GOD HAS A DREAM That We CELEBRATE Each Other's Unique Differences

Having this long weekend to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day with our families this mid-January Monday, we could think of no better time than now to shine God's liberating Light of Truth on an area that satan has gone all-but unchallenged on. Due to a lack of knowledge of God's Word by most people, the devil has been successful at deceiving countless millions of men and women away from the joy of discovering and walking in the purpose for which God created each of us. God's Word teaches us that, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." (Hosea 4:6)

"As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."  (2 Peter 3:16)

A dear friend once said something in a message that taught everyone listening a valuable principle. He said, "If you don't know the purpose of a thing, all you can do is abuse (ABnormally-USE) it."  That same law applies especially where human beings are concerned.  If we do not know the purpose for people and why God has created so many different skin colors, ethnic groups, etc., all we can do is abuse one another.  Until we have pursued, with all diligence, God's written Word, to the point that we can hear His spoken Word -The Person of The Holy Spirit showing us personally- on why God does all that He does the way He does, my advice is do not say a word.  The purpose for a thing can only be found in the mind of the maker of that thing.  Where we individual human beings (being the "thing" referred to) are concerned, the purpose for each one of us, as individuals, can only be found in the mind of God, our Creator and our Maker.  So, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. "  (Matthew 6:33)

Remember this, something I have learned, "People tend to criticize the harshest the things and the people they understand the least."  Why does this happen?  In short, it is a symptom of being afraid of what is unknown.  However, this kind of fear is far worse that your run-of-the-mill fear of the dark.  The fear that I speak of here are wicked spirits that are deployed for the purpose of working to lure us into the trap of casting false judgment against others - a sin that carries with it a deadly price.  Why do they work so intently at this?  Our enemies (satan and his minions) know, far better than most Christians do, that a family must first be unified before they can function effectively.  So, you see, if the enemies can tempt us into condemning ourselves by casting false judgment, they know they can knock out two birds with one stone (so to speak).  By their deceiving us into using our own tongues to condemn ourselves, one "bird" they can knock out is our approval of and favor for one another.  By our allowing ourselves to be used by the enemy, the second "bird" they can knock out at the same time is the unity within God's Family.

Jesus warns us of the price of falling into that trap.  He said, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."  (Luke 6:37-38)  Stop for just a moment and listen to what Jesus is gifting us with here.  Jesus, knowing how satan will use our own lack of understanding of the way God does things concerning the beauty that is His diverse Creation, is revealing to us how beloved everyone is to God and to the fulfillment of His Dream.  Simply put, when we condemn others, we are insulting God, His beloved Children, and the dream He carries in His Heart.  Here again, we find that our lack of understanding God and the reason and the way He does what He does provides satan and his minions with what they need to lure us into condemning ourselves with our own tongues.

If we are going to accurately represent God, we must know Him and His Dream, and work WITH Him to see His Dream fulfilled.  In order to do this, we MUST know that God is the Consummate Family Man!  God was Father way before there were dads on earth.  Everything God does is because of, and for, His children - *all* of His children!  Period.  Let's talk about the Bible for a minute.  Among so many other brilliant things God gave us, the Holy Scriptures are given to us for the purpose of leading us into the unfathomably loving and waiting arms of God.  My wife, Brenda, likes when I put it this way, "From the beginning of the second chapter of Genesis, all the way through to the very last period at the end of Revelation, in short, the Bible is God devising means to get us back around His 'supper table' (you understand that term best if you're from the south)."

