Yesterday, I wrote about a judgment I had formed, and how I found I was guilty of the same thing. This illustrated Romans 2:1, which says, "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."

When we judge others, we put ourselves in an awkward position. Either we are already guilty of what we are judging in others, or we soon will be because "God's Word will not return void." If the Bible says that we are guilty of the same things, then the spiritual law of sowing and reaping will be put into effect, and we will find it very hard not to fall into the same trap.

I remember a period in my past when I was doing great financially but someone close in my family was going through a bankruptcy. I judged them, thinking of myself more highly than I ought to. And you know what the Bible says, "Pride goes before the fall." Within a matter of weeks, I suddenly found myself in a heap of financial trouble, racking up debt and missing bills. This went on for several months. It didn't make any sense to me until I realized that I had judged these family members. I repented for my sin, confessed it openly, and renounced the judgments I had formed. Suddenly things started turning around again.

In Matthew 7:1-2, Jesus says this: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

We need to be very careful to expose and uproot judgments when they are formed because they always have an adverse effect on our spiritual lives! Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any judgments you may have formed against others. Confess these things, renounce them, and speak blessing toward those people, organizations, businesses, governments, or demographics. Forgive the people involved, and also forgive yourself. You may be surprised at how quickly certain circumstances change as you get set free from judgment!

A few months ago, I posted a song I recorded entitled "Take Me Up." Of course, like any good musician I was never really satisfied with the recording, so I started remixing it.

Well, long story short, it's finally done! Go to http://www.supernaturaltruth.com/music.htm to download the new version.

God bless!
--Art--

Why are people so uncomfortable with change? To be honest, I don't think it's in our nature; I think it's in our culture.

Our men's group just finished studying the book Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul, and it was a life-altering study for me. One of the key points is that as men we have a deep inner need for three basic things: (1) an adventure to live, (2) a battle to fight, and (3) a beauty to rescue. Author John Eldredge says that these three things are at the core of who we are as men. Women, on the other hand, have slightly different needs. They want to be captivating, they want to join us in our adventure, and they want us to fight for them.

John Eldredge points out that the American church at large demasculates men by convincing us that we should be passive, nice, and sugar-coated. Contrast this with the Chinese church where the men are encouraged to suffer and die for the sake of the Gospel! Now that's an adventure!

Back to the issue of change (I'll tie this together in a moment).

This past week, my church encountered a change that shook things up quite a bit. We're rather small with an average attendance of 50 people on a Sunday, so this wasn't too dramatic--but it was change none the less! In short, we rotated everything in our main meeting room 90 degrees to the right.

Personally, I have to admit that I was a little annoyed because it became a lot more restricting. Everything was closer together because the room is narrower in this direction. Everyone was seated closer together, and all our musicians were squeezed together too.

But I also have to confess that the Lord used this whole scenario to reveal to me an area where my sinful nature still had not been dealt with. After the meeting, several people came up to me and made comments on how they weren't especially thrilled with the new setup, and I just said, "I'm not going to say anything now because I need to make sure my heart is right before talking about this, but I'm not particularly thrilled with the changes either."

Then the Holy Spirit started working on me, and I thought, "What is there in me that would make me a point person for all this murmering?"

I realized that my own heart was resistant to the change and was upset because it didn't facillitate my own agenda. I like having the chairs in a half-circle rather than two columns because it makes things more interactive. I like having the musicians spread out because we have more room. Furthermore, I didn't like that the change made us look more like a traditional church.

But instead of just recognizing these personal feelings, I became passive agressive. I burried my feelings and pretended to be cordial with the people who petitioned for the change in the first place. Their reasoning was that we can fit more people, folks won't have to walk accross the front of the room to enter or exit, and people are less disctractable. Why should those things bother me?

Because I had my own agenda and couldn't handle things not being the way I like them. I had been instrumental in moving the sanctuary to the less traditional position, and so this felt like an attack on me! But it wasn't--it was a change being made for the sake of functionality and building the Church! I had formed a judgment in my heart that these people couldn't break free from the traditional church model, when in actuality, I was the one who couldn't break free from my own favorite model of church! I was guilty of the very thing I was judging them for!

Romans 2:1--Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things (NKJV).

I think our resistance to change is not a matter of "not liking new things;" I believe it is that we like what we have, and we've begun to personally identify with these things. Be careful how you judge the viewpoints of others, because you who judge are guilty of the same things!

Returning to Wild at Heart, I believe there is something to be said about how the Church should handle change. Our men need to be adventurous enough to embrace change and daring enough to lay down our personal agendas to walk in unity. With this in place, our women can more easily feel secure enough to join us in the adventure. That's not a husband/wife issue--it's how males and females in general can function together in this spiritual family we call "the church."

