For many months, if not years overall, I have been tuning
into radio Bible teaching in hopes I would discover something new
about financial blessings in the life of a Christian.  I even
purchased some tapes I thought were good from one of my favorite
Bible teachers on the radio.

     If you listen to Pentecostals, Charismatics, Baptists, and
other fundamentalist type preaching and teaching, they all begin
at the same place and that is tithing.  I've known this since the
womb, practically, because it is all I have heard all my life. 
Until, that is, I began questioning the Lord myself, on my knees,
with an open Braille Bible 25 years ago.  The thing that freaked
me out the most, at that time, was that the Holy Spirit, I was, by
now, used to hearing and recognizing His voice, kept telling me
that He did not need my money.  This puzzled me.  I know He, God,
didn't need it but if I didn't give 10 percent of my income, I was
taught that He, God, can't bless me.  So now what do I do?  Still,
He kept saying, "I don't need your money."  Every time I tried to
tithe, my income diminished.  When I quit tithing, my income
increased.  Finally, out of desperation, I gave up and stopped
giving anything.  Not one dime.  My bills started getting paid,
the income perpetually increased, my business continually
improved, and four years later, although I had been renting, the
Lord made it possible, without any down payment on my behalf, to
purchase a home and with monthly payments the same as my rent had
been.  That was almost 24 years ago.  I still live in the same
home.  So go figure.  I was more confused than before, but I
eventually studied until I found my answer in the Scriptures. 
This, however, has almost nothing to do with what I want to tell
you now.

     Four years ago, or perhaps more, Jesus told me, not called
me, not anointed me, but literally told me, what I would be
doing.  this I didn't like.  Not because I wanted to disobey the
Lord but I simply was not interested, nor did I have any training,
in what the Lord was telling me I would be doing.  What was that? 
He said, "You will be working with sexually abused women and those
suffering from multiple personality disorders, which is now
called, Dissociative Identity Disorder.  First, this did not mean
that's all I would be doing but it would be something He was
instructing me, or appointing me, to do in His name.  At present,
I work with several sexually abused women and I have worked with
many of those, men and women, who are multiple personality. 
Before this ministry began, the Holy Spirit also told me that I
would be a father to the fatherless.  I won't go into detail about
this now but needless to say, this is something that is now being
fulfilled daily.  This is something I never dreamed in a million
years I would be doing but doing it I am.  Now back to my main
topic.  I have said all of this thus far to lay background for
what I am going to tell you next.

     As most of you know on this list, financially, things haven't
been going all that well of late.  this is largely due to being a
poor steward, or said another way, not being a very good business
man.  Simply stated, over the last two or three years, I've made
some poor mistakes.  One, for example, is that I took out loans
and mortgages because, I thought, Jesus would bless the ministry
to which He had called me, or better stated, the ministry to which
He had assigned me or appointed me.  This isn't faith; it's
confidence.  Confidence is a poor substitute for faith no matter
how you cut it.  This is not to say that Jesus won't finance His
ministries but I am just trying to point out the difference
between confidence in the Lord and faith in God.  If you can't see
the difference, you easily make the wrong mistakes.

     As I began to say, out of desperation, a terrible state in
which to find yourself as a Christian, I was hunting and hunting
for an answer.  I wanted to know how to get money out of God or in
a more spiritual way of putting it, I wanted to find out how to be
financially blessed of God.  Well, that's what it truly boiled
down to as sorry as that sounds for such a Godly man as I.  I'm
joking, of course, because Godliness isn't what we think it is but
that's for another time.  Anyhow, I often punched on my radio just
in case somebody was teaching on finances and I might hear the
secret to getting God to cough up some money.  Besides, He owed
me.  right?  I mean, He put me into this ministry.  right?  So
shouldn't He be paying for it, too, regardless of all the
financial boo boos I made in the past?  I mean, what kind of a God
is He if He doesn't finance, or bank roll, what He has created? 
Right?  He owns the cattle on a thousands hills and all the gold
under those hills.  Right?  So why don't I have any of that? 
confusing to say the least.

