Friday, July 22, 2016

Trump Series: Part II: Another Donald Trump Dream - Training Trump



Trump Series: Part II: Another Donald Trump Dream - Training Trump

INTRODUCTION

I had another dream about Donald Trump about 6 weeks ago and I was advised not to share it. I disagree. I believe God wants me to share it and I believe some people will get the significance. Remember, God does not need our agreement to do anything. He does not rule the universe by committee. Would Mr. Trump be my choice for President? No, and he was not until the Lord showed me His will in a dream. At that point, I stopped "campaigning" for my candidate, Ted Cruz, who I had previously thought was God's choice. He was not...at least not this time. 

2008 PRESIDENTIAL RUN

Before I get into the dream, I want to share that the first time God told me who would be president I was preparing to go on the mission field to China as a college business instructor. That was 2008, a great year. When God showed me His choice, I thought God wanted me to support his candidacy and vote for him. Of course, I am referring to president Obama. I thought he wanted me to support him until every attempt to vote while in China via absentee ballot was blocked for odd reasons. I am so very glad. Thank you, Jesus! It was not until later the Lord told me WHY He placed Obama in the White House. Yes, He placed Him him there. You can say "allowed", "let win...."  However, you want to phrase it, God put Him there. Why? He did so to weaken America because of her pride, arrogance, and ignorance of her blessed position. Yes, I am a patriot but I am first and foremost, His. We had not learned our lesson after 9-1-1 that God "allowed' to happen, if that makes you feel better. 

You see, we can either live under God's rule or the enemy's. There is no middle-ground. Now, after almost 8 years of Obama's presidency, America has indeed changed...for the worse. Sad to say. But who would disagree! You can't blame the president for all of this, you say? I would agree. I don't blame him for all of it but a good portion of it. The people put him there then he wreaked havoc in the realm of public policy that hit all areas of our lives, for anyone who was paying attention and not just listening to rhetoric. I have to say, I am sorely disappointed in the fruit borne by the first 1/2 black president. The country is now more a mess than it ever was. Yet, the country never needed God more than it does today, and in a sense it is a great time for the Church to step into that void and yearning for hope and present what we know, Whom we know to be that Hope. The world needs Jesus so much more now than ever before.

But let me share the dream and why I think God Himself has Mr. Trump covered. I will share the dream then explain the symbolism afterward.

TRAINING TRUMP

In the dream I observed my natural father, a lifetime educator, seated at a square 4-person table instructing a cousin of mine, whose name sounds like "Trump."  For the sake of his privacy I will omit his name. This cousin was running for office in the dream and he was seated at the wooden table with my father. My dad was instructing him how to use a holstered handgun to protect himself should he ever need to do so in a tight spot. Perhaps the time would come when he would have to protect himself. 

Now in real life, my dad knew nothing about guns. He was more familiar with garden tools. He loved to grow things. He was a teacher and a headmaster all of his life and changed many lives for the better through education. He loved to teach and even tutored during his years of retirement. That's who he was. Yet, I knew my father's presence in the dream was symbolic as was my cousin's. God was showing the intimate connection between the two people.  This was a very intimate lesson as daddy his cousin - "Mr. Trump" and "Mr. Trump" was intently paying attention to what my father was saying. Hard to imagine Donald Trump letting someone else be the dominant party in a setting. 

This seemed like a very strange dream and perhaps one to ignore until I began to think about it and God began to reveal what it meant. He used my dad and cousin to reveal a level of intimacy that is not evident to most of us about Mr. Trump and the Lord. As a matter of fact, it seems rather far-fetched. My father represents my heavenly Father, as my natural dad is no longer here but in heaven with God. God was telling me not to judge this "book," Mr. Trump, by its cover. He was also telling me that He has Mr. Trump protected and not so much with physical side-arms but with spiritual protection. God has been showing him and instructing him in how to carry and use his weapon in a jam. In real life, Mr. Trump is known to "carry", at least that's what he says. But God is saying he is carrying something far more dangerous than a physical gun. He has spiritual weaponry that God Himself has taught and is teaching him how to use. 

