Conferences have been a basic part of our ministry since 1990. MorningStar will have hosted over one hundred conferences this coming year, and we have felt a grace on each one to go at least a little higher than the previous ones. Even so, we had sensed that our recent Harvest and Worship & Warfare Conferences were going to be special, and we were not disappointed. Every one of our team and staff that I talked to said they felt that they were the best conferences we have ever had, and we have had some historic conferences.

        For many years now we have been saying that each year would be more challenging than the last. I don’t think we have been wrong yet. What can we expect for 2014? It will be even more challenging too, but that does not mean it will not be a great year. Keeping in mind that victories don’t come without battles, and no great victories without great battles, this is the year we can expect some breakthroughs and a turning. Now is the time to see these crises/opportunities and prepare for them.

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.