Thoughtful in Selah
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Acts 2:17 "...your young men will see visions..."
First off... I'm really surprised of how many people actually read my blog. I went searching through all of your sites today (and yours too Daniel.. I resent the link to my site. It's insulting) and I discovered that a lot of people took my idea of "Music My Life". ***If I had a dollar for every view (like charging admission) I could be rich. Buy out Microsoft or something... Not to be egotistical or anything***
But that's not the reason why I'm posting.
Some stuff happened in that past couple of days. I know I said in yesterday's post that nothing did but it wasn't relevant until now.
On Friday me and AppleJacks got together to worship and pray. We felt that God was calling us to help encourage each other. So we did. Andrew and I have been praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit for quite some time now. We both really want the gift of speaking in tounges and other blessings. Well for encouragement from the Word, I used Acts which I recently got done with studying from Bible Quiz. I turned to Acts chapter 2 where it talks about "The Holy Spirit Comes At Pentecost" Starting in verse 17, God spoke through the prophet Joel saying, "17 ‘In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. (NLT)
Well here's where the story gets really good.
Last night (Saturday night - Sunday morning) I had a dream (which turned out to be a vision I'm pretty sure).
It was a place where people could fly (like a bird) when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Crazy I know; just go with it. My friends could fly and I wanted the ability as well. I prayed and prayed but I just couldn't do it. My friends wanted me to go with them off of "the runway" (I don't know how to describe this. This was a place in the dream where people would run and jump off the end of this platform over a cliff's edge and fly away. I'm just going to call it the runway). I would go with my friends as they would jump and fly and they wanted me to join them but I couldn't. I would stand there on the runway and just cry and pray.
One day, Daniel took me up to the runway and told me, "Brice you are going to fly today and your not getting away until you do." Forceful sounding I know but I went along with it. As we approached the runway I was about to get sick I was so terrified, and I kept praying, "Lord please baptize me in the Holy Spirit. Send Your Holy Spirit upon me." I just kept saying that over and over. Daniel went ahead of me and jumped and I just followed him, not thinking of what was happening. I remember taking a step off the end of the runway and looking down seeing the ground below about one hundred feet away. I thought I was falling down with gravity when I spread out my arms and I soared away.
***UPDATE*** (I forgot to include this the first time which is pretty important)
After flying around for a bit I landed and asked if anybody else was going to join me. I was about to go again when someone said that I was low on fuel. (There's a way were you can tell but that is really weird and takes to much time to explain). I said I had enough to go again but then they said, "You better come back and fill up because you don't have enough to go it alone" yeah... I thought that was pretty awesome (I can't believe I forgot that the first time.)
My interpretation:
Flying is like speaking in Tounges. (not in real life of course) I wanted the gift that my friends had. I kept praying without seeing any results because "14 What good is it my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 17 So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless. 26 Just as the body is dead without a spirit, so also faith is dead without good deeds. James 2:14,17,26. Even though it's not exactly a "good deed", I need to show action that I am truly hungry for the Spirit. It isn't enought to say it we have to be committed to obey God to get His blessings.
The funny thing is is that Pastor Tom just talked about this today. "Obedience Brings Fullness".
14 When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.
17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.
18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.
21 May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.
***UPDATE*** To go along with the end of the dream.
I want certain things but God's answer to all of our questions is Yes, No, or Wait. I was blessed with a gift and I wanted more but God said "Wait" for a reason. We can't do all things on our own and that's why we need to be refilled or refreshed to help us on our way.
I hate to feel that I'm preaching here, but this is what I really feel.
So basically what happened in the end is that we need to make a move of faith. I need to come out of my box, take the right actions to do what is necessary (even if I don't feel like it), obey God, take a leap of faith, dive in, and praise Him as he gives me fullness. How's that for breaking the comfort zone? Forget being all inside myself because I'm afraid what else may happen. I need to overcome the feelings inside myself to press through and enter in! I want to have passion, fullness, and thankfulness in my life.
***UPDATE*** Footnotes
My grandpa sent me an email about this post giving me more encouragement and I wanted to share a couple things that he said (he is a pastor and all). He pointed out that we should seek that giver and not the the gift itself. And he's right. I didn't want it to sound like that. And that's what me and Apple Jacks are doing together. Together we are seeking God that he might bless us.
I also need to remember not to worry about what I'm saying when I'm praying. I just need to let it flow freely and "Just make love to Jesus".
~Thank you so much Grandpa J
Dive - Steven Curtis Chapman
But that's not the reason why I'm posting.
Some stuff happened in that past couple of days. I know I said in yesterday's post that nothing did but it wasn't relevant until now.
