You have probably sat on the sidelines to watch your favorite football team. You may watch the big game from your sofa or meet at a local restaurant and enjoy friends and food together. But there is a bigger war–between good and evil–that is happening all around us…and it is way too late to sit on the sidelines. 

With all eyes on the presidential debate, it is important that we are open to see the truth. This is probably the most pivotal election of all time. The only other election that takes precedence over all, is the one that matters for all eternity–being born-again from above through Jesus Christ. God wants all people saved. It is not His will that any should perish. 

Instead of assuming and attacking each other, we must rally together in prayer and unity to take a stand for righteousness. Success in life doesn’t matter very much where there is no safety. 

“I ask You, God, to wrap your arms of love around the families and friends of all who have lost loved ones in this war—-right here in America. I decree blind eyes open and light where there is darkness.”

There is always something you don’t know in every situation. Instead of being critics, may we use our voices to cry out to God for all people in this nation. It’s not hard to tell that America is on a moral decline at a high rate of speed. With terror in the streets, and needless casualties of a real war…it is the midnight hour, and we must take a stand.

One man–Elijah–took a stand. He defeated the prophets of Baal. Samson had a come back and destroyed more enemies in his death than he did in his lifetime. Delilah forgot to keep the scissors handy…and Samson’s hair began to grow again. He had a Covenant with God. 

A nation divided will not stand. Satan uses evil tactics to sow division and discord in a nation, in its leaders, in the family, in the church, and in the workplace. He poisons the minds of all who will take his bait. His mode of operation is to create strife and to cause everyone to fight against each other. It’s much like a Trojan Horse…in war..that destroys from within. Satan’s agenda is destruction. 

It’s time to take a stand…for righteousness. If one man named Elijah can make a difference, you can. Jesus used one little boy’s basket lunch to feed a multitude. Whatever we place in God’s hands, He multiplies. 

“Lord, I pray, the Holy Spirit draws us back to YOU as a nation. May revival fires fill every single heart to create a changed life that sparks revival fires in others across the nations.”

We are here on earth to stand beside each other, help when it is in our power to do so, squeeze a hand and listen intently to someone who is grieving, and to be a person who is so empty of self, but alive in Christ, that we feel the other person’s pain and are moved to tears and action like Jesus. 

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (Will American Turn Back To God?) is a must read for every leader, every pastor, and every person who cares about the next generation to come. God’s Word is coming to pass before our eyes and with all the signs from Heaven we could be the generation that sees the return of Christ! We are called to occupy….to be about the Father’s business…..till Jesus comes! We are called to live like Jesus may come back today, and plan for the future…because no one knows the day or the hour of His return. 

We are not here to be entertained but to live in God’s power and advance His kingdom here on earth. America’s problem is sin–and the remedy is Jesus Christ! 

God wants to use you to advance His purposes and give you a future that is good. God used a man who committed murder (Moses) to lead His people out of slavery, a shepherd boy (David) to kill a giant and he became king, a virgin (Mary) to give birth to our savior Jesus, and a common fisherman (Peter) to lead His church. A man named Saul who had believers murdered, (now Paul after his conversion on the road to Damascus) was the most prolific writer of the New Testament.  If God can use all those mentioned above, God can use you and me!

 *(Excerpt from THE MIDNIGHT HOUR…published 2015). 

Pray with me daily:  God, I thank YOU for frustrating all evil plots and all ungodly counsel. I thank You God that the Holy Spirit reveals ALL hidden truth and shows us things to come. Father God, use me in your purposes here on earth. 

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”(Ephesians 2:10). 

RESOURCES FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH:

The Midnight Hour (Will America Turn Back To God?)

God’s Priceless Treasure (How To Overcome Challenges, Be Transformed And Know Your Purpose)

A LEAP OF FAITH (25 Days At The Mercy Seat)….a modern day miraculous story

www.starministriesinc.com

Books available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christian Books Distributors, etc. 

God is doing AWESOME things in the earth. He wants to do greater things through you. Your bold confidence in God makes the enemy nervous. 

