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Drawing Right Conclusions
2010-06-14 13:51:00
– by Lee Ann Rubsam There’s something I sometimes struggle with.  Maybe you do, too.  It’s drawing inaccurate conclusions about what I see others doing.  Sometimes it really, really, really appears as clear as crystal what is going on in the other person’s motives – but then it turns out that wasn’t what was there at all.  Proverbs 18:13 has been an important verse in my life.  I’ve got it memorized, and I keep it in the back of my mind – but sometimes I forget to haul it out to the forefront of my thinking: “He who answers a matter before he hears it out to completion, it is folly and shame to him.”  I’m finding that, a good deal more of the time than I realize, things are not what they seem to be.  People’s actions and words – especially the negative ones – are much more complicated than they appear at face value.  And many times my assessment of them has been too harsh.  So, I am schooling myself to ask some questions about the information...
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Heavenly Injection (Part 1)
2010-06-07 07:03:00
–by Steve Driessen God has given each of us great potential and great giftings.  He wants us to release those giftings and that potential in the world around us.  We’ve had a mindset that “ministry” has to take place within the four walls of the church building.  No.  Ministry is about influence, and God’s intent is that we influence people outside the four walls of the church.  You have more influence in your day-to-day world than you do within the church setting.  Think about it: who has the most influence inside your local church?   Your pastor.  But the world where you live all week long is where you have your influence – at your workplace or school, among your family, in your neighborhood, through the Internet – wherever you are involved.  The reason you exist is to bring about change within your sphere, to bring Kingdom of Heaven light into areas of darkness.  You are God’s injection into the world – His antidote for society’s ills.   Then ...
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Honor — It’s a Big Deal
2010-05-24 15:39:00
– by Lee Ann Rubsam All of us want to be thought well of.  Receiving honor from others is a big deal – an important part of our well being.  Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is to be chosen over great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.”  The man who says he doesn’t care what others think of him is either lying or deceiving himself.  But God’s path to honor is different than what we would naturally choose.  If we want the honor of men, it must start with seeking honor from God.  In fact, if our focus is on receiving men’s honor, we will never even get there.  Some of us constantly strive for position and worry about what others think of us. However, the Bible records a sad testimony of the compromise that courting men’s favor will lead us to:  “Among the chief rulers many believed on [Jesus], but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more ...
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Mobilization
2010-05-10 16:16:00
– by Paul Rubsam What is mobilization? In military terms, it is the act of assembling and making both troops and supplies ready for war. Most Christians don’t seem to have a mobilization mindset.    At the beginning of WWI, after the archduke was assassinated, across Europe newspaper headlines announced that nations were mobilizing. They knew that war was coming. It was more than a possibility. It was a certainty.   Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address, “Now we are engaged in a great civil war.” Lincoln didn’t need any convincing that there was a war. He was right in the middle of one. But today’s Christian doesn’t seem to be aware of war.   The Apostle Paul said to “put on the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11). He saw the war, and he was affected by it. When we have health issues, financial problems, or relationship conflicts, that is war. The enemy is seeking to steal, kill and destroy, as Jesus states in John 10:10.   When...

Preparing for the Coming Decade (Part 3)
2010-05-03 15:21:00
– by Steve Driessen In the last two posts, we talked about 2010 being the Year of the Wind of the Spirit, short-term windows of opportunity that God’s people will have available to them, and God’s desire to break the oppression of bad debt off of us. But there are difficulties ahead as well – difficulties we can triumph over, if we stay attuned to what the Lord is speaking.   A Time of Testing Coming   We are entering into a time of testing. He’s testing us as individuals, as local church bodies, and as the people of God. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were tested and proven to be of greater quality than the others around them (Daniel 1:11-16).   Testing has a way of doing that. Gold is purified by fire. The testing you are going through is not designed to destroy you, but to bring forth the better in you, the strength that’s within you. There are hidden strengths within each of us, and the only way those will come out is through times of testing....