On Friday me and AppleJacks got together to worship and pray. We felt that God was calling us to help encourage each other. So we did. Andrew and I have been praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit for quite some time now. We both really want the gift of speaking in tounges and other blessings. Well for encouragement from the Word, I used Acts which I recently got done with studying from Bible Quiz. I turned to Acts chapter 2 where it talks about "The Holy Spirit Comes At Pentecost" Starting in verse 17, God spoke through the prophet Joel saying, "17 ‘In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. (NLT)
Well here's where the story gets really good.
Last night (Saturday night - Sunday morning) I had a dream (which turned out to be a vision I'm pretty sure).
It was a place where people could fly (like a bird) when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Crazy I know; just go with it. My friends could fly and I wanted the ability as well. I prayed and prayed but I just couldn't do it. My friends wanted me to go with them off of "the runway" (I don't know how to describe this. This was a place in the dream where people would run and jump off the end of this platform over a cliff's edge and fly away. I'm just going to call it the runway). I would go with my friends as they would jump and fly and they wanted me to join them but I couldn't. I would stand there on the runway and just cry and pray.
One day, Daniel took me up to the runway and told me, "Brice you are going to fly today and your not getting away until you do." Forceful sounding I know but I went along with it. As we approached the runway I was about to get sick I was so terrified, and I kept praying, "Lord please baptize me in the Holy Spirit. Send Your Holy Spirit upon me." I just kept saying that over and over. Daniel went ahead of me and jumped and I just followed him, not thinking of what was happening. I remember taking a step off the end of the runway and looking down seeing the ground below about one hundred feet away. I thought I was falling down with gravity when I spread out my arms and I soared away.
***UPDATE*** (I forgot to include this the first time which is pretty important)
After flying around for a bit I landed and asked if anybody else was going to join me. I was about to go again when someone said that I was low on fuel. (There's a way were you can tell but that is really weird and takes to much time to explain). I said I had enough to go again but then they said, "You better come back and fill up because you don't have enough to go it alone" yeah... I thought that was pretty awesome (I can't believe I forgot that the first time.)
My interpretation:
Flying is like speaking in Tounges. (not in real life of course) I wanted the gift that my friends had. I kept praying without seeing any results because "14 What good is it my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 17 So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless. 26 Just as the body is dead without a spirit, so also faith is dead without good deeds. James 2:14,17,26. Even though it's not exactly a "good deed", I need to show action that I am truly hungry for the Spirit. It isn't enought to say it we have to be committed to obey God to get His blessings.
The funny thing is is that Pastor Tom just talked about this today. "Obedience Brings Fullness".
14 When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.
17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.
18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.
21 May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.
***UPDATE*** To go along with the end of the dream.
I want certain things but God's answer to all of our questions is Yes, No, or Wait. I was blessed with a gift and I wanted more but God said "Wait" for a reason. We can't do all things on our own and that's why we need to be refilled or refreshed to help us on our way.
I hate to feel that I'm preaching here, but this is what I really feel.
So basically what happened in the end is that we need to make a move of faith. I need to come out of my box, take the right actions to do what is necessary (even if I don't feel like it), obey God, take a leap of faith, dive in, and praise Him as he gives me fullness. How's that for breaking the comfort zone? Forget being all inside myself because I'm afraid what else may happen. I need to overcome the feelings inside myself to press through and enter in! I want to have passion, fullness, and thankfulness in my life.
***UPDATE*** Footnotes
My grandpa sent me an email about this post giving me more encouragement and I wanted to share a couple things that he said (he is a pastor and all). He pointed out that we should seek that giver and not the the gift itself. And he's right. I didn't want it to sound like that. And that's what me and Apple Jacks are doing together. Together we are seeking God that he might bless us.
I also need to remember not to worry about what I'm saying when I'm praying. I just need to let it flow freely and "Just make love to Jesus".
~Thank you so much Grandpa J
Dive - Steven Curtis Chapman
Labels: Posts of my Faith
4 Comments:
Way to go Brice! You are right on. It took me awhile before I was able to speak in tongues too. It wasn't an immediate change like I wanted it to be, but don't worry, God will remain faithful to his word.
AMEN to God!
I hope you can take that leap of faith! Here's somthing I hope will help...
Isaiah 40:31
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
We respond to God through Faith. He does not physically force us into anything. God is going to meet your Faith and He is Faithfull!!!
Here is Luke 11:9-13
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Wow, that was nearly poetic! Beautiful!!
You really have a gift for putting things into writing, brice!! Keep it up!
Post a Comment
<< Home