You have the mind of Christ….if you are born again, and are renewing your mind. God wants to fill you with divine wisdom and revelation. 

God is giving you wisdom to take uncharted territory. What are you afraid of? Your marriage falling apart? Your children straying? Are you afraid of accidents, being alone, death, failure, financial issues, the future, old age, sickness, to doing something new? Are you afraid your business will fail or you won’t have insurance after the next election? Perhaps you worry that you will never find that perfect mate. Or maybe you are afraid you have messed up too much and that God doesn’t love you, that He won’t forgive you, and that God finds you unacceptable to Him. 

Wow….to be human is to be vulnerable, with all its feelings and emotions and times of weariness due to struggles in life. Satan plays negative tapes, and plays on these areas of weakness, accusing us day and night. He is relentless in his evil plots to destroy lives. 

God goes to extreme measures to make Himself known to us. Satan goes to great lengths to deceive all mankind. Satan comes at a young age to cripple you so that you never step into your full destiny with God. Satan wants your thinking messed up so you have wrong perception and rejection issues. He wants you to have a root of bitterness in your heart so that every little thing sends you off the charts, firing off at the mouth, and spewing things you later regret.

When you have an unhealed heart and don’t know your worth and value in the sight of God, you may roll your eyes and assume wrong things about people that God has sent to help you, steer you back on track, or to totally bless you beyond your wildest imagination and dreams. The enemy of your soul wants you to live offended and to miss God’s best.  

Choose today…to step into greater destiny by allowing God to heal your heart and to rule and reign where you have not allowed Him to be LORD. It may be your mouth, your emotions, or it may be your character….God wants you to be the same person…from home….in the car….to the office…to the church. 

God wants you to be in health and to prosper. He wants you to live the abundant life through His Son Jesus Christ. He wants to connect you in divine alignment for divine assignments with other people. 

It’s time to STOP worrying, stop believing the lies of Satan, and stop listening to his lies in the first place. In this life, we are all engaged in spiritual warfare. No matter if you believe it or not, there is a war going on around us all…between good and evil.

We must accept the clear evidence of God’s love for us, remembering always that the battle belongs to the LORD.

Take a look at the promises associated with God’s name in Scripture: THE LORD OF HOSTS: Yahweh Tsebaoth 

“Be still, and know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations,

I am exalted in the earth.”

The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Psalm 46:10-11 NRSV)

O LORD of hosts,

happy is everyone who trusts in you. (Psalm 84:12)

Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 1:3).

Remember that no one can thwart the plans of the Lord of HOSTS (Isaiah 14:24-27)

Then those who revered the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the LORD and thought on his name. They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them. (Malachi 3:16-17 NRSV).

The stop sign is a the one I saw every morning I left the hospital to go home and shower and change when my husband spent 25 days in Mercy Hospital…through two open heart surgeries. The full account is in my book: A LEAP OF FAITH (25 Days at the Mercy Seat). Look at the Father’s love 

Don’t live through your emotions…live by faith. Don’t allow fear to stop you…..press through…and partner with God so He can reveal divine connections, divine alignment, and divine assignments for your future……YOU CAN DO IT!

RESOURCES FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH: www.starministriesinc.com

Books by Deborah Starczewski available on-line on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Xulon.com, etc.

GOD’S PRICELESS TREASURE (How To Overcome Challenges, Be Transformed and Know Your Purpose)

A LEAP OF FAITH (25 Days At The Mercy Seat)

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (Will America Turn Back To God?)

Peace won’t be found in sexual relationships, agendas, boardrooms, new houses, new cars, in the political realm, manipulating systems to achieve a desired result, or in anything other than Jesus Christ. He is Peace Himself. 

Don’t put your hope in any man. Don’t put your hope in anything here on earth. This life is only temporal and Jesus is coming back again. Because of the Resurrection, we can have life and Peace. Put your faith in the Lamb of God!

