Can the Markets Resist the Devil?
The present stock market slide is not the beginning of a cataclysmic collapse in the U.S. economy. Stocks may drop lower for a time, but the Dow will find a consistent floor above 7,000 and the Nasdaq is close to its bottom in this present slide as well. This will be closer to the actual value of American business, which in the long term is healthier for both the economy and the markets.

         We think in words. For this reason, words have been the most powerful social force on earth, changing nations, forming cultures, and dismantling them. Dictionaries help establish the definitions of words, and a friend sent me this one that had recently been added to one of America’s foremost word authorities. This is the definition:

     Many of the prophets in the Old Testament referred to “the burden of the Lord.” We briefly addressed last week how prophetic impressions can come to us when we feel something in our body that is actually wrong with another person. For example, if we’re talking to a person and our left knee starts hurting, it could be because the person we’re talking to has a problem with their left knee.

     As we are presently discussing, the nations that pursue God’s righteousness will be blessed, and they will lend and not borrow. Those who have to borrow are enslaved, as we read in Proverbs 22:7: “the borrower becomes the lender's slave.” If we are Christians, we will certainly believe the Word of God over any politician’s, and what is happening in America now with our deficit spending is that the whole nation is being enslaved.

America has been in what seems to be a perpetual state of crises. Challenges to our very foundations have been relentless. Even so, a great pushback is coming, and America will not only survive as a republic but will emerge as a much stronger and greater republic. Our foundations will not only be restored but strengthened. The battle over our identity and destiny will result in a much clearer identity and path ahead. The battles will not be over, and even bigger battles will be ahead because our most important purpose is yet in the future.

Our text for this week is Ephesians 5:5-8:

Our New Year’s Conference each year is devoted to discerning the times and receiving guidance from the Lord for the coming year, both for the body of Christ and for all the individuals who attend. The Lord promises that if we will seek Him, we will find Him (see Matthew 7:7). At this conference, we have received some of the most important words to come from our ministry. Many have had their lives radically impacted by them.

This will be a year of gathering together for the mobilization of the army of God. Many Christians who have slipped away from fellowship in the body of Christ will be gathered back into fellowship. Many churches will be joined to larger movements, which will help give them more definition, focus, and a greater sense of their purpose. Many movements will join with other movements, and even denominations will begin to develop relationships with other denominations.

Last week we discussed the attitude that will keep us moving, growing, and pressing on to maturity in Christ, as the Apostle Paul expressed it in Philippians 3. If Paul, who had one of the most powerful, fruitful ministries of all time had the attitude near the end of his life that he had not yet attained, but needed to press on and not look back, how much more should we have this attitude?