     My radio experience, plus 1200 audio cassettes I have in my
library, wasn't producing a single thing; not one.  this
frustrated me to no end because these are big names preachers and
if anybody should know, it should be then.  right?  Well, it
wasn't working.  I mean, I wasn't finding the answer.  I still am
not claiming I know the final answer so don't get excited.  I do
want you to know what Jesus has told me so far.

     One thing I have learned over the last 25 years is that
whatever I am asking the Lord, the answer is always, every single
time, incredibly simple.  I have always figured the answers from
the God of the universe, the Creator of all things, has got to be
super complex, theologically complicated, and spiritually
unfathomable.  Shoot, I barely made it out of high school, I only
have a three year Bible college general theological degree, and I
know my IQ can't be very high.  Yet, time and time again, God has
shown me things about my relationship with Him and they are
always, 100 percent of the time, so simple, a child could
understand.  this makes me mad and humble at the same time.  Mad,
because I always hope that I will learn some big godly secret that
will catapult me into magnificent and glorious Christian stardom. 
Humility speaks for itself.  No, humility doesn't mean you are
worthless and valueless, in fact, it means just the opposite in
God's eyes.  Think simple and it will make sense.

     So, the other day, as I have been trying to say all along, I
was scanning the radio dial, I have 32 memories on my radio so I
can punch stations up rapidly and one right after another if I am
bored or displeased with what I am hearing, looking for somebody
smarter than I am and concerning the subject of finances. 
Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  They all, every single one of them,
dad gum it, were teaching the exact same thing.  Days, weeks,
months, and years passed and they all taught the same thing.  why,
you may ask, didn't I believe them and follow their example?  I
had tried everything they taught already and it flat out did not
work.  I even proved it didn't work by eliminating my tithes and
offerings over a period of four years and God blessed me even more
than if I had been giving.  Well, that's all water over the dam or
under the bridge or whatever.  Now you can understand why pastors
don't ask me to speak for them any longer; they are afraid I might
teach on the wrong subject.  Let me tell you what Jesus told me
just recently.

     turning off the radio out of frustration, I sat back in my
chair totally bummed.  "Come on, Lord," I complained, "I don't get
it.  I don't even know the question, let alone the answer, so
what is the freaking answer?"  then I suddenly heard it.  One
word.  One elementary, rudimental, simple, uncomplicated, plain,
kindergarten, and simplistic, word.  "Prayer."

     I almost jumped as if I had been touch with a live electrical
wire.  "Pray!" I shouted into the spirit realm.  I was surprised,
not because I heard it but because I felt it.  Yes, felt it.  I am
perfectly familiar with day dreaming, having become a professional
at it during school days, but this was not a day dream.  You don't
feel a day dream; you just picture it in your mind.  I was not
meditating, calculating, figuring, hallucinating, pondering,
contemplating, or speculating.  I was asking!  What shocked me, as
it always does, the Lord answered me.  Once again, so help me God,
my hand on His bible, it was the most simplistic of answers and I
felt the answer, not heard it, but felt it.

     I realize this may be a new concept for many Christians,
feeling the answer that is, but that is the way it always works
for me.  Some people sense emotional, in their thought patterns,
the Holy Spirit talking or speaking something to them.  For some,
not me, but for some, it is so real, they describe it as actual
hearing something.  That happens to some people, too, literally
hearing the Lord speak, but it isn't common and you should not
seek for such an auditory response.  Why?  It isn't necessary. 
Plus, demons can speak out loud so there is no sense in making
things worse.  Others just sense communication is occurring and
they formulate words.  I have experience both, that is, words
spoken into my thoughts, or formed in my thoughts, and more often
than not, I feel what is being spoken.  Don't ask me why because I
don't know why it is different from person to person.  It is
likely due to our unique individuality as far as God is concerned. 
You know?  No two alike?  I am usually hit with a feeling which
contains meaning.  thus, the words are my words of explanation. 
Sometimes, on the other hand, I actually see the words as if they
are being imprinted on my mind or in my thoughts.  both happened
this time.  I saw and felt the word "prayer" at the same time the
full and complete meaning burst in my spirit.

