Visions and Dreams
Often, God has been gracious to reveal certain things to me in visions and dreams. The following is a compilation of the visions and dreams I have received from God for the body of Christ. Enjoy and be blessed.
~
The
In the early morning hours of
Our congregation was in a glass church building. It had a glass ceiling and walls. I could see cars in the parking lot and people walking up to the church to join in the service. The church was full of many people that I knew and some that I didn’t recognize. Another amazing thing about the glass church was that it was filled to capacity, not room for one more.
Bro. Ray (my assistant Pastor and Father-in-law) was excited. His lost son was coming to the church this day. He became concerned that his son would not have a place to sit and he might leave. I assured him that his son could take my seat when I went to take the pulpit to preach. It was at this point I awoke from the dream.
As per my daily habit, I immediately began to pray. At first, I didn’t remember my dream but during my prayer time God brought it up from my memory. I ask Him if there was any spiritual significance to it. The following is what God spoke prophetically to my heart:
This glass church represents My church, the true church. The church that many men and women long for.
Not a church building made out of glass, but a transparent church; a church with no hidden agenda.
This is My church; a church of truth and freedom…a sold out church with My agenda only.
There are not many of these churches, but this is the church that I will bless.
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading, understanding, and reception of this word. Amen.
~
The Vision I See
When the spiritual climate changed in the church, the people received greater blessings and anointing from God.
I know from past experience that the Lord moves as He sees fit and any move, blessing, or anointing of God is not in vain but is always for a purpose. I also know that our church is being lead by the Holy Ghost into a position to receive something great.
I was impressed by the Lord to review my sermons from the time of this spiritual up swing. As I did, I noticed a pattern beginning to develop. This is the vision I see, now only from a distance and still veiled. I know as we venture toward God, He will draw near to us and as He does, the vision will become clearer as will our purpose.
1.
God has spoken to the church about seeing clearly. We have grown satisfied with the veiled vision, never seeing the things of God in detail but content with limited vision. Scripture reference Mark 8:18-25. We must develop our spiritual vision and strive for a greater freedom and power.
2.
He also spoke to us concerning righteous indignation. We are supposed to get mad over certain things with a holy anger. If we don’t, how do we expect anything to change. This is our Father’s world and though it has been corrupted by sin, He wants His people to take back those things that the devil has stolen that rightfully belong to the kingdom.
3.
We are to be peacemakers and not peacekeepers. There is a difference and it is not subtle. Peacekeepers live by the philosophy that there must be peace at any price. When people live by this twisted way of thinking, they find themselves as doormats to the world and ready to sell out the things of God that will, at times, cause conflict and change.
We are called to be peacemakers (Mat. 5:9), the children of God. Peacemakers know that Jesus is the only source to everlasting, real, peace. His will must be asserted into any given situation to bring real peace.
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading, understanding, and reception of this word. Amen.
~
CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN
One night I had a dream. Everyone in the church I pastored was trudging along a winding path up a steep mountain side. I stood at the bottom of the mountain and watched their ordeal. I quickly noticed that the ones who had physical challenges were having the hardest time, they would fall yet the look on their face was not of discouragement, even though I could see the great physical pain they were suffering, their look was more of determination.
As I stood there wanting to help I felt a presence to my right, behind me and out of my field of vision. As my concern grew for the weak and physically challenged I believe the angel on my right sensed my anguish and began to explain to me what I was seeing.
The steep mountain was our walk on this earth we have with God. The walk wasn’t an easy one and those with physical limitations where often those who suffered the most.
As he spoke, I noticed that the mountain itself seem to steady them as they stumbled and help them up if they fell. My mind, my emotion, and my compassion caused me to want to scream, “Give up, the path is to steep. I cannot bear to see you suffer and be in pain!” Yet in my Spirit, I knew they must keep going no matter the cost to their physical condition. The end result of the journey would be well worth the price paid.
I wondered why I wasn’t on my own journey up the steep side of the mountain. The angel reminded me that I was their pastor, their under shepherd and the shepherd did not lead the flock from the front, He encouraged the flock from behind.
There is a wonderful reward at the end of life’s journey and the way is not always smooth.
