GRATITUDE

How is your gratitude-ometer?

It is not difficult to find an article, a sermon, a word of criticism or another expression of what is wrong and how it is to be made right. Sometimes those things are needful.

But what could happen if we took this Thanksgiving-Christmas season to focus on the things for which we are grateful?

Any of us could have been born in far less fortunate circumstances than we were. Some might wish for different parents for reasons of abuse or desertion. But what of those of us whose parents really loved us and really did the best they knew with what they had?

They say Henny Youngman once said, “Take my wife…please!”. It got laughs in the old comedy routines. But the reality is that my wife could have done better. I am thankful for her for so many reasons. I am told by pastor after pastor and many of their wives, “we are hurting.”  Has your wife heard you express your gratitude to God for her in prayer lately?

I am grateful for our children. Are they always “perfect”? No, but then they are “a chip off the old block”. They never had a chance! But they are pursuing God and His purpose for their lives. Do they always agree with me on how that is processed? No, but I am thankful their faith has become their faith and they are passing it on to their children.

I thought today of my colleagues. Early in the morning word came that one was having a pretty serious test. His doctor has observed something that needed to be explored. We all prayed throughout the day and I thought of he and others. We rejoiced to hear in the afternoon that all tests came back normal. Awesome!

Who are your colleagues? Have you expressed your gratitude to them for all they do?

I could go on and on. But really, each of us needs to make our own list. Sometimes that kind word spoken can mean everything to someone else. We need each other and we need to focus on those things God has placed in our lives and be grateful to Him and others.

Proverbs 25:11 says “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” Surely a word of gratitude is golden!

ARE YOU WINNING THE DAILY BATTLE?

“Brother, I believe we are in trouble” was the assessment of a tenured pastor of a Southern Baptist congregation in Texas. That was a summary statement after a discussion of issues, attitudes, and challenges facing the Bride of Christ in the 21st century.

In my own conversations, I have heard stories of dysfunction within congregations that are amazing. Some seem to have the ability to do things to people in the world of religion that are unconscionable in the world of Scripture, and sometimes even illegal according to the laws of the land.

Perhaps you have experienced some of those things. Pastors and staff members tend to pick up and move on, all the time smiling but inside dying. And the collateral damage is usually the wife and children.

I recall an expression from my childhood: “If God will keep him anointed, we will keep him humbled.” Many have used this and perhaps the first time it was said someone just made it up as an example of how some were treated. However, I have heard it verbalized, usually around the time to consider salary.

Dr. Ray C. Stedman’s “Spiritual Warfare” is an older book about winning the daily battle. I would encourage you to click on the link and order the book. Stedman brought Biblical balance to Ephesians 6:10-13. Later in this post I will borrow from him to offer some suggestions for winning this battle and hopefully whet your appetite to read Stedman.

“God is not interested in religion, but he is tremendously interested in life. I am deeply convinced that we can only understand life when we see it as the Bible sees it.” Stedman is on target here and should encourage those of us who believe Scripture to be the inerrant word of the living God.

We minister after several hundred years of the effect of the movement called Rationalism. This gave rise to what we know as Modernity. This was a movement elevating reason above revelation. It rejected absolute truth and sought to find meaning in reason and the solitary individual. It has affected all of the structures of Western society, including the Church and its institutions. It has resulted in a breakdown of morality, personhood, and community. Sarcasm is the humor of choice. Even conservative movements in church and politics have not escaped the results of reason that trumps revelation.

Here is the rub. We minister weekly to wonderful people who want to love God with their whole heart. But their worldview is affected by all of the influences around them that value reason over revelation. Therefore, Scripture becomes a big evangelistic tract, and not the truth of the living God. You have heard, “Well, as long as they are saved. That’s what counts, and they made a decision ….”. You know the thought process.

These are those with a worldly world view where reason trumps revelation. And they are in our pews. The key for them is that we continue to love them unconditionally and preach/teach the truth of Scripture. But how do we survive the onslaught of the reason of the world expressed through people whose talk is prefaced by “I think…”?

Stedman offers some help in a chapter entitled “Advice When Attacked”.

First is to put on the armor of God – the whole armor. This is essentially done in our thought life.

