By My Spirit

Posted by Dion Todd June 12th, 2024 1,467 Views 31 Comments

Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, "This is Yahweh's word to Zerubbabel, saying, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says Yahweh of Armies. Zechariah 4:6 WEB.

David wrote in Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Once I was laid off from a great-paying job as a foreman with an international construction company. Then I spent a humbling year polishing brass by hand at a buffing machine for one-third of the pay.

My skin became green and black from the polishing compounds and the brass dust. The work was mind-numbingly dull, but I knew God had put me there, so I stuck it out. I listened to the Bible all day, fasted about as much as I ate, and prayed in the spirit for several hours a day while polishing plumbing parts.

At night, I worked on computers. It had become a passionate hobby of mine. I had parts scattered everywhere that I had gathered, which I assembled in various configurations. Then I disassembled them so I could build a faster one. My first computer had a cardboard box as a case.

I have always loved electronics and working with computers, but I grew up on a farm in the country. I had no education, and I had dropped out of high school early to go to work. I could only dream about those who were lucky enough to work with computers daily for a living. I really enjoyed it, but I never, ever dreamed I would.

My job at the brass plant ended when it merged with another company, and I was unsure what to do next. One day I got a call from a business that had a network of twelve computers. A friend of mine had given them my number. Computer networks were rare then. Being completely self-taught, I knew very little about them. I had never actually seen one, so this was well over my head.

This was before the Internet came to homes and before we carried cell phones. Most work on a computer was done from a command prompt or a custom-written program on a monochrome screen, usually green or amber. Many were just terminals that connected to a mainframe in a back room.

While on the phone, the insurance company explained that they had purchased agency management software from an out-of-state business. Technicians had come down and set up the software a few years ago, but now one of the machines randomly dropped off the network. The company that had installed them had gone out of business, and they didn't know who else to call.

I listened to them explain the situation, and I was about to say, "Sorry, I can't help you with that." But then I felt more than heard: "Go, and I will go with you." So I agreed to come and look at it. I prayed all the way to the location. When I arrived, they took me to the machine that was broken. A filing cabinet was nearby, and I rested my arm on it as they told me about their problem with the computer.

As I was standing there with several people looking at me for answers, I had none, and fear began to rise inside me. Right beside my hand was a small black box with several flashing lights on top of the filing cabinet. I felt an urge to inspect it closer, so I touched it. When I did, another light came on. I removed my hand, and the light went off.

That caught my attention, and after looking closer, I discovered that one of the network cables had broken at the connector. If I held the plug just right, it worked, but if I let it go, the computer went offline. That caused random network dropouts when someone opened the file cabinet drawer. I fixed the broken network cable, and the computer came back online.

To them, it looked like I was a network guru. I had walked into the building and straight to the problem they had been dealing with. Within ten minutes, I had diagnosed and fixed an issue that had randomly plagued them for weeks. But inside, I knew the Holy Spirit was opening new doors for me. They were my client for the next twenty years.

God began to do this type of thing day after day. Soon I had over fifty businesses that I was taking care of. Many would call with some impossible-sounding problem I had never dealt with before. I would pray all the way there and fix it in moments. It was a golden time in my life when it seemed I could do no wrong. Sometimes just putting my hands on the computer fixed the problem. I know it sounds crazy, but I did it for years. I completely depended on the Holy Spirit to give me the answers, and He did. Soon, the things I could not even dream of doing, I began living.

Delight yourself in the Lord. Step out today into whatever He gives you to do. It is not by your might, power, or intellect that you will succeed in this life, but by His Holy Spirit. Just as David stepped out against Goliath and won, God will help you accomplish anything He gives you if you don't let fear hold you back. God doesn't always call the equipped, but He equips those He calls.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I delight in You! Please push me into deeper water and let me know that You are right there with me. Hold me tight and guide my every step. Let me be a conduit for Your power on this earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!

Note: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.” (Philippians 4:6-7) ~ 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