Saturday Night Prayer Unusual Experiences

By David Hobbs

Once I found my groove praying alone at the church from 2-5 a.m. Sunday morning, it opened up a whole new vista of prayer. The time was long enough that I could go through different seasons of prayer in one session: for instance, a time of singing and worship, a time of basking in His presence, a time of petitions, and a time of declaration and warfare could all flow together in one 3 hour session.
With no one listening in, I practiced being uninhibited in prayer—yelling declarations, shouting praises, reading the Word as loud as I could—and discovered the power of the voice; it truly is the “Sword of the Spirit.”
Other times the Spirit would fall on me as I was singing a song of worship and I would break down with weeping, unable to continue, overcome with the mercy of God to my undeserving soul. There were times I was so overcome by His presence that I would fall on my knees before Him for what seemed like hours, unable to speak. It quickly became my richest time in His presence of the whole week, greater even than the church worship service Sat. night. That didn’t mean it wasn’t still a challenge getting out of bed at 1:30 Sunday morning, getting dressed and driving the 15 minutes to the church. But once there and launched into praise or singing, inviting the Holy Spirit to come, and once His presence filled the sanctuary—it was all worth it and then some!
But like anything else in the realm of the Spirit, it was not always easy. There were times of spiritual opposition and oppression, sometimes intense. I remember one time in particular . . . .
It was one morning about 3 a.m. I had prayed for an hour without getting anywhere. There was no life to my prayers, no response of the Spirit. It was one of those times that makes you question what you’re doing and why you’re doing it! “Why am I even here? Why aren’t I at home sleeping?”
I had been walking round and around the sanctuary in my usual circuit. But this time, as I came past the wall by the old nursery, suddenly I heard a knock from the opposite side of the room. It was up high, near the ledge where the indirect lighting sits. It was a single click, or rap, and sounded like wood striking wood. Immediately my mind was filled with a flood of negative thoughts bringing fear, trouble, and panic…. “You shouldn’t be here all alone! Look out! You’re going to be attacked! Danger! There’s someone in the building! He’s got a gun! Run before it’s too late! You can’t escape!” It was as if the floodgates of hell had been opened up and dumped into me, with the residue swirling around me.
In an instant my mind was spinning “What’s going on? Where did all this come from?” I was struggling to come to grips with what was happening to me when all of a sudden, unbidden, the Holy Spirit rose up in me in power and I started praising the Lord as loud as I could shout! My pace quickened around the sanctuary and I began attacking the devil and every work of hell I could think of, binding principalities and powers, clapping my hands, casting down the forces of evil, shouting out in tongues: all at the top of my voice with the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon me.
I had no more trouble from hell after that! The victory ushered me into a wonderful time of prayer and sweet communion with the Lord for the rest of the night.

Rejuvenation

By David Hobbs

One night I arrived at the church for my 2-5 a.m. Sunday morn. prayer time exhausted. I had been beaten down by the enemy working in my mind so that my whole body was physically and spiritually drained of strength: my energy level was at zero.
After turning on the lights in the sanctuary I made my usual circuit around the rest of the building, making sure things were in order. I was voicing some tentative praises but could tell my heart wasn’t in it. There was a weight on me that sapped my strength and even my desire.
Listlessly I wandered through the fellowship hall in the dark. The two hallways that run into it were lit so there was enough light to avoid obstacles, but just barely. As I approached the old GT Café, a sectioned off area at the far end of the room, I was thinking, “Lord, I came here to minister to you but I need someone to minister to me.”
I stepped into the Café by one of the small metal tables. Suddenly, I felt like the Holy Spirit stretched out His arm and offered, “Here, take a seat.” Gratefully I collapsed in the hard metal chair and put my elbows on the table with my head in my hands.
Instead of yielding my spirit up to the oblivion of sleep (which I've done before), I felt the Holy Spirit's presence with me, which quickened me a little. For some reason I started thinking about the rest of the building. It was as if my spirit was traveling around inventorying it while I was sitting in the chair.
(The whole building is octagonal in shape with the sanctuary in the middle. Around the sanctuary are offices. Then there is a hallway that circles around the entire building, with more offices and classrooms on the outside of its circle. At the back of the building, accessed by the hallway at either end, is the fellowship hall, a 60X40 foot room with raised, cathedral ceiling.) Now as I was thinking about the rest of the building, it was as if my spirit was taking note of each place: the hallways, the drinking fountains, the darkened lobby, the fellowship hall with the kitchen to one side…. It was all empty, mostly dark, all quiet.
My prayer to God on a regular basis (from the "Lord’s Prayer") is “Lord, have Your way here on earth as You do in heaven: Thy will be done!” Now as I was considering the empty building a thought occurred to me and I prayed, “Lord right now (at 2 o’clock in the morning) I am the lawful steward of this whole building. It has been given into my hands and as its steward I now give it into your hands to do with whatever you want; Thy will be done!”
After that I sat in silence, but I soon realized the Lord had accepted my offer and taken over the building. I couldn’t tell what He was doing but I sensed spiritual activity. My eyes were closed and my ears were open, but there was nothing to sense in the natural. The church was absolutely quiet. There were no sounds, no lights, no smells. I was not in control of anything that was happening and I had no idea what was happening. All I could sense was that things were happening in the spiritual realm as I sat in the darkness.
The minutes stretched on. I tried to remain totally focused on the Spirit because I knew that was an essential ingredient in God’s continued working. If I lost interest, zoned out, or dozed off, the work would stop. In the glorious plan and workings of God, He has made us—His people—partners with Him in the work He wants to do on earth. (We can talk about God’s sovereignty until we’re blue in the face, but that doesn’t change the fact that God has willed that much of His work on earth be partnered with His human creation. He didn’t have to do it that way, but He chose to. It’s not that He can’t do it without us, but that He won’t.)
Then a strange thing happened. As I focused on the Holy Spirit, I began traveling the halls in my spirit, sensing the spiritual activity while I fought off distraction and fatigue—all the while enjoying His sweet Presence.
I sat completely still for over an hour, physically frozen in place while my spirit traveled the halls with the unseen spiritual activity going on all around me. Then the spell was broken by the strong, sweet/rotten smell from the prune processing plant a mile away. If the wind was right, especially at night, sometimes its foul odors wafted all the way to our church. I got up and hurriedly closed the windows in the kitchen, the only open windows in the building.
I knew the special time was over and realized that I felt much better now—I had been rejuvenated by just sitting there in the presence of the Lord.
I went back into the sanctuary and began praising and worshipping the Lord. As I was walking around the room, the spirit of intercession and warfare fell on me in power and I started casting down principalities and powers at the top of my lungs. I’m sorry I don’t remember all the things I was rebuking the devil for, but I was stripping him of his power and authority, commanding him to give back all he had stolen from God’s people, and who knows what else! All the time there was no fear, no opposition, and no retaliation. It was like I had caught him flat-footed, snuck up on him and was pulverizing him. I realized later it was because the Lord had used the time and liberty I had given Him earlier to establish a spiritual perimeter in the hallway which completely encircled the sanctuary. Now inside the sanctuary I had total protection and complete freedom to tear down demonic strongholds and attack the enemy at will. It was a glorious and triumphant time and I left totally pumped, so different from the beaten down, exhausted man of 3 hours ago.

