Phil,
Thanks for sharing this with us.  It is definitely a life changing 
experience.  It puts the focus right on the Lord and His plans for us.
Virgie and Hoshi
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 4:07 PM
Subject: Life changing Experience


> this is pretty much finished, although I like will make some changes as I
> proof read it before putting on my website, but this should answer some
> questions.
>
> Phil.
>
> Silver Is Golden
>
>
> By Phil Scovell
>
>
>
> Acts 3:6
>
> Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have
> give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and
> walk.
>
>
>
>
>     Perhaps the most major obstacle a person faces who has been
> assigned to ministry, unless he already happens to be a
> millionaire, or is fortunate enough to be called to service in a
> large enough church willing and able to pay him a generous wage,
> is finances.  By that I mean, having enough money.  It seems that
> money is literally part of training necessary to fulfill a
> ministry assignment.  This is especially true if your ministry
> assignment is a Lone Ranger commission.  I refrain from using the
> words "God called me," because such isn't true.  I was never
> called, at any time, to any ministry.  This is especially true
> related to the intercessory prayer ministry I am doing now.
> Furthermore, I never would have, picked, for one second, what my
> assignment is now in the Body of Christ.
>
>     Literally, for many years, I suffered with an monstrous fear
> that God was going to call me to do something that I knew I could
> not do.  I realize how stupid that sounds but it was a real fear
> and anxiety I had for years.  I was an assistant pastor once, I
> was the head pastor, if you call 50 church members a head pastor,
> and in my early twenties, I traveled off and on for five years as
> something we, as Baptists, called an evangelist.  We were, of
> course, no such thing.  We were guest speakers who preached
> nightly and held, what we loosely called, revival meetings.  these
> generally lasted a week.  I felt I was called to all these various
> ministry positions.  The result of each ministry was an extreme
> deficiency  of funds and generally, it was feast or famine for my
> family.
>
>     Years ago, I remember hearing a man preach in the large
> Baptist church where I was a member and a deacon, or what some may
> call a church elder in other denominations, and we had a guest
> speaker, an evangelist, who had come to preach every evening for a
> week, that is, Sunday through Sunday.  He was well known in our
> denomination and before he had died, a few years later, he had
> preached over 900 revival meetings.  He was a great man of God,
> too.
>
>     One night, he told about when God "called" him to the
> ministry.  I use that term loosely.  He said, "If you are called
> to the ministry, God will open doors so wide, you almost fall
> right through the opening and you will know it is God's will for
> your life."  He wasn't the only one I heard make that statement
> over a period of many years.  It always bothered me, too, because
> it had never happen to me as they suggested.  This alone, after
> time, created extremely fertile ground in which the Enemy could
> plant corrupt seeds, and resulting in considerable spiritual and
> emotional conflicted and instability.  I compensated by trying
> more diligently to be a good Christian and one hopefully God would
> some day notice.
>
>     I felt born to ministry and by the time I was thirteen, I was
> positive I would bee in full time service one day.  However, it
> never seemed to work out.  I preached my first sermon at a street
> mission when I was 17 years young.  After traveling as a guest
> speaker for 5 years and starting out at 23 years of age, being an
> assistant pastor, going through years trying to find a church that
> would let me pastor, and only to discover they were uninterested
> in having a blind man for a pastor, I finally gave up and started
> a high speed cassette duplication business.  My customers were
> mostly churches and traveling preachers.  I became half happy.
>
>     Eventually my business grew and also branched out into other
> areas and somewhat became international in scope.  I was still
> unsatisfied and began to pray about whatever it was that simply
> didn't feel right.  Although I was making more money than I had
> ever made, something felt wrong.  As I took time out to pray late
> one evening in my office, the Lord began to minister to me and
> made it clear His will for my life.  It would be only three months
> later before I came to understand what it was He wanted me to do.
