When Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus, he is speaking of the two great dilemmas of the human condition – poverty and self-indulgence. In a surprising twist, it is the self-indulgent who is condemned while the suffering Lazarus finds a home in heaven. As billions across the globe are suffering extreme poverty, many Americans, even Christians, are dangerously engaged in lives of self-indulgence.

The Word of the Lord for 2009 is, "go forward" and say goodbye to captivity. Jesus will begin to curse deep rooted sin, deep rooted prayerlessness and powerlessness. We will be given power to speak to every mountain of impossibility because Jesus cursed the root of it! This is our time to believe that in the 2009 we will say goodbye to everything that has held us captive. It is time for the church to "go forward" into the miraculous!

In 2009 God is calling His church to "go forward". We will not have an ability to go forward if we are not right with God. We have been called to be an extension to God's goodness to a dying world. If our central focus is to live for the betterment of others, then even the bitter things will become sweet to us. There is still a Lamb for every house. There is power, provision and protection in Christ. We must make haste and get right with God so we can be a testimony of His provision and power. In Christ everyday is a new beginning where the impossible becomes possible.

Why is it important to know truth? What is truth? We know truth is a not something, it is someone. Jesus is truth. Knowing the truth gives us victory over the fiery darts of deception. The war against the devil is fought by the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit causes us to be intimately involved with the one who is truth. As we interact with the Holy Spirit He fights in us and through us. We cannot fight in our own strength. The Battle is the Lord's!

Think of the thing you struggle with the most and by faith say goodbye to it. If we are called by God the powers of darkness know the potential we have in Christ. When we come to our red sea of impossibility God promises every enemy will be drowned behind us. There is a glory that will come upon a people who choose to get into the Word of God and simply declare the impossible possible. There will be a people in this last hour of time who have the testimony of Jesus Christ and a glory song that the world must reckon with.

God wants you to be free from shame and guilt in order to release in you the glory of your destiny.

It's not easy to love people. How can we love people the way Christ loves us? Loving others is hopeless unless we abide in Christ and allow Him to do through us what we cannot do for ourselves. It has to be Christ in us - the newness of His life and love flowing in us and through us. Unconditional giving of ourselves is the basis for an explosion of joy! Start loving and be ready for the miraculous.

The devil is the father of lies and he stands against us telling us we are no good and we are not going to make it. He is a real enemy and we cannot fight him in our own strength. We need the power of God to help us. When we have an honest heart Jesus will step into the midst of our warfare and rebuke the devil with one word and in a moment of time all that defiles us will be removed. Our Jesus is a mighty warrior!

Whenever we decide to move forward in Christ Satan will always counter attack us. The enemy will use strategies such as compromise, fear and threaten us about the next generation. It is time to remind ourselves that Jesus Christ defeated all the power of the enemy and because we put our trust in Him we will make it through every Red Sea of impossibility!

Anguish is extreme pain, distress, or sorrow. Whatever happened to anguish in the house of God? You don’t hear about it in this pampered age. More of the world is coming into, and taking over, the church than the church is impacting the world. So many times we say to God, "This time you’ve touched me for life. I’ll never be the same." It’s just all fireworks, a loud band and a lot of noise, and then it dies. All true passion is born out of anguish.