No doubt, Mr. Trump is an anomaly! I get that! I have no idea why God chose him, but choose him He did. And I certainly cannot speak for any of the Christian leaders that have endorsed him and how they knew they were doing God's bidding. I got my information they way I often get it when I don't have ears to hear a hard thing, through a dream or a vision. But when I get the instruction, I have to be ready to change course.

James Dobson recently shared that  Donald Trump is a new believer. In my experience, everyone, meaning every political leader running for president,, is some level of "believer" before the election and somehow "lose' their salvation somewhere between being elected and the inauguration or signing their first law. This time God says, the man who certainly does not "sound" like a believer is actually His choice and I would venture to say based on this dream, one instructed by Him. 

It's safe to say, we live in very odd times. We have not seen these times before and God is using a seemingly unsaved man to do His bidding. I pray that He is truly a believer in Jesus Christ, obedient, and grows in his apparently new found faith. God is the judge. But as His servant, I needed to share this 2nd dream about what God continues to say about Mr. Trump. 

CONCLUSION

In the end, it's not going to matter what we think. It only matters what God thinks and does, and that we, who call ourselves His children, align with His will. In this election, like it or not, our choices are not great as we would usually consider great. And just like with the last presidential election in which I had decided I could not vote for the Mormon, Mitt Romney. I also knew, that voting for Obama was not an option; therefore, I had to ask God who to vote for. I was not surprised when more the peace came with voting for the Mormon. Not voting was not an option either. I had to exercise that right for which many fought and died.

This time the choices are even more difficult .... and yet, perhaps they are not so difficult. For me, if I am going to vote, the choice is clear. One person is an absolute "NO!" while the other is an "ONLY BECAUSE GOD HAD SPOKEN AND SHOWN."

The Apostle Paul himself said some judged his speech as contemptible, yet God made him an Apostle. Although I am not likening Mr. Trump to the Apostle Paul, as it was more likely his detractors who had this view. In 2 Corinthians 10:10, Paul is sharing what others think about him, “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” Yet, consider his days as Saul. Who would have chosen him to bring the Gospel to the gentiles? That story is there to let us know that God can use anyone. God's ways are clearly not ours but they are always perfect. I leave you with this Scripture from Isaiah 55:8-9:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,So are My ways higher than your ways,And My thoughts than your thoughts.

 God has decided.

Blessings to all!

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Receiving "THE" WORD vs. "A" Word - Identity

INTRODUCTION

It's been a very mixed season but mostly good because God is always good. Yet I have encountered confusion, manifestations of dreams and visions, miracles, open doors, and great overall blessings from God. He has truly been amazing to me. However, for various reasons I will not get into here and now, it has been too long since I posted on this blog. Therefore, I must apologize to all of those who consistently read and are encouraged by the word of the Lord to and through me in the form of these blog posts. He is good. I must mention that although I have not blogged in a while, it does not mean He has not been speaking. He speaks all the time to you and to me - if we have ears to hear. Yet, it is up to us to stop, listen, and let His Word change us. Finally, by way of explanation, there has just been too much happening to stop and blog about it. But folks, make no mistake, we have a great God and He is mighty and able to do anything impossible for man. I cannot say enough about His awesome character and loving nature. HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE!!!!

I'd like to share what the Lord shared with me while I was streaming a sermon from Time Square Church in New York City, a strong Bible-believing, miracles-are-for-today, God-honoring church in the heart of Manhattan. The message today was quite appropriate for the times in which we live: "The Oldest Trick in the Book." Although, this post is not specifically about the rich message through pastor William Carroll, an associate pastor at TSC, it is about what I heard in my heart that applies to me and I am sure you, too, during the message. You can get the sermons at http://www.tscnyc.org/ . Today's is already posted. Remember that the enemy's primary tactics are ones of diversion. He uses anything to get us to walk in something parallel, yet not quite, what God had in mind when He created us. Oh, it may be satisfactory in the short-term but it will fall tremendously short of what the Lord had for us. Many have passed onto glory not having accomplished the full extent of His will for them here on earth.

