Author: Ed Arcton

There was a time in Christianity when there was a clear divide between the professional clergy and the laity -- the priests and the people. The prevailing paradigm was that the people gave their money in the offering on Sunday, and then the talented and God-ordained ministers did the work of preaching the Gospel. Of course, this idea was utterly unbiblical. The New Testament makes it clear that we are all ministers before God: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (2 Corinthians...

A family member faces a deadly disease. Your neighbor desperately needs Jesus, but turns away every time you try to share Christ. A nation begins to crumble because its people follow their own evil ways. But what can you do? Often, the problems we face seem too big for us. No matter how much we try, we cannot solve them on our own. It's times like these when we need to turn to the Lord in intercessory prayer. WHAT IS INTERCESSION? Intercession is prayer that pleads with God for your needs and the needs of others. But it is also much more than that. Intercession involves taking hold of God's will and refusing to let go until His will comes to pass. Intercession is warfare -- the key to God's battle plan for our lives. But the battleground is not of this earth. The Bible says, "We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness...

The Holy Spirit is moving in the earth today and God is inviting His people to pursue Him like never before. Our Heavenly Father desires communion with His children. He desires for believers to come into a place of intimacy with Him through prayer, worship and meditation. As the psalmist declares, This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face… (Ps. 24:6a, NASB) King David was a man after God’s heart and he longed for the presence of the Lord. He wrote of this desire for more of God: You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. (Psalm 16:11, NLT) Soaking prayer is about experiencing intimacy with God. Through this kind of contemplative prayer, we set apart regular time exclusively to spend with our Heavenly Father. Intimacy with God begins when we diligently pursue Him with our whole heart. Since the fall of Adam and Eve...