3 dreams. Sexual Spirits, Persecution, Manna from heaven.

Today I felt God say to spend some time with Him, so I did.  And during this time I received 3 things:

1. A sense that the enemy has released lots and lots of sexual spirits across the world, so that we might be seduced into a false intimacy with them.  Real intimacy is with Jesus, but this false intimacy plays on our flesh, and it’s very easy to want this when offered, instead of the real thing.

2. I was with a bunch of fellow believers, and it felt like the tide had turned against Christians in general.  Like the favour we used to have was lifted, as far as non believers go.  They weren’t killing us or anything, but they didn’t like us.

3. In the final vision, I was staying in a kind of dormitory type place with lots of other believers, and I went outside and it started raining.  But instead of it being water, it was this light fluffy corn type thing that you could eat!  I opened my mouth and some just floated in there.  (I don’t recall a taste, but it was defiantly edible).  At first when I saw it, i thought “is this a plague?”, but then I realised it was something like Manna.

God is building a home, and it’s inside of you!

Just felt the Spirit of God tell me just now that He is looking for a home He can live inside of – and it’s not bricks and mortar buildings!

People – this is talking about Sanctification and the healing journey.  How much time do we spend on activity and other things for Church, and “building” the Church physically versus co-operating with God to make our bodies (lives) a place where God is at home himself?

God wants a home to live in, and YOU are that home.  How about we start to prepare ourselves by co-operating with Him so that He has somewhere He can call home?

Ephesians 2:19-22:
19 That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all – irrespective of how we got here – in what he is building. 20 He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone21 that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day – a holy temple built by God, 22 all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home

“I only do what I see the Father do”

19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

John 5:19 is a familiar piece of scripture, but tonight I got a revelation of what this might mean.

I used to think that Jesus could somehow see the Father (either physically, or in a way that He could watch Him, similar to how we see with physical eyes).  Maybe He could, but the thought hit me tonight – what if “seeing” the Father is actually observing HOW He deals with situations?

Could this be the one of the reasons for trials?  (Jesus went through many trials).  We already know that our trials make us perfect (James 1:2-4), but perhaps it’s our trials that also SHOW us the Father.  HOW He responds to situations SHOWS us His character.

So recently, I have been going through some trials.  I understand the Word of God better than anyone else (of course 🙂 – detect note of sarcasm here)  so when I heard something come from the pulpit recently that I knew was not biblical, how did I react?  First, I just had to tell at least 1 or 2 people: “Look – that’s wrong!  I can show you at least 3 scriptures that prove it!”.  So I judged that person in my heart, and got all upset about it.  I was right, and they were wrong!  I mean, how many people are they leading astray with that!  If I were Father, I would have judged that person immediately!

But do you know HOW Father dealt with the situation?  By striking down that person?  No.  Instead, He dealt with the attitude of MY HEART!  He rebuked ME – and not the wrong teaching!

Wow!  I was amazed.  He is more concerned about the attitude of my heart, than agreeing with me on judging someone else.  ***  Revelation: He really does love us A LOT!  Why?  God’s mercy is incredible!  He is giving everyone the maximum amount of time to repent, including me and including that person too (2 Peter 3:9).

Who am I to judge another man’s servant?  Maybe I needed to get the log out of my own eye before getting the spec out of the other persons eye! (Mat 7:5).

So that day I “saw” the Father.  I saw how He dealt with the situation.  Even though I may have been 100% right, I was actually 100% wrong.  Why?  Because I was judging someone – someone I had no authority to judge.  And even if I did have authority over that person, where was Love? (which bears all things 1 Cor: 13:7, and covers a multitude of sins 1 Pet 4:8).  No – that day, I saw my Father in Heaven – and His Mercy absolutely blows me away!

Fallen brothers

On the 16th of September, I had dream.

We were in camp, but there were many fallen brothers and their dead bodies lay on the edges of the camp.  But they were not covered, and were starting to smell.

So I with some others began to cover them with leaves that were nearby. (We didn’t dig proper graves because the bush was too thick, but there were lots of leaves).

