Getting Ready...understanding dreams

Getting Ready….Understanding Dreams

4/05/09

I have journeyed with a couple of friends in the faith over the last couple of years asking the Holy Spirit to teach us about dreams…understanding and interpreting them. I believe God wants us to desire that. It has been a very rich, deepening experience…we all have learned a lot and are having the eyes of our heart opened in new ways.

Everybody dreams. Everybody.

God is the originator/inventor of dreams. They are His idea…His language.

We don’t “make” dreams happen at night…they just do.

The bible many stories with dreams by different people. Each one was used significantly in the unfolding plan of God. The bible says that God still speaks through dreams today.

Are we trying to discern, through the Spirit, what He is saying to us (and through us) in this visual language that is in every person?

As we begin to go before our Maker with our dreams and sit at His feet daily to learn and discover His voice in them, it is one of the most fascinating journeys! I thank God He has put that desire in me to be a student of dreams and to learn. What about you?

Perhaps in the turbulent times ahead, being able to interpret dreams by the Holy Spirit will be a way to help others know Jesus Christ…perhaps they will listen to us because we will be able to accurately reveal what only God knows…and Has shown us to tell them.

Wouldn’t that be worth the journey now?

Did you dream last night?

Getting Ready...the real picture

Getting Ready…the real picture.

3/30/09

“And the kings of the earth,

the great men,

the rich men,

the commanders,

the mighty men,

every slave and free man,

hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,

and said to the mountains and rocks,

“Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and

from the wrath of the Lamb!

For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Revelations 6:15-17

In light of all that is happening in the news and all those people who have been seduced

by the enemy into the world system….that seems so big and powerful and in control…

these verses give us the real, true picture of the vast power and greatness and strength and majesty of our God and King!

The wrath of the Lamb is for those who rebel against the Great King of all who so loved us (the wretched sons of adam) that He sent His only Son as the blood sacrifice for OUR sins…to free us…so we can love, know and obey this Great King….

Forever.

Can we be ashamed of Him in light of that?

And He has graciously given us another Helper, the Holy Spirit to help us today…every day….every moment. He Himself is all we need….and He is living IN us!

What a mystery!

Enjoy the Gifts He has given you today!

Getting Ready...His return

Getting Ready….His return.

3/23/09

The story told by Jesus Christ of the Ten Virgins is a visual of what you and I are to be about today….preparing and waiting for the return of the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus.

Do we really WANT Him to return? Or have we become so settled in this earthly life, that what is happening here and now is all that is important?

We are His. We have surrendered all of our self to Him.

What is important to Him is important to us now.

Jesus’ return is important to Him. It WILL happen.

If our hearts are indifferent or have grown cold to His return, please stop for a moment and whisper to the Holy Spirit…”I am cold to Jesus’ return, and I don’t want to be anymore. I repent of my self-centeredness and ask you to cleanse me in the blood of Jesus. Now come and make my heart ready and waiting and looking for the return of the Lord Jesus. I want to be about my Father’s business too. Thank You, Lord!”

“He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Revelations 22:20

Getting Ready...small is good

Getting Ready….small is good.

3/9/09

I began this “Getting Ready” series of devos December 29, 2008. At that beginning time, the Holy Spirit gave me all of these you have been reading. This is the last one from that time. I exhort you to continue to get ready…take it to heart.

Every thing in our American culture points and educates us to be “independent”…get out on your own…pull yourself up by your boot straps. But this is contrary to the cross of Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:18 teaches us,

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Simply put, the message of the cross is that our flesh needs to die daily…our right to our self….”me” first. When we invited the Lord Jesus into our lives, we “surrendered” ALL of our self to Him. We are no longer our own…we’re His. That means we give up the right to call our own shots.

This is not just because we “should” (it’s the right answer), but because the Holy Spirit has shown us how “small” (inadequate) we really are in our selves….paupers…and how dirty our hearts are on our own…and how wayward we are without Him daily (it’s as easy as breathing).

But as the Holy Spirit reveals our smallness, He then can show us God’s bigness. Seeing our smallness is the doorway to God’s bigness. And because God is so big and so great and so humble, His way of love is to reveal this in the small things of our life daily…I pray we will have eyes to see them…how beautiful He is and how much we need Him!

Getting Ready...becoming an expert

Getting Ready….becoming an expert.