>
>     In mid 2002, after I began having anxiety and panic attacks,
> nightmares, and hearing voices, not to mention suicidal thoughts
> and the loss of my job, I realized the Lord was trying to get my
> attention.  I know this because He had told me earlier that year
> to quit my job.  I said, "Are you crazy?"  I wasn't about to give
> up my job.  Besides, we needed the money.  then the Lord, in His
> patient tolerant way, gave me a hint, in more ways than one, what
> I would be doing.  I had a strong feeling this was something I was
> in no way interested.  So much for what I wanted.  In September of
> that year, my job was terminated.
>
>     Based upon the same sort of intercessory prayer ministry I am
> now doing, the Lord led me to a man who knew how to pray with
> others.  After several hours of one on one prayer sessions, I
> began to experience the renewing of the mind and the healing of
> brokenness that traced clear back to my childhood.
>
>     Following several months of prayer with this man once or
> twice a week, things were beginning to change.  The anxiety was
> diminishing, the panic attacks were disappearing, the nightmares
> were going away, and I was no longer suicidal.  Ordering some
> material, I began to study the same intercessory prayer with which
> I had become familiar in prayer sessions with the man I had met.
>
>     As I studied the basic material one day, I heard the Lord
> say, "Buy the advanced materials."
>
>     I said, "Lord, what for?  I'm just learning this material for
> my own benefit and for perhaps to help my own family if called
> upon.  I'm not interested in more complex areas of ministry."
>
>     "Buy the advance training material," came that inner voice
> again and just as clearly as the first.
>
>     Out of frustration, I said, "why?"
>
>     "Because," came the answer, "you will be working with
> sexually abused women and multiple personality cases."
>
>     I was stunned.  Me?  I had no interest whatsoever in either
> of those areas.  besides, I didn't even know what I was doing with
> what I was learning.  There was no rebuttal forthcoming from the
> Lord.  I ordered more materials and began to study.  By the end of
> that year, I released my arguments with the Holy Spirit and gave
> in to what the Lord had assigned me to do in His name and it was
> far from easy.
>
>     Once I had yielded to the will of the Lord, the first person
> with whom I prayed was a lady who had been sexually abused and had
> 23 alternate personalities.  I was literally feeling my way around
> in the dark, in more ways than one, but as hard as it was at the
> times, I knew this was my "calling" or literally, my assignment
> from God.
>
>     As I began studying the advanced materials I had purchased,
> the Lord clearly told me many things.  He said, in a worship
> service one Sunday morning in a small church we were attending at
> the time, "You will be a father to the fatherless."  He did not
> say, "I am calling you to be a father to the fatherless."  I
> quickly questioned what the Holy Spirit had just said to me,
> knowing it was the truth, I posed my question by saying, "And whom
> do I know that needs a father?"  He said, "How about your two
> daughter in laws."  I immediately stopped trying to argue with
> Him.  Later, I ended up praying more than once with my two
> daughter in laws.
>
>     Another day, I was seated on my deck swing studying and
> since it was summer, I became thirsty so put my study material
> aside and walked off the deck, through the door, into our living
> room.  That split second I crossed the threshold, I heard the
> voice of the Holy Spirit say, "this is who you are now."  This was
> only two of a series of utterances I heard in my spirit from the
> Lord concerning his assignment for me.
>
>     After some months of being in the ministry full time, I had
> no job anyhow, since mine had been discontinued, so I began, of
> course, to experience financial difficulties.  Eventually, in
> recent times as I write this, the bottom dropped out.  I wasn't
> charging, nor suggesting even a dollar amount, to anyone with whom
> I prayed.  Why?  How do you charge people to pray?  some donated
> and those I sent newsletters to, often donated monthly as well.
> Plus our small home church gave weekly offerings.  Suddenly, and
> without warning, many members of our small group lost their job
> for one reason or another.  My income became the confession of
> Peter and John as they spoke to the lame man by the gate as they
> entered the temple to pray; Silver and gold have we none.  I
> became desperate and cried out to God.