Donkeys, elephants, democrats, republicans, independents—none of these hold the answers to the world’s problems and the present chaos. Jesus warned us of all these things in the Book of Matthew. (Matthew 24)

It is amazing to me that Matthew 24 and the Passion week of Jesus Christ line up today. It is being fulfilled in front of our eyes. 

You can sit comfortably in a nice home to a small apartment and feel safe, but only eternal protection is found in the Lamb of God—Jesus, the Redeemer of the WHOLE WORLD. Because of His ultimate sacrifice on the Cross, we have a Covenant that cannot be annulled. 

I recently taught on the Blood Covenant again at Life Christian University and was reminded …..Unlike man’s agreement which used to be valuable—where a man’s word or handshake was his bond, or in ancient days between people in a tribal covenant—we have a Blood Covenant with Jesus that cannot be annulled. I have often heard….Your life works exactly to the degree that you keep your agreements. An agreement has integrity because you make it, and for no other reason.

The natural mind wants what it wants when it wants it and if an agreement gets in the way, the mind will move toward breaking the agreement in order to get what it wants. Integrity does not rest on what your mind wants but on willingness to keep agreements, no matter what excuses the mind comes up with to break them. Thank God for Jesus who always keeps His Word and who honors His Word even above His Name. Thank God Jesus went to the Cross for the whole world. 

Thank GOD for the Lamb of God—the Redeemer of all mankind. Thank God for His Character and amazing love for all. I love the word all—it means all. He desires that none should perish. 

Jesus went to the cross, died for all mankind, and rose again on the third day. One word from God can change everything. He is the ultimate sacrifice—the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. 

When you truly know Jesus through a born-again experience and relationship, you can experience His resurrection power. You can have life again after walking through heartbreak, hurts, anxiety, loss, and anything else that happens to you in this world. 

I personally know that the Resurrection power of Jesus is still working today. You can read the full account in my second book: A LEAP OF FAITH (25 Days at the Mercy Seat)—an up-to-date story of God’s power and divine intervention that gives God glory. 

While today is Easter Sunday and many people went to church, many know about God, some may even be in leadership roles, and have never fully given their whole heart to Jesus or put their faith in Him. Many are so busy doing ministry or work that they have forgotten ministry to the Lord Himself. This can happen to anyone.

Many come to church in search of hope. I believe the worst possible feeling is the one of feeling unwanted and uncared about in this life. That is the ultimate poverty. Jesus came to accept us as His own through redemption. He gave Himself that we would be accepted by God. When we face rejection in this life, we are accepted by God. When we face hardships of any kind, God is with us in the fiery trials of life—from abandonment, abuse, betrayal, cancer, divorce, emotional pain, failures, hurts, loss, and anything else the enemy tries to throw at us—God is with us. We can choose joy as we wait on God—fully trusting the outcomes to Him. 

We have the Good News of the Gospel which produces a contagious joy and freedom like nothing else can give. While Jesus spoke SEVEN sentences from the Cross, we also have the Names of God to reveal His character—and the Truth that He will never break His Word to us. We have a Blood Covenant through the finished work of Jesus on the Cross that cannot be annulled. What a relief and hope for all eternity for all humanity.

Jesus is the LAMB OF GOD (Seh He’Elohim). The Bible says, “The next day John saw Jesus coming unto Him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Jesus is our ultimate sacrifice. He is the fulfillment of the entire system—His sacrifice pays for our past, present, and future sin. He is our Passover Lamb. (see Hebrews 7:26-29).

Jesus is Resurrection and Life (Hatekuman v’haChayim). The Bible says, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live….” (John 11:25).

Death could not hold Jesus, nor can death hold any who are born-again IN HIM. The grave could not keep Him. Death nor the grave have a hold on any of us as believers. We will be raised up with Jesus when He returns. 

Jesus was 100 percent man (born of a virgin), and Christ 100 percent God. In Jesus Christ  we can have abundant life. This is the reason Easter or Resurrection Sunday is a beloved celebration of the life of Jesus. The same resurrection power resides in us as born-again believers. We are crucified with him (our past, present, and future sin), but we are resurrected and made brand new in Him and that is the best part that can never be taken away.

