By Franklin Graham Does prayer work? You betcha. The Bible tells us that “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16). Jesus also tells us to “keep asking” and gives us an example in a parable in Luke chapter 18 of a widow who repeatedly went to a judge asking for justice, and finally the judge responded because of her persistence. Our pleas and our petitions do make a difference. I have gone to all 50 states this year, and tens of thousands people have joined me in their capitals to pray for the future of this nation. It is imperative that we continue to pray. As we approach November 8—and beyond—we need to “cry out to God day and night” (Luke 18:7). The evening of November 7, on my father Billy Graham's 98th birthday and just before Election Day, will you join me and others across the country in praying? I will be LIVE on Facebook at 9:00 PM ET, so don’t miss it. Let’s bow together and again ask for God’s help. We need Him. Will you be there? Franklin Graham is president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse. … [Read more...]

God’s Word is a stabilizer in our lives. Within its pages we find comfort, strength, and guidance for every situation in life. But if we choose to live without the Bible, we won’t have the assurance of God’s promises to help us through hard times. These are some of the most difficult days we have ever faced in our country. We’ve lost our oneness, stability, strength, and care for one another. Now our nation is suffering from uncertainty, uneasiness, conflict, and distrust. If ever we needed to rely on the Scripture, it’s today. Such times should lead us to cry out to God, asking Him for the wisdom, courage, and obedience to do what’s right. David was familiar with difficult situations, and through them all, he learned to trust the Lord. When he faced Goliath, his confidence was not in himself but in the faithfulness of his God. And when King Saul became jealous of David and tried on several occasions to kill him, David fled for his life, hiding out in the wilderness. Psalm 11 gives us a glimpse into David’s heart at a time when his world was falling apart. His main question is found in verse 3. “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” When everything is crumbling beneath us, we must remember … [Read more...]

By Ron F. Hale If the Obama administration flexed its legal muscle toward the Little Sisters of the Poor, it is not far-fetched to believe a Hillary Clinton administration would launch angrier attacks on America’s first freedom of religious liberty! With a history of serving the poor since 1839, one must ask: What kind of mind considers forcing a group of nuns to provide abortifacient drugs against their will, conscience, and religion? Seriously? The late 60s and early 70s in America saw the convergence of several cultural realities creating a tidal wave of social angst. The sexual revolution was happening just as America’s largest population group, the Baby Boomers, was coming of age. Coupled with that, a nightmarish vision of a worldwide “population bomb” setting off food shortages and global famine fed the idea of population control. As the women’s rights movement demanded abortion rights, some thought it was an idea come of age. During this social upheaval, even many Christians lost the biblical perspective that human life is sacred because we are His special creation. In dealing with America’s moral conundrum concerning abortion many continue to believe our Supreme Court committed judicial activism. The late … [Read more...]

By Franklin Graham The Bible says we are all traveling on one of two roads. Jesus described them in Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” That’s a sobering thought. I’ve always thought of the wide road as a large, broad interstate-type highway running through a valley. And I pictured the narrow road as a tiny, winding, rough road—kind of like some of the ones we have in the mountains where I live. My mother told me she had a different vision, and I think hers is probably right on target. She said the narrow road is right in the middle of the wide road, but going in the opposite direction. When you think about it, that’s a pretty good description isn’t it? The world is heading full speed down the wide road toward destruction. But those who follow Jesus Christ in obedience and faith are going in the opposite direction. We face difficulties and obstacles—we will be ridiculed, mocked, and even hated. And we’re going to be in the minority, living as a “peculiar” people and operating by a different set of standards that are … [Read more...]

By David Jeremiah These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33 Recommended Reading: 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 Basic Combat Training is the official name for what U.S. Army veterans affectionately refer to as “boot camp”—ten weeks of programmed exercise, education, exertion, and examination. It is not fun nor meant to be. When new recruits begin to flag after the first week or two, they are reminded, “You can do anything for ten weeks!” In other words, the experience of suffering changes radically when there is an end point in view. When Jesus was preparing for the most intense of His own tribulations, His arrest and crucifixion, He warned His disciples that they, too, would “have tribulation.” It would not be open-ended tribulation but tribulation with parameters. It would not last forever; as He did, they would ultimately overcome the world and its tribulations; and those boundaries on their suffering were reasons for “good cheer.” He did not define the end point, only that the end point would come. When you wonder if the world has gotten the upper hand, remember: Christ has overcome the world. And, … [Read more...]