>
>     I began to receive what I called, pieces to the financial
> puzzle, when I inquired of the Lord about what was happening.  It
> became even more frustrating because the pieces were not falling
> into place and completing a spiritual mosaic in my heart.  there
> was more, therefore I knew, to come.  The problem was, I needed
> money now.  I didn't have time to learn the spiritual and
> theological intrinsic methodologies of financial success and I
> told the Lord as much.
>
>     One afternoon I was working on an article.  the Lord had
> spoken to me many months earlier about an area of ministry He
> would be leading me into.  I wasn't thrilled with the news because
> it had to do with the demonic realm.  I don't spend much time
> talking to demons in intercessory prayer sessions because I have
> learned it isn't necessary.  When I felt this information being
> revealed to me, I just figured it meant more of such demonic
> manifestations appearing in the prayer sessions.  I prayed about
> it occasionally but never felt I saw an increase of such demonics
> in any prayer sessions that was unusual or different.  I didn't
> stop to realize the Lord was talking about demonic tampering of
> circumstances in my life, my finances, my family, my physical body
> and those in my church.  I should have known better.
>
>     Months passed, finances degraded, and literally began going
> backwards, my son began experiencing a loss of business, a man in
> our church had a heart attack and nearly died, and although I knew
> these things could be happening do to demonic influence, I felt
> nothing in my spirit and nothing externally that would indicate
> this had anything to do with what the Lord had revealed to me
> months earlier.  I'm a little slow on the uptake you might say.
>
>     I was seated in my office and working on an article relating
> to things the Lord had revealed to me and taught me concerning the
> nature of demonics associated with those with whom I have prayed.
> With out warning, I felt surrounded.  It was only an ambient
> feeling, nonphysical, but I was completely surrounded from all
> sides as if I might be encapsulated inside an invisible cylinder.
> I immediately stop typing because I figured a direct demon attack
> was imminent.  I had experience just such an attack a few days
> earlier, not to mention other such experiences over the years, so
> I spiritually braced myself for another.  However, the feeling of
> being surrounded had no threatening emotions or presence.  Still I
> waited for what I felt was coming.
>
>     Quite suddenly, there was a spiritual awareness.  It seemed
> outside of my body but at the same time, it felt inside.  Often in
> such experiences, I hear few, if any words.  It is generally a
> feeling of instant and complete awareness and as the thought
> comes, it is all in one concentrated, high focus, burst.  Later, I
> have to put my own words to the feeling because the words are not
> spoken, they are not audible, and they do not form in my thoughts.
> Sometimes, however, I did get words in my mind but it is generally
> a fragment of the complete thought and only enough to give me an
> idea.  Why words comes occasionally, while other times there are
> no words at all except for impressions, I have no explanation.
> This time, there were no words except my own that formed as the
> impression instantly materialized.
>
>     In my own words, therefore, I was told that I had been under
> a test, in a manner of speaking, and that I had endured.  "I have
> led you to this point to give you one of the important pieces of
> the puzzle for which you seek."  Suddenly, I realized, without
> hearing a word spoken, the piece of the puzzle concerning
> finances was being focused upon what the Lord had assigned me to
> do.
>
>     sitting back in my chair, I said in my mind, "That is the
> key!"  Then I repeated the thoughts out loud.  "this is the key!"
> I had been struggling with the idea of getting a job, figuring out
> how to get more money flowing, considering trying to start a small
> home based business again, should I go part time or full time
> outside the home, praying with people in the evenings or on the
> weekends until things financially stabilized.  I just did not know
> and I had been struggling with such thoughts for literally months.
> Here's a tip.  If it is complicated, it isn't God speaking to you.
