Dream: The Glory of God or the Glory of man?

I had a dream last night where I was in a nice church...one of the many "seeker friendly" churches out there nowadays.  (Just so you know, I love these kinds of places!  Every time I've went to them, the Holy Spirit ministers to me.  But I think God wants to purify our motives...)

So, back to this church, there was some sort of youth ministry going on, and everyone was singing and worshiping and acting all excited. Something wasn't quite right, though.

There was a hardness to the worship that caught me off guard.  The musicians on stage were having fun -- and not necessarily in a good way.  They were going through the motions, trading out the worship of our Father for a show (2 Tim. 3:5).  There was some egotism evident there.  It was really sad. Vanessa and I were sitting up near the front, and I was watching these people, many of them my age, singing along with the band and just going through the motions, also.

This significance of all this was heightened because of how it contrasted what God was doing with me.  I felt such Love; I felt so much of Yahweh's presence.  I became pretty overwhelmed, and sorta just slumped over in my chair and kept checking out this scene. There was one teenage girl in particular that I felt bad for.  I could tell that her heart just wasn't in it; though she was doing some stuff right, she was missing out on the power of the Spirit.

The rest of the teens in the church were much the same.  I longed to tell them that it could be better.  I longed to tell them that they were falling short of the party.  I wanted to say, hey, God has a better way for you than this...but I just didn't have the words.  Plus, I was plastered to my chair under the weight of His glory and probably couldn't have moved a muscle even if I wanted to.  In retrospect, I think God put me into that symbolic scenario simply so I could observe

Sadly, this whole "let's go to church and not really love on God" mentality is something I've also seen played out in real life.  It's tragic to see people so close but yet so far.  People who sit there listening like they're watching a realllllyyy boring TV show or something.  Their hearts have not been awakened -- a veil of sadness is still there (2 Cor. 3:14).  They've never tried really seeking Him, and consequently have never realized that He's already been found (Proverbs 8:17).

Guys, God is fun!  He's a wonderfully burning Love (Song of Songs); He's incredibly powerful.  He's worthy of your fear (Psalms 119:120), He's worthy of your admiration and worship.  There is an ecstasy of divine exchange that comes with loving Him (John 3:30).




"God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth."     ~John 4:24

Snapshot: The Fear of the Lord

In a vision recently, I saw a tempest, dust clouds and thunderclouds.  And the Lord quickened to me what I was seeing.

"Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire."                        Isaiah 29:6

And with that sight came the fear of the Lord.  It was literally awesome.  I realized that the Lord was gracious to impart such a feeling to me--He was gracious to help me understand what it means to fear Him, what it means to stand in awe.

Now, there is no fear within God's perfect love (John 4:18), but we need to realize that this does not exclude a healthy kind of fear of the Lord.  If we fear God--if we come before Him in submission, reverence and awe--then we will not be fearful of anything else.  We can take from the below verse a strong exhortation and understand that a biblical fear of God will drown out anything else:

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."                             Matthew 10:28

That's a strong message, but we can look at the context and realize that it's truth is meant to make us share God more boldly among others.  It's meant to motivate us to shine from the hilltop (Matthew 5:16) and speak whatever the Holy Spirit prompts us to say.    Fear of the Lord is not meant to make us timid--it's meant to spur us on to boldness and power evangelism!  It's meant to make us know that we really only have to please just One.

"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling..."             Philippians 2:12

Here's another strong exhortation, and it's not meant to make us fearful.  Instead, we need to have reverence and respect towards the commands God has given us.  We need to work towards obedience so that the salvation of our daily life is attained to.  (Note that our souls have already been saved--but God wants to save our works also!)  We need to reach the fullness of salvation, and this verse says that we can do it by continuing in obedience.  Now, usually it is Christ's love that should compel us.  (2 Corinthians 5:14)  And usually, it does!  But sometimes, situations get harder--more intimidating-- and we need to be motivated out of reverence and fear of God.

I think that fear of the Lord is a concept lacking in the Church today!  It doesn't seem as fun as other topics.  But we need to understand that it's a command of God that He made for our own good.  We need to understand that God is good, His law is good, and His motives are good.  And He has laid down precepts--fearing Him is one of them--that are to be fully obeyed. (Psalms 119:4)

"My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws"        Psalms 119:120

Be Bold And Very Courageous...What's Next?