You see, everything God has created began with the very first number that He formulated and mathematically arranged, then set into place as the base code of the very first molecule, or the "foundation molecule" for all of creation.  For each molecule to follow, God made changes to one or more digits of the strand(s) of mathematical code, formulating a series of numbers within each strand, for the ultimate purpose of designing everything He ever wants to, never creating any two objects alike.  So, why would God go to such unfathomable lengths to ensure that every single thing He creates is so different?  Because the brilliance in all of His entire Creation is in the fact that He was, and is, able to create everything, not just different but, entirely different because of the way each and every one of His molecules is coded mathematically.  This is what God meant when He said, "Let us make man in Our Image, after Our Likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."  (Genesis 1:26)

What did God mean when He said "Let us make man in our likeness and in our image"?  In part, He was saying that He wanted to create each of us as individuals as well as members of various ethnic groups, with endless potential.  For example, Paul writes, "I  can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  (Philippians 4:13)  To help explain the multiple facets of God, of Whose Image we are created, I would like to share a small part of a brother's account where he prayed one night, before he died, and asked Jesus if he could meet Him in person.  (Please note, I cannot confirm or deny the authenticity of this account.)  Something that this brother said happened toward the end of his encounter, I believe, will provide a good visual for the point that I am making concerning the endless potential of God.  Not long after the brother had made his request, he said that he was taken up into Heaven in the night.  He said that he was greeted at the gate by Father Abraham.  He said that Father Abraham, from the start, called him by his first name and led him through various parts of Heaven showing him things that he explained as being so beautiful that he could not explain their beauty in words.  After Father Abraham had taken the fellow to meet Jesus, Who he said was mighty beyond all comprehension, he said that Father Abraham wanted to take him to see one more thing.  He went on to describe a place Father Abraham then took him to where he saw and heard enormous sounds of lightning and thunder, more massive sounds than he could ever explain.  He said that he asked Father Abraham where they were at that time.  Father Abraham replied, "This is God's Throne."  The fellow said that he was frozen in awe!  He then said that, as he was taking it all in, he saw countless angels circling over God's throne nonstop.  The fellow said he then turned to Father Abraham and asked, "Father Abraham, what would cause all of those angels to continually fly around God's Throne without ever stopping to rest?"  Father Abraham replied, "Each time the angels fly a circle around God's throne, they see a facet of God that they had not seen before, and it compels them around again to see yet another facet of God that they had never seen."

Our difference is proof positive that we are created in God's Image.  The interesting thing here is, if we were to take two people of the same race and disassemble their physical bodies down to their base foundation molecule, we would find that the differences between the two same-race individuals is just as great as the difference between two individuals of two different races and/or skin colors.  Though, outwardly, we may *appear* to be the same, we most certainly are not the same.  Why?  Because we are created in God's Image, which is multi-faceted.

One evening, as I was enjoying time in fellowship with the Person of The Holy Spirit, He showed me, from a distance, the most beautiful painting or portrait that I had ever seen of Jesus Christ.  As I looked at the painting, I noticed that the distance was shrinking between the place where I sat and the painting.  The closer to me the portrait became, the clearer I could see the portrait, and I began to see that it was not painted with natural human hands.  All of a sudden, the Person of The Holy Spirit imparted to me that this most glorious portrait was not a portrait at all.  It was a tapestry made of countless threads or fibers, all of them woven together to become more beautiful than anything we have ever seen on earth!  Each of the countless threads represented an ethnic group and skin color.  That tapestry was like nothing I had ever seen; it was literally breathtaking!

As my eyes were taking in that "not-of-this-world" beauty, knowledge was imparted to me by The Person of The Holy Spirit.  Every single thread in the completely glorious tapestry represented the gloriously beautiful differences God created in each and every one of us, His Children.  It was then that I realized what it was that I was looking at.  What I was seeing was nothing short of stunning... it was God's Family Portrait!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:

"If each and every one of us does not play such a crucial role in the fulfillment of God's Dream, then why is satan spending so much of his time and effort trying to keep us divided?"

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Keith's 1st Terrifying Encounter -- with an Angel

From all-consuming FEAR - begging Him to leave my room -
to PEACE that consumed me!

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endures for ever.” (Psalms 111:10)

Today's blog is helping folks achieve at least these 3 things:

 

1.) Create in you an unquenchable desire to seek God with your whole heart, mind, body, and soul!

