Dream: Billboard
Dream: Firewood
God is not pissed. Wrath is not happening. Judgment very well could be.
Our sin has it wage – death. America has kicked God out of everything. The liberal agenda represents what hell would have for us. The vacuum created by our removal of the LORD is being filled by the devil. He is opportunistic.
We call evil good and good evil. There is gross tolerance for sin.
God’s goodness provides an answer to problems we dont even know we have.
Look at Moses, Esther and Joseph.
Exodus, Genocide and famine. Did cause those? He caused the Exodus. The devil caused the attempted genocide. Im not sure on the famine yet.
Goodness provided an answer to all three of those events, independent of the origin. For us today, we are on a path of destruction. If we continue down this road, things are going to get completely out of hand, and death will certainly be the result because sin’s nature is to grow, and its wage remains the same. God’s mercy says that an end will be put to this before that happens. And, if mercy triumphs over judgment, then I would argue that this is not about God’s judgment at all.
But, I do believe the church is coming under judgment like one might thing. Judgment begins in the house of the LORD. My position is that the church is repsonsible for our state. We are the front lines to keeping the devil out. Do we pray for our leaders or curse them? How about Donald Trump?
Part of the coming storm is persecution. Glory will be seen.
818 Story:
God was giving me 818 over and over. When He sent me to Nashville in faith in 2017, He told me that it was a butterfly. I was a butterfly, and I was coming out of the “hard places”. My glory would be seen. I would break my foot repenting of tolerating Jezebel and have to come home.
The room my parents put me in had butterflies all over the walls.
Then, the LORD told me to go work at Home Depot. I didnt want to. He sent Chris Faria to me with a vision. He saw me working at Home Depot. NOOOO. Then, a month later (August 2017), I had a dream that I was working in Home Depot and then on staff at Bethel helping to fix its structures. Home Depot equips people to build the house. Bethel is the hosue of God. The LORD told me that I would work in the Garden Department at the Longmont, Home Depot. And, that I did.
The first day I worked there, I got a locker. The lock didnt work so my coach went and got a new one. The combo? 08 18 00. Yup. God was about to do some gardening.
In August of 2018, there were many prophetic words around Deut 8:18. Hey, I love the power to make wealth as much as the next guy.
But, that entire summer of 2017, the LORD had me on Galatians 4 (I kept getting 444) and Romans 8. God says that the inheritance was saved up to the appointed time by the Father. We are now in that time. And, sons (mature sons) are led by the Spirit. And, He connects those two chapters with the Spirit of Adopotion reference, crying out “Abba, Father”. That is a key time that we have entered into.
A Glorious Destiny
18 I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us.[b
The funny thing is that I never read or even thought of Romans 8:18, but that is today’s key. The trials we experience arent to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us. Just like the butterfly, who goes through immense trials worming his way out of the hard places, he eventually comes forth glorious, and shines most brightly in the garden.
The Garden
1 Corinthians 3
8 Now, the one who plants and the one who waters are equally important and on the same team, but each will be rewarded for his own work. 9 We are coworkers with God[d] and you are God’s cultivated garden, the house he is building.Who is Apollos, really? Or who is Paul? Aren’t we both just servants through whom you believed our message? Aren’t each of us doing the ministry the Lord has assigned to us?I was the one who planted the church and Apollos came and cared for it, but it was God who caused it to grow.This means the one who plants is not anybody special, nor the one who waters, for God is the one who brings the supernatural growth.Now, the one who plants and the one who waters are equally important and on the same team, but each will be rewarded for his own work.We are coworkers with God and you are God’s cultivated garden, the house he is building.God has given me unique gifts as a skilled master builder who lays a good foundation. Afterward another craftsman comes and builds on it. So builders beware! Let every builder do his work carefully, according to God’s standards.For no one is empowered to lay an alternative foundation other than the good foundation that exists, which is Jesus Christ!The quality of materials used by anyone building on this foundation will soon be made apparent, whether it has been built with gold, silver, and costly stones, or wood, hay, and straw. Their work will soon become evident, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by blazing fire! And the fire will test and prove the workmanship of each builder.If his work stands the test of fire, he will be rewarded.If his work is consumed by the fire, he will suffer great loss. Yet he himself will barely escape destruction, like one being rescued out of a burning house. – 1 Corinthians 3:5-12,14-15 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Corinthians3:5-12,14-15&version=TPT
I know that this is the true meaning of the 818 that the LORD has been giving me for years now.
The hard places we are about to see involve persecution to the church – yes, even in America.
When I traveled to Nashville for my son’s graduation, I sat next to an 80 something year old farmer. We had a great time together. He so loved the LORD. At the beginning of the flight, he talked on about how much Christianity was growing in Iran of all places. I mentioned China too. And, he said you know what, there is so much persecution going on there, even to the point of death. We agreed that America was fat and happy.
Towards the end of the flight, he starts talking about his home farm. He says, you know, I have a plot of land over here, and it has a crop. And over there, I have another plot. And, when one area produces a harvest, I duplicate what is going on well over on the other area. I knew immediately what he was talking about. God wanted to talk about the coming persecution. You see, the harvest is coming. But, our methods in the western church are not much good. God has a different way of bringing a harvest.
And, when it comes, the local church is no where near ready to properly steward the scale. We preach watered-down messages, tolerate sin (as I said), and build out own idols out of mass-attendance and programs.
The church is coming into correction. So, yes, judgment is coming. But, a verdict in your favor is good judgment. We just have our view of what “in our favor” means. People keep praying for the harvest to come, and God’s fire to fall, and let me tell you, it is going to fall. Glory is about to be seen.
But, the road to that is paved with correction, as I said. And, God corrects the ones He loves. It just so happens that correction doesnt seem all that fun when it happens. And, there are degrees. I have gone through discipline. But, I have also gone through chastening and sifting. Peter got sifted, and by my account, it involves the devil kicking your booty all over the place. Humility is the result. But, there is something to be said when Jesus has to pray for you not to lose your faith. That ought to scare the crap out of some of us.
The local church will be made pure and blameless. Jesus will have a spotless bride.
My own belief is the idolatry is the number one sin in the local church. We are making idols out of the church itself, the programs and even which church we attend.
NLT translation says in 1 Samuel 15 that “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.” Other translations use the word “divination”. There is a lot of witchcraft and idolatry in the church. And, divination is at the heart of much which chokes out the life. That python spirit suffocates what Holy Spirit wants to do. But, we get all stiff-necked and wont move with Him. He must lead what we do. We must bend the knee to Jesus. We must worship Him alone. We must let Holy Spirit have His way.
At all costs, we must pursue the presence of God. And, sometimes the only way we get there is through brokeness. The storm is coming.
I believe that the church has entered a Joel 3 season:
Joel 3 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The Nations Will Be Judged
3 “[a]For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the valley of [b]Jehoshaphat.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land.
3 “They have also cast lots for My people,
[c]Traded a boy for a harlot
And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
4 Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head. 5 Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious [d]treasures to your temples, 6 and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the [e]Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory, 7 behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head. 8 Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation,” for the Lord has spoken.
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men!
Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”
11 [f]Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves there.
Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones.
12 Let the nations be aroused
And come up to the valley of [g]Jehoshaphat,
For there I will sit to judge
All the surrounding nations.
13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread, for the wine press is full;
The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of [h]decision!
For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of [i]decision.
15 The sun and moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
16 The Lord roars from Zion
And utters His voice from Jerusalem,
And the heavens and the earth tremble.
But the Lord is a refuge for His people
And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
17 Then you will know that I am the Lord your God,
Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.
So Jerusalem will be holy,
And strangers will pass through it no more.
Judah Will Be Blessed
18 And in that day
The mountains will drip with [j]sweet wine,
And the hills will flow with milk,
And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water;
And a spring will go out from the house of the Lord
To water the valley of [k]Shittim.
19 Egypt will become a waste,
And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,
Because of the violence [l]done to the sons of Judah,
In whose land they have shed innocent blood.
20 But Judah will be inhabited forever
And Jerusalem for all generations.
21 And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged,
For the Lord dwells in Zion.
God is going to make the church ready for the coming harvest. There is a return to holiness coming.
You see, sacrifice provides the landing place for God’s fire to fall. Just ask Elijah. We really have been pressing in for the fire to fall for a while now. The prophetic declaration of the coming mass harvest and third awakening has been going on for years.
But, we have a part to play in it. We must return to a spiritual discipline that puts God front and center in everything – not in a religious way but with purity and devotion. He wants to occupy His garden. He wants to commune with us and walk with us. He wants our hearts.
David Had to Sacrifice.
It’s funny how we can find history repeating itself. King David sinned a few times, eh? Well one of those comes when he numbered the people. He was taking a hard look at his own resources and moving away from simply trusting the LORD. Warnings came, but he didnt listen.
The result? Oh about 70,000 people died. Yup, the wage of sin is death.
The prophet gives David directions on how to remedy the situation. It involved sacrificing on the threshing floor. The heart is changed there for certain.
And, our key lies in David’s response when Araunah offers to give him all he needs. 24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.”
Like David, sin is destroying our land. It is killing our people. We need the fire to fall. The LORD wants to come with His fire. Holy Ghost fire is coming. Miracles. Signs. Wonders. His Presence! It’s all coming. He wants it more than we do.
If we want the fire to fall, we will start living a life of sacrifice to God – in ways we never did before or we religiously believe are acceptable. We will return to a fear of the LORD. He is holy and worthy of our worship. He alone is God.
If we want the fire – really want it then lifestyles are going to change. Will you sacrifice? Will you give to God something that costs you? How about your life? Isnt He worthy of that?
David’s Census of Israel and Judah
24 Again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, [a]number Israel and Judah.”
2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people.”
3 And Joab said to the king, “Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times more than there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?” 4 Nevertheless the king’s word [b]prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.
5 And they crossed over the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the town which is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; they came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon; 7 and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah as far as Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
The Judgment on David’s Sin
10 And David’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
11 Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ” 13 So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall seven[c] years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
14 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
15 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. 16 And when the [d]angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of [e]Araunah the Jebusite.
17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”
The Altar on the Threshing Floor
18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. 20 Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”
22 Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. 23 All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.”
And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.”
24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.
Jesus said it best. We are to buy from Him gold refined in fire. Yes, the butterfly passes through the hard things before his gold comes forth brilliantly.
But, be encouraged. We will build upon a solid foundation. We will cultivate new gardens of intimacy. And, we will glorify the LORD.
Let’s start today.