The Nourishing Sap of the Holy Spirit

By David Hobbs

17 . . . you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root . . . [Rom. 11, NIV]

I was on the road last week, promoting my book Out of the Fire. This consisted of dropping off copies at fire stations, praying over churches, and visiting bookstores and newspapers. Each morning I spent an hour in prayer seeking divine direction, but most of all seeking to spend some time in the Divine Presence. I had two different, wonderful experiences in the Lord that are typical of what can happen when we spend time seeking Him.
The first was at the only church I could find in Sierraville (Sierraville being the place I spent the night). The church was just outside of town on its own 1/3 acre plot carved out of pastureland. With no dwellings on either side, the area behind the church had perfect privacy. So for an hour I praised, worshipped, sang, and shouted declarations of God’s glory, as the sun rose over the mountains ringing this beautiful valley in the Sierras. I let it all out until the glory descended and I felt my face shining like Moses’ face in days of yore. I had opened up the floodgates of my spirit, the glory came down, and it was refreshing, invigorating, and very satisfying.
The following night I was in a motel cabin in Greenville. The only churches I had spotted were in town surrounded by houses. What was a Christian to do? After reveille I remained in the cabin and began walking back and forth from the front door through the bedroom into the little kitchen to the back door—the longest route I could pull off in the little cottage. Without being too loud, nevertheless I began singing in worship to the Lord, lifting up my hands and praising Him, calling on His Name and giving Him glory.
After about 20 minutes I realized that His Presence had come into the room. I couldn’t see or hear anything different (expect the lights seemed almost imperceptibly brighter and sharper in focus). But mostly I could sense His Presence with my Spirit. When that happens I stop what I’m doing, sit quietly and bask in His presence, even as Mary loved to sit at His feet. I listen for what He might want to say, which happens not with a voice, but by putting thoughts in my mind and seeing how I respond to them.
We had a very special time together: quiet and intimate; totally different from the day before. He was giving me things to think and write about and my mind gradually got more and more caught up with these thoughts and ideas until I became aware that His Presence had lifted and was fading. Then I kicked myself for not paying enough attention to Him and letting my thoughts draw me away. (In general though, I have found it difficult to stay for a long time in His Presence.) What would it be like to learn the secret of living one’s whole life in His Presence? Wonderful beyond imagination! Both experiences in prayer were marvelous, though completely different.
After I got home and was meditating on these delightful experiences, the Holy Spirit quickened to me the verse quoted above. Then it dawned on me that the nourishing sap comes from the Holy Spirit and it flows every time we are in God’s Presence. That’s why Jesus said in John 15:

5 If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned.

It’s the presence or absence of the nourishing sap that makes the difference whether we are alive and productive in the Kingdom, or withered and dead. And the sap flows when we are in His Presence (through prayer times such as I had, corporate worship times, or any time we come apart from the world and experience His Presence). The sap is always in Him, but only when we are plugged into Him does it flow into us.
Beloved, we need to learn the secrets and practice the art of being in His Presence!