Tales From the Summer Book Tour--"My Dad the Prophet"

By David Hobbs

I only planned to stay a few days at my folks’ home in Kent, Ohio; but the Lord had other plans. When this became apparent, I decided to make the best of it and do a big campaign there. What better place than Kent, Ohio which I left as a flaming atheist so long ago, but now was returning to as a card-carrying Christian. I scheduled a local book signing at the only Christian bookstore, and went about securing publicity from the local newspaper (which used to publish my anti-Christian Letters to the Editor). Then I compiled a list of over 100 churches in the area, and sent them out letters introducing myself and my book, and offering to come and speak to their congregations.

A few days later I got a call from a local pastor who was interested in having me come and fill his pulpit one Sunday while he was on vacation. We had a long, pleasant talk as he checked me out. Everything looked good, but he said the actual invitation had to come from their board of elders. He would report our conversation back to them and leave it in their hands.

When I told the folks about our conversation, they were excited that I might be invited to speak in a church. Dad began telling his friends, “David’s going to be speaking at a church in the area!”

The first time this happened I gently corrected him, “Dad, wait, it’s only a possibility, they haven’t formally invited me yet!”

But that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. Shortly thereafter I overheard him tell another friend, “David’s going to be speaking at a local church here!”

As I was about to correct him again, the Holy Spirit checked me, “Let him alone. Don’t you see what he’s doing? He’s speaking it into existence!”

My own father, speaking prophetically? He spent his whole adult life as a Unitarian-Universalist; he didn’t even believe in a personal God as far as I could tell, and he certainly didn’t know anything about the doctrine of creative, prophetic speaking! How could he …?

But sure enough, after Dad told people for days that I was going to be speaking in this church, the pastor called again and extended the elders’ official invitation.

For those of you who have read my book, you may recall that it begins with my father sensing the true, prophetic import of my getting on the train for California (of which I was unaware)—I was leaving home to return no more except as an occasional visitor. That was in Sept. 1965. Since then, I have been there less than a week at a time, every few years. Until this year. On the book tour, as I said, God had different plans, and I ended up staying four weeks: by far the longest visit since that day in 1965. So it was a fitting bookend that Dad would now, once again, swerve into the prophetic. He was proud of me--of what those 44 years had wrought. I could see that. Though he didn’t hold to the beliefs I had acquired in my new-found religion, yet he acknowledged the good they had done in my life, especially in how we had raised our sons.

Only 2 months later, Dad passed away at the age of 94, slipping out as quietly and without fanfare as he lived his life.

My Dad the prophet. Rest in peace.

Tales From the Summer Book Tour--Crossing Pennsylvania

By David Hobbs

From my folk’s home in Eastern Ohio I had to travel to Eastern Pennsylvania to the town of Westchester to minister in Jerry Schwartz’ church, Living Faith World Outreach Centre [there’s your plug, Jerry!], 385 miles away.

Now I expect spiritual warfare leading up to times of ministry, but this was especially intense. I awoke about 4 in the morning to hear the sound of light rain falling outside our house. When I left home a few hours later, it was still raining lightly, which continued for the 60 miles to the Pennsylvania border. In Pennsyl-vania it quit raining briefly and it looked like all was going to be well. But once on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the skies opened. Soon it was pouring buckets. They were doing extensive construction on the turnpike, and had placed cement barriers on both sides of the lanes, leaving the cars and trucks a 2 lane tunnel to shoot through for miles and miles. But in spite of the downpour and the narrowed driving room, the traffic didn’t slow down a bit. We were all flying along at 65 mph through the torrential downpour with cement barriers to our right and left, and traffic in front and behind.

Once in this condition, it was like somebody turned off the clock and I was stuck in a time warp that went on and on. I was frozen in place, not daring take my eyes off the road or relax my hands’ death-grip on the steering wheel. I kept expecting to drive out in front of the storm, but either it was everywhere, or it was traveling at 65 mph too.

The heavy rain greatly reduced the visibility. The only way I could tell where the traffic was ahead of me was by the moving clouds of white mist. The bigger clouds hid trucks and the smaller ones concealed cars.

“This must have been what happened to me on that fateful drive from Redding to Yreka in my book,” I thought, “where I drove on and on through the thunderstorm that wouldn’t quit.” But there was no thunder in this storm, and I kept moving full speed, pushed by the surrounding traffic.

After 100 miles or so the construction was finally over and we had more breathing room, but the rain continued unabated until I had almost reached Westchester. Then I did just get out in front of the storm and found the church. I was sitting comfortably in Pastor Jerry’s office as the storm barreled through overhead. At the hotel that evening the Lord treated me to a beautiful sunset, He even moved on the desk clerk to upgrade my room to give me a better view of it.

Fast forward from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. It had been a bang-up 2 days: speaking to the men on Saturday, the whole church on Sunday, powerful times in the prayer room, tours of the fire station, hours spent talking with Pastor Jerry about every possible subject. But now it was Sunday afternoon and I wanted to head for home and save the $100.00 that another night at the local hotel would cost. But after all the excitement, the drive home would be an emotional letdown. I thought if I left right away, I could almost get home before dark,which wouldn't be so bad. But sure enough Jerry asked me out for lunch one more time and I didn’t want to refuse--our times together had been so rich! We had another great time fellowshipping, which meant I wasn’t ready to leave till 4 in the afternoon. Now I wouldn’t get home till close to midnight.