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Keep It Holy
2010-04-26 15:23:00
The River Ministries – by Joan Driessen Have you ever had God speak to you concerning your future — your destiny — and you felt totally inadequate, uneducated, and unprepared to carry out the calling God had just given you?  You knew it was God speaking, but you thought there was no way you could do what He was asking of you.  Moses felt the same way.  In Exodus 3, at the burning bush, God told Moses that He was sending him to Pharaoh, to lead God’s people out of Egypt and into their promised land.  Yet Moses said, “Who am I?  God, don’t You know that I am slow of speech?  God, I stutter!  You must have the wrong person.”  God, of course, did not have the wrong person.  In fact, He knew very well what He was doing and why He had chosen Moses.   The same is true for us, when God speaks to us concerning a direction He wants us to take.  He knows all our weaknesses and faults, yet He chooses us to help Him fulfill His plans on the earth.  God is n...

Preparing for the Coming Decade (Part 2)
2010-04-19 17:03:00
– by Steve Driessen Last time we said that the decade we have just entered is to be a decade of faith, favor, and harvest.  We also said that 2010 is The Year of the Wind of the Spirit, and that we must yield to Him and flow with Him.  He is doing a new thing.  What is ahead?  I believe we are coming into a season when dead churches will start coming alive.  God has placed a faithful remnant of people in lifeless churches who are crying out to the Lord for revival in their local fellowship.  The Lord is going to answer their prayers.  And when God breaks out, the word is going to get out.  There are hungry people just waiting for an outbreak of God.  The Lord is speaking that windows of opportunity are going to open to the people of God, even this year.  Within the next few weeks and months, God will begin to open these windows, but we must be prepared to take advantage of them.  Some of them will be open for a very short period of time.  There will some kind of op...
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Sons and Servants
2010-04-12 15:24:00
The River Ministries The prodigal son story, found in Luke 15:11-32, has always made me squeamish.  You see, I’ve never related well to the prodigal.  It’s the elder brother I identify with.  The poor guy has been criticized in thousands of sermons, but the truth is, he wasn’t a bad person.  He was consistent, faithful, hard-working.  But he had a huge perception problem.  It shows up in what he said to his dad: “Look.  All these years I have served you, neither did I disobey you at any time; yet you never gave me a kid, so that I could have a feast with my friends, but as soon as your son came home, who wasted your substance … you killed the fatted calf for him” (vs. 29, 30).  The elder brother had never thought of himself as a son; he viewed himself as a hired servant. The younger son, finally disgusted with his sin, planned to say, “Father, I … am not worthy to be called your son.  Make me like one of your hired servant...
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Overcoming vs. Surviving
2010-03-22 15:06:00
The River Ministries What are you, when adversity strikes? A survivor? Or an overcomer? A survivor is one who endures and gets through, just barely. An overcomer gets through with his joy intact, strength still flowing in his veins, and life spilling out of himself for others.   Now, I’ve been both – but I believe that God wants His children to always dwell in overcoming power. Survival alone is not His best for us. We are meant to be victorious life-givers toward those in the world around us. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us”  (Romans 8:37).   Yet there are multitudes of Christian people who, day after day, are consumed with the pain of what multitudes of someones are saying or doing to them, and they talk about it constantly to everyone who will listen. They exude a tale of woe, offense, unforgiveness, and a desire for revenge for all the world to see. Joy is nowhere to be found. Neither is a good tes...

Preparing for the Coming Decade (Part 1)
2010-03-09 01:35:00
– by Steve Driessen The Lord has been speaking to me for the last few months about ten-year cycles. For the first ten years of the millennium, we were in a cycle of fear, even in the Church. But the next ten years, beginning with 2010, is meant by God to be a decade of faith, favor, and harvest.   Fear and faith are complete opposites, but both are very motivating. Both fear and faith have very real emotion attached to them. But faith is a reality, while most fear is merely perceived as a reality.    It is very important for us to understand now, in early 2010, God’s intention for this next decade to be one of faith, favor, and harvest, because if we don’t align ourselves properly with what the Lord is wanting to release in us and through us, we will miss seeing that release.        God’s Purpose for His Church   We are not here to merely eke out an existence. The Church is called and sent out with a governmental mandate to establish the Kingdom of He...
