What is missing more in the church today than anything else is the missionary spirit.  I don’t meet many people who are willing to go anywhere and do anything to release the gospel to people.  Some do it for the love of God and sometimes others seem to do it for profit.  Paul recognized this, didn’t he? (Philippians 1:15-18).

I believe God can do the same for you. I pray today that the obstacles blocking your faith to journey will be unplugged so that you will become a mighty missionary wherever God sends you.  I pray that you will do what is in your heart to do and perhaps what others never thought you would do.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.” (Psalm 84:5)

There are times that the hunger of God inside does not seem to be burning as brightly as other times. In times like these I become hungry and desire a deeper revelation of my God.  

Over the last couple of weeks I was faced with a major ordeal in my family.  My infant son stopped breathing and certainly would have died if it were not for the intervention of modern medicine.

He was rushed to a country hospital after my wife noticed what he was going through.  A big city medical team was air lifted to the facility to work on him and resuscitate him enough to transport him to Ottawa where he was in Intensive Care for 8 days and then in another room for 4 more.

There is so much that you face spiritually during a time like this.  I believe that I would not be overstating things to say that I am a soul on fire for God.  I live my life trying to find the deeper things of the Spirit and to live within that realm.  My general desire is to stay within the place of the Spirit and to introduce others to a life of the supernatural.

But when the devil seems to wreak havoc, you are tempted for a time to consider another path for your life.

I remember a friend of mine who lived in revival until he experienced a tremendous set back in his health.  It frightened him so much that he backed away from having revival in his church.  I was dismayed when I learned that this is what he had done.  I believe it displeased God then and stopped revival from spreading in his region at a higher level.

A couple of nights ago I had a dream and I was preaching.  The anointing wasn’t that strong.  I don’t know if you have ever felt the anointing when you preach, but if you have, you know that it is sort of like the fuel that gets you to the end of what you are doing.  Without that fuel I don’t even want to stand up publicly to speak.

So in this dream I faced frustration as I spoke without anointing.

I don’t want to live a life without the fire of God in my heart.  I don’t want my ministry to lack it.  The only remedy is time in His presence and hearing His voice for my life and ministry.

If we allow fear to enter in because of the dangers that can come upon our families or our lives because of the anger of the devil toward us, then we are saying that we do not trust God adequately to take care of us in the face of persecution, trial and opposition.

We either trust God with all that is valuable to us and carry out His will, or we give up our journey into the fire of His presence and live a secondary life with no profound impact.

When I die I want it said, “There lies a man that changed the world as he found it.”  I want them to say: “There is a man that helped change my life for the better. Had I not met him, I would have never experienced the fire of God as I did.”

I want to be like Elijah.  I want to be like Peter, like St. Patrick, like St. Columba—all of whom faced the devils of their generations and fought their battles well.

Why? Because you and I know there is no life like it in all the world: a heart set on pilgrimage to the glory realm of God

I pray that this revelation will be a destiny-advancing word for you today.

Acts 2 says that in the last days God will pour out His spirit and people will prophesy but the scripture also says that they will experience dreams and visions.

One of the great things about being a child of God is how He sends warnings by dreams and visions to make us aware and to pray for things that are approaching that seem negative.

God often warned people throughout the scriptures of difficult trials or circumstances that were coming.  He warned Mary and Joseph about King Herod and He warned Paul about persecution that was awaiting him in Jerusalem.  And He will warn you and me too.

My son stopped breathing on his own on April 1 and had to be rushed to the hospital in Arnprior where they worked for three hours to try to stabilize his condition.  A team was flown in from the Children’s Hospital to work on him and then they transported him to Ottawa for prenatal Intensive Care.

Two nights before my son was transported this way I was ministering in Rochester, NY.  My friend Stewart and I were chatting as we were preparing to go to sleep in the motel room we were sharing.  As I closed my eyes to fall asleep suddenly I could see the flashing lights of an emergency vehicle in the distance.  I understood that an emergency was coming my way when I saw this.

My sister in Virginia woke up the same night not being able to breathe.  She went out to her living room and began to pray.  She didn’t know who it was for but felt it was someone close to her and so she began to intercede.

My mother saw 911 on a couple of occasions just before the incident, which in parts of Canada is the number that you call during an emergency.  She understood that something was coming and began to pray in intercession and tongues.

When I finally got to the hospital I sat near my son and remembered another vision that I had of him just before he was born.  In this vision I saw him sitting on the floor of our house and he was about 10 months old.  He looked happy.  When I saw this I thought to myself “Why am I seeing this God?  Is there something you are preparing me for?”

Our God is a good God.  He doesn’t leave us without an answer when bad things come.  He will warn us before, and comfort us through the process.

I understood that a bad thing was coming and when I found out it was my son I knew he was going to get through it even though it was going to be a long process.

