Spiritual Growth

Doug Addison View Bio DougAddison.com   Do you believe prayer changes things? Most of us know that prayer can change everything and anything! But it is sometimes difficult to make prayer a priority. Here is my personal outline to help you streamline your prayer time. You don’t have to stick completely to this—and the outline will change depending on what’s happening in your life—but it’s a great place to start! Start with worship and declarations As you begin to worship God and declare Bible verses, you prepare your heart and mind to receive what He has for you. These are a few of my favorite verses to pray and declare: 1 John 4:18–19: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. (NKJV) Prayer: “Lord, I worship and praise You for all You’ve done in my life. I declare this verse over myself, my family and my friends. I take authority over the spirit of fear, cast it out and invite perfect love in.” Luke 4:18–19: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (NIV) Prayer: “Lord, anoint me to proclaim Your...

As I was praying, the Holy Spirit brought to mind a picture of Jesus buried in His tomb. I saw the tomb, I saw the gross darkness inside and the body wrapped in grave clothes. The Lord then took me to the stone that covered the entrance. I watched as the power of God rolled the stone away. All of a sudden, LIGHT burst onto the scene overwhelming the darkness; what had once been dead was now being made alive. The Lord then reminded me of a verse in John 3:19 talking about Jesus. It says, “This is the VERDICT: Light has come into the world...” In Jesus name, I prophesy over you that a verdict has been determined from the Father in your favor and that is this: Jesus Christ, the Light, has come into the place darkness dwelled and has overpowered it. The stone has been rolled away! No longer are you wrapped in grave clothes and ashen in appearance. See! Your grave clothes have been removed! The gross darkness has been evicted and Light now occupies the space. "...Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." (Ephesians 5:14) I prophesy new sight and vision over you in Jesus name. Let the eyes of your heart be overwhelmed with the light of the love of Christ. You are being recalibrated, refreshed and renewed. The scales have fallen off and you are no longer hindered. Every work of darkness that was sent to...

There has been a clear and tangible shift with the onset of 5780; a defining movement into suddenlies. Recently many things have happened in my personal life that bear witness to this. Things that I have been believing for are now happening. Suddenly, healings; suddenly, creative miracles; suddenly, open doors; suddenly, divine appointments; suddenly, restoration of family members.  I heard the Lord say, “I have released a cleansing wind and those who have hungered for more of My presence and have obeyed the leading of My Spirit, are now hearing, seeing and sensing My presence as never before. The veil has been lifted and an immediacy released.” I looked up immediacy in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary. Holy Spirit highlighted a few of the less common definitions to me: 1) occurring, acting or accomplished without loss or interval of time;  2) existing without intervening space or substance; 3) being next in line or relation; 4a)  acting or being without the intervention of another object, cause, or agency; 4b) present to the mind independently of other states or factors. What I hear Holy Spirit saying is this: Those things that exist outside of time and space, from their pre-existence in God, that are next in line of God’s perfect timing, are coming forth, independently and with no other “cause” except…God says NOW is the time! NOW time, moving in NOW faith. Walking so closely with the Lord, by Holy Spirit leading, that what has been set in place beforehand, intersects time and space,...

After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.” . . . So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value—more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it. | 2 Chronicles 20:21; 25. I have a word of encouragement this morning for those who are feeling battle weary and on the verge of losing hope. As a dear friend and intercessor shared with me a word she received from the Lord, declaring that now is the time of harvest, it resonated so strongly in my spirit. I continued to pray into this word, and I heard the Lord say to me, “This is a time to collect the spoils! Your waiting time, and all that the enemy has sought to bring against you, has accrued interest.” We are told in Scripture that when the thief is caught, he must repay seven fold. The enemy has overplayed his hand, and now the Lord is giving you above and beyond for your suffered losses. Truly you are entering into a season of gathering the plunder. Beloved, this is not a time to lay down in defeat, rather, it’s a time to...

While I was in prayer, I heard the Spirit of the Lord speak to me and say, “Get ready for REWARD! You will receive the spoils of the enemy.” Immediately, I began to research what that word actually meant. Dictionary.com defines “reward” as “a sum of money offered for the detection or capture of a criminal, the recovery of lost or stolen property, etc. Something given or received in return or recompense for service, merit, hardship, etc.” As I read the definition, the words “recovery” and “recompense” leapt off the pages to me. Again, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “This is a season where things that have been lost or stolen will now be recovered. There is recompense or reward coming to you. This is a set time for reward.” The Lord would have me to declare over you today, “Delay is broken over your life. The promises of God that have been overdue are now suddenly being released. This is a set time for many. God’s “reward” is being given to the seekers.” “But without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6) We are given a better understanding of God’s reward through the life of the warrior, Caleb. He was sent to spy out the land that God had promised to the Israelites, with Joshua and 10 others. After 40 days, they returned...