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A Season of Short-Term Opportunities
2010-03-01 15:23:00
The River Ministries A couple of weeks ago I had a dream.  It was a warning for me, but based on similar prophetic words that others have shared, I think the dream is also a word for the Church in general.  We are in a season of short-term opportunities. We must recognize and take hold of them without delay as they arise.  In the dream, I opened my refrigerator and saw a very large turkey pushed to the back. With sinking heart, I remembered that I had bought it about a week and a half previously and then forgotten to cook it. It was a premium-brand turkey that I had gotten on sale, and it was not Thanksgiving time. I began examining it, hoping against hope that it was still OK, but knowing full well it must be spoiled by now. When I peeled back the wrapper, the meat had a slightly off smell, so I sadly threw it away. I remember the huge sense of loss I felt over the waste. As I pondered the dream before the Lord, its meaning began to unfold.  The turkey represented an opportu...
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Abide in Me
2010-02-15 15:32:00
The River Ministries  “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” – Psalm 91:1  I have been reading Psalm 91 almost daily since the beginning of the year.  Every protection or provision we could need is promised with certainty in this psalm.  But the phrases, in addition to that first verse, that stir me most are about abiding in Him: “He is my refuge and trust …. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall trust …. Because you have made … the Most High your habitation, no evil will befall you ….”  “Abiding” means to be constantly connected with Jesus, snuggled up so close that we know His thoughts, hear His heartbeat, and have no fear, because He is right there holding us.  When we sense His Presence that close, there is no room for fear.  It is a place of peace and rest.  John 15 tells us that if we stay in the abiding place, we will be like a vine that produces abundant frui...

Touching the Heart of God
2010-02-10 03:40:00
The River Ministries The following link is to an 18 minute audio message delivered by senior apostolic leader Steve Driessen at The River Ministries on February 7, 2010. It is an impassioned cry to the Church at large to have a hunger for the Lord that goes beyond desiring revival, signs and wonders, or even a harvest of souls.  Please listen prayerfully, and let God touch your heart, so that you will be willing to touch His. (Depending on your audio player, this may take a few minutes to load.) Touching the Heart of God   Filed under: Apostolic, Apostolic Regional Centers, Christian, Christian growth, Christian life, Christianity, Church, God, Jesus, Kingdom living, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, Nondenominational, Prophetic, Religion, Spirituality, Uncategorized, Wisconsin Apostolic Regional Centers, Wisconsin churches, worship Tagged: harvest of souls, hunger for God, revival, signs and wonders, touching God

The Deliverer
2010-02-01 14:51:00
The River Ministries I dearly love the Names of Jesus.  One of my favorites is “The Deliverer.”  Romans 11:26 paraphrases Isaiah 59:20, “… There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Jesus is in the business of setting people free from every kind of bondage imaginable.  No weakness, habit, character flaw, or sin that we carry — no matter how daunting or despicable it might seem to us — is too big for Him to deal with and help us overcome. Joel 2:32 assures us, “… Whoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered.”  We can ask, in faith, and deliverance is ours.  It is a certainty, and we need only to appropriate it.  We still are responsible to do our part by not indulging our old habits, whether they are thought patterns or unrighteous things that we say or do, but He provides the grace to break the habit, too, if we cooperate with Him.  What do you need del...

Decade of Evangelism
2010-01-18 14:57:00
The River Ministries Following is a prophetic word released by Pastor Joan Driessen of The River Ministries on December 27, 2009.  It is a word for the decade beginning with 2010: You are about to enter into a new decade of evangelism.  Fear will no longer hold the Church captive.  In this last decade you saw hardly any evangelism and hardly any harvest, although you have planted seed.  It was fear that held you back.  But My amazing love is about to be poured out upon every man and woman who dares to believe for the spirit of evangelism to fall upon them.  For it is love that will compel you to speak to the unspeakable.  It is love that will compel you to love those who do not love in return.  It is My amazing love that will be the vehicle to go to even the remotest parts of this nation — to pick up those who are in the gutter, to pick up those who have no hope, to embrace them, and to say, “Jesus loves you, and so do I.”  For you must see the lost the way I see...