I felt God say to me today (19 Sep) on reflecting on this dream, that this is a warning for believers on two fronts:

1. Don’t play around the edges of the camp – ie. either you are in or out.  It’s time to get off the fence.

2. The leaves are a sign of not having enough oil in the lamp (ie. Holy Spirit).

In Feb 2011, God gave me this vision which I believe relates to this.  In the vision, I saw an Oak tree with all it’s leaves falling off.  They were very dry and crunchy, all falling to the ground.  A few days later I found this verse: Isaiah 1:30  “You’ll end up like an oak tree  with all its leaves falling off, Like an unwatered garden, withered and brown.”   Verse 31: “The strongest among you will disappear like straw their evil deeds will be the spark that sets it on fire. They and their evil works will burn up together, and no one will be able to put out the fire.”

A prophetic picture of the Church

Not so long ago, God gave me a dream which I think shows us a prophetic picture of the Church.

In the first part of the dream, I was on a large plane (something like a 747 or A380).  The plane was packed with people.  The shutters on the windows were all down, and everyone was watching their seat back videos.  I decided to open one of the window shutters, to look outside.  To my horror, we were flying very low to the ground, and close to dangerous mountains.  But no one noticed this because they were all watching their seat back TV’s!  I seemed to be the only one who was concerned!  Why were the pilots flying so dangerously?!

In the second part of the dream, I was on the same plane, but this time there were half as many people on the plane and the window shutters were up and the plane was flying much higher.  It felt a lot safer.  People were generally more aware of their surroundings.

In the final part of the dream, I was in a hot air balloon.  It was extremely windy – and I remember thinking “how can we use this hot air balloon with all this wind?!”.  But somehow, the hot air balloon was fine.  I was in the basket below, with a few other people.  We were being carried along by the wind, when a sudden gust of wind came and blew my backpack off my back, and I watched in horror as it went to the ground.  My first reaction was “Oh no!  My laptop is going to be destroyed!”.  The next minute I was back on the ground, and I found my backpack – and to my amazement, my laptop was fine – except, instead of being the latest MacBook Air, it was an older MacBook Pro model.  Then a voice said to me “I give you these things, but you don’t need them”.

That was the end of the dream.

My interpretation is this:

1. The first part of the dream, this represents the church today.  Powering ahead in its own strength (analogy of a jet plane), packed full of people. However, the pilots (leaders) are piloting the church dangerously close to the ground (world?) but the members of the church are completely unaware because they are distracted by other things.  Only a few people dare to look outside and see what is really going on.

2. The second part of the dream represents the church some time from now.  Half have fallen away from the faith, simply because the windows shades have been lifted, and the reality of what we are navigating is made known.  But, the church leaders (pilots) have navigated the church much better, by putting some altitude between the world and the people.  The church is in a much better place, however it is still being powered by mostly self effort and not Holy Spirit.

3. The last part of the dream represents the few left after the great falling away.  The plane is gone, and the church is being completely guided by the wind (Holy Spirit).  There are only a few left though.  The wind knocking my backpack to the ground is the work of Holy Spirit removing anything remaining of the world in me.

Is my Faith Genuine?

I felt to blog my current understanding of Salvation – the Christian journey – and what it means to be “saved”.

If you have read any of my other posts, you will see that I have grappled with making sense of God’s gift of Salvation and redemption, when considering the WHOLE counsel of God’s Word, with verses like:

– Without Holiness no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14)

– Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10)

^– Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Mat 7:21-23)

…against the current prevalent teaching in large parts of the church that “Jesus did it all for me on the cross, and there is nothing I need to do except believe that I am made right with God”.

Well, Jesus did do it all on the cross and when I put my Faith in Him at that time (confessed with my mouth and believed in my heart that He died and rose again – Rom 9:10), then I was Justified or “made right” with God.  The penalty was paid for all my sins by Jesus who freely gave His own life for me.

However, I was not transformed in the blink of an eye into the new creation that the Word talks about, because this is a process called Sanctification.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Cor 5:17).  But did you note the condition: “if anyone is in Christ”?

