Study in Prayer

When I started out in ministry, I was part of an Independent Baptist church and we were part of the Central Texas Independent Baptist Association of Churches. I used to preach in our church, at least once per month…but we would hold monthly conventions where all of the preachers would gather and hold a couple hours of sermon teaching and prayer time. 

I would be invited to go and speak in their churches, hold revivals, etc. I was an evangelist and thought I knew a lot about the Lord and the Bible, etc.

This would have been about 1995 or so. 

But then, something happened.  I was exposed to the Pentecostal way of worshipping the Lord. I had been Baptized with the Holy Spirit the night I was born again on January 25, 1992. I had spoken and praised God in tongues…I knew what it was.

But the Independent Baptists did not do that and, I was trying to fit in, so I did not do it either…

In those days, if you were “one of them tongue talking preachers,” you were booted out of the fellowship…

But the longer I stayed in that group, and compared the results they were seeing and praying for compared to what I was seeing amongst those that DID believe in speaking in tongues – I couldn’t believe the differences!  It was almost like night and day.

Then, the opportunity came, through a person I was associated with in my secular business, to meet Dr. Vernard Johnson. He is known as the “World’s Greatest Gospel Saxaphonist.” He was really, REALY popular at the time, especially in the COGIC circles.

Through the process of meeting him, talking with him and even helping out at a few of his concerts and getting to know him a bit on a personal level, he offered me an opportunity to have my first real, paid, ministry job by helping him organize and promote his concerts.

I mentioned this to our little group, trying to get them to come out to a “Soul Winning Concert” that would be in the area. After all, that is all they talked about was “winning souls for the Kingdom.”

Don’t you know, THAT VERY NIGHT, they shunned me! Nobody would talk with me. Nobody would sit with me at the same table in the fellowship hall. When I left that building, I asked God, “Why?  They don’t want anything to do with me just because I want to win souls for the Kingdom?”  The Spirit of God spoke directly to my spirit and said, “Don’t worry about, they don’t want anything to do with me either…”

How tragic!  An entire group of probably 20 churches that just refused to admit that the Holy Spirit was real and that speaking in tongues was a way to communicate with God and have God communicate with you. 

I never was invited back to speak in any of those churches ever again. 

I found out later, several of those churches had to close their doors. Many only had a handful of people attending their services – even after 20 years. For many of them, the only new additions was when someone would have a baby.  

What does all of this have to do with the subject of “Cast Your Cares on the Lord?”  Because that night, I did just that. I had been trying to “please men” by pleasing those preachers. To be accepted. But when I decided to put the Kingdom first, to win souls for the Kingdom by helping another ministry that “was not part of their clique” – I was shunned.

At first, I was devastated. “Was I wrong?” “Should I go back and apologize?”

But the more I prayed about it, the answer from the Lord was clear, “Leave those things

If you are a saved, born again child of the Living God, then you are never supposed to doubt the Word of God. You are never supposed to doubt ANYTHING you read in His Word. Every single word, every single letter, every single punctuation mark has a specific purpose if it is in the Bible. Amen.

When you believe that with all of your heart, spirit, soul and every fiber of your being, you will never quake in the devils presence. Ever!  Why?

Because GREATER is HE that is in you than he that is in the world. Amen!

When the devil tries to get you off of your game plan – which is to trust 100% in Jesus and all that He accomplished for you, if the devil can get you to doubt just ONE PART of God’s Word, he has a foothold in your life.

You may be one of those that do not believe speaking in tongues is for today…

Guess what, you’re right! Anything to do with speaking in tongues and the benefits you will gain from it – are worthless to you. You get zero benefits.

That moves over into receiving your prayers as answered as well. You will not see any resulting answers to your prayers… Period.

That also concerns sickness in your body…no healing for you…

The devil will have free reign to take sniper shots at you anytime and anywhere he chooses to do so…

Have you ever felt like, just as things start going good, SOMETHING bad happens? Have you ever noticed that, just as soon as you start to get a little bit ahead financially, the car breaks down or the TV goes out and now you have to spend even more money and “Back into debt” you go…maybe even deeper in debt than you were two weeks ago? Have you ever noticed anything like that?

Why does that happen?

When I hear people talk like that, one of the first questions I will ask is about their prayer life.  Are they praying every day? Consistently?  And do you know the response I generally will receive?

