And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. ~ St. Matthew 3:17—4:2

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ~ St. Matthew 16:24

The Psalmist says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” I was asked to share my story at a gathering of our steering committee…the committee responsible for the founding of the Eagle Classical Christian Academy here in Orange County New York…on this Father’s Day eve. So, I shared my story of affliction beginning with my 5-year high school career in Franklin Lakes, through partying with Satan’s Slaves in the San Fernando Valley, intercepting drunks from crew boats in Morgan City, jamming with Bert Wills and the Country Cadillac in Seabrook, closing the gap with my own father, and two failed marriages…before I finally bowed the knee on a Wyoming mountain top in 2015. Oswald goes on to say, “No man can do wrong in his heart and see right afterwards. If I am going to approach the holy ground, I must get into the right frame of mind—the excellency of a broken heart.” And now me, of all people, part of an amazing team of men and women bringing God back into American education!

Looking out on the wasteland of America on the tail end (thank God!) of PRIDE Month, I can only surmise that the critical mass of afflicted fathers has yet to reach its bottom. I will say there are encouraging signs we are drawing near. From the plummeting Target and Anheuser-Busch stocks to the massive FAN-SLAP across the face of wokeness at Dodger Stadium this week…there is a glimmer. I realized yesterday when I read a headline… Washington Examiner: Why are Western Feminists silent about the plight of Iranian women? Because their hatred of God is greater than their love for women…men…and children! Period. Exclamation point!

Imagine that…on Father’s Day…hatred…not just hatred, but brutal, crushing, murderous hatred that knows no bounds…for the Abba Father of ALL fathers. And WE, you and me, all have our fingerprints all over the crime scene…because of our own foolish pride and love of self.

We have to learn the first great stride of God—“I AM WHO I AM…has sent…you.” We have to learn that our individual effort for God is an impertinence; our individuality must be rendered incandescent by a personal relationship to God, and that is not learned easily. The individual man is lost in his personal union with God, and what is manifested is the stride and the power of God…. ~ Oswald Chambers, Getting into God’s Stride

Nehemiah knew the excellency of a broken heart when he looked out on the wasteland of Jerusalem in 1:4, And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.

Lamenting the sorry state of the lost church and churchmen, I shared with a remnant gathering of CLOTH (Christian Leaders Of The Hudson) from Isaiah 64:8, “these are not the work of the Father’s hand, but have molded themselves on the creature’s wheel.” And no longer will we wring our hands over those who don’t but lift our hands in praise for those who do. So, this week…this Father’s Day of all days, in honor of our heavenly Abba Father, we announce a 40 day Prayer & Fast commencing at sundown in the Upper Room next Sunday June 25^th for all CLOTH members and those who wish to join us…as we continue to prepare the ground with the spirit and intention of 6:16 Nehemiah, And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that that this work was wrought of our God.  

St. Matthew 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

I do not believe there is a man out there who knows the excellency of a broken heart and understands the battlespace of spiritual warfare better than Scott Kesterson. Fishers of Men

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! ~ Psalm 133:1

John 17:21 Revival is coming to the Hudson Valley on September 23^rd! Our Father wills it so!