By the end of the first hour on the turnpike I was falling asleep and jerking awake as I drove. Not good! The adrenaline was all gone and I couldn’t stay awake. I pulled into a service plaza for a break. If I was falling asleep now after only an hour while the sun was still shining, what would I do for the rest of the trip? Hmm. That’s a problem. I prayed and asked God for help. No immediate answer came and so I started back towards the turnpike. As I was driving down the onramp, I remembered a CD I had brought along on the tour but had never listened to. It was an instrumental rendition of old hymns like “The Old Rugged Cross.” What the heck? I put it on and started listening. Soon I was caught up and began singing along. As I sang I relived the excitement of the last few days and all the good things God had allowed me to experience. Then the anointing came. Soon I was belting out the songs at the top of my lungs with all my heart—who was there to hear and disapprove out on the open road? Tiredness was banished and the power of God filled me again. After the CD ran through all the songs it simply started over again and I was on my second hour. Afternoon turned into evening which turned into night. From time to time I stopped to use the restroom or get a bite to eat. But as soon as I was back in the car, the music started up again and I was back in the groove. By the time the third round was over, I was approaching Ohio and the glory of God had filled the car and remained for the rest of the trip.

The next morning at breakfast I was telling my mom about all that had happened at the meetings and the church. “Why do you sound so hoarse” she wondered? “Hmm. Must be from too much singing!”

Tales From the Summer Book Tour--"Dental Floss"

By David Hobbs

The Lord is not only involved with the major events of life; He is present in the subplots as well. In fact it’s in the minutiae of our lives that He sometimes surprises us the most. Nothing is too insignificant to Him, not even dental floss.
I started out the book tour with a new container of dental floss, but only the 50 yard size. Since I average 2 ½ feet per daily flossing, it occurred to me early on that it was going to run out before the end of the 90 day tour. Since I flossed late at night when few stores were open, I couldn’t sit back and wait till it ran out. I needed to have more on hand for when that time came. I resolved to buy more the next time I was in a supermarket or drugstore.
But that proved easier said than done. Almost all my shopping was in little convenience stores. I would never think of floss anyway during my busy days driving, doing book signings, meeting pastors…. But every night, the last thing before going to bed, when my eyes rested on that plastic dispenser, the memory came back, “I’ve got to get more dental floss!” This continued for most of the summer. The few times I did get to grocery stores for food, I wouldn’t remember dental floss until that night when I pulled it out again and the thought hit me. “Oh no! And I was at a grocery store today! I’ve got to remember before it runs out.” Yet each night the faithful old container yielded up enough to floss with.
Finally, about mid-August, as I was preparing to leave my folk’s house in Ohio to start back toward Calif. I had a breakthrough. I needed to go to a supermarket for supplies and I was fixed on remembering the floss. I didn’t know why it hadn’t run out already, but there had always been enough for one more night. And this time I did remember!I bought the dental floss and threw it into my cart with the other food supplies for the trip. Glory! I brought most of the stuff into the house except for one small bag that got left in the car. That night I was relieved and happy to think l had made it without running out and at last I was ready for the old roll to expire. But at flossing time I couldn’t find the new roll! I searched and searched until I realized I had left it in the one little bag still in the car. I had showered and wasn’t about to put my clothes back on and go out rummaging around in the dark for it. So close but still not there! But once more the old roll yielded up what I needed.

The next morning I remembered, dropped what I was doing, made a bee-line for the car, grabbed the bag, found the floss and put it with my things in the bathroom.
That night, at long last I was ready. It had taken me almost the whole summer, but there was the new floss container, and the old one still hadn’t run out. I wondered how many times the Lord in His graciousness had had to stretch the floss in the old container while He waited patiently for me to get it together and buy the new one? Night after night when I vowed again to remember and mentally kicked myself for forgetting! Oh well, Praise the Lord. Now that I had the new one in hand, I might as well keep using the old one until it ran out. I picked it up and gave it a pull. The last 3 inches came out and the spool spun freely. The Lord’s timing was perfect once more!

Tales from the Summer Book Tour--"The Elko Miracle"

By David Hobbs

I arrived in Elko, Nevada about 11:30 a.m. to do a book signing at 1:00 and meet a “Pastor Marsh” afterward for dinner and a home group meeting about my book. But all the contact information was on my Book Tour Calendar on the web, and my new iPhone couldn’t access it. Meanwhile, it was starting to rain. Now what?
I cruised the main street in the misty rain, looking for at least the bookstore.
Since I was there last, Elko had grown and spread out all over the place. After 15 minutes of fruitless cruising to the end of town and part way back, all the time praying for the Holy Spirit to guide my steps, I saw a Mexican restaurant. “I should at least stop in for lunch,” I thought. (Back in Reno I had stopped into a Mexican restaurant for dinner before a book signing and it had been a God thing—the proprietor had bought a copy of my book sight unseen as soon as he found out why I was in town. Maybe this Mexican restaurant would be God-blessed as well.)
As I was waiting at the counter to order, the people sitting at the table beside me held hands and began praying out loud over their food. “Hmm, not many Christians are that courageous.” After placing my order and finding a table, I felt a measure of boldness come over me. “What the heck?” I walked up to their table and asked if they were Christians. (Duh!) They affirmed it. I gave them my name. The man sitting closest to the counter looked puzzled. “David Hobbs? David Hobbs? Where do I know that name from?” Then he introduced himself, “My name’s Marsh, Pastor John Marsh!” God led me right to the man I needed! He told me where the bookstore was. I’d passed it without seeing it, one block up the street!