“Of course, brother Bob. I pray every day (and then – they add the qualifier)…BUT, I only have time to pray while I’m in the car or it may only be for a couple of minutes…”

And, as bad as that is…it will still WORK if that is all the time you truly have. 

My next question is something like, “You don’t have a lot of time? You can’t pray 15 minutes a day? What are you doing at 4:30am every day?”

99% of the time it will, “Sleeping?”  

Then I hit them with what Jesus asked His disciples, “Why are you sleeping? Couldn’t you pray one hour with me?”

But, IF (and this is a BIG IF), they do respond with they are praying, I will the ask, “Are you praying in tongues?”  

THEN I get the “deer in the headlights” look. They begin to stammer and stumble. Some will even come right out and say, “I don’t believe in that stuff. It’s of the devil” Or “It’s not for us today” or some bogus thing like that…

Folks, if it is IN Bible – and especially IN THE NEW TESTAMENT – it is for us today in the church age! Glory to God.  What other benefits are there for praying in tongues?

In 1 Corinthians 14:2-5, we see the Apostle Paul telling us that God is speaking to our spirit man directly through His Holy Spirit. This builds up the power of faith that works within us. This gives us direct information that our spirit man can pull on throughout the day. This is given to us in a way the devil cannot understand the secrets God is sharing with us. This is a way for God to give us warning about plans...

I remember when God first began to deal with me about this issue of worry. I don’t know if you have ever thought about the sin of worry in connection with faith and receiving answers to your prayers. But worrying and being hindered in your faith go hand in hand together.

You see, prayer, faith and answered prayers are all tied together. I know some people think it’s their spiritual duty to worry about things. “Well, brother Bob, if I don’t worry about it, nobody else will…” type of attitude.  But that is 100% spiritually wrong. Amen.

Sometimes, people worry about getting sick. Then they worry if they will get well. Then they worry they will infect someone else. Then they worry….and worry…and worry…

Then, when they are healed, they worry they will get sick again. It is just one vicious cycle. A never ending merry-go-round of worry. 

Some people just WANT TO WORRY. They enjoy it! As twisted as that seems, it’s true. It cannot be more opposite the Bible, but it is still true! 

We have studied in Psalms 37:5 where the Word of God says, “Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and HE shall bring it to pass…” The margin of my bible says, “Roll you way upon the Lord.” The words, cast, roll and commit are all the same meaning.

We are to cast our cares, our worries, unto the Lord. Just roll the entire care over to Him. Commit our way to Him and let Him guide our paths. That is what the Word of God is trying to tell us to do – continually.

Notice, as we have said before, GOD is not going to TAKE AWAY your worry. He is not going to TAKE AWAY your cares. He is not going to TAKE AWAY any of those things. YOU have to give them to Him. You have to do something about your cares and worries by CASTING them over UNTO Him! Amen!  

Some people will ask me to pray that “God will lighten my load.”  God is not going to do that! The Lord has already TOLD US what to do with problems. CAST THEM OVER ON HIM. Amen!

I’m telling you this, folks, it the most humble way I know how…

If you hold onto your thought patterns of worry and doubt, your prayers will NEVER be answered.  Jesus said, in Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe you will receive them, and you will have them.”

Notice here you have to believe with your heart, your very innermost being, your spirit man believing that God has heard your prayers and, in 1 John 5:15, “If we know He hears our prayers, then we can know He will grant us the petitions we desire of Him.”

If you will simply cast the care of whatever you are worrying about over on Him, THEN God can work in your behalf and the things you have been praying about will be taken care of. BY HIM! 

You usually won’t hear this good of preaching in your church today! Praise God!  For those of you that might live in an area where you can actually GO to church in this day and hour. Bless God, thank you Father for the Internet where we can BOLDLY Proclaim the Word of God around the world in the twinkling of eye – Praise God!

I want to pray for you right now. I want to pray that you will hear the Word of God plainly. So plainly that it will make complete sense to you to CAST YOUR CARES...

Yesterday, we talked about how much God LOVES US! Praise the Lord!

And when someone loves you so much, so much they are willing to die for you…that is unconditional love! Amen! Whether they receive the love back from you or not will not affect how much they love you.

We can see that in kids that become estranged from their parents and run off to “do their own thing.” It breaks their parents heart (in most cases). They do not agree with the immoral lifestyle their children may be leading.