By Robert Jeffress By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God. —Hebrews 11:3 We cannot prove the existence of a supernatural, invisible being. However, there is a difference between proof and evidence. The issue is not about proving whether God exists but about making an informed decision based on the evidence. This week we will examine four powerful evidences for the existence of God. First, the cosmological argument asks, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” Look around you, noting everything you see. Now ask yourself, “Why do I see something rather than nothing?” The naturalist’s explanation for the existence of everything that we see is found in this simple formula: No One x Nothing = Everything. Yet the existence of a vast universe (not to mention of you and me) strongly suggests that Someone brought something into existence out of nothing. Consider the immensity of our universe. How did hundreds of billions of stars in hundreds of billions of galaxies come into existence? For years atheists argued that the universe always existed. But scientists now concede that the universe did have a beginning. Sir Frederick Hoyle coined the term “the Big Bang,” which is the most … [Read more...]

By Joe McKeever “…so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world” (Philippians 2:15). Preachers used to say ours was a “cut flower generation.”  The bloom was still there, all the blessings of our godly heritage, in the same way the floral arrangement on the dining room table carried the colors and delights of the garden.  However, preachers would point out, this generation has cut itself off from the faith of our fathers and while we enjoy the blessings of their faith and their labors, we are doing nothing to keep the faith. The next generation would pay for our failure. We’re there now. For most of the decades of my life–I arrived in 1940–Christians were in a majority in this country and it was pretty much agreed that ours was a Christian nation.  If anyone countered that, we never heard it. We sang hymns in school and decorated for Christmas and even dismissed classes so those who wished could attend a local church service or see a religious film. As a young pastor, I was invited to preach Christian messages to student bodies of public high schools.  No one mentioned a limitation of any kind. Those days … [Read more...]

By Jack Graham There’s something in our human spirit that never wants to give up. Each of us is like that little train engine in the children’s book, bravely chanting, “I think I can!” to conquer the mountains in our lives. But most of us will eventually meet a set of circumstances that seems hell-bent on taking us down. And that’s when we can begin to think, “Can I really get over this hill?” If ever there was a “Can I?” sort of person, Gideon was that guy. We read in Judges chapter 6 that Gideon was hiding away from his enemies… threshing wheat in a winepress… when an angel sent from God turned up and called Gideon a “mighty man of valor” (v. 12). He also said Gideon was going to spearhead God’s plan to free Israel from Midianite oppression. Looking at the odds against him, Gideon replied, “How can I save Israel?” (v. 15). What he didn’t know was that the Spirit of the Lord was about to clothe him. This forlorn farmer was going to wear God like a suit. Judges 6:33-34 says: “Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together…. But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites [Gideon’s family] were called out to follow him.” Just when things … [Read more...]

By Waylon Bailey It’s time for America to weep and wail. Anyone who watched the Sunday night second presidential debate knows that something is terribly wrong in America. We have two terribly unpopular and unsatisfying candidates to be the president of the United States. Many people have become disgusted with the whole process and are vowing to vote for neither one. This is especially common among Christians. While that sounds like a satisfying decision, one of these two will be elected president of the United States. As I have often stated, Christians not voting means that people who don’t pray will elect the next president of the United States. One of the things we can be sure of is this: it is time for believers to grieve, weep, and wail. This is what the apostle James told us to do. It is not a time of laughter or levity; it is a time for weeping and wailing in America as we confess ours sins and ask for His forgiveness (James 4:8-10). James meant that we should exhibit a godly sorrow over what has happened in our nation. As we saw from the two candidates Sunday night, we have become a people who are drowning in sexual immorality. It feels very much like we have been given over to a reprobate mind (a mind … [Read more...]

By Steve Horn I am not sure there is anything better we can do for another person than to pray. In Colossians 1:9-14, we have a record of Paul’s specific prayer that he prayed for the believers of Colossae. Here is a specific prayer for Christians. You can pray it for yourself, for others, or for your children. I see at least these four specific requests. We should pray that each person… • Be Filled with the knowledge of His will. Is anything more important than knowing the will of God? But, the goal of knowledge is not to be puffed up with knowledge. The knowledge has a goal so we continue to request. • Fulfill the Calling of a Disciple. Follow the logic. The knowledge leads to a “so that” clause. The “so that” is each person would walk worthy of Him. When a person does that he will be fully pleasing to God, bear fruit, and be increasing in the knowledge of Him. Do you see the cycle? • Be Strengthened with His power. Colossians and Ephesians have similar content. Paul wrote to both churches while in prison. In a similar prayer section that he wrote to the Ephesians, about God’s power, Paul wrote: “He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in … [Read more...]