Second is to pray. Stedman does a masterful job of showing how the armor and prayer belong together.

“Our problem with life is that we do not see it as it is; we suffer from strange illusions. This is why we desperately need and must have the revelation of the facts of Scripture. Life is what God has declared it to be.” – Stedman, p. 130.

Third, Stedman points out that we must do more than think; we must bring our thoughts into fulfillment.

We can summarize God’s helps to winning the daily battle by putting on God’s armor, praying, and acting. In the text of Ephesians 6:10-18, that is the order. The result of reversing these is impotence in prayer and a lack of success in the spiritual battle.

There is so much more as Stedman fills in the relationship of armor, prayer, and doing. Good reading and may you and your family win the daily battle! Sundays are much better when we win Monday through Saturday!

 

PASTORS AND WIVES…THE HURT GOES ON

Have you seen Lonesome Dove? Do you recall the scene where the Army scout is attempting to take Newt’s horse and is whipping Newt while he hangs on to the horse? Captain Call sees it, rides down and mauls the scout with a branding iron. Gus ropes Call to pull him off the scout. When Call comes to his senses he mounts his horse, brushes his coat and looks at the crowd gathered and says, “I hate rudeness in a man…won’t tolerate it.” With that, tips his hat to the ladies and he rides away.

Perhaps you have wished for a Capt. Call to ride in and rescue you or your spouse from the rudeness inflicted upon them by uncaring church members. This past week my wife and I heard another story of hurt and pain as an older man had called out a pastor’s wife and with his remarks inflicted pain. In another situation, a pastor listened as a layman said inappropriate things from the platform.

Common Sense 101 is not an option, although we wish it were.  However, what is an option is pastor and wives reaching out to other pastors in fellowship.

Do you and your wife have another pastor and wife that is a friend?

What are your relational needs? The SBTC is a fellowship of confessing congregations and we care. We care in community and we care as a staff. The Minister/Church Relations Dept. and the Facilitating Ministries Dept. are sensitive to these needs.

So here is what we are asking. Talk back to us. Comment anonymously as to the need you and your family has and then send an email to us. The address is on the blog. Take the risk and be authentic. Let’s see what God will do out of this for His glory and your good.

OUR TIME IS NOW

(This post is a revised re-post from a previous blog.)

History is an important lens through which to view the future. An uncertain economy could lead to total despair if we did not have the lens of the economic recovery from the 1929 crash. Although situations differ, one can take hope in that if one generation can recover, so can another. Thus, it is not hopeless. But it is temporary.

The shifting sands of change should teach us to be somewhat skeptical of the solutions of men. This is certainly exacerbated when revelations of corruption, failure, and loss seem to come on a daily basis.

What is true politically and economically is often true in the “Christian” world. We sigh and blog, but the reality is that sinful human nature is just as corrupt clothed in religious garb as it is clothed in Wall Street or Washington business suits.

And yet, not every person in any of these venues is corrupt. Most of us are simple people seeking to do the best we can in a very complex situation. I often wonder if perhaps many of us (yes, I will include myself) have an exalted opinion of ourselves or our contributions? I see this most often in self-appointed saviors and defenders and think “How odd for one to assume such a role and wrap their own agenda with an advocacy of assumptions.” Will this heal a broken world? Hardly.

But this is a very good time for followers of Jesus to reflect Him. Obviously the soon-to-be Christmas season will be helpful. But even more helpful is our personal and corporate responses to the crisis we face.

The Psalmist once found himself in a lean time longing for Temple worship. He cried out, “How blessed are those who find their strength in you, and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple! As they pass through the Baca Valley, he provides a spring for them” (Psalm 84:5-6, NET).

The Baca Valley could have been an unknown and arid valley through which pilgrims passed on their way to Jerusalem. But many take the phrase as a metaphor and translate it “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction”.

God is the subject and the valley the object. Thus, when we find our strength in him, he makes the valley into a spring.

This is our time to demonstrate to all who watch the sufficiency of our Christ and His written word. We know the provision of God through the revelation of His written word. He in whose hand is the future is sufficient to turn every valley and every tear the Enemy would use to destroy into that which is a blessing. Thus, we view circumstance and culture through the lens of Scripture, not vice-versa. God has a long and effective history of acting on behalf of his people.