But the love of the parent is still there. It is still strong. They are praying. They are believing that “one day” their child will come back and receive the love they are offering, in the Name of Jesus.

That is God’s kind of Love. He died for us while we were yet sinners. He died for us with no guarantee that His Love would be returned, reciprocated from us back to Him. Amen. But He did it anyway.

Not just saying we love Him, but by living like we love Him.

And that includes giving Him our cares and worries and thoughts and anxiety. He can handle it. If we give it all to Him.

After you have prayed and committed your particular situation to the Lord, if you are still trying to “figure out the answer,” then you have taken back upon yourself the problem! 

If you are staying up all night worried about the problem and what to do and how YOU are going to fix it, your prayers will not work because you are telling God, “I got this.” Which means you “got this” and not Him! Amen! 

If that is where you are at, if you haven’t cast ALL of your cares upon the Lord, you CAN do something to change your situation. I want you to notice something in this verse, particularly in the Amplified translation of the Bible, from First Peter 5:7…

“Casting the whole of your care – all of your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, ONCE AND FOR ALL – on Him…”

This is not something you do every day. This is a “Once and for all time” proposition! Praise God!  In other words, when you obey THIS SCRIPTURE and cast all of your cares upon Him ONCE AND FOR ALL, that gets rid of them right then and puts them over into His hands! Amen!

Once you make that type of commitment and purpose in your heart NOT to carry those burdens anymore, the next time the devil tries to bring it up in the front of your mind again, REFUSE to take the thought!

Right now, I am convinced there are some people, right now, who will refuse to do this. They do not want to get rid of their cares. They may say they do, but they don’t.  Is that you?

There are some folks, watching or listening to me right now, that WILL NOT DO THIS because they would not have anything to talk about anymore!  Think about it…if they got rid of their cares, they would not have any way to generate some form of sympathy from other people!

They have become so accustomed of getting sympathy from others, they do not know how to act any other way. So, in their minds, if they cast ALL of their cares over on the Lord and refused to touch them again in their minds – they would have nothing to talk about!  

Let’s Pray!

Until next time, this is Pastor Bob Thibodeau reminding you from 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the Living Bible to “Always Keep on Praying!”  Be blessed in all that you do!

Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: 

Love.

This is the day when most nations of the world will celebrate, what has become known as “Valentine’s Day.” A day when loved ones share cards expressing how much they love the other person.

But, how did “Valentine’s Day” actually get started. For this, I will quote from a very good article from the website, rosesonly.com that gave a great, historical analysis of Valentine’s Day.

Valentine's Day is named after Saint Valentine, a Catholic priest who lived in Rome in the 3rd Century. There are many stories about St Valentine and over time these stories grew into the legend we know today.

At the time of Valentine's life, many Romans were converting to Christianity, but the Emperor Claudius II was a pagan and created strict laws about what Christians were allowed to do. Claudius believed that Roman soldiers should be completely devoted to Rome and therefore passed a law preventing them from marrying. St Valentine began to marry these soldiers in secret Christian ceremonies and this was the beginning of his reputation for believing in the importance of love.

Eventually, Valentine was found out and jailed for his crimes against Claudius. While imprisoned, Valentine cared for his fellow prisoners and also his jailor's blind daughter. Legend has it that Valentine cured the girl's blindness and that his final act before being executed was to write her a love message signed ‘from your Valentine'. Valentine was executed on 14 February in the year 270.

It wasn't until more than 200 years later that 14 February was proclaimed St Valentine's Day. By this time Rome had become Christian and the Catholic Church was determined to stamp out any remaining paganism. A pagan fertility ritual was held in February each year and the Pope abolished this festival and proclaimed 14 February Saint Valentine's Day, thus establishing this feast day on the Catholic Calendar of Saints.

The poet Chaucer in the Middle Ages was the first to link St Valentine with romantic love. This was the beginning of the tradition of courtly love, a ritual of expressing love and admiration, usually in secret. This custom spread throughout Europe and stories grew about a High Court of Love where female judges would rule on issues related to love on 14 February each year. Historians believe that these meetings were in fact gatherings where people read love poetry and played games of flirtation.

