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The
Audible Voice of God
- In
the fall of 1996 after an extensive time of prayer and fasting
I knew that my life and walk with the Lord was about to change
drastically. I was at that time, Teaching Director for an interdenominational
bible study and had been for over two years. I was waiting on
the Lord for His direction on what path I was to take in regards
to ministry. It was at a retreat in Galveston during an offering
message that I was not really paying attention to when the encounter
happened. I flipped open my bible to the first chapter of Luke,
which is where I had been drawn to all week long. I wasn't sure
why, but I couldn't keep myself from reading Zechariah's praise
over the birth of his son, John the Baptist (Luke 1:67-80). I
had read it all week long and now once again I begin to read it
to myself as the speaker went on with her message. When I got
to verse 76, suddenly the Lord began to speak it audibly to me.
I was so taken back by the voice, I looked around behind me thinking
a loud speaker was on and everyone heard it. I could tell that
no on else heard the voice but me. I was so undone, just as Isaiah
was when he declared in Isaiah 6:5 "Woe is me, I am UNDONE!" That
is exactly how the Father's voice left me, undone.
- I quickly rose to my feet and dashed out of the meeting and up to my hotel room. I fell to the floor as I opened the door to my room and there for the next hour wailed and cried out because of the Majesty and Holiness of His voice. I felt as though His voice had begun to unravel every fiber of my being. And as if this were not overwhelming enough, I still had to contend with what He spoke into me. The verse from Luke reads, "And you my child will be called a prophet of the most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him..."
- I didn't know what that meant, I didn't know what a prophet was suppose to do. The only ideas I had about a prophet were older men coming through the church every now and then and speaking a nice little verse of scripture over you. That was my very limited view and understanding of this strange thing called a prophet. And now that the Lord had called me one, it was even stranger. Little did I know there was not some school you enroll in to get your "Prophet Degree", but instead it is the School of Fire taught by none other than the Lord Himself. I am still in this school and as those who are truly called by the Lord as His prophets, they will tell you this is a lifetime school in which one never graduates! You cannot call yourself a prophet, only the Lord can call you that. You would never pick this calling because of the persecutions and fire it will hold for you, but at the same time you would never forfeit it either, because along with the call and cost of it comes 'surpassingly great revelations' (as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:7). May this encourage you to ask, seek and keep knocking (Matthew 7:7-8) until the Lord reveals His voice to you as the sound of many waters (Ezekiel 1:24).
- I quickly rose to my feet and dashed out of the meeting and up to my hotel room. I fell to the floor as I opened the door to my room and there for the next hour wailed and cried out because of the Majesty and Holiness of His voice. I felt as though His voice had begun to unravel every fiber of my being. And as if this were not overwhelming enough, I still had to contend with what He spoke into me. The verse from Luke reads, "And you my child will be called a prophet of the most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him..."