February 3, 2016
It was January 27, 2014 and I was before the Lord in my morning prayer time. I had asked him once if it's ok if I sometimes just talk to him, not formal prayer, just share what's on my heart as though he was sitting right across from me. He gave me ovewhelming assurance plus confirmation that yes, that's what he wants from his children. "Ok, Lord, I'm just going to share this with you then."
I began telling the Lord that though I've been blogging for a few years now, and that my entire motive is to serve him, nevertheless these years later I have nothing to show for it. I had done all the things I knew to do to get the posts "out there" to people, to boost the traffic to the blog, you submit them to pinging services and a few other things but after all that, I might have 20 views on the blog in a month. So why bother? It's going nowhere. I love to do it but if it's fruitless I can't see why I should continue. After having continued to seek the Lord about the apparent fruitlessness of my ministry of posting, and after having fasted many times about it seeking to be empowered in my calling, I finally got to the place where I just said to him, "I've honestly done everything I know to do to reach people. I just don't know what more I can do, and I don't see any point in continuing on."
Suddenly as I sat there in prayer, I had a vision. I am NOT a dreams and visions kind of person, this was a complete surprise. I saw Jesus standing in a field feeding thousands. I just looked and looked, blinked my eyes ...and it didn't go away. I asked the Lord, "Lord, what do you mean by this?" He answered, "Pray it." "PRAY it??? What does that mean??? How do you pray what I'm looking at???" No answer. So I shook my head and said, "Well, ok, I'll pray it, whatever that means." So I began to thank the Lord for the vision, and I prayed that whatever I was seeing in this vision would come to pass. I had no idea what I was saying, I was just obeying to the best of my ability. I continued on like that, thanking him and praying that this vision would come to fruition according to whatever he meant by it.
The next day I started seeing the word "multiply" again and again. I knew this was the Lord, but nothing "clicked." I had no idea what this was all about. Then my Scripture reading was:
"Now may he who supplies seed to the sower,
and bread for food,
SUPPLY and MULTIPLY the seed you have sown
and increase the fruits of your righteousness..."
2 Corinthians 9:10
"Oh my goodness, oh wow, oh Lord, what are you saying to me?"
I still didn't "get it" but expectancy was born in my heart. Something was up.
A few days later a friend sent me a link to a video by a pastor in Hawaii by the name of pastor JD Farag, whom I had never heard of. I watched the video and was awestruck by what he said. He went on to talk about the great commission and that this Gospel must be preached in all the world before the end comes. And now, he said, only in this generation are we able to preach to all the world --- through the internet! He said that even in poor countries, people have cell phones, and that this is a tool we can use to bring the Gospel to the entire world. I didn't make the connection to the vision yet, but this stirred my heart to beating hard and I was breathing fast and got very excited. This was a spiritual thing happening inside, not a "flesh" thing. I was touched in the depths of my spirit. I got so excited I could hardly contain myself because he was talking about the very desire of my heart - to reach souls for Christ. He went on to say that anyone called of God to minister online has a very special calling, so USE IT!
...Well yeah, I've been trying to do exactly that for a few years now and have gotten nowhere. But never mind, I waited for him to get to the end of the message and tell us HOW to do that. I knew this was God and fully expected a revelation, that he was going to show us HOW to do it. What I've BEEN doing doesn't work. What I need to know is HOW. What am I missing? But ...he ended it there!!! I couldn't believe it! I could not believe that after all this, he did not deliver what I thought was going to be the answer. I sat here stunned. My heart was on fire from hearing that man's words, but he never said how to do it. Frustrated, but my heart still beating up in my throat, I went to his site and found the contact information, and emailed him. I told him how touched I was by what he said, that I knew with no shadow of doubt that this IS my calling, but "you never told us HOW to do it!"
