Rick Joyner Rick Joyner has authored more than fifty books, including The Final Quest Trilogy, There Were Two Trees in the Garden, The Path, and Army of the Dawn. He is also the Founder and Executive Director of MorningStar Ministries, a multi-faceted mission organization which includes Heritage International Ministries, MorningStar University, MorningStar Fellowship of Churches and Ministries. Click here to take a look at Rick's latest Rant #ricksrants

Knowing the Path

The basic purpose of every Christian is to become like the Lord, and to do the works that He did. We do this by loving Him and our neighbors. Everything that we are called to do will fit in one of those categories: loving God or people. We may distinguish the path God has called us to walk by determining the path that compels us to walk in love. 
 
If we truly love the Lord we will love what He loves and hate what He hates.

The Path of Wisdom

Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge properly. In Proverbs 24:3-4 we are told, "By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches." It is true that sermons filled with knowledge will tend to draw people. The gift of a word of knowledge will also draw crowds. This is good, but our purpose in the Lord is not just to draw crowds, but also to see people built together into the house of the Lord. To do this we need wisdom.

Breakthrough in the Air

Robin McMillan once told me that he could "smell a breakthrough." I thought that was a funny way to put it, but I had to admit that I could too. It was as if there was a special energy in the air, and you could actually smell a coming release in the Spirit.

Know Those Who Labor Among You

If we are going to be successful in a major endeavor we must learn one of the most powerful skills that anyone can have—team building. One of the Lord's highest priorities when He walked the earth was to build His team. He gathered a core of future leaders who had to be joined to Him, and to one another. That is still one of His highest priorities in building His church, and therefore must be ours.
 
There are few truly great teams that can be built quickly. Certainly the Lord was the best at this than who ever was or will be.

The Power of Purpose

A recent study made by Richard Leider and David Shapiro found that the number one fear that people have is to live a meaningless life. Finding one's purpose and fulfilling it is the deepest yearning of the human heart, even more compelling than fame or fortune.
 
Those who have had the most clearly defined purposes have been the leaders of the world. As Laurie Beth Jones stated in her book, The Path: "People with a clearly defined mission have always led those who do nothave one.

Taking the Land, Part 15

As we see in the Book of Hebrews and other places in the Bible, many things in Scripture are a prophetic type of other, greater things. The Promised Land of Israel was to be a prophetic type of the establishing of the kingdom of God on earth. Joshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus, the Messiah who...
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Vision With Values

Today it seems as if those who have the most rock solid values are lacking in vision. Likewise, many who have vision are lacking in values. It must be our goal to have vision with values. We want to sink our roots deeper and deeper into sound biblical truth, with a genuine commitment to the moral standards and integrity that are clearly mandated by Scripture.

Vision With Power

Detrich Bonhoeffer is one of my favorite authors. He was a true prophetic voice during the twentieth century. He stood against the greatest darkness of his time without compromise, and died because of it in a Nazi concentration camp. In one of his books, Life Together, he made a bold and shocking remark, stating simply: "God hates the visionary." The translation of this from the German language that he wrote in may be a little stronger than he intended, but there is some truth to this that we should understand.

The Burnt Stones

The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah are two of the most important prophetic messages for our own time. They contain the story of how a remnant of God's people returned to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon to rebuild the temple of the Lord and the walls of the city. These faithful ones met with continuous opposition and criticism from the nations around them, and even from some of their own fellow Jews who had remained in the land. One of their most vehement enemies, Sanballat, said the following concerning them: