The Keys of the Kingdom

I had a dream I was running from the enemy, who was right behind me (I don't know who the enemy was).  I believe I was in a car, with someone.  I had been given by an ally (I don't remember who) three shiny, metal keys of different sizes.  They looked like skeleton keys, and each one was a little smaller than the last one, and I had to use them in order of size.  I was directed by the ally to a compound which was a place of safety.  There were three gates.  The first gate I came to, I had to use the first and largest key.  All I had to do was touch the key pad; I didn't have to put the key into a hole.  The gate opened.  I remembered instructions given to me: "You must have the keys immediately ready, lest you not get through the gates fast enough!"  Therefore, in the few seconds of driving between the first and second gate, I prepared the second key, being certain it was the right one, so that when we arrived at the second gate, we used it immediately without any fumbling.  The same thing happened between the second and third gate.  I remember now that I was the one holding the keys and was in the passenger seat, yet somehow in the dream, I also used the keys (I don't recall passing them to the driver, that is).  Finally, we passed through the third gate without harm.  The scene of the dream changed.  We were in the compound I believe, at a house that had a covered country porch.  Sitting outside on the porch was my phone.  The phone was hooked up to all kinds of cords and wires.  I don't know why.  I suddenly had a realization that the phone was rigged as a bomb by the enemy.  I hit a button on the phone, and suddenly, a countdown began on the screen.  It started at the number six!  I only had six seconds!  There were people inside the house.  I knew that if it exploded there, it would destroy all of us.  I rapidly yanked out the cords from the phone, but one last cord, I couldn't seem to get out!  It read one second.  Suddenly, for no explicable reason, it stopped counting!  Finally, I got the cord out and threw the phone as far as I could throw.  Then I woke up.

In a recent time of prayer with the Lord, He reminded me that He has given to His church the keys of the Kingdom.  "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18).  When I had this dream about keys, I immediately thought of that discussion and Matthew 18:18.  I haven't been able to forget this dream and was asking the Lord if it was from Him.  The Lord brought to my mind an article that someone just posted on the use of technology that draws us away from Christ and the Kingdom of God.  So how can we put these thoughts together?  Let's ask Him.

Lord, please tell us your people what you would have us to learn from this dream, if it is truly from you.