1/18/09

expert : A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject.

In these days of preparing for what we as Christians will face with rejection and hardship, In what area is God preparing us to be an expert the most?

Relationships.

And who wouldn’t like to be an expert at relationships?!!

We encounter people in everything we do and everywhere we go.

Jesus is not after “the right behavior” with our relationships…He’s after loving others from our hearts where He lives and reigns.

Have you experienced how much help you need in doing this yet? I have!!!!

We can’t get past the fact that our own flesh loves itself more than it does God or others. It has to die so that Jesus through the Holy Spirit can bring “a new way” to love

others…to be in relationship. We are commanded to love God first and then love others as we do our self. That fulfills everything.

*Let’s ask Him to lead us in becoming an expert at forgiving.

*Let’s ask Him to lead us in putting others first instead of always thinking of ourself.

*And, let’s ask Him to help us make our family the strongest relationships we have.

(If it works at home, it will work in the church and in the world.

And the opposite is true as well.)

All of this is preparing us for the highest honor in relationships…loving our enemies.

This will be where the world will receive the greatest impact of God’s love through us.

After all, God won and pursued us when we were His enemy.

How will this happen when we are hated? ”Jesus said, “I am the way…”

Getting Ready...store up

Getting Ready….store up.

2/10/09

What could you assume about front line soldiers who have very little ammunition?

“They’re not going to last very long if the enemy pours in on them”.

We are soldiers of the Lord Jesus and we will need plenty of ammunition when the fighting gets fierce in the days to come.

The squirrels store up nuts for the winter…God put that impulse in them so that they

won’t starve when the trees aren’t producing food for them anymore.

They still have to work at storing up continuously when food is there…they can’t sit back and do nothing or they will die. They intuitively know this, so they take it very seriously.

What is God prompting us to store up in our hearts?

His words. They are life to us…they are living….they are powerful!

An important part of getting ready for the days ahead is to memorize scripture continuously. We will want a huge bank for the Holy Spirit to draw from when trials come.

^{HYPERLINK "http://www.searchgodsword.org/desk/?query=heb+4:12&sr=1&t=nkj"} For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

The best way to “store up” is:

“a little at a time”.

Drop a little in your heart today. Then do it again tomorrow. And the next day after that…

Why not keep a slip of paper with a verse (or a line from a verse) in your pocket. Every time you reach in your pocket for a coin or cell phone or whatever….the paper will become a friend to remind you and help deposit God’s truth in your heart.

Getting Ready...paying attention

Getting Ready….paying attention.

2/15/09

The story that the Lord Jesus told about the ten virgins, is a story about waiting and looking and being ready. What if you missed your flight to the Hawaiian islands (a life long dream that you had planned for many years) because you got distracted at home watching the latest TV reality show?

God wants us to take up a very serious watch and vigil and readiness in these days. It is our time to “get ready”. It is not only for His second coming, but also for His coming in our daily moments. How often has Jesus passed by us and we never even saw Him?

When we apply ourselves to “getting ready” in our hearts, every thought and action and word in that direction is like “investing” in the future God wants to give us (the same as He wanted to give the children of Israel by going into the promise land). John the Baptist’s message was, “prepare ye the way of the Lord”. Now, the body of Christ is being given the same exact message….”prepare ye the way of the Lord”! We do this by preparing our own heart so that God can use us in preparing other hearts.

We must be ready out of our great love for the Lord Jesus. We must.

And we have mercifully been given a Helper to prepare us step by step for the days ahead. He is speaking…He is leading. He knows exactly how to get us ready.

Are we paying attention to Him?

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is speaking to the church”.

Jesus Christ, Revelations

Getting Ready..."the" voice

Getting Ready…”the” voice.

1/25/09

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “today, if you will hear His voice,

do not harden your hearts….” Hebrews 3:7,8

What does the voice of the Holy Spirit sound like to you?

If someone asked you to describe it, what would you say?

Can you easily spot it in the midst of all the voices you hear daily?

Is His voice distinctive to you above all others?

It will need to be in the coming difficult days. There will be much confusion and hardship and rejection for each of us that love the Lord Jesus. We will have to rely on Him to carry us through moment by moment.

But our relationship with Him will blossom and grow like never before!

If we don’t know His voice by then, it will be very difficult to try and learn ….many who do not know His voice will easily cave in and fall away. The pressure will be too great.