The practice of sending love messages developed into people sending special cards expressing their affection. These cards were beautiful creations handmade by the sender and individually designed to show how much they loved the recipient. Cards would usually contain sentimental verse, proclaiming the beauty of the receiver and how much they were loved.

While Valentine's Day is celebrated in most countries, different cultures have developed their own traditions for this festival. In some parts of the world Valentine's Day is observed as a day for expressing love between family members and friends, rather than that of romantic couples. Some traditions include leaving lollies and gifts for children and others include acts of appreciation between friends.

Valentine's Day is most commonly associated with romantic love, with millions of Valentine's Day cards being exchanged each year. Gifts of flowers or a single red rose are sent with romantic messages to loved ones and couples spend special time together. 

Many couples choose to celebrate Valentine's Day...

We’ve been talking these past few days about rolling your cares over on the Lord. He is more than able to handle your situation. Amen. No matter how bad it may seem to you – He is able to make it go away and deliver you from all your troubles. Glory to God!

When we roll our cares over on Him, we are demonstrating that we have Faith in His Word. Since Jesus IS the Word, we are demonstrating that we have Faith in Him. Amen!

A verse in Psalm 37 helps us to see what Peter was talking about in our verse of the day just a little more clearly. It says:

“Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.”  AMEN!

The words “roll” or “cast” or “commit” are all the same root words which means to TRUST him. Amen. Isn’t that what the Bible is saying in these verses? To just TRUST HIM?

Notice God is not going to TAKE your cares away. It does not say that at all. YOU are going to have do something with them. You can either cling to them and hold onto them – and be completely responsible for them…or you can GIVE THEM TO HIM.

Some misguided people will ask me to pray that “God will help me get through this.” That is the wrong attitude to have. You should be praying that God will deliver you from this. Not get you through it. You should be praying that you are giving the care of this situation to God and then you thank Him (in advance) for the deliverance. 

If you insist on worrying about your situation, whatever it is, then you are telling God that He is not in charge – YOU ARE. And God will not TAKE anything from you. Not even your cares. 

Think of it like this… When you got born again, what did you say? In some form or fashion, if you truly asked Jesus to be your Savior, you probably said something to the effect, “Lord I give you my life.” Am I right?

What good will your sin filled life do for Jesus. NOTHING.

But, when you GAVE HIM your life – He became responsible for it. And the only way He could save you from your sinful self was to destroy that sinful person and then give you a NEW LIFE – a rebirth – a BORN AGAIN spirit that is the NEW YOU.

But it did not happen until what?

Until YOU gave HIM permission to do it! Glory to God! Don’t shout me down when I’m preaching good. Amen!

Is all of this starting to make sense now! I pray it is. I pray a light of revelation just switched on inside your spirit man. Glory to God.

I want to pray for you right now…Let’s pray that this new light of revelation will allow you to begin to walk with the Lord with no cares for this world, no cares about your life, no cares about whatever is plaguing you right now. Let’s pray for absolute deliverance from all of your cares and all of your troubles. Why? Because He says you can do that! Amen!

Let’s Pray!

Until next time, this is Pastor Bob Thibodeau reminding you from 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the Living Bible to “Always Keep on Praying!”  Be blessed in all that you do!

Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com. And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go...

You don’t have to “pray about the Bible.” The Bible IS the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. Therefore, Jesus IS the Bible!  Praise God!

How many of you just got a revelation right there! Amen!

You don’t have to pray about whether something you read in the Bible is scriptural. Whether it is something you should believe – even when you don’t understand it – or if it is something you need to get “pastoral advice” about.

If the Bible says it – then it is in the Bible and is a fact that cannot ever be disputed. Amen.

You just need to accept God’s Word and believe it. The Bible is true, through and through. You will read it and it says the exact same thing before you pray and after you pray. It never changes. Because God never changes. Amen! 

If you would just believe the Bible and do what it says, you would not have to do all of that praying about “what to do.” You also would not be experiencing some of the things you are going through, either. Amen.

Some way or another, it seems people get helped temporarily or just by acknowledging the fact that God knows more and understands more about whatever you are going through than you can ever understand. But yet, they still hold on to their cares. They still worry. They still talk about their worries and their cares. And that just reinforces the power the cares have.

God wants to deliver you from your cares and your afflictions. But in order for God to help you, you’re going to have to cast ALL of your cares over on Him. Believe me, He’s big enough…He can handle whatever you cast over on Him. Amen! He cares for you! Glory to God. 