IHOP REVISITED, The Passive Miss Out

By David Hobbs

I had a few extra days in my book tour itinerary so I spent them visiting IHOP (International House of Prayer) in Kansas City. [It features 24/7 prayer and worship for probably the last 10 years.] My first night was in a nice hotel, but the price was high. So I moved to one at literally half the price—no breakfast, no internet, a dive; but cheap.
It’s been 5 years since I‘ve been to IHOP, and oh what a difference! The parking lot is packed. The auditorium is comfortably full instead of sparsely populated. The musicians are so good it is like a continuous high quality concert. Thousands visit every week.
But the format is basically the same: a worship leader with other musicians and singers on backup. They get started on a song and then see where the Holy Spirit takes it. And He does take it! Incredible throne-room experiences!
My first afternoon I put in a three hour stint. During that time I saw many come and go. A whole family or group of people would file into a pew in front of me and sit. Then a half hour later I would open my eyes again and they would be gone. I felt in the spirit that many went away unchanged, perhaps disappointed, after hoping they would meet God there, only to find it didn’t happen.
God is cagey. He won’t let us take short-cuts, or the easy way.
I found it to be a time of giving rather than receiving. We were giving God worship and ministering to Him (at least those who entered into the flow). Those who came hoping to sit and receive but with nothing to give went away disappointed. They were violating God’s principle: “No one is to appear before me empty-handed” [Ex. 23:15]. I had some high times in worship in those three hours, but I didn’t meet God there either.
I came back to my dingy hotel room, ate and took a nap during a thunderstorm, woke up all alone, began meditating on Him and singing to Him and that’s when I met God—not in the loudly worshipping throng, but all alone in a squalid hotel room. Why was that?
The Holy Spirit sent me to Romans 10 where I found the answer. Please excuse me for taking some liberties with the Scriptures:
6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven [for me]?’… 7 or ‘Who will descend into the deep [for me]?’” … 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart…”
In other words, “Don’t look for someone else to do it for you!” I realize I’m lifting this passage out of context, but the principle I’m looking for is there, though it’s not what Paul is emphasizing.
The worship team was establishing the presence of God through their worship, but most of the audience was not engaged. They were passive. To meet with God in the way they were longing to, they had to use their own God-given tools: their mouth and their heart. It was not something anybody else could do for them. What they wanted was truly near them, but it would not come through a feeling generated by the band; it would take action on their part. We have been conditioned to be passive in our culture and it leaves us feeling empty and dissatisfied.
With the Lord, it’s those “words from our mouth” that He uses to search our hearts and show us what’s in there. “The spirit of man is the Lord’s lamp; it searches out his inmost being” (Prov. 20:27 [NIV] alternate rendering). We hear ourselves say something (“Lord, give me a Hawaiian vacation”) and we think, “Wow, that sounded selfish and oriented toward ‘me and me alone’. Lord let me re-phrase that: Have Your way first in my life, and then let me go where You want me to go.”
We see this happening in James 4:13:
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this city or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for awhile and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this and that.”
This person’s thinking was corrected by the Spirit, but only after he spoke what was in his heart, after he brought it out in the open where it could be dealt with. When we’re passive, such things stay locked up inside where we’re unaware of them and they remain unchanged.
We need to come before God and speak, not only to expose wrong things, but good things also: dreams and hopes and godly desires. God puts these in our hearts so he can give them to us as part of His promise to give us the desires of our hearts. But we have to speak them out so we can identify/discover them, and start a process of praying and believing for them. It’s all part of how God works bringing things to pass. But it doesn’t happen in passive mode. In passive mode we are waiting for God to do something, while all the time He is waiting for us to act.
In the case I first mentioned--the people who were going away secretly disappointed because God didn’t meet them there--I felt the disappointment of the Holy Spirit too, and His love longing for them. He so much wanted to engage them, more than they realized and more than they wanted Him. But they weren’t coming the right way: with the words of their mouths and the faith of their hearts. So they were in effect tying His hands from what He wanted to do.

Angels and Fiery Rain

By David Hobbs

This blog is about a supernatural walk with God through Christ. While the emphasis is on supernatural encounters and experiences, it is also on current ones—what the Lord has done since the last entry or at least the recent past, as opposed to long ago. The manna must be fresh or it breeds worms and stinks.
Two days ago, Monday morning, I went out to the church early to pray, as I try to do once or twice a week. The prayer time was good but unremarkable. As I was leaving the old sanctuary building about 5:45 am, I looked across the parking lot to the new one. The rising sun was still hidden behind the building, but its rays were shining on the clouds above, where a remarkable thing was happening. Though it’s supposed to be our dry season, a misty rain was falling out of the clouds above the church, evaporating before it hit the ground. As the sun shone through this falling mist, it turned it brilliant colors of yellow and red, which made it look like fiery rain falling on the building. I quickly pulled out my iphone and snapped three pictures, trying to catch the glory of the moment which I knew would be quickly past as the sun rose higher.
My only thought at the time was the visual phenomena of falling rain and falling fire, both of which we have prayed for for many years. But to my surprise, when I downloaded the pictures to my laptop and printed them out on full pages of paper, I could see the shapes of angels and horses of fire in the rain.
I took it as a sign from heaven, both for our church, which has had many prophecies and visions concerning such supernatural events, and also for myself—I am about to embark on a 3 month book tour of the U.S. promoting my salvation story, Out of the Fire, A Life Radically Changed, and the work of God in revival and preparing the Bride for His coming. If you want to see the pictures, the link to my Facebook page where they’re posted is:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=19966&id=1541887269&l=243cd88aab.