The next morning there was an email from him, and he just gave me a link. So I clicked on the link and it took me to a site called, "Rapture Watch." It looked like a great site, a huge site, and I began looking around it. Everything I saw was exactly all along the lines of what I was interested in, taking the Gospel to the world, Bible prophecy which has always been a chief love of mine from the very beginning, the doctrines and topics 100% in agreement with mine. WHAT a great site!
...Then I saw it! ....The map!
The site owner had a "cluster map" gadget on the side panel showing where people are coming from when they come to view the site. There are red dots showing the origin, the country, of wherever people have come to the site from. The map was almost entirely covered!!! My eyes were transfixed on that map as my mind raced, trying to make sense of what was happening. I'd never, EVER seen a cluster map gadget filled like this one was. This ministry, this site, was reaching ...the whole world! It's literally feeding the thousands!!! As I just sat there and looked at that, the vision flooded into my mind. Jesus feeding the thousands. Suddenly ...it clicked, I "got it!" I realized this was the answer to my obedience when he said, "Pray it!" I had prayed it, and now I was seeing it.
And then the Lord began to speak to me, "I am the God who multiplies." The apostles had brought to him their little loaves and fish, Jesus took them and multiplied them and fed the thousands. "Oh Lord, I see it, I SEE it!!!"
Now what do I do? I looked around the site and found the contact information with directions on how to become a contributing member, and I emailed the owner. He emailed back with directions which I followed. And I was in! A contributing member of Rapture Watch. Reaching the world with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! And drawing them to him through Bible prophecy.
It was February 3, 2014, two years ago today, and I submited my first post. And lo and behold - the views started coming in. The numbers began to rise and I just sat there with my mouth open. I was astonished. Shocked is an understatement. I went from maybe 20 views in a month on my blog, to scores and scores here ON JUST ONE POST, and it would accumulate to over 2,000 views in a month! I felt the presence of the Lord, smiling. He was multiplying. My little loaves and fish were feeding the multitudes. Just as he showed me in that vision. All I could say was "WOW!!!" I mean, "WOW!!!!" and that doesn't even come close.
It started with a vision, an absolutely, totally unexpected visitation of the Lord that morning in my prayer time, and today the vision is a reality as we bring the great message of the Gospel daily, and the Lord multiplies the message daily, reaching the nations through the simplicity of our meager loaves and fish with which he feeds the multitudes.
Over time I've come to know Steve, the owner of the site and have found that we have a kindred heart, the same interests, the same love for Bible prophecy, the same calling, and the same love for the Lord to compel us. Steve is an absolute joy to work with and we talk frequently. He invited me to his Facebook site, so I post on his Facebook site every day as well, so that not only are we reaching the world for Christ through Rapture Watch, but also through Facebook, as he has an extensive outreach.
Steve told me something recently that brought me to tears. He said that he remembered my application for membership on Rapture Watch, and that it came at a time when he was not taking new members. He had shut off all membership applications for awhile. But for some reason, he said, he let me in. He didn't know me from Adam ...well, from Eve ...but he said that out of all the scores of applications he had at that time, he only let me in. And my heart began breaking as I realized that this story was the work of God from the beginning, from the vision, to pastor JD's video, to the Rapture Watch site which wasn't open to new members at the time ...but when it's God ...the rest is history. I've been posting for Rapture Watch daily now for two years. And that ...is the hand of my God!
I truly marvel when I think of all that the Lord has accomplished through Steve and his ministry. He asked the Lord for the nations and through his dedication, his faithfulness, and his hard work, the Lord has given him the nations. He's a man SO faithful to God, and see how God has been faithful to him!
Friends, take your concerns to the Lord about your calling. If you are doing what you believe he has called you to do and getting nowhere, go to the Lord and have a chat with him about it. He might just blow your mind with his answer. He'll show you HOW to do what he's called you to do, but without his direction you'll just keep on getting nowhere. He is only too happy to show you how to make the most of your calling. You only need to take the time to go before him and ask.
And it's all good. It's all Very Good!
Rapture Watch