But, it is not too late, now…

Why not ask Him to teach you….starting now .

Ask Him….and surrender yourself to Him and become a student of hearing “the” voice.

It is one of the most thrilling things there is in this life!

You might hear something like this…

“I love you…I always have. I always will. Do not fear the days ahead because I am with you and I will not leave you. We have many adventures together ahead!”

Getting Ready...waste not

Getting Ready…waste not.

1/11/09

Time is a gift from God to me. Once today’s time is gone, I can never get it back.

The river of life never flows backward…only forward…and it does not take a rest.

I entered eternity when I said “YES” to Jesus in my heart.

I gave Him all because He already gave His all to me.

I know that he made me for a special purpose He has.

I can only walk in that purpose (that carries my highest potential as a person) if I am listening and responding to Christ’s leading through the Holy Spirit.

When I waste time, I am wandering away and choosing to reject the One who made me and seeks my best all the time. I am choosing to turn a deaf ear from the One who perfectly cares about me and thinks loving thoughts about me all the time.

When the Holy Spirit shows me this, I can cry out for grace

to run back to Jesus and repent because I missed Him and

want to please Him and have unbroken fellowship with Him.

Out of love, I surrender all of myself and time resources to Him once again.

In these preparation days, I desperately need to stay mindful of the gift of time God has given me and monitor whether I am investing it or wasting it. In eternity, I will want to say that I am so glad I made this choice now before it was too late.

Jesus, I choose You…now and always. Help me prize the time You have given me as a precious gift to love You.

Getting Ready....Afraid of whom?

As we continue to prepare ourselves for the days ahead where Christians will be severely tried, let’s look at fear in our hearts…

Getting Ready…Afraid of whom?

1/04/09

“I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, and not be ashamed.”

Psalm 119:46

This verse is impossible for me if I fear man.

God’s cure for destroying my fear of man is to replace it with the fear of God by His love. This is the work of the Spirit of Truth living in me….I can’t do it myself; but I can cooperate with Him.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear…” 1 John 4:18

Perfect love is much stronger than the fear of man.

I picture a very strong man taking another man by the seat of his pants and the back of his shirt and heaving him out the door into the street.

That is what the love of God does to the fear in my heart…

heaves it out of the door of my heart.

And, this is a good reason for me to fear God…He’s God! And He is very powerful in His holiness!

So if this love of God is so powerful, how do I get it?

“The love of God has been poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” Romans 5:5

Getting Ready....First things first

Getting Ready….First Things First.

12/29/08

Here I stand.

Know what your core heart belief is for you.

Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words for this.

Write it down on a piece of paper.

Keep it short.

Work with the wording til you get it just like you like it.

Then memorize it word for word.

You will be a mighty and courageous warrior for the kingdom of God when you are tested in severe circumstances if you know what you believe and have it engraved on your heart. Others will crumble from fear and be overwhelmed….you will not.

Make choices now that you will be glad you made later out of your love and gratefulness and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is vitally important…we’re not in a movie, we’re the King’s men for this part of His unfolding eternal plan.

We don’t want to be “asleep at the wheel”.

I encourage you to try this today in a quiet place.

Getting Ready...let's begin

Getting Ready…let’s begin.

12/29/08

I’m ready to say “so long” to 2008…it has been a year with some very big challenges and hardships for me and my family. As much as I am ready to see it end, neither can I exclaim, “yahoo for 2009!”. We are living in historic days on God’s calendar.

Our culture in America is rapidly moving toward radical change for those of us who love Jesus Christ. Whatever freedom and favor we have enjoyed because we are called “a Christian” is almost gone. Can we imagine what having to face “rejection” on a daily basis in everyday things will be like? Can we imagine what open hatred and open scorn will be like?

I can’t. But I want to “shore up” and be ready.

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

And, here we are…smack dab in the middle of a mud slide down a very steep mountain that is picking up speed and there is very little to grab hold of.

Are we ok with whatever God has for us in the future?

I’m grappling with these issues in my own soul…I sense an urgency to do so.

In the coming weeks, as the Spirit leads, I will be sending thoughts I sense the Spirit is saying to me in order to prepare…thus the name of this writing, “getting ready”. I will only send one thought each time.

The first will come to you in an email that will follow this one.

The Lord bless you….what you bring to others is of great value!