"And he said to the Israelites, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, What do these stones mean?

You shall let your children know, Israel came over this Jordan on dry ground.

For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over,

That all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you may reverence and fear the Lord your God forever."


Joshua 4:21-24

So, we've stepped over.  We have seen God's promises, met the conditions, claimed them, and stepped out in faith.  And then we've reached them, and they have become reality in our lives!  What next?

Well, we cannot forget what God has done in the past.  We can't forget the acts of His goodness.  We need to diligently keep all of the testimony that He's given us (Deuteronomy 6:17).  We need to remember, and not forget, so that our fear and reverence of the the Lord does not fade.  Instead of letting the past grow dim, we need to meditate on it!  (Psalms 105:5)  We need to keep it in our awareness so that we can build upon our view of the character of God.

Now we can go into the future.  Now we can walk in those things that God has already prepared for us.  There is a pathway that leads to synchronicity in blessing, and all we need to do to shift onto it is step out in faith.  There is a path through life that is full of hope.  And all we need to do it hold on to the promises!

"And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed Him."  

Luke 5:11

So, we cross the Jordan, and then we leave all else behind and walk by Jesus into the land our promises.  We forsake all, and follow Him.  That's what it takes.  We have to walk by faith, not by sight, as the path we're on grows brighter and brighter.  We have to patiently wait until God fulfills more and more promises.  We have to wait until our reality is entirely His reality, and His Word fills all things in our lives.  This is where He makes our way perfect (Psalms 18:32).  This is where He perfects our surroundings (Psalms 138:8).

Now, I know that Luke 5:11 above is not in context related at all to the Jordan crossing seen in the book of Joshua.  But I also know that God's Word is alive and dynamic and active.  And I know that the Lord gave me Luke 5:11 as a way to demonstrate how to move forward even after the attainment of promises.

We need to attain the promises, and then go on to full devotion, full maturity.  We need to be full of hope, boldness, and truth.  And we can only have these things if we walk with Jesus.  We can only have the fruit of the Spirit if we are drawing nearer to Him.  Let's yield to the leading of God today.

  

God's Wisdom

Wisdom has been a strong theme recently.  We need wisdom to know how to align with God.  What would He have us do?  What would He have us say?  What would He have us think?  Wisdom is personified by the Holy Spirit.  Wisdom is godly, truthful knowledge.

James 3:13:  "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show his works out of good conduct and with the meekness of wisdom."

So once we have wisdom, we can show it by demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit.  We can do good, and also be humble enough that we can be generous with our right hand, while not letting the left hand know what we're doing (Matthew 6:3).

I've also been reading Proverbs.  This morning, I received a vision of a highway, long and narrow.  I knew it symbolized the focused path the Lord God wants we on.  A few moments after this, I read Proverbs 15:19.

"The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway."

The Lord confounds the wicked, but those who have wisdom are set above.  Narrow is the path we need to stay on to keep following wisdom.  If we walk humbly with God and His wisdom, He will guide us along this Highway.  He will guide us with such accuracy; He will even number our steps for us!  This can all happen because God has pre-ordained things before time began.  When we get away from God, He often frustrates our efforts and takes our rest.  Return to Him!

"Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning and even among fools she lets herself be known."  Proverbs 14:33

Wisdom is kept in the hearts of those who follow God.  That's because the Holy Spirit, our seal, gives us this wisdom.  If we yield to the Spirit, we are those called "discerning", and wisdom will not be taken from us.  We need to keep the Spirit, and it's wisdom, at all costs.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."  Proverbs 9:10

Fear of the Lord, reverence and awe of Him, is where wisdom starts.  There is so much knowledge out there, and not all of it magnifies God.  We need to fear God, and stay under Him, to stay safe from lies and false ideas.  If we fear Him in the right way, He can then reveal to us hidden knowledge.  Knowledge is only useful from His perspective.  His knowledge is called wisdom!  And we cannot expect to have true wisdom without first relying on our Creator.  We need to hold onto His love as we are taught more and more.  God's perspective is the only one that counts.