Any time you struggle with change in the Church, examine yourself and see if it's just your personal preference that's bothering you. Be daring enough to die to self! I say this because I sense that the Lord is bringing some significant changes to the American church over the next few decades. I'm writing a book about these changes right now entitled Wildfire Christianity, which should be complete some time within the next six months. For now, though, my challenge is this: Get ready for change!

When we read about Jesus in the Gospels or about His apostles in the book of Acts, we find several places where they were involved in casting out demons. We even find places that say "many demons" were cast out! In fact, some people had multiple demons opressing them. And Jesus told His disciples (which includes you and me) that we have authority over all the power of the enemy. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of Jesus Christ, we can heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, and cast out demons.

Such activities were so common in Bible days, but these days it seems like we pretend demons are nothing but figments of an uneducated person's imagination. And yet, all over the world we see dramatic evidence of their existance.

I'm reminded of the many cases in Africa and South America where people are inhabited by spirits that make them behave like animals--eating grass, crawling on all fours, slithering like a snake, clawing at people, and making bizarre noises. When the spirit is cast out in Jesus' name, these people come to their senses and testify to the power of God.

This isn't the only way demons work in other countries, but it is very common. And yet we rarely see such things in America. Demons try to be more clever here. Instead of dramatically demonstrating their influence over a person, they do so sneakily and subtly. And here's how:

In Genesis, we are told that God formed man from the dust of the ground (body), breathed into him the breath (Hebrew: "spirit") of life, and man became a living soul. Body, spirit, soul. From this description, we learn that the soul is the product of the body and spirit coming together. As a result, our soul (which consists of our mind, will, and emotions) can be directly affected by the condition of our body or spirit at any given moment.

In a healthy Christian, our spirit is fully alive in Christ and supercedes the condition of our body so that our soul obeys our spirit. But if our spirit is not alert and drifts off to sleep, our body takes over and our souls become slaves to our impulses and physical condition.

Now, if our soul is the result of our body and spirit coming together, what do you suppose happens when an evil spirit comes into the mix? Well, for one thing, we get confused on a spiritual level. For another thing our soul gets affected, causing us to have tainted emotions, evil thoughts, and unwise choices. Furthermore, our body can be effected. Just as our human body is given life by our human spirit, it can also be adversely affected by an evil spirit.

Demonic activity is no less common today than it was 2000 years ago in the Bible. If anything, it is more prevalent because the end is approaching and Satan knows his time is short. In America, demons produce mental disorders, clinical depression, strife, envy, and other things that seem like they're just natural parts of who we are. We try to physically suppress their effect on the soul by taking pills and changing our diet, but we often end up in worse shape than we were in before.

In the past three weeks I've had the opportunity to see four people instantly set free from clinical depression as I took gentle authority over the evil spirit, cast it out, and prayed for the Holy Spirit to fill that void in the person's life. In fact, I too went through a few hours of unexplainable depression on Sunday until my girlfriend Robin took authority in Jesus' name and cast the evil spirit away (this may have been one of the spirits that was cast out of the others, which should remind us that we need to stay clothed in the armor of God).

My encouragement to all of you is not that you would go out looking for depressed people and casting out demons. Jesus said we need to be careful about that because if the person does not also get their life filled up with God and repent, the evil spirit will vome back with seven more demons worse than himself. I've seen this happen in the past too, so I'm very careful about this.

Another word of caution is that we need not tell the person, "You have a demon." This could be just the thing that demon needs to make the person leave or put up walls. Instead, offer to pray for them and then take authority during your prayer. Tell the spirit to leave in Jesus' name and invite the Holy Spirit to bring healing and transformation to the person. By the way, "taking authority" does not mean yelling, or being angry, or jumping, or doing anything else dramatic. In a confrontation, the person with the most authority is often the one who is most calm. Tell the spirit to leave and not come back. Speak on behalf of Jesus Christ, and make that point known. It's that simple. No hype, just authority.

So if you know someone who is struggling with an evil spirit in any way, I tell you on behalf of Jesus Christ that you have been given the authority in Him to cast out demons. But also seek the overflowing power of the Holy Spirit, and put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6) so that you may remain protected and not vulnerable (otherwise you might wind up affected by the same demon like I was in the story earlier).

God bless!

JESUS IS ALIVE! Not only that, but Jesus IS resurrection personified:

John 11:25-27--Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world" (NIV).

After saying these words, Jesus went to Lazarus and raised him from the dead!