My daughter, I have loved you with an everlasting love, and you know full well, as does all of my Remnant Bride, that you are in an all-out war!  You feel the fatigue of your constant battles.  You feel helpless in many cases, like the enemy is bearing down on you and about to overrun you.  You are in running mode, trying to outmaneuver his constant threats, oh but my Bride, you are looking at this all wrong!  Don't run!  Charge!!  My dear Bride, though you have run, you have indeed run into my arms of safety.  For that, I commend you.  The keys to the Kingdom which I have given you indeed open the gates of my love, my mercy, and my power in your lives.  They are differing sizes to emphasize the importance of each of these qualities.  Love is paramount.  You must love your ENEMIES, my people, and then you will know the fullness of my love, for "even while you were yet sinners, I died for you."  My dear ones, "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."  My dear children, you must always love one another.  In this, you open the gate of my grace and protection.  Yet, my children, you see that you must also open the gate of my mercy.  Mercy proceeds after love.  Only when you love me, as I have loved you, will you feel the outpouring of my mercy in your lives, for if you have idolatry blocking the gateway, how can you receive the mercy I would give you?  My children, do not think as infants!  You must destroy all that would keep you from submitting yourselves to me in all things!  Then you can finally proceed to my third gate of protection: my power.  When you have washed yourselves in my love and mercy, then you will feel and know the fullness of my power in your lives.  Why has so much of the church for so long been denied the power promised her in the beginning of the Covenant of Grace?  Because she has not known my love as I love her nor expressed my mercy to the world.  I speak in a universal sense, but I have always had my Remnant, who have filled me with joy by the way they have reflected my glory in the world, through all the darkness of Satan's efforts to overshadow my Kingdom.  My daughter, I am delighted that you and your fellow Remnant are seeking me and are running into the gates of my safety, yet you must not use the keys I have given you only for running into my arms.  You must use them to infiltrate the enemy's camp!  For even when you have run into my arms, the enemy will always find ways to sabotage your peace with me.  He has planted in your personal devices bombs of destruction!  Yes, I am all too well aware of your technology and your phones, which are like to you all a right hand.  Did I not say that it is better to cut off right hands than to enter hell a whole man?  Do what it takes!  You are so highly connected to all the things of this world and all the cares and distractions that technology affords, that when you realize what a pitfall it is to you, you cannot get disconnected fast enough!  Assuredly, you might manage to disconnect yourself in a myriad of ways, but just one aspect of distraction that keeps you from me is enough to blow up your peace, your hope, your love, and your ability to hear from me and serve me.  The tranquility of my presence will be destroyed.  The hope of my Kingdom work will be shattered [I perceive He is speaking here of our souls; within our souls we will lose the tranquility and the hope of Christ].  Oh, my dear children, do not despair.  I know that many of you feel desperate.  You feel so deep in the chaos of this world, in spite of all your valiant efforts to "come out from her and be separate" that you feel it impossible to save yourselves from the bombs of Satan's planted devices.  Though with all your swiftness and eagerness you would gladly toss from you every idol that includes the most-needed possessions of this culture, you cannot do so fast enough.  Yet I am your protector.  I am your guide, your hope, your ever-sure reward.  "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd never forsakes His sheep when the wolves come around.  And do I not know, my people, that the wolves are everywhere--more than ever?!  My children, in the dream, the phone that was about to explode was set on a timer.  Every single person has a timer in their lives before all the idols of their existence explode--whether in various occasions in their lives, which causes a disconnect between me and them, or in a final and calamitous moment when they die and face judgment.  The timer was set to six seconds, first to represent the extreme brevity of life and the moments within life in which you can be so easily cut off from my grace and mercy as you cast yourselves upon the lusts of the world.  Second, the six seconds represents the number of man.  Man's days are indeed numbered, and they are oh-so-brief.  Now listen, my dear ones, do not despair!  I see your hearts!  Those who are seeking to destroy the idols of this life, I know and I love!  I SEE YOUR HEARTS!!  Will I not protect you from the enemy in those desperate moments when you feel as though you will be dragged under the waters by the great despair of care?  When you feel as if the bomb is about to go off and you cannot handle another moment of warfare, when you think you have done all you can do and you are without hope, when you have committed yourself to the idea that you are cast aside from grace and without God in the world--I see your pain!  I will not allow the devil to overcome you!  Have I not said that I will never leave you nor forsake you?  Have I not said that you are the apple of my eye and that no one can snatch you out of my hand?  Have I not said that I am your God, your King, your defender, your hope, your ever sure reward?  Have I ever failed my people?  The children of Israel, though they sinned against me gravely, did not die utterly, for I gave their generations a lasting hope.  My dear Remnant, remember, I see your hearts!  You are not murmuring against me as did the children of Israel in the desert.  You are CLINGING to me.  I see that.  I feel that.  I LOVE THAT.  Oh children, the bomb will not go off as you fear, nor will you and your loved ones be destroyed, for I will frustrate the plot of the devil and I myself will stop that bomb from ticking.  I will give you the time that you need to get your house in order.  Though the times may be full of great intensity and pain, yet, you will not be destroyed!  You will rather be cleansed!  You will indeed cast from you the idols of your heart.  In the dream, you did not hold onto that phone after it stopped ticking.  No!  You cast it far from you!  My children, when you see the great dangers of Satan's traps, you will not take advantage of my mercy to save you out of them!  No, you make extra precautions to avoid them next time!  I see that in you, and I delight in you, my dear people!  Oh, be of good cheer!  Do not let the devil rob you of your joy!  Remember who you are IN ME.  Remember that you are precious possessions!!

Now, my dear people, I would remind you that you must take the offensive.  Now is the time to persist in beating down the gates of hell itself!!  My children, take those keys of love and mercy and power that I have given to you and go out!  I will show you a kind of love you have never felt, a kind of mercy you have never even been given opportunity to extend, and a kind of power that even the Apostles could not imagine.  I have given you keys to infiltrate the enemy's camp.  No more running, my dear people!!  No more running!  CHARGE!!!

Lord, HOW do we charge the enemy?  We still feel as weak as ever, as beaten down as ever, and as pursued as ever.

Ask of me, and I will give to you all that you ask, my dear ones, for your hearts are in unity with mine.  Ask me to show you how to love, and I will bring you all you need.  Ask me for opportunities to extend mercy; you will have no lack.  Ask me to give you power to overcome what seems like impossible obstacles, and I will indeed extend my power to you--even in miraculous ways!  Do not doubt, do not think as children, do not be carnal.  Remember who I AM!

Lord, in the dream, who was the driver?

I AM the driver.  I am the one guiding you to my gates of love and mercy and power, to keep you safe from the evil one, yet I am not taking back from you the keys I already gave you.  You have to use them.  If you don't use them, the gates will not open for you.  I will not love for you; you have to love.  I will not show mercy to your enemies for you; you have to show mercy.  I will not extend grace to others who need grace from you; I will give you power to do so.  Remember that they are my keys, which means that all the love you have to give comes from me, all the mercy you extend comes from me, and all the power you have comes from me to extend grace to others.  Since I am the everlasting one, the all-powerful one and the source of all good gifts, you need not fear that these keys will lack any effect in opening every door.