If you want to follow my book tour, the link for that is:
www.amicusbooks.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&Itemid=55.

Click on the Tour/Events tab and you can see my schedule. Come out and see me if I’m close by.
If you’re interested in booking me for a tour event (there is no charge), go to the media tab, click on the first option, the TIP Sheet. It contains my publicist contact info.

May we all stay close to Him and continually see His glory and feel His love this summer!

The Doers, the Helpers, and the Gawkers

By David Hobbs

It was "Seek Week" and we were having special evening prayer meetings at the church. It was Wednesday and I was feeling pretty much out of it, though quite a few seemed to be actively engaged with the Holy Spirit. Toward the end of the meeting we circled up and held hands to pray together. The lady on my right, a very spiritual woman who has graced this blog before, was in the Spirit and began bending double, jerking or convulsing as different people prayed.

Finally, about the time the meeting was over, she went down all together and lay on the floor moaning and crying out. Cheryl was praying over her. She looked like she was birthing something in the Spirit. She got especially animated when someone prayed out evangelistically for souls. Realizing this, I stretched my hands toward her and prayed in tongues, which felt like the most spiritual thing I had done all night. Others standing around gawked at her and the “spectacle” she was making of herself.

The next morning the Holy Spirit instructed me. “There are three groups of people in the world,” He said, “everyone must pick which group they’ll be in.”

The story he reminded me of was when Jesus was going to heal the girl on her deathbed (Luke 8:40). But on the way He was stopped by the woman with the issue of blood. By the time He dealt with that woman, the original girl had died. When Jesus came to the house and saw the outpouring of mourning, He proclaimed the girl was not dead, but sleeping, which raised an instant reaction of scoffing, mocking, doubting and unbelief.

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe Jesus did this purposely, to identify the crowd who didn’t believe? Then He put out everybody from this crowd. This was the first class of people: the unbelievers, or the gawkers. He didn’t give them a chance to “exercise their ministry” but put them out before they could sabotage His.

He let stay the parents and His three top disciples. The parents were more concerned about seeing their girl healed than gawking out a miracle. They became part of the second group, the helpers. These are people who can’t do the miracle, but their prayers and presence help create the atmosphere for the miracle to occur. In the prayer meeting I was talking about, I was in the crowd of helpers, as was Cheryl. We were not able to accomplish the work, though Cheryl was midwifing it, a subcategory of helpers. And I was lending my prayers to set the spiritual atmosphere to help it come about.

The third group is the smallest, the doer, often just one person with the faith, the gift, or the power to bring the miracle forth. In the Gospels that person is Jesus; after Pentecost, the apostles; in the Old Testament, a prophet. In my experience it was the woman lying on the floor, travailing in the Spirit to birth something.

The Holy Spirit was saying, “There are three groups. Each person must choose which group they will be in.” Do they want to be a gawker, which is pretty much the same as an unbeliever? Do they want to be a helper, in which case they will be part of the miracle? Or do they want to be a doer, in which case they will spearhead the miracle?

When David Hogan visited our church a number of years ago, we had gawkers come out of the woodwork and from across the country, swarming the church, hoping to see him raise someone from the dead. It was embarrassing.

To be a gawker requires nothing but the natural man. To be a helper requires an openness and obedience to the Holy Spirit. To be a doer requires a high level of yieldedness, and an advanced ability to hear the voice of the Spirit and flow in His anointing.

God's Greatest Challenge

By David Hobbs

4/30/2009

Not long ago I had a unique experience with God at our Wednesday night prayer and soaking service at the church. Things started out tough. There was no anointing and no desire inside me to pray. It looked like it was going to be a long, dry night. But I entered in anyway.
Soon, I became aware that there was a difference about the night. Duane was playing the piano, but instead of playing like usual—banging it out with driving beat and high volume (“erecting a musical wall” is how I think of it)—tonight he was more about finesse. He was changing the volume, sliding into songs and out of them, going from a song into free worship, then seamlessly back into the same or another song. I’d never heard him play any better or more breathed on by the Holy Spirit.
The level of anointing in the room rose rapidly, as did my own anointing along with it. Soon I was on the mountaintop, a complete turnaround in about 20 minutes!
The level of anointing got so heavy that I began to be awash in the love of God. Then I reached a place I get to every now and then—more so in the last 6 months—where I was overcome and conquered by this same love. What do I mean by “overcome?” To be overcome is to be filled to such an extent that normal functioning is impossible. It’s to make somebody incapacitated or helpless, or break down somebody's normal self-control (Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)
Usually during prayer I have to battle against distracting thoughts. But when overcome by God’s love there is no room for those things—they can’t even enter. I can’t think rationally, I can’t function normally. God’s love has filled me and taken over. It’s a most wonderful experience. In this state I realize that God’s love has conquered me. He’s overcome all my resistance, all my questions and reservations, all my desire to be in control and in charge, all my fears about things…. There’s nothing left but His love.
In this state I felt 2 questions surface from the Holy Spirit. The first went like this: “What do you think was the hardest thing God ever did?” It turned out to be a multiple choice test because He gave me three possible answers: 1) Create all the worlds, seen and unseen, by speaking them into being out of nothing? 2) Raise Jesus from the dead against all the powers of hell, death, science, militaries, precedent, history, natural law, and whatever else you can think of that opposed it. 3) Conquer the stubborn and rebellious heart of man by His love?
I couldn’t really answer the question, even though I thought I knew what He was driving at, because they all looked equally impossible to my human eyes.
Then He asked the second question, which drove His point home. “Taking those same three answers, what single accomplishment is God most proud of? Which one does He regard as His single greatest achievement in all time and eternity?” Then it hit me. The first two accomplishments, stupendous as they may be, can be accomplished by power alone. Granted it’s a power beyond anything I can imagine, but still, with enough power, either one of the two could be done. But the third one, oh but the third one! Not all the power in the world can win a heart in love! You cannot will someone, or force someone to love you, even if you’re God. God could have cowed my heart by fear, bribed my heart with endless blessings, manipulated my heart with flattery, rejected my heart in total justice, or created my heart like a robot that responds on command. But instead He wooed and won my heart over until I totally surrendered. “Lord Your love has overcome me. I resist no more. Do with me as You will. I am yours forever.”
“For love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a mighty fire, like a blazing flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned. (S of S. 8:6-7, NIV)