     When the Holy Spirit spoke to me the single word "prayer,"
an extended meaning and translation of what the Lord meant
detonated inside of me spiritually.  I knew instantly what Jesus
was telling me.  No, he wasn't talking about petitionary prayer
where you make your request known on to God.  I already know how
to do that.  No, He was not talking about praising His name and
giving Him glory because I already know how to do that and have
been doing that most of my life.  furthermore, I know how to pray
without ceasing and that is a regular part of my daily life.  I
also know how to pray in my sleep so that's not what the Lord was
telling me either.  So what was He talking about?  I'm glad you
asked.

     There is another form of prayer that many, I dare say most,
do not accept as valid.  They are fearful of it, don't believe it
is viable in the church today, and they will do anything and
everything to avoid this form of prayer.  Yet, it is a gift of the
Holy Spirit.  By now, you likely have guessed it is the gift of
speaking in tongues.

     I am not going to exegetically, or textually critically
analyze, Acts chapter one, Chapter two, chapter ten, chapter
nineteen, or even First Corinthians chapter fourteen, not to
mention many other related passages because I have done this
already in many articles, booklets, and at least one book.  So if
you want to read, and you have doubts, the bible is the first
place to begin.  That's what I had to do to prove to myself the
gift of tongues is for today's church.  If you choose not to
believe, it won't damage our friendship at all.  At least not on
my part.  You don't have to speak in tongues to go to Heaven but
you do have to be saved.

     As I started to say, when the single word "prayer" burst in
upon my thoughts, a feeling crashed in behind it.  If I had been
standing, it could have possibly knocked me over.  Yes, it was
that powerful.  I've had this happened before but I am always
spiritually surprised when it happens.

     The feeling that accompanied the word to pray, filled my
spirit, that is to say, it impressed itself deeply upon my
spiritual being.  I couldn't deny the truth of it, in other words,
even if I had tried.  Yes, it was that real.  This illumination,
or spiritual insight, simply said, "Every time the feeling of
financial hopelessness, or financial defeat, or monetary lack, or
even God's inability to provide comes to mind, pray in tongues." 
How simple.  Sure, I had the gift of tongues but how could this
help my situation?  I thought you had to be somebody spiritual, or
a theological giant, or a powerful man of God, or a well educated
Biblical scholar, or a well known theologian, or the pastor of a
megachurch, or at least a missionary nobody has ever heard of. 
Me?  That's what I'm supposed to do?

     Because this spiritual enlightenment came to me during the
mid morning hours of the day, I figured I'd start that very day
and so I did.  No, it was far from easy.  I walked around the
house throughout that entire day, praying out loud in tongues. 
Yes, I felt stupid and silly and ridiculous.  Yes, I wondered what
my wife, or daughter, or grandchildren, or anyone else thought,
who might have heard me.  Sure, it felt dumb to pray like that as
I watched TV late that night and the financial feelings of doom
came upon me.  I did it anyway.  I did it until I went to bed
fully expecting to repeat the whole weird scenario the next day. 
Something different occurred, however, that next day.  The
negative and ominous thoughts were fewer in number and intensity. 
It had to be my hyper spiritual Charismatic/Baptist imagination. 
I prayed anyhow clear up until I went to bed.  Yes, every time a
thought came; I never missed praying.  Why?  Jesus said to so I
did what He said.  On the third day, the negative thoughts of doom
and gloom were gone.  No fooling.  Just totally gone.  I prayed
anyhow but now I prayed because I was free to do so and I have
been doing exactly that since.  Where did the thoughts go you ask? 
I think you know.

     This, of course, is far from the end of the story.  No, it
doesn't mean I suddenly became a millionaire.  I haven't won the
Power Ball, especially since I don't even play that or the
lottery.  No, nothing has changed.  I take that back; something
has changed.  Me.  Jesus is still the same as always.  Does this
mean I now will become rich?  No.  Wealthy?  No.  Well to do?  Not
necessarily.  It means Jesus is Lord.  Did you expect Him to be
more?

Phil.