VISION BY FIRE

I think the Lord has been making it quite clear that the church is in labor big time—and about to give birth. Labor hurts (that’s an understatement), and any woman who has given birth without anesthesia knows the full extent of that.  So the comparison God gives of the last days being as birth pains is quite appropriate (of course it is—because God is the one who gave the analogy and created birth pain).  I think the church is feeling something of what I did when I gave birth to my firstborn son.  The contractions were intensely painful all night with absolutely no letup between them.  Furthermore, at the time of transition, a long time went by in which the nurses and midwife could see my son’s head starting to birth, but then, he would go back in.  They kept telling me to push longer and harder, but I had never before felt so intensely tired. Harder and longer—with what strength?  This leads me to Isaiah 36:1, 13-16; 37:1-4:  “In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them… Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: ‘Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ Do not listen to Hezekiah”’…As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. They said to him, ‘Thus says Hezekiah, “This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”’”

But as surely as the Church feels beaten, battered, and feeble and unable to give birth to those who will inherit the Kingdom, so also the strength of the LORD is limitless, and He will not allow His Name to be defamed and His plan brought to naught.  In our weakness, His power is exalted.

Isaiah 66:9: “‘Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?’

says the LORD;

‘shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?’

says your God.”

The following dreams the Lord gave me over the course of two nights speak to the labor of the Church:

I dreamed I was going into labor and was heading to the hospital, but before I went into labor, many months before my baby was due, somehow parts of my baby were outside of my body early, and they were being kept in some sort of incubator.  And I kept saying to the doctor, is this going to affect my baby's wholeness?  But no one could say.  Then, when I went to the hospital to give birth to the baby, I said, "We have to make sure we bring the other parts of the baby."  So someone got the incubator and we were looking inside and there were these fully developed parts that were alive.  A tongue is one part that I remember, and I remember it was wiggling around.  When I went to the hospital to give birth, I remember I was not having contractions; I just had one very painful contraction, and I kept thinking, am I really going to give birth to this baby?  And then the next thing I know, there's a baby.  I don't remember the gender.  I remember it was whole, so the other parts being outside of me did not affect the baby.

The next night, I had the following dream:

My sister, who in real life is barren, was in labor with a child. Many extended family members went with her to the hospital. We were all in the waiting room because we had been kept from going into the labor room. We waited and waited and finally couldn't stand it anymore, so we each took turns going into the labor room and see her. It came to be my turn, and my family members who had already gone in told me the room number, which I remember started with the number 11 (it was four numbers, but I only remember the number 11). I searched and searched for the room but could not find it. I passed a chapel for prayer (and someone invited me in, but I decided to pray after I found the room), and I passed a gift shop that seemed to be very geared toward Scripture verses. I asked multiple people for help, who could not seem to direct me specifically to that room, only to a wing. I got on a train at the end of the wing, thinking that maybe it would take me to the room, but as I was talking to the conductor, I learned it would not take me to the room but home. He backed the train up so I could get back off at the hospital. As soon as I got off the train, I realized I was standing in front of the room number. It was at the base of something like a castle tower. There were multiple room numbers around the tower, including the room I was looking for. I went in and saw that these rooms were all connected upward to one single room. I went up some stairs and reached the single room which was very small and could be considered a cylinder in shape. In the middle of the room was a cauldron, and inside the cauldron, which was burning what looked like liquid lava, were these pads that were cut out to fit over the eyes. I had a knowing that God Himself was inside that room, but I did not see Him. I had the sense that He was speaking from inside the cauldron. There were several people standing around the cauldron including myself. There was just enough room inside that room that we had space to stand around the cauldron. There was little space behind or around us. I heard the voice of God tell me to take out of the cauldron one of the pads and put it over my eyes. I remember that it was red hot and burning. I thought, well since God is commanding it, then He must make a way for me to not get burned. So I did what He commanded, and I think the others in the room did also. I remember I had to take off the glasses that were on my face. I would like to note that without these glasses I am practically blind. I put the pad onto my eyes as God had told me. Suddenly, through the pad, I could see with perfect vision.