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading, understanding, and reception of this word. Amen.
~
THE VISION OF THE SNAKE
“Impending doom” was the words I used to describe to my wife Melinda, the feeling I had in my spirit on that morning. Like something catastrophic was about to happen and I knew the Lord was gearing me up to receive some new revelation in my spirit. I felt compelled to pray about the matter.
I have learned over the years that you should heed these spiritual feelings as direction from God and never dismiss them.
As was my summer custom, I went on to our deck to pray. I like to sit in the sun and talk to my Father whenever the weather is permitting. I began by worshipping and praising God and then I inquired about some ministry directions I had been concerned about. After only a few minutes in prayer, I could feel my spirit bristle within me as if pure evil was close by. I inquired of the Lord why there seem to be such a surge of evil in the world and why most people seemed so unconcerned.
As I felt my spirit surrendering more and more to His will, I began to see this vision.
It was a large black snake curled up under a bush beside my house. It was yards away from me and impossible to see with physical eyes from where I was sitting. I knew in my spirit, that the snake was there curled up...waiting! I continued to pray, and the vision stayed in my mind the whole time.
While walking back to the house I finally ask God to explain the vision to me. He instructed me to go to the place where I saw the snake in the vision and look for it. I combed the area with my eyes yet I never saw the serpent. I walked along the back of my home but still the snake eluded me. Disappointed, I reached for the back door to go back inside the house.
It was at this point that God spoke to me as plain as I have ever heard Him.
“Did you see the snake?”
“No,” I answered.
“Do you believe there was a snake in the place you saw in the vision?”
“Yes, Lord.”
I had looked carefully, I just assumed that my eyes were too weak to see the snake through his camouflage or he felt the vibration of me coming and slithered off before I got there.
“You were right to believe,” said the Lord, “he was there. This is the way most of the world views evil today. As long as they never see the snake (evil) or it doesn’t directly affect them, they are happy to ignore it. It doesn‘t change the fact that there is a snake there, waiting, getting bigger… getting stronger.”
I came away from my time with the Lord feeling like part of my purpose, or any Christian’s purpose for that matter, is to keep my eyes open to know where the serpent lies and warn those to blind to see.
It is well within His will for us to be aware of the spirit realm. He wants me to be conscience of His continual shaping of my life and ministry if His anointing is to rest on me. I must learn to abandon myself to His constant touch.
I am weak and shortsighted but I desire to be His servant in whatever capacity He sees fit, to bring Him the most Glory.
May the Lord add His blessings to the reading, understanding, and reception of this word. Amen
~
THE THREE DEER
I was praying to God as I was walking for my physical well-being on a bright and sunny Monday morning. I was moved by the Holy Ghost to seek the Lord for some spiritual desires I had concerning His church.
During my walk my soul seemed vexed by a certain situation that had occurred at the church that I pastor the Sunday before. I knew that the actions of some had surely hurt my Father, and my Spirit cried out to Him in anguish over these lost souls. I ask God to let me be the instrument He uses to help these individuals come to Him and be saved.
I walk at a much faster pace than my wife and daughter and was a considerable distance ahead of them when I heard my wife call out to me. I looked back and saw three deer jump the lane that I was walking in. They ran across a cotton field and stopped just short of a tree line where they stood and watched us. It was a very exciting scene and I threw my hands into the air and praised God for allowing me to witness such a sight.
My Father then began to speak into my Spirit assuring me that this was much more than circumstance. He let me know that this was a sign to show me that my prayer had been answered. As He continued to speak I felt a sweet release in my Spirit and suddenly my soul was at rest in Him.
He reminded me of a scripture in the Psalms… as the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. This is what the Lord spoke to me;
The deer will always look for water to quench their thirst as these deer are now.
Though your thirst will be filled from time to time, your thirst for me will never be totally quenched.
It is this thirst for me that keeps you moving toward me so that I may fulfill my purposes for your life.
These deer were behind you as a sign that the answer to the prayer you seek is behind you, it is done.
There were three deer, not one, four or a dozen. This is a sign of completeness. Rest and know that it is done.