Perhaps our greatest evangelistic tract in today’s world is our unwavering trust in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is our strength that transcends all of our valleys of weeping.

AFTERGLOW

I hope many of you were able to attend the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s annual meeting in Lubbock. It was a relational and spiritual blessing in our (my wife and myself) lives .

Allow me to use this post to tell give you some personal observations.  The next post will deal with some spiritual warfare issues related to this previous post.

I have attended conventions for years – state conventions, national conventions, and evangelism conferences. Some things never change. Most of those have been as an employee of a convention and as such I was assigned certain duties that did not allow much time for being in the convention meeting hall itself. Thus, from my assigned booth I have observed many, in the words of the King James, “going to and fro”.

THE HALL FELLOWSHIP

I have learned that one does not have to have an ‘assignment’ to miss what is happening in the convention meeting! For some, it is like the morning walks at the local mall – they go round and round! It reminds me of Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round in Circles.” Billy Preston was an entertainer raised in part in Houston, TX and at age 12 was leading a choir of 100 in his father’s church. He later chose a secular route to exhibit his many musical talents. You may listen to it on You Tube here, and get an added bonus of Eric Clapton’s guitar. And, understand this is a bit ‘tongue-in-cheek’. The value of a convention for many is to fellowship with old friends. We Baptists love to fellowship and it is an important part of what happens.

The Eating Meetings

“I see you found the food” was one comment. Yep. We Baptists not only like to fellowship, we like to eat. And some are willing to provide a meal for a nominal cost in order to share their ministry with those attending. Great fellowship around the table and an affinity ministry or one’s Alma Mater. Alma Mater is Latin for “nourishing mother”, so it is appropriate.

The Convention Meeting

Lots of paper went to recycle. Ballots were likely unused. The unity of the meeting was such that even when issues were discussed people were not unkind. The Spirit of the Lord was obvious in the meeting.

So What Set This One Apart?

God met with us in Lubbock. It is that simple. Lubbock is not a strong area for the SBTC in terms of number of churches. There are fewer churches there than in other places. Yet one could not have hoped for a more friendly and cooperative environment. The Lubbock Baptist Association led by their fine Director of Missions, Larry Jones, and the SBTC congregations were excellent hosts.

On the last night of the annual meeting, there were two evangelistic events. The last number of recorded decisions I have is 726. I personally helped three people – a man, a woman, and her ten-year old son. They were coming “to have a new beginning”. I went over the gospel to make as certain as is humanly possible they understood and were committing their lives to Christ. They themselves checked the “profession of faith” box on their decision card. When I looked at the cards they filled out to see if we had follow-up information, I saw that all three had different last names. A blended family with a new beginning in Christ.

The next morning in the Executive Board meeting Jack Harris gave a report on Crossover. When completed, the chairman of the board asked one of the pastors to lead in a prayer of gratitude to God. Some in the room were in tears. The pastor prayed, said “A-men”, then gently broke into “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow”. Everyone was moved with gratitude to God. It wasn’t what “we” had done, nor what the “SBTC” had done. It was a God thing and everybody knew it. Yes, we worked and prayed. But God is glorified.

You may read more of the convention reports in the on-line version of the TEXAN here.

The difference? I’ve been to many meetings. In this one, there was an obvious awareness that God had met with us and answered the prayers and efforts of so many. Indeed, To God Be The Glory, Great Things He Hath Done!!

WHY CONFLICT IN CHURCHES?

Perhaps one of the greatest disconnects in the Body of Christ is the amount of conflict experienced in the local church. This conflict often results in forced termination of pastor and/or staff. For purposes of this post, I am speaking of conflict that results in the forced termination of pastor and/or staff.

Mike Smith, Director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Minister-Church Relations Dept. will be leading a brief “Whiteboard” workshop at the annual meeting in Lubbock, TX at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at the Church Ministries booth. Mike will expand on the following information which is used here courtesy of Mike Smith.

Since 1984 Southern Baptist Directors of Mission (DOMs) have sought to understand the causes of this conflict. To be sure, there are some valid reasons for forced terminations. According to Mike Smith, the past ten years have basically been the same although there is some movement among the top 8 reasons. However, 9 and 10 are there for the first time. What are the reasons and their order?