If you want to receive total and complete victory and deliverance, it is not enough just to know that God knows and that God understands and that God cares. It’s not enough. We must go on from knowing that He knows and we need to start to act on what we find in His Word.

If we start to act on what we find in His Word concerning our situation, that demonstrates FAITH on our part. Faith in His Word. Which means Faith in Him. Amen!

God wants us to cast ALL of our cares over on Him. All of our anxieties. All of our worries. All of our concerns. Cast them ALL over on Him.

That is the Prayer of Commitment when you do that. In fact, I want to pray with you right now about whatever situation you are facing. Let’s roll the entire care of it over on God, right now. Just say this prayer with me…

Let’s Pray!

Until next time, this is Pastor Bob Thibodeau reminding you from 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the Living Bible to “Always Keep on Praying!”  Be blessed in all that you do!

Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com. And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go and download it today.

You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2

Some people are praying about certain situations and are not seeing anything change in their life. It’s as if their prayers are not being heard. Nothing is changing.

One of the reasons they may not be seeing any answer to their prayers is because they are not praying in line with God’s Word. They are not doing what God said to do about their cares, anxieties, worries and concerns. It is not going to do you any good to pray something concerning your cares and such, unless you are willing to do what God tells you to do about them. Amen!

In other words, there are some things you have no business praying about! Some things that God just EXPECTS you to not need to pray about. And if you ARE praying about those things, it shows Him that you are not really studying His Word the way you’re are supposed to be doing either.  

This surprises some people. They will say, “Well, brother Bob, I thought you were supposed to pray about everything… That’s what the Bible says…”

Yes, it does say that. But you are taking that out of context. It doesn’t mean you have to pray about what God already has told you to do. There are many things you don’t have any business praying about. These are things that God has already said “DO THIS.”  He expects you to do them…not SAY you are doing them. Not saying you DID THEM. Just DO WHAT HE SAYS TO DO!

No asking about “if” you should do them. Just do them. That puts you in Good Graces with God.

Do you remember the parable Jesus taught in Matthew 21 about the man who had two sons. Let’s look at that really quick because it emphasizes the point I’m trying to make.

Mathew 21: verse 21-32:

But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

‘I will not,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.i

Then the man went to the second son and told him the same thing. 

‘I will, sir,’ he said. But he did not go.

Which of the two did the will of his father?” 

“The first, they answered. 

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in a righteous way and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Why did Jesus say the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the Kingdom before the Pharisees and other religious Jews?

Because they were trusting in their prayers and rituals. The tax collectors and prostitutes KNEW they were lost and when Jesus said “only believe” – they DID! They then went about SHARING the Gospel – the GOOD NEWS – that Salvation was for those who did one thing – BELIEVE ON JESUS!

Praise God!

I hope you are getting this! 

It does you no good at all to go into your prayer closet and pray for one hour or more every single day, asking God for the exact same things you have been asking Him for during your hour long prayer sessions for the last 17 times, 17 months or 17 years. 

IF you can find a situation in the Bible...

Did you ever stop to think about WHEN the Glory of the Lord filled the Temple? It was when all the people were praying and singing praise to God, out loud, in one accord. The Glory cloud filled the Temple so the priests could not even stand and minister. That is what united prayer can do! Amen!

In 2 Chronicles 7:2, this is immediately after King Solomon had finished his prayer and the Glory cloud descended and filled the Temple in verse 1, verse 2 says, “And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the Glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.” 

When God shows up, nobody, and I mean nobody, can stand in His presence. Amen!

When you are in trouble and you call on the Name of the Lord, He hears you. And when He shows up, no devil in hell is going to be trying to fight you. Every demon from hell will tremble and fall prostrate before the Lord of Hosts – or flee before He arrives.

That is why Jesus said in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I have given you…(notice this is PAST TENSE)…I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over ALL the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you!” 

Praise God – that’s shouting ground right there! Glory to God!

If you are facing down a demon that is tormenting you, you have nothing to fear! If that devil says, “God isn’t going to deliver you this time…” – just remind that devil that he IS a liar and there is no truth in him…so that means if he says “God isn’t going to deliver you” – that is a lie and it means you  have already been delivered! AMEN!