The "Normal" Christian Life, Part II

By David Hobbs

(Events took place Feb. 9-10, 2009)

(Please read previous post first)
The next day, Monday, in spite of my memories of the wonderful service, nothing went easy. I spent a large part of the morning on the phone to the DSL guy from AT&T and my own IT guy trying to get my laptop connected back to the internet. It was my first day of fasting, which is usually the hardest. Nothing about the day was easy or pleasant. But that’s often the way it is in the spiritual walk—mountaintops are followed by valleys and we have to learn to take them in stride.
By Tuesday morning I felt I was ready to get up early and go out to the church early again to pray. It was cold inside as well as outside. I never took my jacket off. The spirit was heavy at first, full of the weight of God’s glory and incredible holiness. It was all I could do to whisper (even in the deserted church) and kneel quietly.
After awhile however, I felt if I didn’t get more active I might give Satan an opening to either put me to sleep or play with my mind. (Because the spirit and the body are connected, if the body gets too slow it can pull the spirit down.) So I began to walk and sing. A song popped into my mind we hadn’t sung in years:

“Lord I want to tread a path to You.

I want to know You better than I do.

I Want to hear Your voice today in a clearer way;

Lord I want to tread a path that leads to You” (repeat).

And then the bridge, “I want to tread a path, that will last; tread a path that leads to You” (repeat).

Soon I was belting it out with all my heart because it was exactly what I did want. I didn’t want to just walk through life. I wanted every step to bring me closer to Him. And I did want to hear His voice more clearly. And today, not some far off time in the future.
Soon my hour and a half at the church was over. There was only time to heat up some leftover coffee in the kitchen and head to Cheryl’s for the morning prayer meeting.
At Cheryl’s the Holy Spirit came again like Sunday night at the praise service. We were praying about portals and the Holy Spirit showed me that I was a portal. There was no getting around it. He had made me a portal already and I didn’t have to ask for it. My part came in choosing what I would be a portal to. I could be a portal to hell and let it flood through me to pollute the earth (and I remembered many times when I had allowed that to happen, and flooded the earth with anger, rage, criticism, doubt, or any number of other hellish spirits); or I could choose to be a portal of heaven and allow the Holy Spirit to flood through me into the earth. Either way I was a portal and could not help be anything but.
Strangely, the angst at the revelation of the many times I had been a portal of hell was more than offset by the revelation that I was a portal and nothing could ever change it. To that my spirit soared. Now, armed with that knowledge, it should be fairly easy to say “no” to hell and “yes” to the Holy Spirit. I was a portal! I was a portal!
The prayer meeting kept going and people took turns praying out. I sang the song the Lord had given me earlier and the Holy Spirit began to zap us. We were all standing holding hands in a circle. I had Cheryl’s hand on my left and my friend Terri’s hand on my right. My spirit was so lightened by the revelation of my portal-ship that I started laughing which others picked up on. Soon about half of us were chuckling or laughing.
Then the prayers turned from portals to lightning rods. I saw our group, which had prayed together for 2 ½ years, as the inner hub of a wheel, like a wagon wheel or chariot wheel. As others were drawn to us wanting more of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they were like spokes from the outer wheel plugging into us in the inner wheel. But as they made contact, lightning shot from heaven into us (because we were lightning rods and open portals), zapped right through us into them, then continued to travel through them out into the world. I immediately thought of Jesus and the woman with the issue of blood who came up to Him in the crowd and touched the hem of His garment. As soon as she touched Him, though He didn’t see or feel her, a surge of power shot through Him from heaven into her. Jesus was the great lightning rod from heaven! That’s what got Jesus’ attention: He felt the burst of power through Him which was strong enough to heal her instantly.
By this time I was so overcome it was hard to stand, so I went to my knees still holding hands with Cheryl and Terri. I was laughing and shouting praises as were the others. Both Cheryl and Terri were getting zapped by the Holy Spirit, which they indicated by shouting out and doubling over. I could literally feel the current pass through my body from one of them to the other.

So there you have it, parts of three days in the prayer life of a believer. Is this the normal life and experience of a Christian? Would to God it was!