THE WORD vs. A WORD

What the Lord was saying to me - because there is a voice within the voice. That means every pastor, leader, or minister should be so yielded that we hear the Lord's voice within the minister's voice. Many refer to this as the anointing and it is how the Good Shepherd is able to feed all of His sheep, through an under-shepherd or directly, with the word we each need for our individual lives. I call it receiving THE WORD and not just A word. Anyone can give you A word either from the Bible or another source. However, only those connected to the Vine, Jesus Christ, can give you THE WORD.


While the sermon was a wonderful one about God's loving us and drawing that love out of us toward Him, the keys to combat "the oldest trick in the book," and so much more,  I was hearing the voice within the voice. That's because this message was clearly coming from a vessel who is submitted and therefore saturated in His love. It was truly rich!



Yet, for me it went a bit further. God was speaking more truth within this framework of His love and the pastor's message. That is proof that this sermon was THE Word due to its multidimensional nature, which brought application to other areas of the Word to impact our daily lives.

THE WORD AND OUR IDENTITY

The Oldest Trick in the Book is to attack our commitment and revelation about our identity, and believing that we are whom He said we are. [The pastor share this as well] And I remembered in Matthew 4:6, where the enemy initiated a questioning of Jesus' identity.
That's why I say this sermon, for me, was really addressing our identity in Christ and how the enemy tries to make us doubt it. Remember he told Jesus - as he tried to out-maneuver Him - "If you are the Son of God..." Matthew 4:6. IF???

         MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD; GIVEN A MANDATE TO RULE

Friends, we know that enemy is nothing but a copier; he can create nothing - at least anything good.  In the very beginning when God made earth, He told us who we were and we certainly knew Whose we were. God first told us our identity in Genesis 1:26.

This is who we are: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God not only made mankind in His own image, as in just like Him, He gave us charge over every other thing on the earth. Of course that is not the end of the story but we will leave it there for now.

       INTIMACY WITH GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

God is the One who used the If statement to point out identity when in Numbers 12:6
Then He said,
“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”

Shocking! We know that God came, and stayed, near in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But even in the Old Testament we see that God had servants (the Prophets, also see Amos 3:7 - "Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.") and friends (this ref. to Moses).

Notice what gave Moses even more access to God in friendship than your average prophets and servant, his faithfulness to God. We know Moses was not perfect and without fault, yet God counted His faith above his faults (the same as He does for those of us who are in Jesus). Given a choice I would take friend over servant any day and that is what we have through Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

       INTIMACY AND FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Not only did not offer friendship through faith in the Old Testament to fathers of the faith such as Abraham and Moses but in the New Testament, when God came near to all humanity, not just the Jews, in the form of Jesus Christ, He offered friendship to all. In
John 15:15, He says -
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Now, because of John 3:16, anyone who chooses, can be a friend of God and it's still offered through faith in the One who made the Way to the Father, Jesus Christ, and He still received us through faith regardless of our faults. Notice I did not say sin, because sin will continue to separate us from God until it is confessed and therefore forgiven. Therefore you sin from the past and present can be forgiven and you receive a release and justification from them. Not so for future sin as that would nullify the whole Gospel of repentance and forgiveness, the very foundation of the Christian faith. So be careful (and read and memorize if you can, Hebrews 10:26 to the end.)   

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

This is a season where we need to receive "THE Word" of God and not only "A word..." from God. Most churches in America have "A word" not necessarily "THE Word" for God - grab a Scripture, book quote, throw it out there with some anecdotes and application and call it a day. Not so with THE Word. THE WORD is the NOW word. A word could be legitimate but we live in a time when we need THE WORD of the Lord. THE WORD will equip us to meet the challenges we NOW face. It is great to have both but most important to have THE NOW WORD.

Crucial to note: Only one who is intimately connected to the Vine, Jesus Christ will have THE NOW Word of God. A Word will be generally applicable, but THE WORD will be specifically applicable. Our NOW God speaks in specifics. Be discerning.

CONCLUSION

This is my takeaway and what the Lord ministered to me that I share with you in addition to the richness of what was shared by Pastor William Carroll of TSC.

What is our multidimensional God speaking to your heart today? Listen. He is equipping you for the upcoming week.

GOD BLESS YOU.