When I was a preteen, my parents sent me to a kids camp. At one of the evening services, I was slain in the Spirit and God showed me a vision. In that vision, I saw the rapture take place. I saw airplanes crash, traffic jams, burning buildings and all sorts of chaos that ensued. At the end of the vision, God spoke clearly to me, “You must tell everyone before I come about my love for them.” He also spoke to me about my role in the end times. He said I would share His gospel with others and that I would not only preach with some of the most famous speakers in those times, but that I would also lead the final Great Awakening.
I have kept this vision with me my whole life. I shared it with others as a kid and as a teen. In fact, a lady at church, who was one of my Sunday School teachers, told me I should write it down. I did, but have lost it somehow through the years. Because she had me write it, I have always remembered it.
Since that time, I have waited for God to speak to me to tell me when I was to begin. He gave me a phrase in that vision that someone would speak to me to let me know it was time to begin. Every church service that I have been to since that time, I have waited for the Spirit to speak it to me through someone.
About a year ago, God spoke to me through a book by Mark Batterson called “Primal”. It challenged me showed me how to love the Lord with all of my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength. The one that stood out to me was to love him with my strength. It was simply “to do.” I have looked for ways “to do” things for God since that time to show Him my love.
He resurrected a dream He had placed in me years ago to write a book. I sat down and picked away at it for months. I even got an accountability partner who helped to keep me on track. Through that book, God continued to speak to me. As He showed me how He was with me through the most difficult period in my life, He began to prepare me and tell me time was getting close for me to be used by Him.
When I went through that difficult time in my life, I felt that I would not be able to be used by God because of it. I struggled with that as well during that time. I had let the vision fade because people who were divorced could not be ministers through our fellowship. God showed me that He would use those scars to His advantage and use them to help me to reach people.
Early in 2012, Lewis Hogan was invited to preach at our church. He preached on the previous Great Awakenings. My heart raced as he preached. My spirit was getting excited to hear what he was saying, especially as he preached about the final Great Awakening. As the service was being concluded and he made an altar call, I stayed in my seat because his call did not pertain to me. God had spoken to me through his message though, so I was content with that.
As I sat in my seat during the call, I spoke with God and simply said, “Lord, all I have is yours. When you are ready for me to do your will, say the word and I will give it all up for you to do your work.” At that moment, Lewis spoke up again. He said, “I feel like the Lord is telling me that someone in here has been called to be the ‘Voice of the Nation’. I see that you are young… or at least think that you are young. If that is you, please come down so we can pray with you.”
I immediately had a check in my spirit that God spoke that to Lewis for me. I didn’t hesitate to get out of my seat and go down there. As I got to the front, Angella Colby came up behind me and whispered in my ear, “Just as a confirmation, when he said that, the Lord showed me that it was you.” I’m glad she did that because a couple of other people went down there and I was beginning to doubt.
When Lewis began to pray over me, he stopped and prophesied. He said, “There is a heritage that has been passed down to you from your grandfather. I don’t know about him, but you need to research him to see what gifts he operated in because you will operate in the same gifts that he operated in.” What he didn’t know was that my grandfather was a first generation Christian and an Assembly of God minister.
About a week after I was prayed over, God spoke to me one morning in the car and said, “The message is love.” As I have researched my grandfather since that time, one word comes up over and over again: Love. God has shown me in my research that Love is not only a fruit, but it is a gift.
The next day in my car on my way to work, God spoke to me again. He said, “I want you to walk with me.” I replied back, “Lord I do walk with you. I have a spiritual walk with you.” His response was very clear, “I am not just speaking about that kind of walk. I want you to walk with me like Enoch did. I want you to spend time with me each day and walk with me so we can talk.” I said, “Lord, when do I have time in the cool of the evening to walk with you. I have family obligations and I can’t always just leave the house to go walking at night.”He said, “Walking was the form of transportation in the days of Enoch. We spoke to each other as he walked from place to place. Driving is your mode of transportation. I want to meet with you each day as you drive. I also want you to write down what I am telling you.”I quickly said, “I can’t write and drive at the same time. I know there is traffic, but how can I do that?”He said, “Your phone has dictation in it. You can speak into it what I am telling you and then you can transcribe it later.”
Each day since then, God has spoken to me. As I have turned off the radio and tuned out all other distractions, He has given me direction, scriptures and words of knowledge. As He speaks to me certain things, I ask him to show me in scripture where that occurs. He would remind me of situations and people in the Bible. After I got to work, I would transcribe the notes and then google the situations or people that He spoke to me about.
As time has gone on, I have wanted to make sure that I am hearing His voice clearly. Instead of googling now, I am asking Him to give me the exact scripture reference that He is talking about. Each day He does it. It is an humbling and frightening experience to hear His voice so clearly that He gives me exact references. I look around me in amazement some days to see if anyone is looking.
Each day, I wake up early to make sure that I spend at least an hour with Him and to give Him time to speak. Each week, He does something spectacular to show me that I am indeed hearing his voice. In April of 2012, I was in church and Pastor Maddoux was preaching his sermon. The first scripture he used had been given to me on Monday. Oddly enough, that week, Sara had asked that I start to text her the scriptures that God was giving me so that she could read along.
As pastor preached that sermon, every main verse and passage of scripture that he used had been given to me that week almost in exact order. Sara and I sat in church looking at our phones, seeing if Pastor would use the next scripture. That humbling and frightening feeling came back as we sat through that sermon. We knew that God had been speaking to me.
As I write this, He has simply told me to prepare for how He will use me. Part of that preparation was to write this down. He continues to speak to me daily and I do what He asks without question. I take time to walk with Him daily uninterrupted and He continues to speak. I already know that as I move into this ministry he has called me to, He will require more and more time throughout my day to walk with Him. I’m continuously learning how to love Him with all my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 