Let me tell you about someone who received an unexpected gift after years of disappointment, of hoping, waiting, and perhaps times of giving up. I am talking about a story that unfolds in Luke 1. It is the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth.

Zacharias and Elizabeth were both righteous people. They both walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord…blameless! Yet, they had no child! Elizabeth was barren and now they were both well advanced in years!

Christ the Solid RockWe are living in times when many of the “norms” or “accepted ways of conduct” we have known in the past have changed, some radically so.  “Christian morality is being ushered out of American social structures and off the cultural main stage, leaving a vacuum in its place – and the broader culture is attempting to fill the void.  Barna reveals growing concern about the moral condition of the nation, even as many American adults admit they are uncertain about how to determine right from wrong.  Do Christians see truth and morality in radically different ways from the broader public, or are they equally influenced by the growing tide of secularism and religious skepticism?”  (Research Releases in Culture & Media – May 25, 2016)

We have just returned from Aglow’s U.S National Conference in San Diego, CA. In my opening message, I made the statement that “This event is not a conference; it is an assignment!” I quoted Chuck Pierce as saying, “For the last 8 years winds have been blowing in the heavens. But now those winds are released to come into the earth realm. What has been stirring in Heaven will now blow in the earth. Brace yourself! The winds that will now blow are the winds I’ve been holding back these last 8 years, and now I will release them."