The "Normal" Christian Life?--Part 1

By David Hobbs

2/10/2009

Last Sunday we had the first of our planned inter-church praise services. The idea is to meet one Sunday evening/month at one of the participating churches and have a praise meeting to promote unity among the churches and to build a platform of praise in our community that goes beyond one church. This first service was at a neighbor church.
They had two complete bands which shared the service. The first band got us off fairly well, but it had a drab spirit about it. No one (on stage) was smiling or seemed to be happy leading God’s people in worship. They were all seriously going about their jobs--playing their instruments well--but the spark of joy was missing.
However, they did get us out into the river of Holy Spirit anointing. I wondered how many people realized we had entered the river. At times like that I wonder what people are aware of. How many realize when we pass beyond singing songs and enter the river of Holy Spirit that flows from God’s throne?
After an hour the bands changed. I took a break and got a drink because I had a raging thirst.
The next band was a younger, livelier bunch. It wasn’t long before they had us on a whole new level—a way deeper channel in the river. Now this was what praise and worship was all about! It still required work on our part, to focus and engage, but the Spirit of God was thick.
After another hour of getting progressively deeper the host pastor took the mic to rap the meeting up. He commended everyone on being able to worship for 2 solid hours.
However deep into the river the 2 hours had carried us, he didn’t seem to realize that we were right on the edge of a much deeper hole in the river. He turned the mic over to his wife, who then made the “mistake” of saying she thought she should give it to Cheryl to close us in prayer. Cheryl asked what she wanted her to do. “However you feel led.” (Mistake #2.)
Cheryl started to pray and then said she felt the Holy Spirit wasn’t done for the night. She proceeded to call everybody up who wanted prayer. Many came forward and the leaders began praying over them. The Holy Spirit started moving and people responded in many ways including going down. I didn’t feel a need to be prayed for and I wasn’t a leader but I liked being up front where the Spirit was moving. So I hung around praying for people from behind and catching them when need be. It was great!
After awhile I noticed one of the leaders who seemed to carry a good anointing standing at the front alone with no one to pray for. I thought, “What the heck. I might as well put him to work. I can always use more of God.” So I went up and asked him to pray for me. (His name was Jason.) The Holy Spirit came upon me immediately. Things were going well when Cheryl came up from behind and ambushed me. She laid both of her hands on either side of my head and began praying in her fervent way. But being Cheryl she started pulling me over and soon I was staggering off balance and going down. Though I didn’t go down “under the power,” I have found that when Cheryl does that, often the Holy Spirit uses it simultaneously to move into people in a mighty way, which is what happened to me.
After she left (seeking other prey) I staggered to my feet and Jason continued praying for me. He laid his hand on my belly and began prophesying that God was going to bless me because I had deferred to Him in many areas of my life, doing His will rather than my own. When he laid his hand on my belly the Holy Spirit began surging out. I’m not sure if I was singing or shouting, but it seems like it was one long, sustained note coming out of my inmost being in full power. Maybe the best way to describe it would be “roar.” I roared with all my might with my hand on his hand on my belly while he prayed and prophesied.
After that I did go down, really under the power this time, and lay there in an overwhelming aura of peace for a long time while the altar service swirled around me. When I finally got up I was so woozy and relaxed I asked Marcine to drive home. All I could say was, “Wow! We hit a really deep pool this time!”

(To Be Continued)

Two Prayer Meetings--Different Results

By David Hobbs
1/21/2009

We had prayers meetings on Monday night and Tuesday night of this week. The occasion was a series of special meetings the latter part of the week into the weekend. To push through in the spirit we had an all-church fast Mon.-Wed.
The two prayer meetings were almost identical, except for the results.
I arrived at the first in passive mode. There was nothing in me--not a single cell of my body--that felt like praying, which is normal. I knelt down on a chair and tried to feel the Spirit and make contact with the Divine. Nothing much happened. After awhile I turned around and sat down on the chair and tried to hone in my thoughts on the Lord. I gave out some weak verbal praises and declarations. Once, there started to be a convergence, when people from 3 different places in the room began to operate together in the spirit and I felt like it could bring the Spirit’s anointing into our midst. But it only continued a short time before they went their separate ways and the spiritual synergy disintegrated.
Pastor Dave was praying out like he usually does when he’s present, but other than that it was pretty subdued. Some were laid out “soaking,” others were reading or praying quietly or silently. There were only 10-12 in the prayer room.
After awhile I began to space out and doze off. I can tell when I doze off because my thoughts scramble and quit making sense. That means my mind has slipped from the conscious to the unconscious. This serves as a warning that if I don’t change positions, get up and walk, then I’m done for. But by this time I was so passive that it was hard to stir myself to action. It was so much easier to continue in the passive mode.
I thought I could bring my mind back and keep it in the conscious realm…. The next thing I knew I heard a voice from a long way away pulling me back. It was Pastor Dave asking everyone to come stand and pray together in a circle. I realized that I had been asleep, who knows for how long, but the first hour of the prayer meeting was over. We prayed out loud for another half hour, mostly Pastor Dave. He was holding my hand in the prayer circle and squeezing it so tightly in his zeal that he was mashing my little finger and middle finger against my wedding ring on both sides. I kept waiting for a break in the prayers so his grip would relax and I could quickly slip my ring off and put it in my pocket; but there was no break. (Sure I could have pulled out of his grip any time and done it, but I was still in passive mode!) By the time it was over there were deep, red indentations on each finger. My wife Marcine had a good time in prayer but I left feeling like I had accomplished nothing.
Fast forward 24 hours to Tuesday night. We went back out to the church. I didn’t feel any more like praying than I had the night before, but I thought, “I am not going to go through another worthless night like last night. I am just not going to do it!”
As soon as we got there I eschewed the chairs and started walking around the “circuit” (the chairs are arranged in such a way that you can walk in a circle around the perimeter of the room). I opened my mouth and began to call on the name of the Lord. I thanked Him for His goodness, His salvation, whatever I could think of. Pastor Dave was still praying out loud like he does and everything else was like the night before except that Dave’s firebrand wife Cheryl was there.
I knew I was probably the loudest one in the room, but I had to go on. The longer I went the more of the anointing I felt—at last the power began to come. I rattled off in tongues, then prayed in English—exhorting, declaring, asking, proclaiming—anything to keep the flow going. Cheryl began to get anointed and walk around. I wanted to pray with her to combine our efforts but wasn’t sure how to do it.
Now things were getting hotter in the spirit and I was almost shouting, still pressing in, not letting up. When I ran out of things to say in English I switched to tongues, anything to keep it flowing. Then Cheryl began praying for a sister. I took the opportunity and joined her. I was full of the Holy Spirit by this time and longing for an opportunity to pour some out. I joined Cheryl and poured out all over the sister.
When we were done I said to Cheryl, “Let’s pray for people; we need to pray and impart.”
She said, “Fine, let’s start with Dave (her husband).” We went over and began praying for him. By now the prayer was really intense. I was calling on God to fulfill every promise He had ever made to the church and Pastor Dave. I kept shouting “Now! Now! Now!” I opened my eyes and noticed that half the people in the room were now standing with us praying for Pastor Dave. We were storming the gates of heaven and it was wonderful and powerful.
When we finished Cheryl asked for prayer for herself. We laid hands on her and she instantly burst into tears because God was showing her a vision of people in insane asylums whose minds were completely gone and there seemed to be no hope of salvation for them because there was nothing left inside them to even reach out for help. She was crying and groaning and we were praying over her, not knowing yet why she was overcome but pouring out the measure of the Spirit we had over her.
Afterward I gave her a prophecy, because I had seen her in the spirit wielding a sword. I told her there were some she could rescue with her tears, but for others to be saved she would have to wield a sword, hacking the shackles and bindings of the world off them. Some would be too weak or confused to free themselves and would keep getting re-entangled again in the things that had mastered them unless she took action. The Scripture I used was Nehemiah 13:25 where Nehemiah says “I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair.” [Imagine that happening in the church today!]
Then the prayer meeting was over, but what a difference from the night before! I was filled with power which continued the next morning with our daily prayer meeting at Dave’s house.
I realized more than ever the importance the human will plays in spiritual things. The only difference for me from one night to the next was a decision of my will to be active instead of passive, to go for it instead of waiting for it to come to me. And the Lord met me. He always does!

