Jeffersonville, Georgia USA
1/21/2010
On the Day of A On the Day of Atonement, September 28th, 2009, I was awakened three times by whom I believe to be the Lord. The first two times I awoke, it was after having dreams. The final time, I was awakened by hearing the voice of the Lord speaking to my spirit. I will first share in italics, what I dreamt and heard, and then expound on what it all means.
In the first dream I found myself standing in a room and looking at toys on a couch. I instinctively knew that they we’re broken and not working. The thought that I had as I stood there was, “Supply side economics is not working.” The scene of the dream changed and I found myself sitting in a car with someone. We were second in line at a three way intersection. Playing around at the intersection were people on 4 wheelers and dune buggies. They were doing doughnuts and the like preventing traffic from moving through the intersection and getting on the highway. As I sat there observing this foolishness, I thought back to a time when I was about 10 to 12 years old and was in a similar place, but I was riding with a Fire Chief for the city. As we sat in the stopped traffic he got an emergency call. What he did next, since traffic was jammed up and not moving, was to turn on his lights and siren and drive up on the sidewalk and drive all the way to the intersection where we were then able to get on the highway and head to the emergency. I found myself hoping that the Fire Chief would come along in this dream and do the same thing. I then awoke and the time was 1:39 am. In the second dream, I found myself still waiting for the Fire Chief to ride us around the stopped traffic and onto the highway. Then a person comes up to me and tells me that someone I know has been in an accident 15 minutes ago. They say that an ambulance is already on the scene, but they do not know for whom the ambulance has been called. I have a peace that the person that I know at the accident is okay. Then I awoke, and the time is 3:31. The third and final awaking came at 4:23 am. I was not having a dream when I awoke. Rather, all that happened was that I heard a distinct voice speaking to my spirit saying, “Look at Zechariah 1:16.”
What does this all mean? A lot of time could be spent fleshing all this out, but for space constraints I will only touch on the high points. Combining the broken toys and the people on the 4 wheelers and dune buggies in the intersection, the statement in the first dream: “Supply side economics is not working” applies. A very simple definition of ‘supply side economics’ is this: “Deregulation will help foster growth.” We have seen in this decade the disastrous results of too much de-regulation. The reduction in loan requirements in the banking industry and the allowing of speculative money to flow into the commodities markets are two large examples of what happens when the “anything goes” mentality is allowed to be the norm. How does this apply to His Church? Look at what is happening when the Church tries to be all inclusive so as to not offend anyone. His Word is becoming so twisted and distorted so that we can appeal, quite frankly, to the flesh. We have become more interested in playing church and having a good time, rather than focusing on pleasing Him. Do we really believe that this is how we are to act in the presence of the Holy God? What about the blocking of the intersection? Two things are happening here that bring to mind the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: Luke 11:52 “Woe unto you, lawyers! For ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” Years ago, on more than one occasion, the Holy Spirit quickened to me out of the scripture, “Thou shalt not go after the gods of the people round about you.” My answer to him at those times was, “Lord, you know I have no interest in those “isms” and other such religions. Why do You me give such warnings?” It wasn’t until He showed me how the story of the golden calf in Exodus 32 applied to today that I fully understood what He was saying to me. The children of Israel broke off the golden earrings that were in their ears (pieces of Truth that they had heard), then they were molten in the fires (of their experience), and fashioned into a golden calf by Aaron (32:3,4) Before this ‘god’ the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Just looking at the past one hundred years we can see this scene played out over and over again in Christendom. Man takes one doctrine (which in itself is correct) and makes a whole movement out of it. This is not the way of the Lord! We should be able to say as Paul said to the elders of the church at Ephesus, “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). By emphasizing only a part of the counsel of God, we put ourselves in the same position as the Pharisees of whom the Lord Jesus rebuked in Luke 11:42 when he said, “...these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” As in my dream, the Lord (the Fire Chief) will come, and He will take those who want to walk in the whole counsel of God onto His highway. He will bypass all else, just as He has in the past.
When I was awakened by His voice at 4:23 am I had this knowing in my spirit that the time was referring to John 4:23. While I can quote the verse, as I can with others, I did not know at the time that this was the verse’s ‘address.’ It says, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.” As I expound on the verse in Zechariah, you will see the tie in to John 4:23. Certainly if the hour for true worshippers in spirit and truth was in the days while Jesus walked on the earth, we the more so, are living in that hour. Zechariah 1:16 says, “Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: My house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.” This verse, which has three distinct parts, should bring us great encouragement. These ‘mercies’ are salvations, healings, deliverances, and the shining of His light on works of darkness such as the Body of Christ has not experienced in some time. I anticipate hearing and reading of wonderful reports of the Lord’s working from all around the world in the days to come. Since September 28th, it has been just as He has said in His Word. In the second part the LORD of hosts declares that His house shall be built. We, the Body of Christ, are His house. Let me caution you here: He is not telling us to sit back, or lay down, and watch Him work. I could spend a great deal of time writing about ministries and callings, but all of that would be of little use without this one thing I am going to emphasize right now. I’m going to quote scriptures from five different places and then summarize.
