Last week we addressed how some general principles about the operation of the gifts of the Spirit may be common, but they are always joined to the unique way that He relates to every person. Every prophet and apostle in Scripture was different, and every person is unique. So we must learn to balance the general principles that we can learn from others, with the unique way that the Lord wants to relate to us, which can only be gained by our personal relationship to Him.

         This week we continue with Revelation 6:1-2:

         Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living beings saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come."

         I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

It is certainly wonderful to see the celebrations going on in the streets of Baghdad. However, the President and the Pentagon are absolutely right to tone down the celebrations. The easy part of this war was the fighting—the hard part now begins.

How is the church going to be strengthened by the Obama Administration? There are a number of ways, and possibly the main way is already beginning to happen—the church will not continue to rely on the government to do our job, so we should wake up and do what we are in fact called to do.

As stated in our last study, in contrast to the growing lawlessness there is an emerging generation of spiritual leaders who will come forth in the opposite spirit. These are the ones who will preach the gospel of the kingdom with power. They will be trusted with unprecedented power because they will have been found trustworthy. They will be trustworthy because of their deep and genuine respect for authority and the anointing.

More than two decades ago the Lord spoke to me and some of my friends that the cross would become popular again. This will be the time when the church truly crosses over and begins to possess its Promised Land. We have come to that time. Therefore, we can expect the focus of what the Spirit is saying to the churches to become more and more centered on the cross.

The very first test of Solomon’s wisdom concerned the respect for life. This is the fundamental test of all true wisdom. Life, in itself, is the ultimate gift, and is greater than any treasure. This is why the right to life, and euthanasia issues are so crucial. Once doctors who have sworn to protect life, and do all that they can to save life, begin to twist their vows in order to take life, the slide into the most tragic and diabolical forms of injustice has begun.

This week, we will look at what I call a “new order of ministry” which is now being raised up, and is in many ways a return to the original order of ministry. This order is the most prevalent in Scripture and history by about 10 to 1 over what has become the most prevalent “concept” of what ministry is today.

One of the most often repeated teachings in recent times has been centered on the biblical prophecies which state that the wealth of the wicked will be given to the righteous. The prophecies actually go further than this and state that the wealth of the nations will be brought to the righteous. Because these are biblical prophecies, we know that they will come to pass. This is about to begin, and we must be ready for it.

As we have discussed, we tend to think of righteousness in terms of morality, which is of course the most basic part of it. However, in the teachings of Scripture, a huge part of the teachings on righteousness are about management—being a good steward of what we have been entrusted with. Righteousness is also caring enough for the things we have been entrusted with to manage them right.