Those of you who follow this blog are probably aware by now that I like to spread around stories about the dead being raised to life in Jesus' name. As of 2005, there were documented cases in 52 different nations of the dead being raised to life by Christians. In some of these countries, there are hundreds of cases--for instance, Mozambique, Africa, where Rolland and Heidi Baker minister the love of Christ to thousands of children each year. Heidi has been known to hold dead babies and children in her arms, sobbing over them and praying until God gives them back their life.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life! Jesus didn't just die; He rose to life! And that means He is physically seated at the right hand of our Father in Heaven right now! Furthermore, through the Holy Spirit, we have access to that same resurrection power both for ourselves and for others.

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 bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Matthew 10:8--Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

My challenge to you this Easter Sunday is that you would seek the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit on a personal level; and do not be afraid to demonstrate His power and love on a practical level! Jesus is the resurrection and the life; and it's about time people in America and abroad start truly realizing it!

Good Friday. Today we celebrate the most profound turning point in history. The epic story of all creation pivots at this one defining weekend, starting with the crucifixion of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I was actually a little hesitant to write anything today because it almost seems cliche--like it's the good "Christian blogger" thing to do (and if anyone knows me, I'm not one to do things "just because"). Nevertheless, we are celebrating Easter earlier than we ever will again in our lifetime. And as I look out my window, I see that it has started to snow here in Plymouth, Michigan. There's a thin covering on the neighbor's yard, and everything is getting whiter as I write. We're expecting several inches tonight.

From this physical reality, the Lord began to speak to me out of Isaiah 1:18:

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."

Good Friday is borne out of this theme. The blood of Christ is the truest scarlet there ever was in the eyes of God--so true, in fact, that the redness of our own shame and sin pales to the purest white in comparison. And as we see in the above verse, Jesus didn't wash our sins away without reason--He did it so that we could have a relationship with our Father in heaven! "Come now, let us reason together," He says!

The death of Christ is an invitation to intimacy. With Jesus died everything in us that separates us from God--but only if we have truly given our old lives over to Him.

So today, I want to encourage you not simply to remember the death of our Lord this Good Friday, but to give Him the reward of His suffering. Spend some time with Him. Reason together. Have a conversation. He's dying to talk to you...wait, scratch that...He already died; and now He lives, so start talking.

What is "balanced" Christianity? So many times we see people fly off to extremes. They find a doctrine they like and they run with it. One person says God is just, and that's all they preach about. Another person says God does miracles, and that becomes their entire life. Then we find someone who only teaches that God is love; and someone else who pushes teachings on hell and judgment.

So what is balance? Is it to compromise our teachings? Is it to bring everything more toward the "center" so that less people are offended? Is it to avoid extremes?

Well, I say we should get our example from Christ Himself. Jesus was extreme. He was extreme about God's justice, righteousness, power, love, and judgment. He was extreme in worship, fellowship, discipleship, and evangelism. He was extreme in service, humility, and kindness. He was extreme in bluntness, prophetic clarity, and harsh truth. Jesus was extreme in every way! Jesus was not balanced in the sense that He watered down His life; He was balanced by being extreme in every area!

If we wish to be truly "Christ-like," we need to be unafraid to be extreme in every way! Look for the one aspect of God's nature that you like to convey most, and then look for some ways you often avoid. My encouragement to you is not that you would cut back on the aspect you currently favor, but rather that you would become more extreme in the areas where you currently lack fervor. It's time to be extreme in all ways as we reveal Christ in this world!

Revelation 3:16 says that Christ will spew the lukewarm Christians out of His mouth. It's time to get red hot in every way!

2 Peter 1:5-11--For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (NIV).

Today I was watching "Animal Planet" and they had a special about a wildlife preserve where the young bull elephants started brutally killing the rhinos. The solution was to bring in an older, more mature herd of elephants to model appropriate behavior for the younger ones and hopefully provide some sort of behavioral infratructure that would help tame the younger animals. It worked.

In the church, we need to have a similar principle; but we must be careful with the way we put it into practice. My pastor tells a story about when he was first saved, he met with the elders of his church and passionately shared his testimony and some of his ideas. The elders looked at him blankly and one said, "Don't worry, in a little while you'll calm down and be just like us."

"God forbid!" he replied (though he admits it was more in pride and disdain than in love).

In contrast, take a look at Esther 4:10-16. King Xerxes ordered that all the Jews be annihilated (if you've ever seen the movie 300, yes, that is the same Xerxes that was attacking the Spartans). Esther was a jewish woman who had been taken to be his queen. The following story comes in where Esther's cousin Mordecai (who had raised her) has suggested that she appear before King Xerxes. Esther then sends one of the king's eunuchs named Hathach to her cousin Mordecai:

Esther 4:10-16--Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, "All the king's officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king."

When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions(NIV).

Esther, here, is the younger generation, and Mordecai is the older. Do you see the magnitude of what took place in this story? Rather than Mordecai telling Esther to "calm down and wait this out," he called forth exploits. Not only that, but Esther relied on him for spiritual support by asking him to fast for her and gather others to do the same. And Mordecai agreed!

Here we see generational unity. Like the elephants in my opening example, it's not so much a matter of the older generation "calming down" the younger as it is the older generation providing a scaffolding for the younger to flourish within! Mordecai suggested that Esther risk her life for the sake of God's people, and he stood by her with prayer and fasting.

There is a strong Biblical precedent in both the Old and New Testaments for generational unity, mentoring, and spiritual fathering/mothering. If you're young and you do not have a mature spiritual mentor who challenges you to acts of faith, the I would recommend you get looking for one! Otherwise, you might end up like those young bull elephants being destructive rather than productive (I've been there, and it truly does take spiritual mentoring to help us gain focus and direction for our lives).

And if you would consider yourself one of the older generation, then I call for you to take us youngsters under your wing and call forth great exploits for the kingdom of God! We don't need you to calm us down or tell us how to "play it safe." We need you to fast and pray for us so that we can fulfill the purpose for which we were born and help reveal our Father's Kingdom in the earth! We need you to be our "Mordecai" and speak identity into our lives. We need you to challenge us in faith--not fear--and call forth exploits!

In the name of Jesus, I challenge each reader to bridge the generational gap and demonstrate unity in the Church no matter your age. The Lord has promised that in the last days He would send forth the spirit of Elijah to call the hearts of the fathers to their sons and the hearts of the sons to their fathers. Now is the time--more than ever--that we need unity among the generations!

I used to be really cynical about church retreats. We go, we cry, we decide to change our lives forever, everyone hugs, and then we go right back to the way things were. After attending more retreats than I can count and seeing the same temporary results, I had grown rather disenchanted with the whole idea.

But that's when we planted our church in Fowlerville (www.ffcag.org), and our pastor invited the staff to attend an Encounter Retreat with another church. Long story short, none of our lives have been the same since!

At the Encounter, we deal with matters of personal transformation, freedom in Christ, and deliverance from habits, addictions, bitterness, wrong thoughts, and past mistakes. Furthermore, we focus on the foundations of Christian life and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. At this year's retreat, I'll be leading worship and presenting three lessons:

• "What Do You Desire?" - All about who we are and how much more important the God-given desires of our personal spirit are than the desires of our flesh or soul.
• "Others and You" - Forgiveness and freedom from bitterness and resentment.
• "Knowing your New Best Friend: the Holy Spirit" - All about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, how to be led by the Spirit, and how to deepen your relationship with Him.

This year's retreat will be held in the lodge of Youth Haven Ranch, which is a beautiful facility in the little town of Rives Junction, Michigan (about halfway between Jackson and Lansing).

I've posted an informational flyer on the Documents page in case you're interested. We would love to have you join us! I know I have readers all over the world; but if you happen to be in the area, we would love to have you (we've had people come from as far away as Pennsylvania and Texas to past retreats).

This will be the fourth retreat I've helped staff, and each one seems better than the last! Also, we have limited space, so please contact me soon if you're interested.

God bless!
--Art--

Yet another person raised from the dead in America--and this time the secular news picked up the story!

Below is a link to Channel 7 News in Miami / Ft. Lauderdale. This is an official newscast from February 1, 2008 that a friend of mine forwarded to me. In it, a Florida cardiologist, who is also a Christian, shares about how he prays for his patients and how the Lord led him to pray for this man even after he was verifiably dead! The cardiology team had worked on him for 40 minutes, his face and limbs were "pitch black with death," and then the Christian doctor prayed for him in Jesus' name!

The link below will take you to a text-based page containing a manuscript, but at the top of the article is a button that says "watch the video." Here's the link:

http://www1.wsvn.com/features/articles/specialreport/MI75423

Enjoy!

As my regular readers are probably aware, we recently started the Wildfire School of Supernatural Ministry here in Canton, MI. I just wanted to share a couple testimonies about what God is doing through this ministry and how you might soon be able to participate!

First of all, we had 20 people at last night's meeting, which was exciting to say the least. There's always that human side of us that likes to look at numbers, but I personally gauge a meeting's success on quality and effectiveness rather than attendance...but that doesn't change how cool it was to have such a big group!

I shared for about a half-hour on "Hearing God's Voice" and the many ways in which He communicates with us. We also talked about the importance of weighing each "word" and the value of confirmation.