1. Control Issues – who is going to run the church?

2. Poor people skills on the part of the pastor

3. Church’s resistance to change

4. Pastor’s leadership style is too strong

5. Church was already conflicted when the pastor arrived

6. Decline in attendance

7. Pastor’s leadership style is too weak

8. Administrative incompetence on the part of the Pastor

9. Sexual misconduct

10. Disagreement over doctrine

Here is reality in the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2008 181 bi-vocational pastors were terminated, 343 full-time pastors, and 211 staff. That is 735 for the year; 61 per month; 14 per week; and 2 per day.

Mike will expand upon these by offering some solutions during the Whiteboard workshop SBTC’s annual meeting in Lubbock.

We know there are reasons in the “natural” and there are steps that can be taken to help both staff and congregations. Many preventatives are learned skills.  But there are also reasons in the “spiritual” that are spiritual conflict issues. We will address solutions to some of those in a future post.

However, it would be disastrous to ignore the reality of the human, or ‘natural’ causes and lump them all in the category of spiritual conflict. We must be responsible to present ourselves to the Lord and His people with excellence and not hide behind attitudes such as “well, it’s just the old devil”. Sometimes we present the old devil some pretty good clubs.

I encourage you to hear Mike and let the SBTC help you and your congregation. You might even find the old expression, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” to be valuable in preventing and navigating church conflict.

WHO IS YOUR AND YOUR FAMILY’S PASTOR?

A few years ago I sat in the foyer of a growing congregation. The pastor’s wife came over to say hello. I asked the typical cordial questions. She sat down and became very transparent. She indicated that some expected her to be more involved in the programs and activities of the church, especially the women’s ministries. Knowing her (and you can believe this is a quality woman of God, wife, and mother) I was not surprised to hear her say she felt her ministry was to help her husband and to be the mom her children needed. She would be active in things at church, but like other women, she would prioritize. It is my summary of our conversation, but those words, “like other women” stand out to me.

Now the bomb. She indicated that she and her husband had often discussed this and she felt he would be more pleased if she did more at church!

Let’s go back a few more years. I had a phone conversation with a pastor friend. His words to me ring in my ears to this day. “I need a friend.”

“I need a friend.” He didn’t ask for a recommendation, a new program, etc. He just said, “I need a friend.” Let that sink in. Do you need a friend? Do you need a pastor?

Most of us in ministry do not have a pastor. Oh, some of us have a guy that wears the title and preaches on Sunday, but that’s about it. And pastor’s families are sometimes in most need of a pastor.

Now I am fully prepared for a lot of you who are not pastors to say, “Oh, that’s not me. Let me tell you about my pastor.” And you will have to resist giving a shout-out to let him know you support him. But please resist. The point is not to ‘dis’ the pastor.

The point is to say that all of us who give ourselves in ministry often find we are in a hard and lonely spot. Very few have someone in the position of “pastor” who really is a pastor to them. Very few pastors pastor the kind of church where they themselves can be vulnerable. These things said are not because we are all a bunch of self-centered narcissists (is there any other kind?), but simply because it is the nature of the beast! Christian work is tough! And likely to get tougher in days ahead.

Instead of a red “S” on their chest, ministers often try to have a red “M”. I have an old t-shirt that is blue and has the red “S” on the chest. But across the back is written, “You don’t gotta be superman”. I like that.

Pastor and Christian minister, you don’t gotta be superman. Our training teaches us much, but it seldom teaches relationships and it certainly doesn’t teach us how to hurt.

So who is your and your family’s pastor? May I make some suggestions and invite your comments?

1. Accept that you are not superman. You can’t do everything and you don’t know everything, even about God. Nor are you supposed to.

2. Accept that God has given you your greatest treasure not in your “ministry”, but in your family. Your wife and children will be among the few that will cry at your funeral at the end of your life and the only ones that will cry with you and for you when you are wounded beyond description in life.

3. God has also given you friends – good friends. They may be few in number and they may not be the ones that help you up to the next career step. But they are people who can help you stay centered in life and finish well. Find them, value them, and accept them as gifts from God.