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Jesus — Our Shield of Faith
2009-03-30 14:37:00
The River Church We’ve been talking about Jesus being the armor of God, as mentioned in Ephesians 6:11-18.   Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. - Ephesians 6:16 Psalm 119:114 says of the Lord, “You are my hiding place and my shield: I hope in your word.”  Psalm 28:7 affirms, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped ….”  Notice that Ephesians 6:16 exhorts, “Above all, take the shield of faith ….” Faith is critical to successful Christian living. Hebrews 11:6 states, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.”  Faith, essentially, is about whether we believe He is Who He says He is, and whether we trust Him to do what He has said He will do. To not have faith in God is to ins...
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Jesus — The Boot
2009-03-23 14:09:00
The River We’ve been talking about Jesus being the armor of God, as mentioned in Ephesians 6:11-18.    And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. — Ephesians 6:15  The gospel is the good news, and of course, Jesus is The Good News! He is all our hope of salvation.  The armor of God in Ephesians is a picture drawn from Roman fighting gear.  Roman soldiers did not wear flimsy sandals; their footwear was closer in appearance and function to a boot, with heavy hobnails driven into the bottoms.  In Genesis 3:15, God said of the “seed” which was to come (which was the Savior), “It [the seed -- Jesus] shall bruise your [the serpent -- Satan's] head, and you shall bruise his heel.”  Jesus was bruised for our sins (Isaiah 53:5), and now is the covering for our heels so that the devil cannot bruise us!  We are not only protected from the enemy’s attack by Jesus, but it gets better yet. Romans 16:20 tells us, “And t...
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Jesus — Our Belt of Truth and Breastplate of Righteousness
2009-03-16 13:37:00
The River Church Last time, I mentioned that Jesus is the armor of God mentioned in Ephesians 6:11-18.    Stand therefore, having your loins girded around with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. - Ephesians 6:14  The Belt of Truth   Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life …” (John 14:6).  Jesus not only gives us truth; He is the truth!  When we are wearing the belt of truth, we are wearing Jesus around our middle, the place where our vital organs are located.  Wearing (abiding in) Jesus the Truth keeps our spiritual vital organs protected from harm.  The belt and the sword are closely associated. When we are not actively wielding the sword, it rests in its scabbard, which hangs on the belt.  Ephesians 6:17 tells us that the sword is the Word of God, and Jesus said of the Scriptures, “Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth” (John 17:17). We are sanctified (cleansed and made holy) through living in Go...

I Am the Armor
2009-03-09 13:52:00
The River Church I was a young mom, up to my earlobes in baby wash, and thoroughly frustrated because I had not been able to get my prayer time in that morning.  “God, it’s so hard to find time to pray today.  Why, I never even got a chance to put on my spiritual armor this morning!”  His answer was quite calm and distinct: “I am your armor.”   It was new revelation for me.  Jesus is the armor.  The Lord then explained in detail how each piece of the armor of God mentioned in Ephesians 6:11-18 is a depiction of Him.  I would like to talk about this in greater detail in our next few installments of An Encouraging Word. Many of us have been taught to start the day off right by mentally putting on the whole armor of God.  It’s a good spiritual exercise, but if we are walking moment-by-moment with Jesus, we’re never without our armor.  It doesn’t mysteriously disappear while we sleep, so that we are unprotected until we once agai...
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God’s Savings Plan
2009-03-02 15:31:00
The River Church In hard economic times we naturally want to be savvy managers of our finances.  We tend to be more careful about where we spend and how much.  There is a tendency to pull back, close in on ourselves, and hang onto what material possessions we have. What would Jesus do, if He were living in our time, with our economy?  He has already told us:  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust can corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.  Instead, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust can corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there your heart will be as well. - Matthew 6:19-21  The odd thing about God’s banking system is that we don’t fill our accounts by withholding our spending.  Our accounts increase as we spend more - as long as what we spend on is the Lord and His kingdom.  When we give with joyful, abundant abandon to Jesus, He some...
