Last night before going to bed Michael and I had our usual Saturday night discussion .... where shall we go to church tomorrow? Michael began to talk about the Baptist denomination ONCE AGAIN saying how much he misses many aspects of the church. I am not following that stream of thinking at all. He began his search for a church in our city on the internet, finding one in particular that is up the road from our home. When I read about how this minister likes this dessert and another minister likes that one in their write up, I spoke up and declared my disinterest in attending that church! I don't want to just jump into any old church for the sake of "returning to the Baptist church"! Michael closed up shop. He wasn't mad, he just closed up and we headed to bed. The following is the dream I woke up from hours later on Sunday morning …DREAM – 4/25/09
Michael and I are in a church meeting during worship, standing up close to the front. At one point I reach my right hand out and above one lady's head and the Spirit hit her mightily! Then, the Spirit began to move all over the room ... the pastor, the pastor's wife, others. The pastor was the pastor of First Baptist Irving (this is the church we were members of a few years back for 6 months teaching the college and career coed class on the Holy Spirit. However, I believe this dream represents the BAPTIST denomination as a whole rather than this particular church or pastor).
As many people were being touched by this sudden move of the Spirit I saw the pastor whisper to his wife and then she approached me and whispered into my ear, "Would you be willing to speak if you are called on?" I replied, "Yes". Then, we were standing in the foyer area at a long counter when I see evangelist Steve Hill walk in from the left moving to our right. I whispered into the ear of the pastor's wife, "That man was the evangelist leading the Florida revival where 100,000 were saved!" I knew she didn't know him. The service continued inside and the place was going wild as the Spirit was moving in ways they were not at all used to.
I know how God speaks to Linda. On Saturday nights there is some encounter ... "what to do?". Michael will many times ALSO come up with some WILD STUPID idea (according to Linda). Then, as I begin to ask the Lord, “Do we do that??!!!” … I have a Saturday night dream that unfolds with DIRECTION! I woke from this scenario this morning with a STRONG feeling the Lord may be using Michael to get us back into the Baptist Church … mirroring what Michael typically wants to do and Linda resisting the change!!! So MANY times I resist something like this as it is NOT what Linda wants to do, so God uses dear precious Michael to nudge her, push her, and INSIST continually to do something she does NOT want to do! Why? Because it is GOD behind Michael!!!!
That happened at CFNI after our first year there. I think I have shared this ... we were there in the summer 1999 registering for our Fall classes and standing in line to give our decided schedule to the one at the computer who would input the information to set us up. Michael would NOT LEAVE ME ALONE! "Linda, come on ... take homilectics with me!!" YOU HAVE GOT TO BE CRAZY!!!!! NO WAY!!!!!!! (homiletics is the course where you learn to preach) He would not let up!!! I was in front of him in line when I was the next person to register. "Come on, Linda, take it with me!!!" His pressure pushed me over the edge!!!!!!!! OKAY, ALREADY!!!!!! I signed up for homiletics and within 8 months I was the student selected to PREACH TO THE STUDENT BODY!! My message: Holiness!!! YE GADS!!! So, this is a typical way that God moves Linda forward doing something "STUPID"!!!!! There is a strong possibility that we may be headed back into the Baptist denomination to make a difference in His Spirit moving in this denomination ... “going full circle, taking us back from whence we came”!!!
So, I ask today … what is your personal desire and prayer to the Father that you have been waiting and waiting on Him to answer and wondering WHEN, LORD, ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER? Are you looking for that "perfect place to minister" or wherever there are like-minded and like-Spirited people seeking to find REVIVAL or the Spirit of God moving in their midst? Ask yourself if you might be one like us who the Lord may want to use to help others break free of religion … “missionaries of the Spirit”! It certainly makes sense that He would take many out of the denominational church, train them in and fill them with the Spirit, and then reestablish them amongst those they left behind … “taking them back from whence they came” … to minister to those who need their help!!
Sometimes God does NOT let us find what we want where we want, so He doesn't give breakthrough where we want to be but where HE HAS WANTED US TO BE ALL ALONG!
Let the Spirit speak what is moving in my spirit this moment!!
“Whatsoever he says to you, do it.” John 2:5