Then, remember what Jesus also said in John 14:14, “Ask ANYTHING in my name, I will do it!”

Now that is a promise you can bank on! Glory to God!

Just ASK in the Name of Jesus and watch the Glory fill your house! Amen!  No devil in hell will stay within the confines of your house when God is on the scene…and let me go one step further…

Your body is known as what? THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD! Amen!

So if sickness is invading your body – there is no sickness in God. So it must be a lie of the devil. 

Based on what we learned today, what should you do?

Call on the Name of Jesus and ask for the GLORY TO FILL YOUR HOUSE – your body! Amen!

“Well, brother Bob, I’m still sick. The doctor says I’m going to die.”

Let me ask you, who do you believe more? Your doctor or Jesus?  

Trust the Word in all circumstances – even when the doctor is telling you there is no hope.

What is the absolute WORST that can happen in that situation?

“Well, I could die!”  

That’s right! And since that is the WORST – anything else is better, right? Maybe instead of passing away in 3 weeks it’s 3 months. But what happens if you die like the doctor said?

Absent from the body means you are now present with the Lord! 

In HIS GLORY!  Amen!

Folks, it’s a win-win situation no matter how you look at it! Amen!  You just need to maintain your Faith in God that HE WILL do what His Word says  He will do! God is not a man that He should lie. God WILL DO what HIS WORD says HE WILL DO!

That is all you have to rest in. Period. End of story! 

And end of today’s episode as well. Amen!

Let’s Pray!

Until next time, this is Pastor Bob Thibodeau reminding you from 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the Living Bible to...

Did you know it is possible for believers today to usher in the Glory of God in our church services? Absolutely! I’ve been involved in one such instance myself. I’m telling you – it is something that you will never forget!

In Old Testament times, the Bible says the Glory of the Lord would fill the Temple where the people were praying. We can read all about this instance in 2 Chronicles 5:6-7 & 11-14. But, in accordance with what we have been teaching on these past few days about united prayer, I want to look at verse 13 in particular…

2 Chronicles 5:13, “It came to pass, AS THE TRUMPETERS AND SINGERS WERE AS ONE, to make ONE SOUND to be heard in PRAISING AND THANKING THE LORD, and when THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICE AS ONE with the trumpets and cymbals and music and praised the Lord saying, “For his is good; for his mercy endures forever…” That THEN the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord.”

AMEN!

And, at the end of that service, not only was the House filled with the cloud and Glory of the Lord, but FIRE fell from Heaven and consumed the sacrifices, as we read in our scripture of the day! Praise God!

Have you ever experienced that?

NO?  Really?  

Well, I wonder why not?

Like I said, I’ve experienced a couple of times. Only a couple. Not the fire coming down from Heaven part – but the Glory Cloud coming into the sanctuary. 

The first time was at our Bible School and a great man of God named Dick Durbin was teaching. He was teaching on the Altar of the Lord and these scriptures. It was almost a week he was there as a special guest. And the last service is when he was teaching on this and about the burning of incense and the praise and music as we just read about…

Well, our praise team was singing, the band was playing and the students were in reverent worship…and then…almost imperceptible at first, but you could see “something” was happening…

A cloud started to descend from the ceiling down towards the altar of incense that was a representation of the real altar (obviously it was not THE Altar…amen). But it visibly descended and surrounded the altar and then started to slowly spread out through the auditorium and within about two minutes, people were sobbing and crying out praises to God…and it continued for about 30 minutes. It was the most awesome prayer experience I had ever, and I mean EVER, experienced in my life! 

I get goose bumps just talking about it. To be in the actual presence of the Lord like that…

The second time was several years later in a conference. We did not have a duplicate altar or anything like that in the conference I was in. But the praise and worship and the united prayers that were being offered were similar in nature and…unexpectedly, the same type of cloud started to descend from the rafters and did the same thing. It seemed like “fingers” of the cloud just sought each person out – me included. 

The results were the same…Some were praising God while others just fell to their knees and sobbed, not sorrowful sobs…but repentant sobs and gratifying sobs of KNOWING they had been forgiven…it is so difficult for me to explain in words…but the experience is unforgettable.

I imagine, just thinking of it right now, that must  have been something similar to what the disciples experienced in the Book of Acts on the Day of Pentecost. Something to think about anyway…

My point I’m trying to make today is that UNITED...