2.) Encourage you that, if you have not yet experienced anything like what I am about to share with you today, God will reveal Himself to you in His time and His way!  God shows Himself big to us in various ways, including in the small matters of our lives: 

·     getting a much-needed check in the mail just as a bill comes due;

·     getting an encouraging phone call when we need it most; or

·     hearing His soft and gentle whisper in our spirit that builds our faith like nothing else can.

3.) Tell you why NOT to be afraid of God, as in "earthly fear."  In fact, as a result of the following testimony, I have come to define the fear of the Lord as being, "a personal knowledge of the All- consuming Awesome Power of Almighty God!" 

The encounter that I am talking about took place around 4:00 AM on September 13th, 1985.  That morning I experienced something that, up to that point in my life, I had only heard of or read about, but had never witnessed for myself.  It all started out as a dream that I had that was set in what appeared to be the ruins of an old stucco-style village, like the kind that would have been in Jerusalem during the time that our Lord physically walked the earth.

Appearing before me was the figure of a man whose face I never saw because he had his back to me the whole time and was wearing what seemed to be an oversized, full-length, hooded robe.  From the moment the dream began I heard what sounded like thousands upon thousands of angels singing the song that Jack Hayford wrote entitled “Majesty.” 

As I heard this chorus being sung in awesome beauty, I saw the robed man kneel down at the base of one of the stucco structures next to me.  As he knelt, I leaned over his shoulder and watched him take both of his hands and reach into the wall of the structure, as if it were transparent, and pull out a toy-sized figure of a horse; and on the horse was the figure of a rider.  The horse was about ten inches in length, and the rider on its back seemed to be a small, invisible man made visible only by very loosely-wrapped strips of cotton cloth that were wound around his body. 

During the entire time that I was watching this take place, the consuming praises of God were being sung by voices that, all the while, were growing greater in volume and power.  As I continued looking over the shoulder of the man at the figure of the horse and its rider, the voices of what seemed to be legions upon legions of angels began to suddenly increase in even greater volume and power, like a mighty rushing wind, not harsh to my ears, but with an all-consuming beauty that forced me to look straight up over my head. 

When I looked up, I saw, faster than the human eye can follow, an angel descending down upon me from straight up above.  It seemed as if it was going to land right on top of me but, instead, suddenly stopped and slapped the tips of its wings together, about three inches from my face.  With the clash of its wings together, I awoke from the dream. 

I awoke to find my spirit hovering about two feet over my body, which was laying flat on its back in the bed.  The first thing I realized was that I had been stripped from my will and was totally subject to whatever God wanted to do with me at that point!  The fear I felt cannot be relayed with words! 

Shortly after, I experienced my spirit slowly settling back down into my body.  Once back in my body, I fought to get my hands up over my face in hopes that it would somehow shield or protect me from seeing God, or Jesus Himself, and being consumed like a Kleenex tissue in a raging bonfire. The terrifying fear was indescribable to say the very least! 

By this time, the power of God was so all-consuming, that I could not so much as move or speak.  The only thing that I could think to do was to try to praise God, but by this point I couldn’t even move my hands away from my face, still in fear of what I might see.  The fear was like nothing I had ever experienced, seen, or even heard of before!  It rendered me powerless to move, as if I had been turned to stone.  It was only by the grace of God that I was able to cover my face with my hands.  I was totally subject to whatever God wanted to do with me!  It was also at that time that I learned, much better than I wanted to at that moment, just how frail our physical bodies are in the presence of God.  For example, I was totally amazed that my heart didn’t actually burst.  It sure felt like it was going to. 

After about an hour had passed, the fear began to subside enough to where I started to regain the use of my faculties.  I remember the first thing to come out of my mouth were pleas for Jesus to leave my room!  Even the thought of seeing Him gripped my heart with a fear that can’t be explained with mere words.  As the  horrifying, all-consuming fear continued to subside, I began to notice that it was now being replaced by an all-consuming peace.  The peace was also like nothing that I had ever experienced or even heard of before.  Just like the fear, the peace was indescribable.  Within just a few short hours the Lord had taken me from one extreme to the other.  The peace of God that settled in my room, (since there are no words that can ever come close to describing it) was “like” a dew or mist that fell on everything around me.

“Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.  And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.” (Daniel 10:18-19) 

As the all-consuming peace of Lord began to subside, I was then and only then, able to sit up in my bed and begin worshipping Him.  Believe me, I worshipped Him with every fiber of my being for, as best as I can recall, abount three hours.  I can vividly remember the muscles in my throat feeling as if they were on fire.  My eyes had run out of tears after just the first thirty minutes or so, and my voice was literally worn out from singing praises. 

It was during that time that I realized that it is only because God enables us that we can even participate in the wonderful privilege of worshipping His Holy Name! 

Another amazing thing I learned, while in His presence, was that there are literally no words that can even begin to describe Him!  As a matter of fact, even the names “King of kings” and “Lords of lords” didn’t come close to describing who He is. 

As His peace continued to settle in my room, I was only then able to ask God what was meant by the dream, and what the significance was of the horse and its rider that He had shown me early in the dream.  He said, “The horse and its rider that I showed you represent satan and his hoards of unclean spirits.  The reason I showed them to you at the size that I did was to relay the insignificance and powerlessness they have against you while you walk in Christ.” 

Then He spoke something that left me speechless yet again.  He asked me, “Remember how you were totally consumed with indescribable fear by what you thought was my presence?  Do you remember how you were terrified beyond measure by what you thought was Jesus himself standing in your room?  Do you recall losing the complete use of your body to what you just knew were legions upon legions of angels?  Keith, the truth is, I never did come anywhere near you; My precious Son never even stepped so much as one foot into your room; and what you thought were legions upon legions of angels was only one angel.” 

Not only was I once again totally amazed, but I also immediately remembered and understood fully the account in Matthew where he records what took place at the tomb just after Jesus rose from the dead.  Matthew writes, “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.  And behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.  His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.  And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.” (Matthew 28:1-4) 

Then the Lord said to me, “So, if you were totally consumed by the presence of just one angel, then how much greater things will I do with the legions that I have set at your side (and at the side of all who love Me) to destroy the things that separate My children from Me!” 

He then said, “All of the demons of hell ride a horse named ‘Deception'!”  He concluded by saying, “Get your pen and paper, and document exactly what you have both seen and heard.” 

At that, I reached into my night-stand, grabbed my pen and notepad, and began the difficult task of trying to put into words the things I had seen and heard in the spirit.  And, if I might add, this brief account of what took place does in no way begin to describe the awesomeness of what had taken place.  In that brief period of time in 1985, I received an understanding of "the fear of the Lord" that I had never known before.  It was this new understanding that enabled me to adopt as my own personal definition of the fear of the Lord, “a personal knowledge of the all-consuming, awesome power of almighty God!” 

Although what I experienced that morning was terrifying beyond description, I found it to be something that never turned me against, or drove me away from, God, but one that endeared me to Him in a profound way. 

What took place firmly set my affections on God and established in my heart a love for Him that, until then, I did not think was even possible. 

“In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.  The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” (Proverbs 14:26-27 ) 

Unlike the damaging “fleshly fear” that is experienced by a child who is exposed to an abusive parent, experiencing the awesome presence of God, hence the fear of the Lord, establishes a reverence and awe of God which opens the doorway to understanding like nothing else can. 

“A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.  My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.” (Proverbs 1:5-9) 

Where the fear of the Lord is absent in the life of a Christian, lifeless religion will prevail! 

If you desire for the Lord to show Himself to you in a great way, then you must seek Him diligently! 

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) 

If you noticed, Paul did not say that God is a Rewarder of them who “merely” seek Him.  He said that God is a Rewarder of them that “diligently” seek Him! 

This walk with God is an “all in or all out” endeavor!  God wants nothing more than to draw close to us, but the one thing that hinders Him from doing so is our own lack of desire to first draw close to Him! 

“Draw nigh to God, and (then) he will draw nigh to you.” (James 4:8)

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