I HAVE COME TO ANSWER YOUR PRAYER

It was nearly five years later, 1957, when the Lord appeared to me again in my fourth vision of Him. My wife and I had just returned to our home in Garland, Texas, after spending 15 months in meetings in California. We then held a meeting for our home Full Gospel church in Garland. It was during the third week of this meeting that I had another supernatural visitation from the Lord.

At the close of my message one night, a spirit of intercession descended upon the congregation and we all gathered around the altar to pray. We prayed for quite some time. After a while I got off my knees and sat on the steps to the platform. I was sitting there with my eyes open, singing in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance, when suddenly I saw Jesus standing about three feet in front of me. He said, "I have come to answer your prayer."

I knew exactly what He was talking about. I had been praying for some time for my wife, who had a goiter. It was growing larger and larger until now she was having choking spells. From the time we were first married I had sensed in my spirit that Oretha would die at an early age, and I thought that perhaps this time was approaching. I prayed the rest of the night about this and said to the Lord, "I have obeyed You and have done your will. I have left my church and my family and have been in the evangelistic field for many years. My wife has stayed at home and hasbeen faithful to raise our children. I am still a young man (at that time I was in my 30s), and we have been married for many years. Please let me keep my wife."

In the vision the Lord said to me, "I have come to answer that prayer. Tell your wife to be operated on, for she will live and not die Although I didn't mention it to my wife, I had felt all along that if she were operated on she would die. She later told me that she had known for several years that she would die when she was operated on for this goiter.

But the Lord said to me, "She will live and not die. It was divine destiny that she should die, but I have heard your prayers and have come to answer them. She shall live Then Jesus said something that absolutely melted me, and I have never been able to forget it. It blessed and helped me then, and it still blesses me.

He said, "I did this, son, just because you asked Me to. You don't know how I long to do for my children if they would only ask Me and believe Me. Many times they beg and cry and pray, but they don't believe. And I can-not answer their prayers unless they have faith, because I cannot violate my Word. But how often I long to help them if only they would let Me by taking Me at my Word and bringing Me their problems, trusting Me to undertake for them."

Again He said, "Tell your wife to be operated on, for she will live and not die." With those words He dis-appeared. Even though the doctors were greatly concerned about my wife's condition, Oretha and I had great joy through it all because we knew the outcome in advance. (Kenneth E. Hagin)