4. When you find those friends, ask them to be your prayer partners. Don’t firehose them (I’ve made that mistake), don’t make them your Holy Spirit (made that one too!), but share the good things as well as the concerns. Make them part of your life and never, never, never lie to them. Allow them the dignity of authentic friendship.

5. Among those friends, discern in prayer the one’s God is giving you as mentors and counselors. Be vulnerable with them. Don’t ask for advice you do not plan to take. When you discover who these special people are, let them function as God leads them. You don’t have to ask them about everything.  Have enough confidence in yourself to make decisions, enough humility to admit when you fail, and enough grace to seek the counsel of wise people.

6. Ask for help. When you need help, find the people whom God has gifted in that arena and ask for help. You will be surprised how quickly you find it.

7. Value the common person. God made a lot of them. Resist with everything in you being the kind of preacher that responds to the common but initiates among the wealthy and powerful. I do believe James says something about that.

Churches, denominations, para-church organizations, and all who employ or deploy those in ministry have this in common. When one person goes, they are replaced. And sometimes positions are shifted, added, or eliminated all for the sake of an efficient organization.

But you, dear friend, only have one life. One. How will you steward this thing called life? Pastoring is leading and being led to do life together. Don’t miss the good things along the way.

A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

Our Guest blogger is Dr. Jim Richards, Executive Director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. This post was originally published on 05 October 2009 on the PRAY4GCR site in GCR Blogs.

A video of Dr. Richards speaking on prayer is here.

Jim Richards

Only God knew what was in the hearts of messengers when they voted to create a Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. I had two major reasons to vote “yes.” First, I share with virtually all supporters of the GCR Task Force the desire for a spiritual awakening. Second, I want an honest look at our convention’s ministries to better carry out the Great Commission.Spiritual awakening is difficult to explain. It reminds me of the story a preacher who was concerned about having “unction.” He said, “I don’t know what it is, but I know when I don’t have it.” Anecdotally and statistically it is undeniable that the majority of Southern Baptist Convention churches are in decline. The SBC is a compilation of those declining churches. Membership, baptisms, and giving have dropped. Contrast those facts with the rapid, diverse population growth in North America. Much of American culture is secularized. The SBC could be restructured by messenger vote and there would be little difference without God moving upon us.

James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” We must get desperate before God. This will not be accomplished by an action at the annual meeting, a new program, or some campaign. A cry must rise up from the people of God. The cause is not the survival of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is the uplifting of the name of Jesus! Brokenness, confession of sin, and dependence upon God are all ingredients in seeing God move. We cannot orchestrate or elicit God’s blessings. It will come by His sovereign will. Only God can stir a spiritual awakening.

God expects us to be good stewards of Southern Baptist ministries. Our ecclesiology awards primacy to the local church. State conventions and associations are autonomous bodies. Each SBC entity has its own governing board. We pool our resources through the Cooperative Program to accomplish the Great Commission together. Messengers from the churches make the decisions through participation in the various collaborative bodies. The complicated unofficial inter-connectivity of the Southern Baptist Convention poses great challenges for change.  A solution to “fix” the SBC will not be easily found.

Getting the gospel to unreached people groups is a priority. Planting churches in the under-churched areas of North America is also important. Providing ministry assistance to the 40,000 plus SBC churches is crucial. We must keep the home base strong. What we have been doing has served us well. Now, we must look at how we can keep what is good while making some things better. Structures, systems, and organizations should be evaluated. Godly people who serve the churches, the associations, the state conventions, and the SBC will want what is best for Christ’s Kingdom. As Southern Baptists, we must get out of our comfort zones to get moving again.

Join me in praying for a spiritual awakening. Ask God to help us do with excellence the Great Commission ministries we share as Southern Baptists. Together we can make a difference for Jesus!

PRAYER, FASTING, AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Let’s try this again. Some of you may be aware that this a.m. I posted regarding the day of prayer and fasting on behalf of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s annual meeting. I received an almost immediate call informing me that at the end of the post was a link and the link was to someplace we certainly would not go! Whether advertisement or general spam, it was unwelcome and certainly not something we would approve. That post was immediately deleted.

