The Call
In the years 1990-1991, I had both an open vision (of a lost and dying world) from God and I heard His audible voice. The Lord spoke Luke 4:18 and 19 audibly to me, calling me to preach and teach the uncompromised Word of God. It is my desire to fulfill the call of God on my life by reaching out to the world with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Vision from God
While at church one evening in 1991, I was praying and then looked up and saw an open vision. I was in the church and my eyes were open, but it was like a movie screen was in front of me. I first saw a man drowning in the ocean. He was coming up out of the water gasping for air. The Lord spoke to me and said the word of God was like a breath of fresh air to a drowning man. I then saw a round donut shaped life ring with a rope tied to it thrown out to the man. The Lord spoke again and said the life ring represented the Holy Spirit and that one can only come to the Lord as the Holy Spirit draws them. The rope tied to the life ring was thrown by a man on shore. The Lord said it was the work of the Holy Spirit but He works through man. The man on the shore pulled the drowning man to shore and revived him. The drowning man now revived seemed fine and went on his way. I thought the vision was over but the Lord said "No, watch." The man walked until he came to the water again. He then went back into the water and was drowning again. I said to the Lord that I did not understand. The Lord then said to me, "If you do not teach them to swim, they will go back out and drown." Then the Lord showed me the ocean again. This time, there were thousands of people; men, women and they were all drowning. They would place their hand upon the head of the person next to them, pushing that person into the water in order to lift themselves up for a breath of air. The expression on their faces was horrifying. I believe the Lord was showing me the call of God on my life, as an evangelist and teacher.
Hearing the Audible Voice of God
Later that year while I was reading from Luke chapter four, I thought about how it would have felt to be in the temple when Jesus got up to read from the prophet Isaiah. As I stopped reading to ponder this, I heard the audible voice of the Lord say to me, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon you for He has anointed you to preach the gospel to the poor." He has send you to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recover sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:8-19)
