Everything listed under: Christian-School

It’s impossible not to live in an atmosphere of intercession for years without it becoming a part of your spiritual DNA. The years I spent at Family of Faith in Shawnee, OK, were instrumental in imparting a heart of intercession for the nations. Sam and Kathy Matthews carry an apostolic and intercessory mantle that is contagious; it permeates every part of the ministries of Family of Faith. With spiritual mentors like the Matthews, how could I not be influenced by a heart of intercession for the nations? When the Lord directed me to start Harvest Fellowship, I knew that one of our mandates would be establishing a house of prayer for all the nations, but we would be called to do more than pray. We would raise up a generation that would go as well.
On December 7, 2011, I went into our morning Chapel at Harvest Fellowship Christian School with only one purpose – to worship Jesus! We had no plan other than that, but one thing was very much on the heart of the Holy Spirit that morning. Seventy years after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, we suddenly found ourselves as a school captivated by a weighty intercession for Japan.
I was suddenly deeply impacted by the fact that 70 years is significant in Scripture. In Daniel 9, Daniel was struck by the fact that the 70 years of desolation during which Judah would serve the King of Babylon was ending. Jeremiah had prophesied this, but he had also prophesied a time of great restoration in Jeremiah 29:10, a time when “…I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you…” Daniel immediately turned His attention to the Lord, seeking Him with prayer and supplications for his nation’s destiny .
Most of those who know me are aware of the years my family spent in Japan and the deep love we have for the Japanese people. It was almost traumatic when Father directed us back to the USA, but now we see more clearly what God is birthing through the ministries of Harvest Fellowship. During the December 7 Chapel, that deep love for Japan overwhelmed us as intercessions for this land rose up with intense fervor. I pray and believe that this love is being imparted to a generation that will go further and run faster than we have at this point!
I continue to hear reports about how much Japan is changing at this moment, perhaps catalyzed by the March 11 disasters and fueled by the prayers and ministries of faithful believers in that nation. I believe 70 years after Pearl Harbor the Lord’s redemptive purposes for Japan are coming forth in great power and promise. I am struck by the reality that God is always working to bring His promises into fulfillment, even when people and nations disobey, fail, or are delayed. He is a God of redemption!
As the church in America, may we not miss this opportunity as those did following the end of World War II when Japan was ripe for the Gospel. May we not miss this opportunity to pray for, sow into and GO to this nation to see Japan become the blessing it is called to be to the earth. I’m in…are you?

I love encounters with the Lord.  His Presence can accomplish so much in just a few moments.  When I encounter Him, not only do I receive impartations of grace and faith, but He usually reveals just enough that I must pursue Him even more.  He likes to be pursued!  When He starts speaking something, in my life it’s usually a process of Him bringing more and more revelation.  This encounter is one of those times….I’m still sorting it out.

Recently I encountered Him in a night vision that I believe is marking us corporately with His purposes for this generation.  I dreamt that I became drunk in the spirit and fell forward face down.  As I lay there, I was aware that someone tattooed me on my lower left back.  The dream was so vivid, when I woke up I knew it was a visitation.  I asked the Lord “Who tattooed me?”   He said “the Spirit of Elijah.”

When I shared this with my wife the next morning, her response was this: “Andy, that wasn’t a tattoo.  That was a brand!”

According to Malachi 4:5, God will send Elijah the prophet before the day of the Lord.  Elijah will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.  I believe the Spirit of Elijah is doing this in the earth today.  Many in this generation are crying out for fathers and mothers.  It is vital that the church respond to this cry; it must become reality at this moment in practical ways.

Paul wrote in I Corinthians 4:15-16 “For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.  I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me.”   

I know how much in my own life I have needed and continue to treasure spiritual fathers.  They are a necessity.  However, I feel a shift as God is calling for a new generation of spiritual fathers and mothers to arise in this hour.  I know He is challenging me to love, equip, train and sow destiny and purpose into a bruised and broken generation. 

At Harvest Fellowship Church and Christian School, God has given us a commission to train those who will touch nations.  It’s part of our ‘spiritual DNA’.  While the Christian School is obviously a big part of this vision, I believe God is in the process of expanding my vision for even more that He wants to do with and through us.  I pray this will become clearer in days ahead. 

 Is God ‘marking’ you for this generation? 

Train Up A Child Part 2

When is the right time to begin training children? Five years old? Ten years? Sixteen? Do we wait until our kids are teenagers before we expect them to start pursuing the things of God? As always, scripture should be our guide!  Isaiah 28:9 says, “Whom shall he teach knowledge?  And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?  Them that are weaned from milk, and drawn from the breast.”

Just how old is that?  Weaning varies from child to child and culture to culture, but a good average might be about one year old.  Therefore, from the time a child is about one year old, he should be exposed to and taught about “knowledge” and “doctrine.”  Knowledge refers to life in general, whereas doctrine has to do with the things of God.

Obviously, training must first and foremost begin in the home with parents.  However, many well-meaning Christian parents believe children should be exposed to both good and evil in public school systems.  While this sounds good in theory, it’s actually Humanism and contradicts what scripture teaches.  Romans 16:19 states “…I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.”  God’s Word instructs us not to expose children to what is evil, but rather train them in the way they should go.  Sadly, this is not the philosophy of secular educators.

The idea of exposing children to good and evil, truth and error, right and wrong, so that they can make their own decisions, is not a new tactic of Satan.  It’s the same false philosophy he originated in the Garden of Eden when he told Adam and Eve “…God knows when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 2:5).  God never wanted Adam and Eve to experience evil; He wanted them to eat of the tree of life (Genesis 2: 9, 17)! In the same manner, children don’t have to be exposed to evil to live successful lives.  Believing that is the bitter fruit of Humanism.