Then take a look in the mirror perhaps.
I remember well the days I first started attending an Assembly of God church. I knew from the first service there was something different about those services I had never seen or been introduced to before. It was the anointing! Several of the men time and again would tell me I needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but I would argue scripture that I thought I knew with them. Finally one day one of the men said,
"If God has a free gift for you, why in the world would you refuse it?"
That was a question I had no answer for! That question kept going through my mind. How stupid of me to be refusing a FREE GIFT from God! My mind was still filled with arguments, all from false doctrine I grew up with. I made a decision: I took all those arguments and told the Lord, "I will set these all aside today, and I will receive whatever you have for me." I put all my arguments on a back burner as unfinished business, and I received the second greatest Gift God gives: the mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit. My life changed. I would NEVER wish to go back to living without Him. I would never wish to NOT be able to pray in the Spirit.
You tell me, Old Timer, what about this was ridiculous?
Should I tell you about the time I was praying, all by myself on a Saturday night, because I felt in my heart that God wanted me to attend a bible school, but I was working for the US Forest Service and had 27 years of Federal service, plenty enough to retire, but I was a few years short of being OLD ENOUGH to retire? (This was years ago.) As I was praying, I told the Lord,
"I would quit if you asked me to, but it would not be MY first choice."
Instantly God answered, and I heard what sounded like an audible voice:
"Son, I want you to pray for Congress to write a bill to give you an early retirement."
I was astounded. I found a pencil and paper and wrote it down. I took it home and showed it to my wife. We began to pray, sort of like Mary, that God's will be done, and Congress would write such a bill.
About a month later, a prophetess from another state came to our church for three nights of meetings. On the third night, she laid her hand on me and spoke out the most bold prophecy I have ever heard: (I have heard many!) She said,
"Haven't I already said I am going to do something different with you? And YOU CAN CAREFULLY COUNT, WITHIN 90 DAYS. I SAID YOU CAN CAREFULLY COUNT WITHIN 90 DAYS, for I have already launched you into ministry."
She was shouting loudly as she said the 90 days part. She shouted louder as she repeated it. We marked that day on the calendar and counted out 90 days. That took us to Valentine's day, 1994. On the 88th day the House of Representatives passed a bill, and on the 89th day the Senate passed a bill, both for the US Forest Service to have an early retirement program. Both bills included a $25,000 INCENTIVE to persuade people to retire!
I could go on and on with miracles God did to pull this off. The bill was signed into law on April first, 1994. I was ready and was the first one to get my papers turned in to retire. I did not know then that I would have to pay a deposit. I was using ten years of US ARmy time added to my Forest Service time, to retire, but during my Army time I did not pay anything into the Civil Service retirement program. So I learned on the second day, around 11 AM that I needed to pay in a $6700 deposit! And the personnel lady said she needed the check by 5 PM that day. WOW!
I kept saying, "Lord, how in the world will you get a check into my hands in a few hours?" Shortly after that, one of my co-workers came up to my shop, and ask,
"how is the retirement going?" I answered,
"It is going well, but I just found out I have to pay a $6700 dollar deposit." Those were the words that went through my mind. But other words came out of my mouth from the Holy Spirit that did NOT go through my mind: I added "will you loan it to me?" I would NEVER have been bold enough to ask that on my own! The Holy Spirit knew something I did not.
My question startled him so much he jerked! But after a few seconds, he said,
"I just took a loan out on my house to do some repairs. I have $10,000 in an account right now. Yes, I will loan it to you!"
He also knew this retirement program included the $25,000 incentive and that I would easily be able to pay him back. His wife threw a FIT, but he did it anyway. By 4 PM I had a check in my hand for $6700 dollars, and I turned it in to the personnel lady. She sent copies in to Washington.
Little did we know....when we got to work on the 3rd day, the US Government decided they would CLOSE THE PROGRAM! It was CLOSED. Thank God, I got my check in on time, and I got to "go past go," collect my $25,000 and retire! WHY did that lady say she needed the check by 5:00? She had no idea what was going to happen! It was the Holy Spirit! I forgot to say, early on the second day, someone from DC called me on the phone and said I could NOT retire, this program was for white collar workers. My boss asked me what he said, and I told him. He asked me what I was going to do, and I said,
"Nothing. He will change his mind and call back." And sure enough, later he called back and said they were going to allow me to retire.
Would ANY of this have happened if I had not HEARD God speak? No. Would ANY of this have happened if I had not been filled with His spirit and prayed MUCH in the Holy Spirit? No.
I would have been VERY HAPPY to sell my house for $50,000. I paid less that that for it. It was probably one of the oldest houses in the town. I offered it to a builder, because it was zoned commercial and it was big enough he could build apartments there. He needed it. He wanted it. He knew it was a VERY good price. But the Holy Spirit would not let him come over and make the deal. I kept bugging him for a couple of months, and finally he said, just sell it to someone else.
We also had a real estate lady in our church, so I went to her and told her my place was for sale and she was the agent. She came over the next day and said she would list it for $75,000. Someone made a deal in the first hour. So in a couple of months time, God put TWO checks for twently five thousand dollars each into my hands......all because I HEARD the voice of God tell me to pray for congress to write a bill. (I say two checks for $25,000 because I would have been VERY happy to sell the house for $50,000 and make a little profit. God wanted to add another $25,000!
You think I have ANY desire to go back to my Wesleyan days, where they said speaking in tongues was of the devil? How stupid could any church be? It is in the BIBLE! NO NO NO, I would NEVER go back to living without the anointing! God's gifts PROSPER us. If the Holy Spirit had not spoken those words from my mouth, "will YOU loan it to me?" I would never have been able to retire. They changed their minds and closed the program after two days! It was just as if God did this JUST FOR ME. You THINK?
(For those that don't understand, when one prays in the Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit creating a prayer, passing it to our spirit man and our spirit praying it out, and our mind gets bypassed. This is how the Holy Spirit spoke words that did not go through my mind. This is how prophecy comes: straight from the Holy Spirit to the human spirit to words out of the mouth that do not go through the mind. When I asked, "will you loan it to me?" it came out like prophecy; it was the Holy Spirit speaking with my mouth.)
LAMAD