Each year the staff and affiliated congregations of the SBTC are asked to set aside a particular day for prayer and fasting. Little did I know my planned day would be interrupted corrupted as it was. I have not been aware of anything being attached to a blog post as spam, so much of the morning has been spent trying to determine the reason and how to overcome. And, it is a reminder of the spiritual warfare all of us face. This can be especially true of pastoral leadership.

Jesus applied to Himself a part of the Old Testament passage from Zechariah 13:7. In Matthew 26:31, Jesus says “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered’ (NASB).”

I would not in any sense want to give the impression that I think that I or anyone else carries the same weight here as Jesus. This is obviously being applied to his Passion that is to occur shortly. And with the beginning in Gethsemane to the burial you see his followers grieved, questioning, and scattered. They are no match for the religious leaders, the Roman Empire, nor Satan and his minions.

But one principle remains the same and that is that the Enemy is always seeking to provide what appears to be an acceptable alternative to God’s way. The context, the conversation, and the confusion all point to this. Authentic worship in the nation of Israel has degenerated to a ‘form’. Peter voices his short-lived commitment. Peter, James, and John go to sleep while Jesus is praying. Peter defends with the sword, and within hours they are scattered.

And that, dear friends, is why the people of God must pray with fasting and understand we are in a cosmic spiritual conflict! Do we possess more raw intelligence than the people of Jesus’ time? Are we necessarily more committed to God? Do we pray longer? The questions could go on and on. No, we are like them. James nailed it when he said “Elijah was a man just like us  (James 4:17, NIV).”

From the Garden of Eden until today the goal of Satan is to move us away from the way of God. I use the term way intentionally. God is interested in our methodology as well as other areas.

If Satan can push us toward self-sufficiency and self-dependence, he has won a great victory. One of his tactics with those who claim to follow Jesus is to entice us to rely upon the natural to accomplish the spiritual.

The reverse is true. We live in natural (“we are in the world, but not of it”), but the weapons of our warfare are not of the natural. We ‘war’ in the spiritual. Things may come in the natural, but we must always be asking regarding the spiritual.

I once did not like the militancy of the term “spiritual warfare”. Iraq and Afghanistan have helped me to see value in the term ‘war’. It isn’t supposed to be pretty. It is ugly. People are hurt and some die. There is great cost both in material and life. We cannot gloss over the ugliness of our sin nor of our often efforts to achieve God’s work man’s way.

Therefore, we pray with fasting as we seek God. Nothing less. It isn’t about control or who can build the next “Big thing”. What is at stake are the souls of people whom God created in His own image.

I engaged a younger man in a spiritual conversation earlier this week. I said to him, “You have told me of your religion. Let me ask you, is your religion just something you do because you think it is right or have you come to know Jesus in your heart?” I know – not good grammar. But he got the point. He said, “I was just raised in this religion and go to the church from time to time. I want to be a good person.” I was able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and discovered it is the first time he has ever heard. He did not trust Jesus at this time, but he is reading some material I gave him and says he is very interested. He is Asian in background.

Satan says, ‘Be religious’. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

God has given under-shepherds, pastors, to lead his churches. Often someone wants to take a short-cut in a method or attitude. Sometimes that is against the pastor. Sometimes it is the pastor himself! But conflict in the local church also scatters a great many sheep. What if both pastors and people began to look for God’s way in every situation? Let us lay aside our desires, preferences, agendas, etc. to seek Him. could this resolve much of the conflict we face?

We pray and we fast. We do not do so because our motive is to have a big annual meeting and something to make positive headlines the next day. No, not really. We pray and we fast because we are indeed thirsty for God. Are you?

My prayer is that all of us will more and more seek God through Scripture, prayer, and fasting. I want to be so hungry for Him I am consumed with seeking him. I began to hunger as the noon hour approached. My first thought was, “It is about time for lunch”. Then I remembered. The hunger pangs then became a reminder that today is a day to seek One far greater than lunch. I can miss lunch and no problem. But if I miss God….

That is why we pray with fasting.

*Apology, Apology, Apology

IF YOU READ A POST JUST RECENTLY POSTED, I DEEPLY APOLOGIZE FOR THE SPAM AT THE BOTTOM. WE ARE SEEKING TO CORRECT. PRAYER AND FASTING IS INDEED SPIRITUAL WARFARE.