There are some people who don't believe in
a God who interacts with you personally.
They will agree that God designed the world
like a clockmaker designs an intricate clock, but
then backs away and lets the clock tick
on its own.
Then, there are others like myself who firmly
believe that God wants to deal with his
people one on one, that he desires for
us to have an encounter with him and
experience him as Moses did, as Abraham did,
and as Joshua did.
And through his word, communicate with us and
interact with us by his spirit for our
good and for his glory.
I live in Florida.
We've been hammered by back-to-back hurricanes,
as you know.
The following incident occurred in my life.
I'm just relating it to you, friends.
I'm relating to you what happened.
You can choose to believe it or not.
Let me preface the story by stating I'm
an old man with a heart condition.
I wear a pacemaker and a defibrillator and
have trouble breathing if I'm stuck in hot
weather with no AC.
So for me personally, I was concerned about
losing my power in a storm and being
stuck that way for several days.
When Hurricane Milton hit, I lost my power,
and I prayed for God's grace to get
through it.
The first two days were bearable with the
hope of the power being restored soon.
But then I received a text on my
phone from Duke Energy stating because of my
location, the first opportunity they could restore my
power would be in seven days.
Well, that kind of took the wind out
of my sails and darkened my grim situation.
I had to ask myself, was I going
to be able to pull through in my
physical condition?
Would I make it in the sweltering heat
with no relief?
The first two days, I had prayed calmly
for grace to get through.
But after receiving that bad news from the
electric company, my prayers became desperate.
I found myself explaining my bad situation to
God and reminding him of my heart condition,
reminding him that I was in a difficult
situation and I needed some help.
The third night, with no power, as I
sat in the dark in a hot room,
I began to get somewhat panicky.
After all, I am allowed to get a
little panicky as a sick old man, at
least that's what I told myself.
The fourth night, with no power, was a
dark night of soul.
At least until I said to myself, you
know, it could be worse.
There's always a worse alternative to a dire
situation.
I know I've been in many dire situations
in my life, so I thought about what
an unpleasant alternative could be for me other
than sitting in a dark, hot room.
And immediately, I said out loud, it would
be worse if I were in the ICU
at the hospital.
It's pretty tough being in a hospital for
a long period of time.
When I had my quadruple bypass surgery, I
was in the hospital for over two months.
I spent Christmas there and New Year's there,
and I was still there come February.
Being stuck in a hospital is no fun,
as many of you know.
So that was a thought that calmed me.
I thought, you know, it could be worse.
So I began to thank the Lord for
my circumstances of being in the dark and
heat, and I thanked Him that I was
not in the hospital, but I was here
with my little chihuahua dog, who was an
old dog like me, and we'd weathered several
hurricanes together and came out all right.
I guess there was a turning point for
me out of being in a hopeless situation.
There was a worse alternative.
Well, the next morning was the fourth day
of being with no power, and after my
quiet time with the Lord, I just sat
in the heat and waited.
And as I waited, I thought and I
thought.
I thought about how God received glory.
I thought about how in the Gospel of
John, Jesus says in John 15, 8, And
I turned that thought over in my mind.
I chewed on it like a cow chews
on his cud, and I asked myself a
question.
What were the fruits of my ministry, fruits
that brought the Father glory?
And I answered, my preaching and my writing.
I have a pen ministry where I have
over 20 published books, mainly about revival, and
that brings Him glory.
I thought that every time someone hears me
preach or reads one of my books, that
it brings glory to God.
Didn't Jesus say, herein is my Father glorified
that you bear much fruit?
And I looked over at my laptop, on
which prior to the hurricane, I was writing
a new book on revival.
And now I could not work on it
because I had no electric power.
So I stood up and walked over to
the window of my condo, and I said
out loud the following words, which became a
prayer to God.
I said, Lord, I can't work without power.
I need electricity to operate here.
Lord, I have your work to do in
writing my book.
Lord, come take control of this situation and
do something about it.
What are you going to do about it?
And as I stood there looking out my
window and gazing at the power line across
the street, suddenly I watched a utility truck
appear and park, and their crew operated a
crane up, and they were repairing my electricity.
And all of this happened no more than
five minutes after my prayer.
Then I watched the linemen get back in
their truck, and they drove away.
And I stood there in shock because my
power was still not on.
I slumped down on my couch thinking about
what had just transpired.
God had quickly sent help in answer to
prayer, but the reality was I was still
without power.
I didn't understand it.
And as I sat there in the heat
thinking about that, a little annoying bird showed
up chirping and chirping right outside my window,
and I got up from the couch to
look at him.
He was hopping around on the top of
a cement wall, chirping away as if he
was mocking me.
I thought Satan had sent that little mocking
bird my way to diffuse my faith.
Then I was the victim of a great
prank where it appeared my prayer was miraculously
answered, but then nothing happened, and I was
still without power.
Well, that little bird turned his tail at
me and flew away.
And I said to myself, I know what
I prayed, and I know what I saw.
I saw that utility truck show up suddenly
out of the blue right after my prayer.
Well, I went over to my couch, and
I grabbed my Bible, and I grabbed a
pen, and I wrote in my Bible the
following words.
I know what I prayed, and I know
what I saw.
And I said that out loud again.
And I sat there standing on my faith
when I heard a loud thump and saw
my lights and A.C. turn on.
I jumped up from my couch and began
laughing like an idiot out loud and pointing
to the ceiling and exclaiming, Lord, you're something
else.
Jesus, you're really something else.
You see, friends, after I changed my praying
from self-pity and my poor circumstances and
took the focus off of me and focused
on the glory of God and prayed for
God to receive glory, then challenged Him to
do something about it.
That's when my situation changed, and I received
a direct answer to my prayers.
I've never seen the Holy Spirit challenged when
He didn't do something about it.
That's my prayer in a storm.