Day2

Dear friends of the vision,

We made it to the home of the Green Mountain Boys, Ethan Allen's legacy!

There is a strong, multifaceted, sinister spirit determined to control the state of Vermont. One of the areas is an independent spirit that has led them to a very liberal view. They are one of the first states to pass a law for same sex marriage.

There is a new day coming to the Green Mountain State. The new governor professes to be a Christian. There are prayer meetings held regularly in the capitol building, and fresh fire in several churches in the surrounding areas.

Our first assignment when we arrive at a new state, is to find a church that is spirit-led and a place we can pray. We found our church Sunday morning at the eight o'clock service. Immediately the pastor called on us to pray for revival in his church and asked us to stay for the second service. We left after worship and attended an inner city church truly following the Holy Spirit. The lady pastor meets regularly with the Governor and prays with him. These churches were forty miles away. It made it difficult to go there often and for them to participate in our prayer time.
As usual, the burden settled heavily on my spirit until Wednesday afternoon. We drove forty miles Wednesday night just to be in a spirit led church with great worship. This gives hope to the state of Vermont, when churches are seeking God for the answers to their problems.

As we awoke this morning for our Thursday prayer, rain was coming down and thunderstorms were forecast. I firmly told the Lord we would do whatever was necessary but please give us two hours without rain. The day was very humid and the storms were building in the west. We set up for the prayer time perspiring profusely. I knew our number would be small since the burden lifted early. This morning, Jesus spoke in a most personal way to me. He caused me to know that He was going to the prayer meeting with me and that would be enough!

As we completed setting up our speakers, banner, and started playing music, a young man came up to us from his lunch break. He attends a church some 20 miles from the capital. He was so encouraging and asked us to pray for him and he for us. There was a young man with his wife and three small children enjoying the shade of the trees at the capitol grounds. Having seen the banner of Prayer Across America, he came to me with this comment; "I hope you will not violate the law of separation of church and state." It was the Holy Spirit who helped me stay calm and Christ-like. I wanted to truly show Christ's love to him. I quickly answered his comment by stating there is no law of separation of church and state; that was a judges' interpretation. I then quoted Thomas Jefferson's statement regarding this separation. Government could not interfere with the church because of a wall of separation. It is interesting to note that you can keep government out of the church but you cannot keep church out of government; this will create a vacuum. The young man was not convinced but made a parting comment about our praying at the capitol building. I shared our first amendment right of freedom of speech, and he agreed. My last statement to him was I wanted to see him and his family in heaven.

We were half -way through our prayer time when two ladies from Florida stopped to ask questions. We shared the vision of praying for state and national leaders. They encouraged us to pray for their governor and his brother. Needles to say, they were not pleased with current leadership. We gave them our card and brochure and then completed our prayer time. A young lady joined us near the end and closed with a heart felt prayer. The thunderstorm went to the south and we had plenty of time to get our equipment packed up as we concluded our 42nd capital prayer meeting.

We are on our way to Augusta, Maine and truly need your prayers. We have so few contacts in this state as well.

Bless you for caring!

Pastor Phil and Vicki Epperson
708-227-1447