Sudden Breakthrough at the Capital

By David Hobbs

Poisonous mood

Last Thursday morning I drove down to the capital to pray, as I have most Thursdays for the past 5 years. But this time I was in a toxic mood. It was probably due mostly to the Holy Spirit pressuring me to fast again for almost the first time in a year. My soul felt like it had enough problems to deal with without adding a 2 day fast to the mix. I drove the hour to Sacramento in stony silence—no singing, no praises, just gloom.

Once there and joined with my prayer partners, the very first thing I heard was that the long anticipated court decision on Obamacare was in and it had been upheld! At that point my already fragile mood collapsed. Whatever life and hope left in me drained away and I sat at the table in angry silence. Black spiritual clouds were hanging over me, terrible thoughts were going through my mind and I was ready to toss it all in and walk away.

“David, how are you doing?” Cindy asked, noticing my bad mood.

“Not good,” was all I could say. I was looking in my Bible for a Psalm to read aloud like Psalm 79:

1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple,
they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants
as food to the birds of the air,
the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury the dead.
4 We are objects of reproach to our neighbors,
of scorn and derision to those around us….

Now I can get down like everyone else, but I can’t remember ever getting down like this before. It was the “Mother of all Downers.”

Sudden Breakthrough

About halfway through our hour the door to the committee room opened and who should stick her head in but Shannon Grove, the on-fire Assemblywoman from Bakersfield. Shannon often popped in to pray with us and give us updates on what was happening in the Assembly so we would better know how to pray. But this time was different.

“Hey guys, guess what? There’s a contingent of pastors visiting the capital and they’ve heard about your faithfulness in praying here and want to meet you. Also they’ve got some guitars and we’re going to go out in the open-air atrium on the third floor and worship God. Do you want to come?”

When we got off the elevator at the third floor there was a large crowd of people, who began to come up and greet us and shake our hands. Then Shannon started ushering us down the hall. “Come, come quickly!” I didn’t understand what the rush was but let myself be herded with the others down one hall, then another, then through a door, down a passageway, through another door… “Hurry, hurry, they’re holding it open for us.”

Suddenly I looked up and realized we were on the floor of the Assembly! Now the floor of the Assembly is like the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington—a sacrosanct place where only members and staff are allowed. Visitors need special permission from the Speaker and the Sergeant-at-Arms. But Shannon had somehow worked out a way to get us all out there for a picture taking-session.

Then we trouped over to an office with access to the atrium: a large, fancy, air and light shaft in the middle of the capital building. Soon worship choruses were bouncing off the surrounding walls and wafting up into the three floors of offices that faced the atrium.

Wow! God showed up that day, in response to our prayers. He made an appearance at the capital to show that He’s alive and well in the state of Calif., but also for this lowly sinner whose spirit badly needed a lift!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_24IdbJ0Tw