Of the angels he says, "Who makes his angels winds, And his servants a flame of fire." Hebrews 1:7 WEB.

When the preacher walked past our row of seats, you could feel the heat coming off of him. When he looked at you, it was as if he looked straight into your heart and saw how black it really was. You felt as if he could see everything that you had ever done wrong in your life. It was uncomfortable, and I could not help but look away.

I wasn't used to this. You could usually sleep through the service at our little church, and no one would notice. Though I was saved and had attended church for years, this visiting speaker, whom I had never seen before or since, walked in an anointing that I didn't even know existed before then.

I had a friend with me that day who was visiting our church for the first time. The preacher called him up front and began to tell him about three car accidents my friend had been in and how God had spared his life three times so He could use him today. He had never seen my friend before this, yet he was spot on about his past. I could see that God shared secrets with this man.

After this, he called me upfront and told me that I would be in the ministry one day and to begin to prepare myself for it. He said that God had given me a mathematical mind and an ability to understand things complex, that I would pioneer new things in ministry.

I was around twenty years old when he gave me that word, and I earned a living by painting houses. Yet, I believed him and began attending bible college at night and eventually earned a degree. But when I graduated, every door in ministry seemed supernaturally closed. If they did schedule me to speak at church, they would cancel the night before.

One of my hobbies was working on computers in the afternoons. Eventually, that became a career, and I spent most of the next twenty years working with computer networks, websites, and the supporting infrastructure. After a while, I forgot about ministry altogether. I figured that I had somehow missed Him or wrecked His plan for me. Perhaps I had done one sin too many.

Many years later, our computer business suddenly dried up completely. After months of job searching, I could find nothing. Finally, the week came when we were preparing to move out of our house, and I was suddenly pushed into full-time ministry as a pastor. It was the furthest thing from my mind at that point, but it was the only job available to me.

It turns out that "Prepare yourself" meant a lot more than attending bible college. It took over twenty years, but here I am today. Now I use the technical skills I learned along the way to build the online church here. To send out our devotional each day and host live, interactive church services over the Internet. Refreshing Hope has its own microserver farm built by us, running on code we wrote, and we use it all to spread God's word around the Earth.

I didn't write that to build myself up, but to say that my outlook on Christianity changed a lot that day when I watched a man minister under a heavy anointing by God and prophesy things that came true twenty years later. He was the genuine article, and he carried the Holy Spirit like a flame. I want that, but it costs everything, total commitment.

I learned that day that there is a level of walking with the Lord that not everyone has. Sure, we will make it to heaven. Yet, there is an anointing for those who press into the heart of God right now. There's an intimacy to be sought out while living on Earth. Let's go after the flame.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I know that You are there for me, and I want to be here for You. Please use me, Lord. Please speak to me and through me. Help me to encourage others in their walk with You. Let me lead others to You. Anoint me to help bring in the harvest and guide my steps today. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!

Note: Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13) ~ If you have a prayer need, we are here for you! We and the prayer team are ready to lift you up at our private prayer page: RHM Prayer Network. If you are interested in joining the prayer team, here is how to get started Prayer Partners.