What do We Want? The Power or the Person of Christ?

By David Hobbs

We have a lot of outside speakers come to our church. We are blessed with many big names and powerful ministries. Next week Paul Keith Davis, JoAnn Mcfatter, and Chuck Pierce are coming. It got me to thinking: What are we really looking for when an outside speaker comes to our church? What if the speaker came with a good message, which he delivered, then left? Would we be satisfied? I doubt it. For an outside speaker to be worth his honorarium and our attention, the message is expected, but we also want a demonstration of the supernatural. This most commonly means healing or prophecy (a prayer line with people slain in the Spirit is good too). It’s fine if you can raise someone from the dead, but that’s not required. But we’ve gotta see some people healed or hear some right-on, spine tingling, goose bump-inducing prophecies or we’ll feel we haven’t gotten our money’s worth. I mean, after all, we can always get a good message from our pastor, right!
That’s what makes Mary’s behavior in Luke 10:39 so amazing. She was sitting at Jesus’ feet, paying rapt attention to everything He said. But He wasn’t healing anybody or doing any miracles. He was just speaking, and we don’t even know what He was speaking about! But she was in His presence, where, according to Psalm 16, there is fullness of joy. And Jesus told Martha that what Mary had--being in His presence--was the best thing, and it would not be taken away from her (v. 42).
What if a speaker came just bringing the presence of Jesus—no healings, no prophecy, no manifestations of supernatural power—just the presence of the Lord? Would we be happy, or would we feel short-changed?
Reading through the Gospels, who were the ones always seeking the miraculous healings and divine manifestations anyway? How about Herod in Luke 23:8—“[F]or a long time he had been wanting to see [Jesus]. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle.” Or the Scribes and Pharisees in Mt.12:38—“Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.’” In fact, Jesus rebuked all the Jews in John 4:48—“Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders… you will never believe.” Even at the cross, as Jesus was dying right in front of them and shedding His blood for the whole world, what were the soldiers most interested in? They were hoping to see something supernatural! “‘Listen, he’s calling Elijah.’… ‘Leave him alone now. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.’ (Mark 15:35-36)”
I’ll never forget when missionary David Hogan came to our church about 10 years ago and the mayhem that ensued as people showedup from all over the Western U.S. hoping to see him raise someone from the dead like he’s done in Mexico. It was crazy, probably somewhat like when Jesus came to town.
So who do we identify with and whose behavior do we emulate: Jesus’ followers like Mary who were interested in Him? Or the Scribes, Pharisees, Herod and others whose only interest in Jesus was seeing something miraculous happen?
The gawkers actually hindered the miraculous moving of the Holy Spirit. Don’t believe me? Then why, when Jesus was about to have a really supernatural experience like His transfiguration, or do a miraculous work like raising the 12 year old girl from the dead, did He exclude everybody else and only allow His top 3 disciples to be present? (Mt. 17:1; Mk. 5:37, 40)
Let's examine our own hearts. Are we content to be with Jesus? Or do we have that restless spirit that’s always running after the latest experience, always seeking a new spiritual thrill? Is our concept of God like a trained dog on a leash that we’re always hoping to see perform some new trick? Or do we long to be in His presence even if He does nothing?