Like Mary who chose to sit at the feet of Jesus when He came to visit the home in Bethany—she chose the best part. (You can read the account in John 11) We must also choose. Life is all about choices. 

Jesus is our Redeemer (Jehovah Go’el). The Bible says, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth…” (Job 19:25). 

Redeem means to purchase or buy back something (or someone). Take time to read the account in the Bible about Boaz and Ruth. In ancient times, customs played a huge role in the lives of people. For example, when a Hebrew became enslaved, it was the custom for the next of kin to pay the necessary price to purchase the relative’s freedom—the part of a “redeemer.” That is what God did for us by giving His Son Jesus as The Lamb and the finished work on the cross. I keep saying FINISHED WORK because it is complete. It is our choice if we miss eternity with God. Our redemption has been paid in full. 

Jesus bore our sorrows. (Ish-Makh-Ovot: Man of Sorrows)

The passion week shows the ultimate sacrifice Jesus gave for us. The Bible says, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

Jesus, who was sinless and perfect, was put on the cross for all mankind. He did it for the joy set before Him. Jesus understands our sorrows and hurts. God cares deeply for all mankind and is present with us today because he went through it all for us. 

 Jesus is our Righteousness (Jehovah-Tzidkenu). The Bible says, “In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety…is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior” (Jeremiah 33:16).

It is through the finished work on the cross that we are made right with God. What an amazing love the Father God has for all mankind. God sees us through His Son. Tzidkenu comes from the Hebrew word: (tsedek) and it means “right, righteous, declared innocent.” 

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21 NIV)

Take time after Easter to dig deeper into God’s Word. Study His names and be changed from the inside out. You will learn to trust Him in greater measure and learn more about His character and nature. It is key to understanding that God is love, that He has a good plan for your life, and is essential to knowing WHO you are IN CHRIST, and God’s purpose for your life. Since God sees and knows all, why not pray and ask God Himself. 

No matter what you are walking through, God is with you. No matter how terrible the storm, we can survive because God is with us. Don’t allow fear to take over. Reflect and remember that the resurrection power of God resides in us as believers.  

Don’t allow sorrow to stop you from moving forward. Don’t allow doubt to delay your obedience. Don’t allow fear to immobilize you. Look up toward Heaven in faith—Jesus is RISEN. 

Can you imagine how Mary felt when she came to the empty tomb? This life can make you feel empty, but when we keep our trust, hope, and faith in Jesus, we are full of hope and joy—that only comes from a personal relationship with Him. 

The conditions in this present world can seem so impossible that any of us can be tempted to jump ship. Choose to cling to God instead of putting your security in anything other than Jesus. Things that promise security but don’t deliver it—wealth, hard work, alcohol, drugs, worldly wisdom, worldly pleasures, relationships, stuff, and food. Misplaced hopes are dangerous because they keep us from anchoring ourselves in God, the only One who can save us. 

It is amazing to me that Matthew 24 and the Passion week of Jesus Christ line up perfectly. We can see the same happening today—severe betrayal like Judas (from family, friends, business associates), the government and authorities going after Christians, those thinking they are doing God service by killing and murdering those that believe, and the earth quaked at the Cross and darkness fell over the earth. Jesus arose and He is our High Priest in Heaven now, interceding for us that our faith will not fail. He is RISEN indeed and alive forevermore—and is coming back again. 

God is not caught off guard by anything that is happening globally or personally in our lives. He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. The present day events are lined up perfectly on God’s timetable and Jesus is coming back again! Pray for your family, friends, and those who have betrayed you—for they would not have done so had they not been blinded by Satan. 

Do not let your heart be troubled. JESUS is ALIVE! 

HIS love and mine,

Deborah Starczewski

Other books by Deborah: THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (Will America Turn Back To God?) and GOD’S PRICELESS TREASURE (How To Overcome Challenges, Be Transformed, and Know Your Purpose)…moving from drama to destiny.  Available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Xulon.com, etc. 

Always remember, God has the final Word! Trust Him!