And…Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. (1 John 3:6 NET)

I have come to strongly believe, based on the Word of God, that Sanctification is needed before we can “be in Christ”, and that sanctification is not an optional part of Salvation, but rather, is a key part of it.

So I asked God to show me in the Word, proof of my hypothesis that Sanctification is a key requirement of salvation.  Then He showed me this verse from James:

Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 NET)

James talks about genuine faith being evident in an external way. (But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works – James 2:18).

So it would seem that the Word of God says that it’s not by faith alone that we are saved (this is the start), but it’s by (genuine) faith, in conjunction with grace (which the Strongs Concordance defines as “a divine influence on the heart, with its outworking in the life”), where the grace enables us to overcome the temptations and sin.  And then, after being tested and passing this test, we inherit the crown of life. (James 1:12).

So the teaching that says: “Jesus died on the cross, took all my punishment and sin and shame and now God sees me as righteous. There is nothing I need to do except believe because it has all been done for me”, is a dangerous and false one that actually encourages sin.  (Even if inadvertently or subtly, because it denies the opportunity for believers to examine the “brutal facts” of where their life is at in their walk with God).

So according to the scriptures, FAITH is one element of salvation, but if it’s missing the SANCTIFICATION element, our faith may not be genuine and our salvation and inheritance of eternal life (according to James 1:12) will not be there either.

You see, sanctification requires that we acknowledge the “brutal facts” of where we are at, but at the same time maintain an absolute faith that Jesus will complete the work He started in us and save us (remember: there are 3 tenses of salvation: we have been saved, we are being saved and we will be saved http://lifebythespirit.org/2009/11/23/when-are-we-actually-saved/).

So we know we have been justified by faith, but genuine faith will lead to sanctification by relationship with Holy Spirit, and produce good fruit and eternal life.  Genuine faith will production actions that are consistent with our proclaimed “faith”.  Remember that He is faithful to complete the work He started in you (Phil 1:6).

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:9-11).

Also see: http://lifebythespirit.org/2013/01/21/are-we-still-under-the-law-of-god/ and http://lifebythespirit.org/2012/05/07/the-secret-of-salvation/.

Are we still under the Law of God?

Matt 5:18 “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

Matt 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

So, are we still under the law?

Rom 3:28 “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”

Rom 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

So Jesus Himself said that the law has not been removed, but it is not the law that will save us.  It’s through Faith (and Grace).  That’s good news!

But then we see:

Matt 7:22-23 “On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ ²³ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!”.

So it sounds like we better obey the law after all, but yet we are not under the law?  It sounds like a contradiction!  But it’s not!!

The law has not passed away, instead, it’s there to lead us to Jesus whilst we were still sinners: Gal 3:24: “The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith,” (also see Rom 2:14-16).

Simply put – we are incapable of fulfilling the Law!  (yet our consciousnesses agree that the Law is right and good!).  As we try to do it, we realise we can’t and that draws us closer to Jesus!

Here’s a silly analogy:

You have a simple washing frame that needs to be constructed that you bought from IKEA.  Underneath the pieces of the frame are the instructions on HOW to build it.  There is only one right way to build it (LAW).  But the builder doesn’t possess the knowledge on how to correctly interpret the instructions.

But you have this friend (Jesus) who knows lot’s about putting IKEA stuff together – a bit of an expert. So you ask Him how to do it, and He shows you bit by bit how to construct the frame.

So it’s through Spirit of the relationship – the trust and faith (and grace) of our friend that we manage to construct the frame.

The law has not passed away – it is still good (we still want our Washing Frame to be put together), but we are incapable of doing it on our own, but the result of our friendship with Jesus is that we will begin doing the Law – as a fruit of our relationship!

Rom 7:10-12 “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”

So this is how we manage to end up walking in Truth – not by striving to do the Law, but by being Friends with Jesus, being one with Him in Spirit – by walking in His Spirit as true son’s of God.

Gal 5:16-25: “But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions,²¹ envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God! ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.”

