Below is a sketch of what I believe God wants me to say to you today, dear friend.

• God uses dreams.
• A dream about the burden of God.
• God’s burden – to have equipped laborers.
• God’s burden – to have laborers aware they are NOW in a ripe harvest field.
• Are you ready to share your faith?
• Are you even fishing?
• How to fish – at every opportunity.
• Do you know how to catch a fish?
• Helping someone grow up in Jesus.
• What the dream did for me
• God says “The workers are few”.
• God says the place where you are standing in is a field ripe for harvest.
• I must ask myself. . .

God uses dreams. God gave us many examples of how He communicates with us through dreams. Consider the four well-known dreams of Joseph as recorded in Genesis. Consider Matthew 1:20, when an angel told Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, in a dream, to marry Mary.  Consider Peter’s dream in Acts 10-11 that salvation includes Gentiles. For good examples of how God uses modern-day dreams, listen to some of Dutch Sheets’ “Give Him 15” podcasts. These are excellent 15-minute devotionals available at www.givehim15.com.

Because I rarely remember dreams, any dream I do remember is special, and when I believe God is speaking through that dream – I pay attention. When God gave the dream described below, I got out of bed and wrote it down – right away! Here is the dream.

A dream about the burden of God.   I was in a meeting of the altar workers at my church. The dream was not of a church building I had ever been in, but it was a small and old church. The man who had led the altar workers team had just left the room after announcing he was quitting and moving away. All of us in the small room were sad and shocked. Another member asked me to speak. I do not think I would have spoken had someone not asked me to. I walked to the front and stood at the small, rough-hewn lectern, gripping it as I leaned forward and began to try to speak.

I could only whisper, though I was trying to yell with all my might because of the intensity of the message. Deeply weeping, in a forced whisper through tears, I said, “After all this time, we still have not been trained in how to lead a soul to Jesus or to the baptism in the Holy Ghost. We still are not equipped to help new believers learn to walk with Jesus.”

Next, the hallway was filled with the buzz of conversation. Someone said, “If you want to hear more, go ask what Freda just said.” But I was still weeping and could not speak when others, besides those on the altar workers team, came into the room and asked me what had happened. Then the dream ended.”

Important background: The day before the dream, I had read in “Born for Battle” by R. Arthur Mathews (an excellent book) that our prayers are so often requests rather than a quest for God and His will, and that we should ask God what is on His heart when we pray. Right then, in my car waiting to pick up my grandsons after school, I was deeply convicted and asked God to start showing me what was on His heart when I prayed. He answered the same night, through this dream.

God’s burden – to have equipped laborers. I believe God is telling me, and you, His burden is to have workers prepared for and working in the harvest field – but they are not. I know this is a call to me, and maybe to you, too. God is asking: Are you ready to lead someone to Christ, and the baptism in the Holy Ghost and on to maturity?

God’s burden – to have laborers aware they are NOW in a ripe harvest field. I believe His burden is also that we be aware the harvest is NOW, that the Third Great Awakening has already begun. The shaking our nation has undergone these last two years has made people desperate. Hearts are ready for Him. Are we aware of that and are we ready to show them the way to Him?

In the last great awakening in the 1960s, Holy Spirit came upon people so powerfully that they spontaneously began worshipping and praising God in parks, stores, and classrooms. Unfortunately, when these sincere people, many of them hippies, went to churches to find out more about God and what had happened to them, they were turned away because of their appearance.

America cannot make that mistake again! We must be ready to welcome hearts eager for God—no matter the external appearance. And we must be ready to teach them and show them about Jesus. The prophets are saying the biggest harvest of souls in all time is coming soon. The Third Great Awakening has already begun.

Are you ready to share your faith? I think God is weeping that so many of us have never won a soul to Him, that we never intentionally prepared to do so and that so many are scornful of the gift of speaking in tongues, which includes His power to witness and to live a holy life.

So, I have three questions. (1) Are you fishing – for souls? (2) Do you know how to catch a fish – how to lead a soul to Jesus? (3) Do you know how to help that born-again soul start growing up in Jesus? Can you tell them the basics of what they need to know so that they can press on and do not, like so many, pray for salvation and then fall back into their old life and be lost?

Are you even fishing? You may say “But I am not called to be an evangelist.” Or “I have no training.”  I say an emphatic PHOOEY to both those statements. We are ALL called to witness and to share our faith – and to share our faith at every opportunity, “making the most of the time because the days are evil.”  We are all called to heed Paul’s admonishment:

Be very careful, then how you love—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16, NIV)

As for the second excuse that you have no training, online resources and books abound on how to lead someone to Jesus.

Opportunities to witness abound all around us – with friends, family, casual acquaintances and with strangers. Strangers? YES, strangers! I believe each of us should plant and water seeds throughout every day. Some of those encounters will be planting and watering spiritual seeds planted by someone else but sometimes we get to reap, too! (I Corinthians 3:7-9)

So, how do we “make the most of every opportunity?” We can work God into nearly all conversations if we pray and practice. How? By drawing fish in the sand.

How to fish – at every opportunity. I whole-heartily attest that if you ask God, He will give you ways to work Him into every conversation you have with friends, family, casual acquaintances and even strangers. And He will guide the conversation as to whether the person is open to hear more about Him or whether you are just to lovingly pour a little water on their thirsty heart. He will help you talk about Him and He will show you when someone is not ready to hear about Him.

So, what is this drawing a fish? In New Testament times, believers were persecuted for their faith in Jesus and many were killed. Believers would sometimes trace a fish in the sand when talking with people they did not know. If the other person also drew a fish, it indicated that person might also believe in Jesus.

