Hello, thank you for joining me once again for Give Him 15.

The title of, well, I'll get to the title in just a second.

As he so often does, my brother Tim, Timothy, has released a powerful, powerful word of encouragement.

He titled it, Arise and Preside.

And he says, recently I asked the Lord what his current word was to the church and nation.

His answer was simple, yet impactful. Stay very focused. The saying,

it's darkest just before dawn, certainly applies to our present times. Darkness is presenting itself in ways that are very challenging, and the body of Christ

must live our lives persevering and staying focused. We cannot allow this present darkness

to blind our thinking. Rather, we must position ourselves to win one of the greatest

battles our nation has ever been presented with. When I was a student at Christ for the Nations,

Tim says, a guest speaker said something. I wrote on the inside cover of my Bible. That Bible

was on the shelf behind my desk to this day. The statement was, never doubt in the dark what God has

shown you in the light. Awesome. I can't tell you how many times I've practiced

that statement. In moments when I couldn't see my way forward, my faith would rise up and I would trust the promise of what God had shown me in the light.

In dark times, remembering what God has said will keep the darkness from causing disillusionment.

I have found myself, Tim says, so grieved concerning the darkness rising in our nation. Wickedness and lies

are being arrogantly promoted. I have awakened often in the night overcome with a burden of

intercession. On one of those nights, I began remembering all the words and promises God had given us.

It began encouraging my faith by rehearsing them, one after the other.

The very next morning, the importance of one of those words was amplified to me.

As I was watching the news, the commentator said,

this is a very dark time in America's history. Injustice is being championed in our courts.

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