I spent the rest of my walk praising Him for His goodness and simply being in awe of an awesome God. I have always believed that we should look for God in the simplest things, He speaks through His creation. Every situation is an opportunity for Him to lead, nurture, and speak to us. The three deer I observed on that Monday morning is a faith fact that I will never forget.
May the Lord add His blessings to the reading, understanding, and reception of this word. Amen.
~
The Parable of the Trapped Cow
Matt 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The cow appeared to be dead. It lay motionless next to the fence row of our neighbors pasture. Melinda and I decided to take a closer look.
As we approached the cow we noticed the creatures rear legs had gotten tangled in the fence. It saw us, and much to our surprise it began to move. Though it’s movements were weak, the evidence of what must have been an all night struggle for freedom, the cow was alive…barely.
I knew the cow would have to be pulled to freedom from the other side of the fence so I decided to call the owners of the cow. I tried numerous times to reach our neighbors but no one was at home.
The only other choice I had was to attempt to cut the fence and free the animal’s legs with hope that the weakened cow would muster enough strength to pull itself free from bondage.
As I carefully made my way toward the trapped beast, wire cutters in hand, I began to pray. Out loud I claimed the promise of dominion (Gen 1:26-28). I also began to speak comfort and peace to the frightened bovine as I cut the wire fence.
The animal freed, I tried to coax her to stand. The cow tried but could only muster enough energy to lift her head. After a few minutes I gave up, but before I left I spoke to the cow again in the name of Jesus…”You’re free, I can do no more! Now you have a choice, get up and walk or lay there and die.”
Because the cow had not moved all day, I told Melinda that I thought the cow was dead. I felt bad but I knew I had done all that I could.
Later that day my daughter Jessica came over. I told her what had happened and we decided to go and see if the cow was still there. To our amazement the cow had managed to stand and was grazing in the pasture with the other livestock.
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading, understanding, and reception of this word. Amen.
~
Encouraging Vision
In my dream I was at work busily readying myself to go preach during my lunch break.
I entered the meeting and was announce as the speaker. I began to speak to the crowd gathered there. I remember feeling as though no one was listening. I was preaching the word as hard as I could but everyone was just milling around being social and not paying any attention to what I was saying.
I remember feeling very disappointed and hurt as I packed up my notes and bible. No one even acknowledged my presence and I felt that I had preached in vain. But, then a strange thing happened…Adrian Rodgers stood up, applauded and shouted Amen. This was a great encouragement.
The thing was, Adrian Rodgers had died a few months before and I felt that he was part o the great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12) rooting us on as we struggle to deliver the word that is sometimes rejected and ignored.
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading, understanding, and reception of this word. Amen.
~
The Day Lilies
One day, God chose to show me a truth about one of His creations, the day lily.
As day lilies grow they stretch and move toward the light of the sun. The day lily will only open it’s bloom during the daylight hours when the sun is bright in the sky. At night they close their blooms as if to sleep.
One day I observed day lilies growing in partial shade. They actually grew parallel to the ground and shot upward when they reached the light. It was only when they could reach the light that they opened their blooms to receive the nourishment they needed from the sun.
God spoke into my Spirit that the simple day lily chooses not to live in the shadows or the darkness. It is only in the light that they open their blooms and are at their best.
The day lily is a complex organism created by God. It’s basic instinct for survival causes it to stretch forth toward the life giving light. The day lily is a complicated creation yet, it lacks a brain.
Human’s have been blessed with a brain and the power to reason. We have been given a free will to choose our own paths in life and we are in no way limited in our movement. God has so provided for humanity that He has supplied the way for eternal life. Man does not have to fade away and die like a flower his life accomplishments can live on forever.
Though we have a brain, some of us aren’t as smart as the day lily. Some of us THINK we can make it own our own strength. We THINK we can survive in the shadows. We THINK we can flourish in the darkness. Our ability to THINK has caused some of us to become so self-confident, so self-absorbed, that we THINK we no longer need the light.
The day lily knows, by it’s basic instinct, what it needs to survive, do we?
May the Lord add His blessings to the reading, understanding, and reception of His word. Amen.
~
bravenet.com