Polly's Story

By Polly Harder

[This is the fascinating story Polly Harder told me when I met her in Atlanta at the Christian Booksellers Tradeshow (July, 2007). Check out her book Don't Be Afraid]----David Hobbs

In 1983 God started to talk to me about starting the non-profit ministry I'm the president of today. He talked to me for 5 years about it, but never released me to do it.
Then one day, while I was praying, sitting at my desk at the company I owned, God said, "Polly, I will make this company more successful than you have ever dreamed... or you can do My work."
Naturally I thought it was the ministry He had been telling me about for the past 5 years, so I said, "Lord, I want to do Your work."
He then said, "Close the doors!"
(I had been in business in Dallas for 3 1/2 years at this time doing sales around $300,000 a year.) I walked out of my office, told my staff I was finally going into ministry, and I would give them 30 days pay, but as of Friday we were no more. It was Wednesday. So I packed up the office and Sat. a.m. the movers moved me out. By faith, in three days I had closed down what God and I had built in 3 1/2 years.
I wish I could report God released me to do the ministry. However, two months passed, and I thought, “I need to go back to work.” I also thought I must have missed God somehow. By now many companies were contacting me, wanting me to come to work for them. I told God to close every door that wasn't from Him. A few days later a friend of mine, who was a recruiter, called me and said there was a new communication company that had opened. They were looking for all levels of management. She had told them about me, and they wanted to see me right away. I called and they set up an appointment.
They hired me on the spot, offered me more money & the highest level of management. I didn't feel released to accept the offer, mainly because they were open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, I might have to work graveyard, Sundays, holidays…. Can you imagine these changes after having the freedom of calling all the shots?
I went home and my sister asked about the interview. I told her what happened and she asked, "What are you going to do."
At that moment I heard these words coming out of my mouth: "I'm going to take it of course."
We both looked surprised because we knew Who had done the talking. The Lord also told me He wanted me to take the lowest entry level management position they had. So I started work making 1/3 of the income I was used to. Thank God I was debt free, except for the mortgage.
I discovered they had over 1,000 employees that I had access to. Because they weren't union, they treated their employees great. Anytime there was counseling needed, they used two people, usually male and female. After a short while, I realized I was the female that was getting called into all these counseling sessions. And even though it wasn't my role to take charge, the other counselor usually said nothing after we sat down with the counselee. So, leader that I am, I would ask the one in trouble what happened. After they told me their side of the story, I would say to the other manager, “Go find their file and bring it here." Once they left the room, the Holy Spirit would have me say one of two things to these people: "Do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?" Or "Do you have a church home?"
Every time they would look at me for a few seconds, stunned, and then start crying--men and women alike. The response was usually the same, "I know the Lord is dealing with me.” Or "I know I'm not living right, etc."
We would then talk about the things of God. But the last thing I always shared with them, before the other manager returned, was this: "Listen, God told me He would make the company I owned more successful than I could ever imagine or I could do His work. I chose to do His work and He sent me here… for you! Now if He would interrupt my life so I would be here at this time just to tell you how much He loves you, wants to have a relationship with you, and about His wonderful plan for your life--don't you think you should consider getting your life right with Him?" They all agreed.
The amazing thing was, it didn't matter whether the other manager was gone for ten minutes or forty, it was always exactly the right amount of time for God to speak to them. When the manager returned I would tell the employee that I would take care of their file if they would take care of what we had discussed.
I was at that company for five years. The President called me in four times to tell me they were promoting me and would pay me X-amount of thousands of dollars more a year. But every time they promoted me, I knew it was because there were people in the new department that were ready to hear about the Lord.
Several months after I reached the highest level of management, I was in the board room for one of our meetings. The President finished the meeting. Then all of a sudden he said, "Everybody sit back down. I have a question, and actually everyone in this room probably has the same question. This question is for you Polly. We want to know how you can take our worst employees into a room and regardless of the amount of time you have with them, when they come out they become our best employees. What do you say to them?"
Naturally, the moment he said the question was for me, I was praying in the Holy Ghost for the answer. The Lord told me to say this: "I don't think it's as much what I say to them as it is I let them know Someone really cares."
Now the president was born again, but not spirit filled. I just kept looking at him and he kept looking at me. About 30 seconds passed. Finally I saw his eyes light up. I knew he knew Who it was I was talking about. He nodded his head and said "OK then, you're all dismissed.” The interesting thing was, company policy required two people to be in all counseling sessions. But from that time on, whenever anyone was tough to handle, the president would tell the other managers to bring the employee to my office and then leave. (Needless to say, it was against company policy to talk to the employees about religion.)
Then, one day, God told me my time was up. I gave notice and while I was driving off the parking lot my last day, God started talking to me about starting Jordan House--the non-profit ministry that is in both TX. and Nevada that I have operated now for the past 14 years.
However, those appointed times have never stopped. I can be in a restaurant or grocery store and God will point someone out to me and tell me He has a word for them. So I go up to them and say, "Excuse me, God has a word for you. Would you like to hear it?" No one has ever turned me down; and one time the word turned out to be for a man who afterwards told me he was the Sr. Pastor at a big Baptist Church in downtown FT. Worth. Is God amazing or what?
There is no better feeling than when we've been obedient and get to be used by God!

Google Polly or click on http://www.communicationforlife.net/biography.html for a brief bio.