Then we spent the next hour or so practicing what we had learned. We split into three smaller groups and shared with each other the things we felt the Lord might be saying. Sure enough, God showed up! By the end of our "practice" time, every single person had heard from God for someone else and also through someone else.

Not only that, but our host's son came home from work in the middle of our small group time and we invited him to join our group. Long story short, he gave his life back to Christ and agreed to come to our men's group on Wednesday!

Well, when we had finally wrapped up our interaction, we gathered back together as a large group to pray and worship God for specific things He did that night. Through this prayer time, we got to hear some of the testimonies of how God confirmed things, healed hearts, broke generational curses, cast out demons, and more--all within that simple hour of listening for His voice!

One last little testimony is that we asked the Lord if there was a specific place to which we should go out to eat. Three people felt they sensed the Lord saying "Denny's," but one young lady said she immediately thought of the local Arabic restaurant named "La Shish." Through further group-wide discernment, we agreed to drive to the parking lot of La Shish to pray and then progress to Denny's to have dinner. And guess what? When we arrived at La Shish, they were completely shut down--permanently! So it was confirmed that we weren't supposed to eat there! Anyhow, we used the opportunity to dedicate the land and building to the Kingdom of God and asked the Lord to use it for His glory. As simple as this little story sounds, I really do believe the Lord had us there for a reason!

Now, I also promised earlier that I would share how you might soon be able to participate (no matter where you live!). First of all, we have just recently started teaming up with a state-wide ministry called "Transformation Michigan." Through this group, we've also started partnering with the Supernatural Training Center, which will be launching this summer in Grand Rapids, MI. As for the Wildfire School, a training manual and leader's guide are currently being developed so that people connected with Transformation Michigan, the Supernatural Training Center, and other ministries can start developing "satellite schools" all over America and even the world! In this way, the school itself, and ultimately the Kingdom of God, will be able to spread like "wildfire" (hence the name!).

And here's how you can participate right now: If you have any ideas for what types of matrial should be in the training manual or leader's guide, or if you feel the Lord might be speaking to you about anything we're developing here, please e-mail me at Art@WildfireChristian.com.

Thanks a million, and God bless!

Overcoming Depression

Depression is a tough issue, and this time of year is especially hard for some due to the lack of sunlight and more time spent indoors. In the past few days, however, I've seen a couple of my friends discovering freedom from depression even though it is normally so common for them at this time.

I know the situation is different for everyone and there's not really a "pat answer" that solves every person's situation, but I believe there is tremendous power in testimony. Just today, as we held our Wildfire School of Supernatural Ministry, one of my friends was talking about how depressed he's been lately and how he can't seem to break free from it.

I think it's important to note here that being depressed does not make you less of a Christian or somehow less loved by God. The fact is, you're just going through a rather rough season in your life, and God is right here with you. It is true that He wants to help you out of your depression--and I believe He will--but that does not mean that you're involved in some sort of grave sin that has made God hide His face from you. On the contrary, He is paying even closer attention because He cares about you so much!

Anyhow, as our meeting went on, we all spent some time practicing "hearing God's voice" and sharing insight with each other. That's when I noticed something rather curious. I would have expected that my friend's depression would have started lifting as people shared words of prophecy and encouragement for him. To some extent, I think that helped; but this did not appear to be nearly as effective as when he started prophesying and encouraging the rest of us!

Admittedly, this took some serious effort on his part--he had to break past the emotional struggle and choose to actively embrace who he is in Christ. This meant putting his faith into action.

And here's a part of the story I find really fun: he is rather new to the whole concept of hearing God's voice, and yet he was having visions and receiving impressions from the Lord that ministered to several of us! You do not need to be some sort of "super-Christian" in order to hear God's voice. You can be a developing Christian struggling with depression and still hear Him! As a matter of fact, ANYONE who is a Christian has already heard His voice!

John 6:44-45--No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”(NAS)

If you're a Christian, then you've already heard God's voice, and the lines of communication are open between the two of you. So let Him speak to your heart, but also let Him minister to others through you! Get into a small group of believers where you can actively participate in interactive ministry. I can't guarantee that all your struggles in life will vanish, but I can certainly say that the heaviness on your heart will begin to lift! As I mentioned above, there is something liberating about being a vessel of the Lord and allowing Him to use you to minister to others; but we must choose to take action.

And what if you're not a Christian? Well, I believe God is speaking to you and calling you today! It's easy to be depressed when we're overwhelmed and physically worn down--even for a Christian. But when we start realizing who we are created to be and begin acting on it, the cloud begins to lift. The Bible calls the Lord "my glory and the lifter of my head." He raises you up! Turn to Him today and ask Him to begin showing you your true identity!