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The Father Problem
2009-02-23 15:05:00
The River Church Many of us have a distorted view of God the Father .  We may have received wrong teaching in our church upbringing, or our earthly dads may not have treated us well, causing us to have a Father problem.  We may be able to relate to Jesus, but God the Father?  That’s another story! Hebrews 1:3 gives us a better understanding: “[Jesus] is the brightness of his [God the Father's] glory, and the express image of his person ….”  Some translations say Jesus is “the exact likeness of His [Father's] nature.”  Jesus is the mirror reflection of God the Father’s complete love and goodness.  So, if we have a loving relationship with Jesus, it is possible to have a loving relationship with God the Father as well.  Many of us wince when we think about God as a Father, because we have not had good experiences within our families.  “Father” brings pain to our emotions.  Yet, God does not want us to deny or ignore His ...
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Arise and Eat
2009-02-16 14:26:00
The River Church [Elijah] went a day’s journey into the wilderness…. An angel touched him, and said to him, “Rise up and eat.”  He looked, and there was a cake baked on the coals, and a pitcher of water by his head.  And he ate and drank … and the angel of the LORD came again and touched him, and said, “Rise up and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”  And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and nights to Horeb, the mount of God. - 1 Kings 19:4-8  After great spiritual victory, Elijah suddenly ended up in the wilderness, tired and disheartened.  He has been criticized in countless sermons for succumbing to fear and discouragement, and the conclusion often reached is that he was a prophetic has-been from that time forth.  But God didn’t see it that way. He continued to use Elijah for years afterward, both as a prophet and as a mentor of up-and-coming prophets.  Did God scold ...

Costly Giving
2009-02-09 14:16:00
The River Church Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom Jesus raised from the dead.  There they made Him a supper, and Martha served.  But Lazarus was one of them who sat at the table with him. Mary took a pound of spikenard ointment, very costly, and anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped his feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. - John 12:1-3 Often when we pray, we ask the Lord for anointing to heal, or to prophesy, or to do some other ministry work.  Our focus is on receiving anointing from Him.  But in this passage, we see that Jesus was the One receiving an anointing, as Mary was lavishing her precious ointment on Him.  Spikenard came from a plant that grew in the Himalayas, which was why it was so costly. Judas said it could have been sold for 300 denarii (John 12:5), which equaled almost a year’s wages for a common laborer. Mary put deliberate forethought into spending he...
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God’s Economy
2009-02-02 14:30:00
The River Church  Each day we hear more about deepening economic troubles.  It affects us all, and many are tempted to be afraid.  But the Lord has been showing me that this is a time of opportunity for God’s people — opportunity to step into His economy.  He wants to show Himself mighty on our behalf. The Bible is full of promises to hearten us when economic times are bad.  I’ve noticed, however, that financial promises are given only to those who are fully devoted to the Lord - those who fear [revere] Him, seek Him, and put Him first.  For the eyes of the LORD run here and there throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward him (2 Chronicles 16:9).  Here are some of the Lord’s promises for financial security.  You can claim them and speak them over yourself to get the breakthrough you need:  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. – Philipp...
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Anybody Can Give Up
2009-01-26 14:42:00
The River Church It’s a tough time for many people, and the Church is no exception.  Sometimes we get tired of fighting through all the difficulties and feel overwhelmed by our circumstances.  What does God say about it all?  And why does He not come to the rescue quicker than He does? There may be a number of reasons, but one of the biggies is that God wants to raise up an army of believers who will live by His Word, not by what they see around them.  He wants His people to be strong, so that we can be victorious over the enemy of our souls.  Solomon commented, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10).  That doesn’t sound like the way to win a war, does it?  David understood what God was doing through difficulties in his life: “It is God who girds me with strength ….  He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. … I have pursued my enemies, and have overtaken them;...
