The Agenda of God’s Rest

This week, I dreamed that I was at a public worship event. I sat in a large oval amphitheater. I do not remember anyone singing. It was though everyone present was just sitting in their seats. Suddenly, a fog began to fill the arena. It thickened as it came. Though I have never seen this manifestation in real life, I knew instantly that this was the manifest Presence of God. I closed my eyes and chose to simply rest in this place. Off to one side of me, a man spoke up. He was offering his opinion about what we should do next. He was not prompted by the Holy Spirit. He spoke out of his own earthly wisdom. Immediately, the visible Presence of God lifted, everyone got out their seats, and left the amphitheater. It was very disappointing.

In my teen years, I wanted two things in life more than anything else. I wanted to know/experience/be intimately connected with God, and I wanted to be used by Him to serve others. Experiencing God’s Presence was such a wonderful treat that I determined inside that I did not qualify for it. To make up for that, I made an internal covenant with myself that I would strenuously serve God outwardly and pray inwardly until I felt deserving. It never worked well. The only time that I could really enjoy God was when I used my spiritual gifts to minister to others. It was in those moments that I become a conduit that I experienced the touch of God flowing through me. Of course, I did so with the knowledge that I was serving others mostly so that I could get a taste of what God was giving them through me. I am not exactly where I was in my teen years. I have been healed enough to see how broken I was then, and how broken I am now. The difference might be that I know that God wants to be with me now, right here in my brokenness.

God will allow his people to slave away for him as the older brother did, but then we are not really working with him. The younger brother who has completely failed and yet been lavished with kindness is the one who rests in Father’s Presence. I believe that we are approaching a time when God will manifest in amazing ways, but there is a price to be paid: Our agendas must die. Our labors must cease. We must be willing to rest in his Presence. There will be a time to be used by him and to labor with him, but we must be willing to become saturated in the atmosphere of his glory first. Heaven will not partner with fleshly effort. God is still looking for those who would worship him in spirit and in truth.

Radiant Love

Have you ever stood close enough to a person who is overflowing with the Spirit of God that you felt God’s Presence radiating from them? There are plenty of anointed people who can function in a spiritual gift, but there is a difference when someone is releasing the Presence of God from their being. Those are people that I just want to sit near so that I can soak in that atmosphere.

Last night, I dreamed that a man walked by where I was standing. Later in the dream, I found out that he was another believer, but I did not know that in the beginning of the dream scene. He was an ordinary middle age man, but he had something special flowing from his being: Love. When he walked by me, I felt very tangible love moving outward from him.

As Christians, we try to love people, both through an emotional affection and through practical kindness. Oftentimes, I find that it is a love that is intentionally produced for a specific person or group. This love in the dream was different. It was warm and inviting, and yet, it was an identity in itself. It did not exist solely for my benefit or as a response to me. It existed and was stable in itself. It radiated from the man in the dream. I wanted to walk up to him and hug him just so that I could keep experiencing this love.

It gives me hope that God will yet release a love through us that will be radically different than what our best efforts can produce. This dream also inspires a renewed hunger in my heart for the love that I experienced. There is more to the Presence of God that we can imagine. Jesus is complete and stable in his own person, and he invites us to enter into his Presence.

Ownership of the Harvest

Last night, I dreamed of a coming harvest, an in-gathering, a revival of the peoples. It occurred in the workplace. I saw rapid growth of what had been planted and which had germinated. Jesus said to me, “This is MY flock; I will gather it. This is My harvest; I will grow it”. There is a coming revival that will be different than what we have seen before. Jesus is taking personal ownership of these ones coming into the sheep fold. Notice that he did not tell me that it would be his flock and his harvest, as in a future tense. Even though the flock is yet to be gathered and the harvest grown, Jesus sees them as already existing and as belonging to himself. He has envisioned it, and he will bring it to past.