Job 1:20-22 - "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.' Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God."

You may think you know the story of the first years the Pilgrims were settling in the New World, but there is more to the story than just hardship and a great feast when things got better. During the first winter, half of the original settlers died. Over the next year, food was very hard to come by. When the harvest was finally bountiful, they did have the famous feast with their native friends. However, things did not get better from there.

During the next two years there were some devastating crop failures and a severe drought. More settlers came, but failed to bring any new supplies. At one time during the first years, daily food rations were 5 kernels of corn each. After a day of fasting and prayer abundant rains came. Crops were saved. Pilgrim father Edward Winslow wrote, "Another solemn day was set apart . . . wherein we returned glory, honor, and praise, with all thankfulness to our God who dwelt so graciously with us."

Can you imagine being thankful when so many had died and things had been so hard? Job would have been able to. He said after losing EVERYTHING, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

What say you today?

~~ The Circuit 'Riter, Michael Ullrich ~~

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Crickets and Scorpions

~A MountainWings Original~

I usually spend time in prayer at five a.m. each morning.

I shall relay a lesson that God taught me very dramatically
during one of those early morning sessions.

I pray in a closet that is actually the vocal booth of our
former home music studio. It is soundproof.

As I entered clad only in shorts, I heard the sound of a cricket
chirping. There in the shadow, I saw the cricket.
It was very close to where I sit on the floor each day.

"Sit down and don't bother the cricket,"
I heard a soft voice speak in my spirit.

I obeyed.

I turned out the light and sat in total darkness and silence.

I felt something crawl up on my leg.

"Don't bother the cricket," I heard the voice say again,
"I am trying to teach you something."

"You need to learn to distinguish the difference between
crickets and scorpions in life. Don't bother the cricket."

The cricket crawled. It is an eerie feeling to say the least.
I wasn't afraid of the cricket. I knew it couldn't harm me.
It wouldn't bite, sting, or even so much as scratch me.

It was just a highly annoying and extremely icky feeling.
A cricket crawling all over you.

I let the cricket crawl for almost a minute until I couldn't
stand it anymore. I brushed the cricket off, turned on the light,
picked it up in my hand, and took it outside and let it go.

I understood what God was trying to show me.
Life has scorpions and crickets.

Scorpions are the things that can hurt us; things that are truly
destructive and dangerous. Crickets are the things that have
absolutely no power to hurt us, they are just irritating.
They get on our nerves; they try our patience.

I saw things differently after emerging from prayer that day.

I realized that the vast majority of the things that really
irked me

...were crickets.

The vast majority of the things that irk you

...are crickets.

Don't bother the crickets
and don't let the crickets bother you.

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You Hold the Key

"I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19)

The Greek text of that scripture would literally read, "I give you the keys of the kingdom. Whatever you declare locked on earth is locked in heaven and whatever you declare unlocked on earth is unlocked in the heavenlies."

The heaven Jesus was talking about there isn't the heaven where God resides. He was talking about the battle zone, about the heaven where Satan's forces are operating.

He was telling us that God has given us power to bind the wicked spirits in heavenly places and to loose the angelic powers of God to work in our behalf.

Philippians 2:9-10 says, "We have been given a Name which is above every name, and at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow!" Where? In heaven, in earth and under the earth. That covers it all!

As believers, we have total authority over the powers of Satan. We can take authority over the evil spirits that are trying to destroy this nation. We can take authority over them in the Name of Jesus and pull down their strongholds.

It is time we began to realize how important we are to world affairs. Since the day Jesus gave us the Great Commission, the life or death of the world has been in the hands of the Church. We are the ones who have the mighty Name of Jesus and the awesome strength of the gospel to bring life and abundance to every creature. We are the ones whose prayers can change every office of authority in this land.

It's up to you and me to begin to intercede right now and use the power God has given us. We may come from different lands with different backgrounds, but we all have one thing in common -- Jesus Christ is our Lord. And that alone is enough to alter the spiritual complexion of this earth.

- Kenneth Copeland