I Cor. 1:5,6 : That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.
John 16:13: Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
I John 2:27: But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.
Psa. 95:7 : For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today if ye will hear His voice.
Prov. 1:23: Turn you at My reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known My words unto you.
This testimony of Christ that is to be confirmed (Greek: established) in each one of us is to be patterned after the Ark of the Testimony which had three items in it. He is not talking about our testimony of how we came to know Jesus Christ as our Savior, but rather, we should have the logos Word in our heart (tablets of stone), the rhema Word (manna in the golden pot), and the rod that buds (authority and bearing fruit). All that was left in the Ark when Solomon brought it into the newly built Temple was the tablets of stone and God blessed. And God will bless if we have that much in us, but brethren, He has so much more for us in Christ if we will avail ourselves of the other two items. It is with these two items that we fall woefully short. Speaking the logos Word is good, but if we speak what the Holy Spirit has quickened, then we can say with Jesus that the words that we speak are spirit, and they are life. I can say with a certainty, if you have rightfully turned at His correction and rebuke, then He will give you more of His Spirit and He will make His words known unto you. However, if you aren’t being taught day by day by His Spirit in His Word, then something is wrong! Yes, you read right, day by day. It could be that you missed His conviction about something, or it could be your response was not correct. Two other questions I ask, “Do you ever spend much time in His Word? What ‘time’ of the day do you give Him?” Wisdom in Proverbs says, “I love those that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.” If you are not experiencing the daily tutoring of the Holy Spirit my friend, then you are doing a disservice to Him and to yourself. He has made it quite clear that He wants to teach each one of us. Why then do we try and figure it all out? You want growth and depth in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? You do well. But let me caution you, a subjective relationship with Him without a corresponding parallel in the Word of Truth is nothing more than mysticism. We are to have the spirit of wisdom AND revelation in the knowledge of Him. It was the wise in heart that built the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and it was the wise in heart that built Solomon’s Temple. The builders that the Lord will use to build His house in this day will be the wise in heart. This wisdom that will be in their hearts will come from above, not from our mind or our thinking. I was praying one time for somebody and the Lord quite distinctly said to me, “Their mind gets in My way sometimes.” He wasn’t slamming that person, nor did I take it that way. Fact is, we all have that same problem. 0, when will we learn? He doesn’t need us to do the thinking for Him. Touching the rod that buds: Isn’t it about time we all learn to walk in the spiritual authority that He has given to us? There’s plenty of books written on this subject yet, in spite of all the head knowledge, we see little victory. Could it be we lack experiencing the personal tutoring of the Holy Spirit in this area as well?
What is this line that will be stretched out upon Jerusalem? It is a surveyor’s line that is used to mark the boundaries. Isn’t it about time we restored the old landmarks? Fittingly, in Zech 1:16, we have the phrase “thus saith the LORD of hosts.” Jesus Christ is the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. Those that truly worship Him will recognize His lordship in their lives. Jesus is not our equal. He is Lord! Jer. 7:11 states, “Is this house which called by my Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.” According to Strong’s Concordance the Hebrew for ‘robbers’ is “violent, i.e., a tyrant.” One strong characteristic of a tyrant is their self-centeredness. It is “me, me, me, me.” All about me. Interestingly, the primary root for that Hebrew word means “to break out” (see #6555 in the Strong’s). The Lord wants us, expects us, to walk within the boundaries that He has ordained. Let’s begin now to do what is right in His sight so that we all become fit for the Master’s use.
Do not mistake this article as an advocacy for legalism and a head knowledge of the Word. There is enough of that now which needs to be taken out of His Body. If that is what you have gotten out of this article, then please read it again. It is simply a call to experience the tutoring of the Holy Spirit that each believer should know in their life. It is written that those who know their God will be strong and do exploits. Also, a wise man is strong; wisdom has built her house. I Cor. 11 is most often taught when Holy Communion is given in a service. I believe this chapter is saying more than just that. Could it be that He is also speaking of a communion with Christ as given by the Holy Spirit? Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, he have no life in you.” I believe that because we have not rightly discerned and walked in the fullness of what He is talking about (this communion and partaking of His flesh and blood), that many are weak and sickly - spiritually and physically. Let us search and try our ways.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. AMEN.
Terry Bates
Jeffersonville, GA
1/21/2010