I was recently cleaning our home and dusting in my son’s room. I had the window open and the beautiful Texas sunshine was shining in through the window. In the sunlight, I began to notice there was dust everywhere! I could see dust in the air, on the lamp, on shelves and the baseboards. I was surprised at how dusty the room had become because I like to keep a very clean house! However, I wasn’t aware of the dust or the state of things until the sunlight shone on some of the areas I had overlooked. The Lord began to speak to me through this and began to show me that we aren’t always aware of what is really going on in our lives. Maybe there are little hidden areas in our lives that we haven’t been tending to. Maybe we have blinders on and can’t see the truth in certain situations in our lives. This is why we need the light and revelation of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is why we need good mentors and Godly counsel in our lives to shine light on things that we may not be able to see in ourselves. The Lord spoke to me and said, “When you go at life alone, it’s like dusting in the dark.” Just like in my son’s room, if I hadn’t opened up the blinds to let the light in, I wouldn’t have seen all of the little areas that looked clean but...

We are entering a season like no other. We have been experiencing revival meetings across the country and around the world and the presence of God will continue to escalate in the days ahead. There will be ministries of miracles, signs and wonders. There will be apostles and prophets arising but there will also be false prophets so it is imperative that we are able to discern the difference. There are nine spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. One of the gifts is the “discerning of spirits”. When I looked this scripture up in the Strong’s concordance I found something interesting. The word “spirits” (pneuma) refers to the Holy Spirit, the human spirit and demonic spirts.) (Strong’s G4151) This gift gives us discernment into all realms of the natural and the supernatural. As I was writing this the Lord reminded me of an old story about a woman that rescued a half frozen snake from the snow. The snake pleaded with the woman "Take me in, oh tender woman, "Take me in, for heaven's sake." The woman took the snake into her home, warmed him in a blanket and placed him by the fireplace as she fed him milk and honey. After the snake thawed out and was revived the woman said; I saved you from freezing to death. She kissed him on the head and stroked his beautiful skin. The snake suddenly turned on her and gave her a vicious bite. The woman...

“The journey has created the character”…I heard this in my quiet time this morning. Many have felt they are at the place of birthing a dream or a promise but they doubt their own ability to birth it due to the anticipation of the pain of the final push. The insecurity and fear is hindering the promise. Those things must be conquered with the word of God!! Its the only way through! What does God say about what you are capable of accomplishing? I’m here to remind you today that You CAN do ALL things THROUGH CHRIST who STRENGTHENS you! Greater is He that is IN you than he that is in the world! He is NOT watching you in labor from the outside, but He is the very force that will compel and propel it to go forth from the inside! He is no longer seen by you as a only a faithful friend who sits consistently by your side for comfort but He has become an active force within you! That is what this season was all about. Christ in you, the hope of glory being formed inside of you! The months of feasting on the Word and staying in His presence has utterly convinced you of His mind blowing power and love at work FOR you, IN you, and THROUGH you! Partner with Him and birth the dream, birth the breakthrough…through you declaring the Word of God! You will declare a thing and it WILL BE established...

Do you want to do big things for God? Usually, the first step in our journey with the Lord is to walk through a time of deep, deep healing.  This time of year is called the Days of Awe. It’s a moment of hearing God more clearly for your destiny, especially for the coming year. During this season, God will look at your heavenly books. All the days of your life were written in God’s book before even one of them took place. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16 NIV We’ve been given a choice to do the things God has written for us. But we pick up mental blocks over the course of our lives that keep us from entering into the fullness of God’s destiny for us.  Healing from rejection “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” Luke 10:16 NIV We can expect some degree of rejection for carrying the message of Jesus.  Throughout the history of revival, many past revivalists that we hold in high esteem actually suffered a great deal of rejection from the established Church of their day. This is so common that even Jesus was rejected by most people, especially religious leaders and even people in His hometown. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This...

Can you recall one of the darkest hours that you have ever had to face? I certainly can. Many of my darkest hours come to mind, such as: My parents’ home-going; Miscarrying our first child; Going through 3 more miscarriages; Facing my siblings’ home-going; and Financial crisis. These are just a few, and I’m sure you can join in with me in sharing moments of darkness such as the ones that I have mentioned--and more. But, one thing is for sure: Your trouble will not always last! The only consolation that comes with your darkest hour is the fact that Jesus warned us about it. He said: “In this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world” (John 16:33 TPT)! Jesus promised us that darkness would come, trouble would come, trials will come, and then He offers comfort: “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13 NASB). “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble” (Ps. 46:1 NLT). “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you” (Psalm 9:10 NLT). ‘The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17 NKJV). The thing about darkness and trouble is that it will not...