Sunday, June 15, 2008
I dream all of the time, have little micro-visions and on occasion, have open visions given to me by the Lord. However, there are times when God calls me to pay attention to what He speaks during certain dates. For some time now, I felt the Lord say He was going to speak specifically to me and on my behalf for a period of three days from June 12-15 with a specific word released on Father's Day.
This morning, Father's Day, I awoke from three dreams that troubled me in the night. Indeed, the Father is speaking significantly to all who have ears to hear.
Pop. sizzle & the substance of intimacy in mid-life ministers
The first dream was this – A young man approached me to talk about a conference I was supposed to speak at. It was an annual conference that had hosted me before. He said he had to break the news that I was not going to be invited to speak at this conference. I just wasn't exciting enough. Others had better stage presence and so they would be invited in my place. At first I thought, "Well, I could work on my stage presence". Then I morosely realized that the audiences of today want youthful pop and sizzle…not substance. And so I resigned myself to moving on. All of a sudden, I realized that I am being called to a season of not holding on to old dreams and visions, but nestling into the arms of the Lord to regain that intimacy where I simply dwell in Him, become filled with Him, and walk as a carrier of His glory.
This dream speaks to my own heart and issues of concern to me & to others who are my age about primarily the fear of ageing and sinking thinking that we have not yet begun to fulfill the old visions and dreams that God had once given us in the days of my youth. The word to all who are my age – late 40s and into their 50s – is this: Forget the former things, forget the pop and sizzle, nestle in for a season of deepening relationship and intimacy with the Lord and see what He brings out of you during this next season in your life. It is ok, in fact, you have permission, to step aside from the crowd and hide away with Jesus for a while…until your light so shines that all will see the glory of the Lord in you and through you.
Who has taken over the house and who is sleeping in my bed?
The second dream was this - I was coming home from this present assignment and hoping to make the morning worship service at Bethel Church
In real life, I am coming home on July 24 after begin away on a work-related assignment for four months. The date of July 24 will be very significant for apostolic resource centers like Bethel
God is calling provincial leaders to come (Nehemiah 11:1-3) to "Jerusalem
They will become students like the youth but they will have a degree of intimacy with the Lord and revelation of heaven that will rival the youth in our midst. Their presence will provoke us all to greater intimacy with the Lord, a new level of holiness and yielding to the Lord's presence, and a desire to be completely clean before Him. They will show us how to rest in Him and how to worship in new ways.
Giant waves are about to collide & end apostolic/prophetic divisions and economic ruin
The third dream was this – I stood on the ocean shore watching the body surfers surfing and suddenly realized that a rogue wave was coming in from another direction. Two huge waves rose up to collide with each other. The young and the old in the water looked up in fear. Would they survive? No one could surf these waves. The young adults looked determined to yield to the power of the colliding waves. The young children would certainly survive because their bones were supple. It was the older crowd that needed to relax and tumble within the waves. It they stiffened up, their bones would surely break and they would be tumbled and pounded into the sand. The waves collided. The lifeguards stood by onshore, ready to go after the survivors. One by one, the people washed ashore…Some were dazed but all who were in the water emerged completely unharmed.
Isaiah 51:15-16 says this, "You who carry the word of the Lord get ready. The Lord is churning up the sea so that its waves roar!"
There are two waves about to collide. But this dream has a double meaning and speaks of the ending of division and double thinking. There will be colliding waves of economic ruin and economic provision. There will also be colliding waves of the present divisions in the prophetic/apostolic movements that God is thrusting into unity. Since September 11, 2001, the church has become divided economically and spiritually. Giving has been down and the work of the Holy Spirit has been slowed by the lack of giving to the work of the ministry. The Holy Spirit has also been grieved by the divisions that have emerged as apostles and prophets strive to protect their revelation and the outworking of their callings. Both leaders and the people have been suffering needlessly.
Nehemiah 9:32 is showing us that owning up to our wrongdoing is the way out, "Now therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God who keeps His covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes – the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. In all that has happened to us you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong."
The call from God in this hour is to examine our ways and know this – The Lord is mighty and able to bring us all into alignment with His purposes, provision, and favor during dark hours of division and economic woes.
The call to the leaders is to yield to the coming clash of waves. For the waves cannot be divided any longer. The divisions in the apostolic and prophetic movements will come together forcefully, in an instant as the Lord releases a rogue wave to do His bidding. In fact, that rogue wave may have already been unleashed. Many, many youth are looking up and seeing the new wave building as it approaches and threatens to crash into this current set of waves that have been rolling in on a predictable pattern over recent years. Many current leaders are not even aware of what is about to hit.
The call to the people is to move in the opposite spirit during this season of economic fears. You can choose economic ruin by holding on tightly to the meager provision you have out of a fear that the Lord will not take care of you. Or you can choose economic provision by giving and receiving…keeping the spiritual economy of God going and reaping the benefits. The blessings of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 are contingent on one thing – giving to the Lord generously, not out of compulsion but willingly.
I have never been one who tithes. However, I am being convicted to tithe consistently rather than sporadically during this season of world-wide economic problems. I have been one who gives 10% one month, less on other months, and yet give to individuals at the slightest prompting of the Holy Spirit. Does it add up to a tithe of my overall income? Maybe. Some months I give more. Some months I give less. Does God care where my money goes? I believe that He is releasing the word that He does care to support the leaders of the Church who are doing the work of the ministry – not just for the care of the building that houses the sheep, but feeding the poor, assisting widows and orphans, healing the sick, setting the captives and oppressed free, and equipping others to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. And so, I am being convicted to tithe regularly, 10% to the local church because my church leaders are actively involved in promoting the nature and the works of Christ on the earth.
Giving will release the power of the bigger wave of the Spirit of favor and blessing to us and overcome the lesser wave of fear of not having enough to meet our own bills and living expenses. We are in a new season where the saints who yield to faith will prosper while those who try to stand rigid in the wave will be crushed by fear of its colliding powers.
Give and it will be given unto you…bless your bothers and sisters, dwell together in unity and there the Lord will bestow His favor. My hope is that the rogue wave that is about to crash will release such awareness of His love and compassion that our hearts melt for one another in the coming days and years – divisions will end and giving will increase if we focus on Him, nestle into His arms and seek greater intimacy.
Julia Loren
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