I want my prayers to be put into my heart by the Holy Spirit, as, in this journal, I've written of situations in which He often does that. However, one day, in my prayer time, I felt a joy in my spirit and suddenly wanted to ask the Lord if I could pray for some things. I smiled, asking, "Lord, is it okay for me to pray for studio time so we could lay down some tracks of our songs?" Yes. "Lord, is it okay for me to pray for a venue for our non-fiction and fiction writing, and that it be a blessing to the Body of Christ?" Yes. I was smiling joyously as I went on. "Lord, is it okay for me to pray for a Christian sponsor, someone who is being blessed by the inspired writing and our Christian songs, and who wants to help get the word out about them?" Yes. "Lord, can I write a prayer that includes all these requests and invite Eva to join me in the prayer?" Yes.

I was feeling God's joy flowing through my heart. Four Yeses in a row! God was giving me the go ahead to pray for the desires of my heart. I believe He is beginning to open doors for us and was humbly grateful that He okayed our praying for these things.

That day, we went to a lake, having some down time. There, I told Eva about the prayer breakthrough I'd had that morning. She felt reticent about praying for specific things, however, and really wanted a prayer in which God's will was to be done instead. I nodded, knowing that was what I wanted, also. But I also felt I'd been given permission to petition for these things.

Meanwhile, I'd been having some recording problems at home and thought I'd call up our pastor (who was well versed in the program we used), and ask him some questions. The problem we were running into, during our home recording of the songs, after spending hours trying to get some good demos made, was that no matter what we tried, we could not get the microphone to work well enough. The cuts we laid down digitally, were dismally weak. When we played what we had recorded, and turned the volume all the way up, we could barely hear them. And we'd worked practically all night laying down many tracks. It had turned out to be such a waste of time. I wondered if the pastor knew of a way we could turn up the volume and get a louder version of the songs on the computer. I thought for sure we'd need to get some sort of an amplifier and a better mike, equipment we couldn't afford to buy. I called the pastor. But it was Saturday night. I got his answering machine. He must be out or studying for his sermon he'd be giving the next day.

Eva wanted to lay a fleece before the Lord regarding praying specifically about these desires of our heart. She did not feel comfortable, this time, praying and flipping a coin.

"Okay," I said. "What would your fleece be?"

"Victor, let's ask the Lord to make it so we can record our songs and that we will be able to hear them without needing to buy any special equipment." That sounded good to me. She bowed her head and laid her fleece before the Lord.

Right after this prayer, I called the pastor again because I was going to leave a message on his machine asking him to get back with me on this question. This time, though, his son answered and, when I asked for his dad, he said he'd get him.

"Pastor Charles…" I told him of our problem. "No," he said, to my surprise. "You don't need an amplifier. Right click on the speaker in the lower right hand side of your monitor and you'll see some additional choices. One of them says Microphone booster. Maybe that's your answer."

"I'll give it try when we get home. Thank you!"

At home, I right clicked on the speaker icon, and checked the box on Microphone booster. When we recorded a song for a test, and played it back, we whooped joyfully as we listened to a nice, loud recording. The fleece that Eva had laid was answered within minutes and found to be true when we got home that night. Praise God! Now, not only did we have our microphone loud enough to record songs, but Eva was satisfied that the fleece she laid before the Lord meant she could pray the prayer of petition for the specific desires of our heart. Praise God, again.

Nature of God: I'd called the pastor, but only got his answering machine. After Eva laid a fleece, God made the pastor available to me and, incredibly, he had the answer we needed. God is very willing to answer our questions, whether by the laying of a fleece or by a prayerful flip of the coin. Our questions, however, must be about the present. He does not want us to worry about the future or even try to determine what it is. As I stated in the introduction to this book, a divination is when objects (they can be anything from the stars and planets to the soles of our feet) are used to try and determine the future. Since God wants us dependent only upon Him, He discourages our probes into the future. Daily we must desire only Him as we go to Him in a deep and meaningful way.

All divinations, except the laying of the fleece and casting lots, are repulsive to God. He desires His children in the present moment—with Him.