Snapshot: Fire as Protection

Yesterday the Lord showed me a vision where my path was hemmed in.  Walls of fire surrounded me, leading me down my desired path.  This has been a recurring vision for me.  Sometimes I get it for others, sometimes I get it for myself.  Either way, it relates to the Lord's hedge of protection--the fiery seal of the Holy Spirit-- directed around the path of His children.  There's always a sense that He's just anointed it that way.  There's just a sense that it's predestined.  

This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls..."

Jeremiah 6:16

God has placed around each of us a hedge of protection.  He's placed on all of us His seal.  He's placed within all of us His Holy Spirit.  And He's placed a firewall around our path.  He's prepared for us all a perfect way, a place where blessings rest.  

If you are not walking in blessings, than you may not be on this path.  You may not be on the highway of holiness (Isaiah 35:8).  You may not be laying hold of all that the Lord has for you.  See, the enemy cannot touch you if you're surrounded by Holy Spirit fire.  He can't get to you if you're totally submitted, totally obedient, totally sacrificed--if God has totally hemmed you in.  When you're on God's path, only goodness can touch you.  And this path is where all of us need to be.  Pleasing and being pleased by the Father.  This is the path God wants us on--the path He's prepared for us since the beginning of time!

"Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God."                                      Deuteronomy 28:2-3

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."                                                  Ephesians 2:10

Snapshot: A Dim Mirror For Now

A few days ago, God started doing a new thing in the visions He gives me.  I think sometimes He likes to throw us off a little.  Our ways are not His ways, after all (Isaiah 55:8) I started seeing words written in reverse, as if I was looking at them in a mirror.  This happened a few times, and seemed to happen when I was praying for others.  The fact that these words and phrases were written backwards baffled me for a little while.  Then, I was praying for a friend and I saw another phrase drawn out in reverse:

"God conquers all"

So, I saw this being written out backwards, and finally I got it.  The Father gave me enough wisdom to understand what He was saying... I realized that these words were going out to my friend as a message from God.  I realized that The Lord was showing me the spiritual significance of my intercession for them.  Through my prayers, a spiritual message was sent to this person from the Light.  What was the message?  That God conquers all!

And I realized that they would see this from their perspective as a message coming from the Lord.  I realized that God was granting me a taste of the spiritual world in showing me that a message from Him was going out from my prayers.

In a way, my prayers--all of our prayers--are marked by the Lord as being sent from His Spirit.  They come labeled with a message from God.  What I've learned from these visions is a new conceptualization of prayer.  I've realized that the receivers of our prayers are getting a message sent from us, to God, to them.  God does this regardless of whether we perceive it or not (Isaiah 43:19).

"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit..."
Ephesians 1:13

God gave me a glimpse of what prayer really looks like.  I understood a small measure of what intercession actually did.  The sender of God's goodness can indeed perceive power going out from Him.  Jesus was finely in touch with this (Luke 8:46).  I, on the other hand, still see dimly.  I needed manufactured phrases to perceive that God was flowing prayerful power through me.  Still, God is so faithful to help us understand a hidden concept.  He is even willing to put the concept into English!  His Spirit is teaching us new things.

The recipient of prayer receives a touch from God.  They receive a message, from God, that often was distributed through the mind of someone else.  They receive from God a message, in this case, that He conquers all. They receive His presence and His love as a reward.  They may not understand this completely or be totally in touch with the spiritual world, but God works regardless!

"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."  1 Corinthians 13:12

Glory to God that if we believe, we will have whatever we ask for in prayer (Matthew 21:22).  The answer may not be immediate.  For now, we only see dimly.  We have a conceptualization of the truth that has not yet reached fullness.  We may not understand exactly what we're up against in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).  But that's OK!  Seeing in part is better than not seeing at all!  I feel so blessed by the Lord for Him to have taught me so well already.  I'm thankful to see in part.

But God can reveal more!  God wants to reveal more!  He wants to give us the Spirit of revelation.  He wants to give us eyes to see.  He wants to cut through any fog or confusion on our behalf.  He wants us to be in tune with the spiritual, but more than that, in step with HIS Spirit.  That's what keeps us safe.  That's what marks us as His own.  That's what seals us.  The Lord is ready to show us more.  Have we received from Him wisdom and the Love required to lead us into all truth?

Snapshot: The Consuming Fire

"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."  Deuteronomy 4:24

I've had this brought to my attention recently.  God wants to burn up the things that we might be tempted to idolize.  He wants to separate us from our distractions so that we ourselves do more than just escape "as through fire"  (1 Corinthians 3:15).  He wants to begin testing us now, so that we can begin passing now!  Why wait until a day of rebuke?  I don't want to, and God doesn't want me to either.  If we let Him consume us and destroy our idols, we can have assurance that our works will be done for His Glory alone.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).  And if we love Him, we will obey His Will and our works will stand the test of His judgement.

Confirmed:

A few days ago I was reading an article on the Happy Hunters, a husband and wife team who ministered in healings and miracles starting in the 1970's.  They talked about the fire of God, and how a hunger for Him was necessary for an outpouring of the Spirit to take place.  Charles Hunter was mentioned as commanding healing on those in the audience.  When he did this, some watching saw fire come out of his hands.  This fire is the power and character of God.  It is joy unspeakable and full of Glory.   Often during healings we see that the person being healed gets a warm, tingling, or even burning sensation in the part of them that was afflicted.  God is at work when the fire of His presence is there.

Confirmed:

I was on the Quickened Word Forum and there was a topic on the purification that God gives us, and how it is a process of fire.  This post was pretty much matching what God had started speaking to me a few days prior.

Confirmed:

My Father in law just bought a sealant called "Fire Seal".  This happened after the two confirmations above.    Sealants to me always remind me that God has sealed me as His own.  In this case, this means that He allows us to go through fire so that we can be purified and remain in Him!


If we are not desperate for Him, it's only because we've been yoked with the world and do not know just what we are missing.  Friendship with the world is more than a turnoff to God.  Draw near to Him, and He will come in like a fire and consume you.  There is always a redemption when we die to ourselves.  Let's be purified before Him today.