Welcome, and thank you for taking the time to join us today.
Today, I want to share with you a vision that I had back in April of this year. At the time of this vision, it was specific for me because of the circumstances that I was experiencing at that particular time in my life, but as I write this, I believe it is also a greater message not just for me but also for the whole body.
So, back in April of this year I was experiencing pain on the right side of my body, and the pain kept getting worse to the point that I finally had a family member take me down to the emergency room, so that I could have it checked out.
So, after all the preliminary tests i.e., ekg, blood work, x-rays etc. they finally took me back to one of the examination rooms where one of the doctors comes in and tells me that I am having a heart attack.
I can tell you that in the initial moments after the doctor told me that I was having a heart attack, I experienced quite a lot of emotions, fear, panic, worry just to name a few. And so, with all these emotions I started praying. I was praying all sorts of things, prayer for intervention, prayers of repentance, because no matter what happened I wanted to be sure that I was right with God. And during this time while they were working on me, and I was praying I had a vision.
In the vision I saw a stormy sea (there was no land in sight) and there was a boat (equivalent to the same size as one of the fishing boats during Jesus’ time) and the next thing I see is that I am in the boat and Jesus is also in the boat with me, and as I am standing there and can see the storm raging around me there was such a calm inside the boat that was beyond anything I have ever experienced in my entire life. And in that very moment I knew that no matter what happened, whether I continued to live or if this was the end of my life there was absolute perfect peace, and after I felt this, I went to the back of the boat and laid down and went to sleep. This was the end of the vision.
I survived the heart attack. Thanks be to the Lord. They ended up having to put a stint in and then after four days I was released. The reason I mention this is because there is a second part to this.
After I had been released, I went home to spend some time to recover, and during the first couple of weeks I was feeling the pressure from outside influences to get back to the daily grind, and yet I knew that I was not ready physically, and yet this pressure was causing me a lot of stress. And so, I had prayed and the Lord gave me
Psalm 93
1 The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty and splendor;
psalm 93:1-5 (amp)
The Lord has clothed and encircled Himself with strength;
the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.
2 Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their pounding waves.
4 More than the sounds of many waters,
More than the mighty breakers of the sea, The Lord on high is mighty.
5 Your precepts are fully confirmed and completely reliable;
Holiness adorns Your house, O Lord, forever.
The next day I had to talk to some people and let them know that I was not yet ready, and after I did that I was feeling pretty miserable, and I was praying and the Lord told me to read Psalm 93 again and so I did and after I did that I still was having trouble figuring out what the Lord was trying to say and was asking him for help with understanding and that is when He remined me of the vision that I had, and then he spoke to me and said “I never told you to get out of the boat.”
I can tell you after He spoke those words to my heart, all the stress and anxiety that I was feeling went away and I was again at peace.
So how can this vision help, you ask. Here is the best and simplest answer that I can give.
The world is in the midst of a major storm and there is not any real end in sight, but there is a place where you can come and enter into the boat and find a place of perfect peace, a peace that passes all understanding. A place where you can go to the end of the boat and lay down and find rest. But also, if life gets overwhelming, and you feel the stress and anxiety of life let the words which Jesus spoke to me speak also to you “I never told you to get out of the boat.”
