Following are snippets of the top stories posted over the past week on charismamag.com. We encourage you to visit the links to read the stories in full.
I’m Bronx-born (in Einstein Hospital) from the boroughs, so I have a lot invested in New York. I’ve lived here my whole life. Chris (my husband) was born in New York (we’re native New Yorkers). A Jets and Mets fan married a Giants and Yankees fan, and there was a complete civil war in my family.
A Word of the Lord for New York
“Watch New York going to the end of the year, for unexpected change is upon Albany,” says the Lord of hosts. “They have rebelliously chosen to go off into the darkness where one cannot see. And to maintain control, [they] have released into New York another that shall make itself plain shortly.
“However,” says the Lord, “there is a bear trap, and it shall catch their foot and bring them down from their lofty position. For they have not learned from the fall of the former and shall become even more shameful for what they have done. And this shall trigger a vein in the spirit that runs to California,” says the Lord, “events in the political arena in tandem. Watch and see,” says the Lord of hosts, “for much will flip…” (To read the full Aug. 2, 2022, word, click here.)
In a dream the other night, I was sitting with the Lord. In front of me, I could see a horizon, except there was this thick layer of fog in front of me that was stopping me from being able to see ahead.
The Lord said to me, “It is now time for the scales to be removed from your eyes and from your heart and from your soul. And this is an hour that I am clearing out every bit of debris and every blockage and every hindrance to you seeing clearly the road ahead that I have for you.”
He said, “This is an hour that I’m giving you fresh vision. This is an hour that I’m giving you eyes to see the future that I have planned for you; the future that the enemy has tried to stop you from seeing; the future that the enemy has wanted you disconnected from so that you would lose hope and you would crumble on the battlefield that you were in—so that you would give up in the middle of what looks like a wilderness, but it’s only moments and steps away from fruitfulness and advancing.
Over the past couple months, much has been taking place in the nations and in the realm of the Spirit. The Lord told me in August the nations would reach a boiling point. We have been at a crucial tipping point.
A tipping point is a point at which a very significant change occurs; a decisive moment. Rapid change and realignments are being accelerated in the nations and across the board. We are in a time where we’ll continue to see a changing of guard in the nations, the political realm and in the body of Christ.
Praying and decreeing the Word of the Lord is our greatest weapon in this time. Our greatest place of power and influence starts on our knees. James 5:16, NKJV reads, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Prayer is effective when we engage in it because it carries and releases the power of God. “Avail” means to have sufficient power, force, efficacy for the object (kingjamesbibledictionary.com).
We live in a time of seismic, social upheaval, and the shaking has triggered a trend known as “deconstruction” among Christians, especially in Western countries. You may not have heard the term, but it’s everywhere. People are questioning everything—including the church, spiritual leaders, traditional morality and the core doctrines of Christian faith.
Deconstruction made headlines last year when Kevin Max, a member of the popular Christian band DC Talk, announced that he was now an “ex-evangelical.” Noting that he was also “pro-LGBTQIA,” Max said he had been deconstructing his faith “for decades.”
Bart Campolo, son of famous evangelical author Tony Campolo, announced in 2011 that he had become an atheist and secular humanist. He described his journey this way: “I passed through every stage of heresy. It starts with sovereignty going, then biblical authority goes, then I’m a universalist, now I’m marrying gay people. Pretty soon I don’t actually believe Jesus actually rose from the dead in a bodily way.”
As I stopped to get gas recently, I reached for the pump and noticed a winged bug I hadn’t recalled seeing before. It didn’t move from the pump even as I moved the handle.
It got my attention, and I wondered what it was. Immediately the word “mayfly” popped into my head. I wasn’t sure what a mayfly was—though the name sounded familiar—so I did a quick image search. Sure enough, the bug was a mayfly. I felt like the Lord was trying to say something, so I began to read about these tiny creatures. Here’s what I learned.
The presence of mayflies often indicates water that is oxygenated and pure. They hatch in such striking numbers in some areas that they can show up on weather radars and draw quite the tourist crowd. They are notorious for having a short lifespan, it was even compared in one instance to having the lifespan of a daily newspaper. Mayflies—despite their name—can hatch in a number of both spring and summer months.