So the bottom line is that we are not under the Law, but under the Spirit – which will produce the same good fruits the Law was originally meant to produce for those who followed it under the old covenant: Holiness.

3 simple steps for the Church to shine as the Bride of Christ

Today I received a revelation.  In this revelation, I believe Jesus showed me 3 simple steps in which His Bride (the Church) will really shine, if she would just start practising these things.

1. Faith and trust in God.  Faith that despite our trying (and so often failing) to overcome, He will complete the work He started in me.  That I WILL finish the race despite all my failings in trying to apply the Word of God to my life.

This removes all striving and condemnation of ourselves and others.  We are saved by Grace through Faith, and although this certainly means we shouldn’t just accept the things that are not right in our life – we should fight them – there will be things in our life that only God can free us from, despite how much we try to apply His Word to the problem.  (2 Tim 2:25-26).  And He will set us free at the right time.

2. How to know what to do?  What am I to do with my life?  Well, we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (be transformed by the renewing of our minds Rom 12:1-2), and go about our business as best we know how based on the Word of God, and here is the key – listen to God’s voice and be yielded to that.  What has the Spirit of God asked you to do?  If every believer just obeyed what the Spirit asked them to do, then the body of Christ would start functioning properly and become healthy!

3. Acceptance of our different roles.  Accept that there are different functions within the body.

“Yes, but that loud Pentecostal church down the road is just a flashy light show – a lukewarm bunch of weak Christians who don’t take the Word seriously” – No!  This is the front door to the church for a lot of those living in the world who have never heard the message!

“But what good are those monks who lock themselves away and never tell one other person the message of the gospel.  What a waste of time!” No!  How do you know what effect their intercession has had for the body of Christ?

“And what about that weird church who cast out demons from people.  They are so over the top!”.  No!  They minister deep healing to those who have deep spiritual issues.

There are MANY functions and roles within the Church, and the sooner the church wakes up to these realities, then she will finally shine as the bride of CHRIST!

Jesus you are GREAT oh LORD!  May I live my life to serve you!

The narrow gate

“Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13, 14 NET)

I used to think this was referring to those who don’t know the Lord taking the wide path that leads to destruction, but that is not what the Word of God says. (John 3:18 says that those who don’t believe in Jesus are already condemned.)

The Word is talking about professing believers ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF GOD – and that there are many who enter through the wrong gate. (Note: the Kingdom of God starts now, which is His reign and rule in your life and the fellowship of believers is His house/body/church).

So there are at least 2 gates to entering the kingdom of God. One is the spacious path and wide gate that leads to destruction. These would represent those who enter the church and hear but do not do the Word of God, yet are still in His house, even doing miracles in His name. (“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23 NET)). But unless they repent they are the ones who will be thrown out eventually for practising lawlessness.

I asked God where is the narrow gate? And He said “at the back of the house”. The narrow gate is hard to find, and few find it. It’s a lonely journey finding the narrow gate because it’s the path of holiness.

You see, a slave (to sin) does not have a permanent place in the house of God but a son does. (Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the family forever, but the son remains forever. (John 8:34, 35 NET)).

Let us find the narrow gate and enter the house of God as sons!

“Knowledge” of the Word versus “believing” the Word.

The other day I was meditating on some scriptures that tell us “by His stripes we are healed” (Isa 53:4-5), and that whatever we ask for in His name if we do so without doubting in our heart, then we will receive it (Matt 21:21). Then I felt the Holy Spirit draw a difference between “head knowledge” and “heart belief”.

There are some things in God’s Word that I truly believe and know will come to pass in my life, and other things I “know” are true, but probably don’t have a strong belief that it will come to pass – at least I don’t know WHEN it will come to pass. But the Word of God says that we just have to ask and believe and it will be done – so I SHOULD know the timing of it!  Jesus – help me with my unbelief!

This is why the church is lacking power and authority today.  We don’t truly believe and we don’t truly know Jesus intimately.  There is much head knowledge, but little evidence of change and God’s power and signs accompanying His people.

Let us return to the Word and truly believe it in our hearts – every word of it – and ask Jesus to help us believe through faith!