pray and fast for our loved ones and neighbors.

My prayer today:

Lord, send the Spirit of Truth to open up the hearts of our loved ones and our American neighbors so that they receive the love of the truth and are saved. (Based on John 16:13 and 2 Thessalonians 2:10 AMP)

Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for America.

 

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