Ask God and He will show you how to, like early believers, make casual mention of Him in your interactions with people. He will enable you to give a clear sign to each stranger you meet that you are a believer. If they are one also, they will respond with positive comments about God. If they are not yet a believer but are open to hearing about God, they will listen and you will have planted or watered spiritual seed and, sometimes, even more.

I estimate that more than three-fourths of people for whom I “draw a fish”—at        work, the gym, repair shop or wherever—respond positively.  Less than a fourth say nothing or abruptly change the subject (at which point I follow their conversational lead). In more than 40 years of consistently drawing fish every chance I get, only one person has voiced anger (although I pray many were deeply convicted inside).

Here are two examples. As I walked to the dumpster yesterday, I saw a man standing beside a plumber’s van. I said “This is a beautiful day! Do you like this cooler weather?” He smiled and said “I sure do!”. I replied, “Me, too! I am glad God gave us such a nice day.” And today at the grocery checkout, I asked “How has your day been?” The young man said, “Real good. How about you?” I replied, “Mine has been good, too. God gave me a wonderful time of Bible study and now I am doing errands before I get my grandsons.”

It has been far, far too long since such an interaction led to salvation but I am praying about that. And quite often these casual mentions of God lead to quick conversations that encourage fellow believers.

Do you know how to catch a fish? Have you prepared yourself to share your faith and lead another soul to God? If not, do so – now! As I said earlier, books and internet resources on evangelism abound. Study and then practice in front of a mirror. For an excellent brief teaching on how to share your faith, search for the “Go and Tell” podcast from November 1, 2021, on the www.givehim15.com website. Or use this link November 1, 2021 (givehim15.com)

You need to memorize the basic Bible truths necessary for salvation so that you can lead someone to Jesus even if you do not have notes with you. You can, of course, easily find “The Roman Road” plan of salvation using your phone to browse the web. However, if the Roman Road or another plan of salvation is in your memory, you can answer questions as those questions come up naturally in conversation. Rest assured, however, that “just” reading the plan of salvation also works! God will use your efforts, no matter how inexpert you feel.

Until you have the five short verses of the Roman Road or another plan memorized, they fit easily on an index card in your wallet.

Helping someone grow up in Jesus. When God gives you the gift of leading someone to Him, can you tell them the next steps? You may not feel like it, but your knowledge of God is far greater than someone who just received Jesus. They are newly born spiritually. They need you to take their hand or at a minimum, point out the way to them.  Can you briefly explain Bible study, prayer, worship, fellowship, witnessing, and praying in the Spirit? The baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues gives power to witness and power to live a holy life. More writings on this vital topic will follow soon.

What the dream did for me: I believe God used this dream to urge me to:

[1] Refresh my knowledge of how to share salvation and speak about the baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

[2] Pray, earnestly, for Him to send souls to me who are ready for harvest. To my shame and regret, I had stopped doing this somewhere along my selfish, self-focused life.

[3] Put other writings on hold while I finish what He urged me to write for this website several weeks ago – the plan of salvation and the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

(By the way, this is a good example of why more of us are not winning more souls. It takes effort to get and keep ourselves prepared and to be focused on witnessing. It is easier to do other work for God instead of the detailed Bible study and practice necessary to get and stay equipped to win souls. I am deeply grieved that I neglected this focus so long but eternally grateful for God’s loving conviction and correction.)

God also used the dream to tell me to be more bold about sharing His burden to have His laborers equipped and alert. That is why I am sharing this writing with you. I earnestly pray that you hear-and heed—what I believe the Lord of the harvest is now saying.

God says “The workers are few”. Mathew 9 describes miracles of healing that Jesus did as He went from one place to another, “through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness” (Matthew 9:35, NIV) But listen to what Matthew says next:

^“36 When He saw the throngs, He was moved with pity and sympathy for them, because they were bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless), like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷ Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few.

³⁸ So pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38, AMPC)

Just as much now as then, God is moved with pity and sympathy for the masses of people TODAY who are “bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless), like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36, AMPC) I pray God forces us all out of our comfort zones and thrusts us, as His anointed, zealous laborers, into His harvest.

God says the place where you are standing in is a field ripe for harvest. In John 4, even though He was weary, Jesus took time to give the Samaritan woman the gift of “Living Water.” When His disciples returned and offered Him some of the food they had gone away to purchase, Jesus said:

“My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work. Do you not say, It is still four months until harvest comes?  Jesus told His disciples “Look! I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields and see how they are already white for harvesting.” John 4:34-35, AMPC

Jesus was telling His disciples two things that I believe He says to us today: (1) doing God’s will, sharing the good news of salvation, nourishes us. (2) The very place each of us are standing in—the world we interact with every day—is filled with souls ripe for harvest.

I must ask myself. . . I must ask myself—am I equipped to share God’s burden? Am I working in my harvest field?

Update and praise report!!!  I began writing this November 24th, the day after the dream and prayed about when to post it. With two days until 2022, I think God said today.  Will you add “fishing more” to your 2022 plans?

I have studied and written the plan of salvation in my own words so I could put it on this website. I wanted to have something ready for people to review, when God put me in the path of someone ready to give their heart to Jesus. (That little booklet “The Remedy for Desperation”, will be posted soon.)

And, I am so blessed to tell you that in His very great love and kindness and mercy, God sent me a soul to pray with for salvation! Words cannot express the joy I felt and still feel.

God needs His laborers! Pray, prepare diligently and reverently, and watch, with faith! Woohoo and go God!