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The Abishag Ministry of Worship
2008-06-02 14:13:00
The River Church Some of us may feel like we don’t have a very important place in the Body of Christ.  We look around at others who seem to have great purpose, and we wonder, “God, why can’t I do great things for you?”   Abishag might have felt like that. Her story is recorded in 1 Kings 1:1-4.  In his old age, King David became feeble, and a young woman was sought to keep him warm and care for him.  It doesn’t sound like the most exciting place to be.  It was not a place of recognition, but a place of seclusion.  Yet we read of Abishag, in verse 4, “And the young lady was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and ministered to him….”  We wouldn’t naturally think of her as being important, yet she is mentioned by name in the Bible.  Most of David’s other wives’ names were only recorded in connection with the children they bore. Their place in the kingdom was recognized because of what they produced - t...
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The God Who Satisfies (Part 2)
2008-05-26 13:19:00
The River Church “…And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,” says the Lord. - Jeremiah 31:14  Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. - Psalm 103:5  For he satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. - Psalm 107:9 Recently, a profound statement was made by a guest speaker at The River Church.  He said that each of us has three voids inside that must be filled in order for us to live a happy Christian life.  The first void is filled when we give our hearts to Jesus in salvation, the second when we are baptized in the Spirit, and the third when we come into the destiny that we were born for, our place in God’s kingdom.  Many Christians have gotten the first two voids filled, but are feeling most unsatisfied when it comes to the third.  We have an innate sense of great destiny within us, but we don’t know how to come into it.  As we said last time, true sati...
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The God Who Satisfies
2008-05-19 13:48:00
The River Church “…And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,” says the Lord. - Jeremiah 31:14  “Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” - Psalm 103:5  “For he satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.” - Psalm 107:9 Many Christians live in frustration, feeling as though there must be more to life than what they are experiencing.  Many have a gnawing sense inside that they have a greater destiny, a greater purpose, than what they are currently experiencing.  God never meant it to be this way.  He wants His people to be satisfied. How do we come into living a fulfilled Christian life?  How do we attain to our destiny calling?  Before we can know the God Who satisfies us through a ministry, we must know the God Who satisfies us with Himself.  In Genesis 15:1, God says, “Fear not, Abram: I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward....

Abdicating the Throne of Self
2008-05-12 13:59:00
The River Church … Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. - Luke 17:21  The goal is for the kingdom of God to be inside of us, but also that it will spill out to the spiritually dying world around us.  The good news of the gospel is not only “fire insurance” salvation, but a reestablishment of God’s kingdom on earth, for His glory and for mankind’s benefit.  Jesus preached a kingdom gospel. Why, then, is the kingdom of heaven not spilling out into society at large?  One reason is that too many of God’s people have two kingdoms warring within, and the one with the upper hand is not God’s, but that of self.  Our job is to renounce our self-throne, and exalt Jesus in our hearts as Lord alone. This is not easy to do.  Our natural man is very concerned with its own ambitions for recognition.  “What’s in it for me?” is the way we tend to think.  But God wants to give us a new mentality of building His kingdom, not our...

Contending for Our Promises
2008-05-05 13:57:00
The River Church And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. - Hebrews 6:15 Abraham endured, and finally received his promised son Isaac.  Enduring is more than passively waiting.  Marathon runners know that to finish they must endure. To win takes yet greater endurance: they must give their all.  When God makes a promise, He is committed to keeping it.  But He does not want us to sit back with the passive attitude, “If it’s God it will happen, and if it isn’t, it won’t.”  We have a part to play.  We must contend for our promises.  Contending means striving against opposition or difficulties; competing, as in a race; struggling; disputing the case. If God has given the promise, then why must we struggle to come into it?  It is because of the constant spiritual battle in the heavenlies.  Satan always wants to thwart God’s plans for us.  Although the victory is already ours, we must press into it.  How do we contend ...
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