I woke up, and immediately upon waking up, I heard the Scripture verse that says, "In this [hope of heavenly inheritance] you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Galatians 4:21-31: “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written,

‘Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;

break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!

For the children of the desolate one will be more

than those of the one who has a husband.’

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.’ So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.”

In asking the Lord if He would be willing to speak to these dreams, I have heard in my spirit:

Yes, my daughter, I have loved you with an everlasting love, and I am pleased to give to you the Kingdom for your inheritance.  The dreams you received of me have spoken of this time of trouble—the labor of the church unto righteousness.  My church, you must be purged of your sins and cleansed of your former way of life that has been passed down to you from your forefathers.  This purging is a crucible of fire.  Only when you have looked through the sanctifying fire of trials that I ordain for you can you be renewed in mind and body to see as I see and to walk as I walk, for my glory, in the Kingdom of Heaven.  By faith do you take up the calling that causes you to lay down your life.  By faith do you carry your cross daily and follow me.  The trials that I have given to you are as burning coals upon your head.  They purge the dross from your life and sanctify you to do my bidding.  When you look at me and not at the fear of pain, you find that there is no pain, for I take the sting out of the trouble.  In your pain and suffering, you find my glory and strength, and is that not all the greater than your pain and suffering?  When you are weak, then I am strong in you!  I have commanded you to take up the cloth of cleansing that shall wipe your eyes clean of every wicked perspective this foul world has given to you.  When you look through my eyes, then you see clearly.  Right now, while you have walked this earth, you have sought to understand the things of the earth through the lens of the earth, yet now, I ask you to remove that lens and to put on the fire-purged cloth of my glory through which you will see perfectly, as I see.  It is as you seek to find the calling to which I have called you that you put on this cloth of purging.  It may seem as if your life is a maze, though I have sprinkled it with every means of grace you need to reach your destination—prayer, my Word, and the fellowship and direction of the Saints through whom I also instruct you.  What is this destination?  It is the calling of love and sacrifice.  In your dream, you were seeking to find your sister who was in labor.  My children, your focus must always be on your brothers and sisters in my Son Yeshua.  As they struggle and labor, you must support them, and as you serve them, I will meet your needs and create in you all that I have purposed for you.  The number 11 is a sign of the co-laboring aspect of my Body, the Church—two together.  It is also a symbol of imperfection.  While you labor together and strive for my glory, you have yet to reach the perfect City of God, whose gates and foundations are 12.  Many of you are weary, seeing little or no fruit for your labor, symbolized in the barren woman who had gone into labor; yet remember, my dear Bride, that the farmer and the gardener alike—though they both labor for relatively great and small harvests—are waiting on me to bring their crops to fruition and the season for harvest.  Both plow, both till, both weed, both water, and both wait and wait and wait, relying on me and the sunshine and rain that I bring, to bring in a successful harvest.  Remember, my dear people, that you are just waiting and watering and tilling and weeding, and then when the proper time comes, you will indeed reap a harvest if you do not give up.  Some of you wish to get on the train to Zion prematurely.  That must not be, for my purposes in purging and refining you must be completed.  I will bring you to the place you need to be to finish that refining work, and then you will enter my Rest.  Now I wish to speak to the other dream that you had in which there were multiple body parts outside of your womb.  First of all, the baby in your womb represents the whole of my Body—the Church.  She has been growing in the womb since the time of my Son’s departure from this earth, and remember that just as He ascended into heaven, so He will also descend to gather for himself His Bride and His fully developed Body.  The time is at hand!  Now also understand that parts of my Body have been seemingly separated from the Church, especially my mouthpieces, my servants the prophets, who have been set apart to see the times in a unique way, in order that they may warn and encourage and chastise and prepare the Church for the coming of the Lord.  They are as John the Baptist, preparing the way for the second coming of Jesus Christ.  They have been specially incubated in times of purging and trial and hardships and testings to make them fully mature mouthpieces for their Maker.  I AM the Lord and my honor is at stake, and I will not be mocked; yet indeed, I will reward them for their labors and give to them double for all they have done.  I AM the LORD and there is no other; I AM the LORD, and there is none like me, to give unto those who are cast down great riches and to those who are haughty a place with those who weep.  “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:24-25).