I believe God will supply the same encouragement and comfort and warning to all of His children.  I believe that this is part of the children’s bread and healing.  The comfort of hearing God’s voice through such crisis is the peace of His spirit in our inner man.

There wasn’t a day that His spirit did not comfort me.  He will also be there to comfort you.  I pray today that He will open your ears to hear the sound of His voice even in the face of crisis.

Just like He did for me. Just like he did for Paul. For you too, perhaps?

“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”— Proverbs 10:22 (KJV).

It might sound strange but the above scripture recently got me through the near death of my infant son Samuel.

Samuel stopped breathing on his own on April 1.  For two weeks my wife stayed at his bedside in the hospital waiting for the all clear sign to bring him home.  I got so sick myself during this time that I could only spend 9 or 10 days by his side.

This Scripture from Proverbs kept going through my head throughout the course of this ordeal.  I found myself reminding God of His word.  I said to him, “I am a child of God and your word says that the blessings of Abraham are my inheritance in Christ Jesus.”

I continued by saying, “I don’t believe the death of my child is a blessing and therefore God, I implore you to spare his life.”

“The Blessing of the Lord, it makes rich and he adds no sorrow to it.” 

I have six children and truly there are no greater riches that I could imagine for my life than these six souls created by the Master.  They are my treasures and my joy.

My father and mother lost a child at birth, as I am certain that some of you reading perhaps did.  My first wife experienced a miscarriage and this was a very difficult  experience for us.

My father recounted the experience of losing his son to me as I spoke to him during this crisis.  I said, “I have thought of what you must have gone through many times during this ordeal.”

He was sort of surprised that I had.  He told me his story of holding his infant son in his arms and giving him a name to only have him die hours later.

I don’t even want to consider such an experience for my own life.  I call out to God and remind Him of His word, “Lord, your blessing, it makes me rich and adds no sorrow to it.”

The sorrow of losing a child is not something I want to experience.  In fact as the miracle that really occurred with my son unfolds before me such gratitude rises in my heart toward my Creator God.  This boy could have died very easily, but I believe because of the blessing of God on our lives the Lord spared him.

The perfect conditions arose so that an awareness of what was occurring came upon my wife.  She rushed him to the hospital where the doctors were given wisdom on how to treat him.  Although it did not feel like a blessing at the time, I now realize that God is able to spare suffering and remain true to His word even in the face of tremendous odds against us.

The devil roams the earth seeking whom he may devour, but Christ stands in the heavenlies interceding on our behalf to the Father.

And as our Messiah’s prayers are heard and as we stand upon His word, it becomes the solid rock and foundation of a faith that carries us through every trial and tribulation that could come into our lives.

Praise God!

As I was preparing to go to sleep recently, I saw Christ appear in a vision as a Shepherd holding a staff.  I heard this is the army of the Lord, meaning that those who rise up in this hour will have the same countenance as Christ as He appeared in this vision.

He was looking into the heavens and divine light was radiating on His face.  I couldn’t see what He was looking at but He was surrounded by the glory of God.  In a way He was a very delicate fellow, not one that you would expect to be a member of an army that would fight against the devil and his minions and yet that was what was spoken over Him.

I felt that He was vulnerable, but I believe that it was this vulnerability and trust in God that were His greatest assets.

When we trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding then God is able to make a straight path for us (Proverbs 3:5-6).

We don’t have to be strong.  We don’t have to be highly trained warriors.  We just need to trust God and His ability to save us.

It was this trust and understanding that helped David defeat Goliath.  He didn’t look at the giant of a man standing in front of him but rather he looked to his God.  And in looking to his God he was able to cut the head off the giant and send the enemy fleeing.

In this hour I believe the Goliaths will stand and little men and women of God will stand in defiance of them.  There is a warrior shepherd that is on the rise, and no weapon formed against them shall prosper.

They are overcoming by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.  They know their God and He has set them free.  They understand His strength and power to save.

They might look weak on the outside just like Christ did in my vision, but we know what He accomplished by submitting to the work on the cross.  Each of us will have opportunity to stand or run in this hour.  I pray that you will have the strength to stand and when you have done all you can to stand even firmer.

The greatest American war hero in World War II was a young man by the name of Audy Murphy.  He was about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 130 pounds.  He did not let that stop him.  He did not let what others believed about him determine his bravery.  He stood in the face of opposition and resisted and took out 4 tanks and almost 80 men singlehandedly.  He did this standing on a burning tank firing a machine gun.  The tank could have exploded, but he didn’t care. He just knew what he had to do and did it.

I believe that this same spirit is rising up now in the generation at hand and the devil who seems to have great strength is about to be destroyed by the little Audy Murphy’s who believe in something bigger than themselves.

This is the hour of the Shepherd Warrior.  It is your hour and I pray that you will step into the battle to see what the Lord will do.