>
>     One day, as I sat complaining in prayer, it certainly wasn't
> any form of communications I normally have with the Lord, I
> actually realized that financially speaking, we were going
> backwards.  I had this sudden realization, that was God telling
> me something.  I am not one to see demons and to sense their
> presence in a room.  I know others who have this gift but I am not
> one of them.  I recognize the evidence of their presence,
> especially when praying with others, but I rarely sense their
> presence in circumstances but rather I look for the signs of their
> presence.  As I prayed, complained, the Lord revealed to me things
> were going literally backwards because of the demonic oppression
> and tampering of my finances.  That was another piece of the
> puzzle and there have been many more; too numerous to list now.
> That revelation, on the other hand, was a turning point in my
> thinking.  When the presence of the Lord surrounded me, therefore,
> and the Holy Spirit spoke to me, I realize the truth for what it
> was.
>
>     Now, someone is asking about this time, "So, did a big check
> come in the mail the next day?  Did money fall out of the sky,"
> sort of speak," and solve all your money problems?"  Of course,
> not but I know who Jesus is now because he revealed to me that
> piece of the puzzle many months ago when this thing started coming
> to a head.  You see, what I learned is that Jesus is all that is
> important.  If you know Him, and if you know He loves you above
> all else, then you know He is watching.  He wants to show us where
> He is in our life.  If he is outside the circle of your finances,
> that's a problem.  If He is outside the circle of your physical
> well being, then you have a problem.  If you believe that He
> hasn't met your financial needs before, healed you before,
> resolved your problems before, then we have a very very big
> problem indeed.  That problem is, we have not made Him Lord of all
> that we face.  It works like salvation.  I deal with people every
> day who feel they have lost their salvation, or perhaps they
> might, if they don't get everything exactly right.  I believed
> this once, too.  Then Jesus showed me the truth one day as I
> prayed through a memory that seemed to contain nothing wrong,
> sinful, or out of place.  Jesus told me in that prayer, "Phil, you
> don't have to be perfect because I am."  On the other hand, seeing
> our circumstances outside of Christ, makes it impossible for
> Christ to be Lord.  If we begin to doubt our salvation, then Jesus
> is not on the inside of your circle of belief.  No wonder we
> doubt.  This is true of every single promise the Lord has made to
> us.  He is, in other words, our Healer, or He isn't.  He is either
> our Provider, or He isn't.  He either blesses the work of our
> hands, or He doesn't.  He either takes pleasure in the prosperity
> of His servant, or He doesn't.  He is either Lord, or He isn't.
> Besides, it finally dawned on me one day, if I wasn't Born Again,
> washed in the blood of the Lamb, the Enemy would not bother trying
> to convinced me I was a lost sinner and going to hell.  Why would
> he do that if I was lost?
>
>     In everything, therefore, the key is Lordship.  where does
> Jesus stand in your life.  I know what some are thinking based
> upon what I used to think.  I knew all these things I have been
> talking about, as far as God's promises were concerned, for 50
> years of walking with the Lord as a Christian.  I even tried
> applying it time and time again.  I committed hundreds of Bible
> verses to memory.  I was faithful in ever category of Christianity
> one could name.  I felt exposed, fearful, and vulnerable to any
> circumstances that I found myself in at any given time.  The truth
> is this.  Jesus is all we need and He is as solid as a rock.
> Believe anything else, and your relationship with the Lord will
> drift aimlessly anywhere the Enemy chooses to blow.  So, do we
> fight the Enemy?  No, Jesus has already defeated him.  We simply
> live in Jesus and listen for His voice.  Jesus supercedes the
> silver and gold which you don't have.
>
>     finally, let me point out something you should already know.
> I am not your example.  I could fail, crash and burn in my
> Christian life, and that should have no effect upon you and your
> relationship with God.  I have seen many men of God self destruct
> in my life and some I considered great men of God.  If your eyes
> are on anyone but Jesus, you will never see the truth about any
> situation you face.  Sometimes, of course, we need help.  In
> fact, accountability is, or should be, the main goal of any church
> Body.  If we do not submit ourselves one to another in the fear of
> the Lord, we will not be able to experience complete and total
> filling of the Holy Spirit.
>
>
> It Sounds Like God To Me.
> www.SafePlaceFellowship.com