Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Seeing Jesus - September 2016


As I took my seat, the first song our church played focused on the Holy Spirit with an upbeat tempo. As I raised my hands to worship the Lord, I closed my eyes. With no effort on my part, I saw myself, as if standing behind and to the left of my physical body. My body shrank in a blink of an eye and I became child-sized as an indistinct, child-sized figure came forward and took both my hands in His. We began hopping around in a circle the way children do when the dance and play.
Grinning like a kid, I sent a silent thought of ‘thank you’ to the Holy Spirit. I had been asking Him to make himself more real to me so I could see Him as the third person of the Trinity instead of an “it.” This incredible introduction seemed like a wonderful experience and I was grateful for the awesome day at church.
The next song, one of my favorites, was a waltz-like tune that says, “You’re my one desire, you’re my one thirst, more than anything, I seek You first…” As I raised my hands and closed my eyes I saw myself dancing with the Lord whose features were indistinct, but I knew instantly who it was, nonetheless. My right hand dropped slightly while my left came down in front of my stomach, mimicking the position in the vision. It seemed natural for my feet to follow the path the Lord led me on as we waltzed together.
Towards the end of the song a thought that wasn’t mine enters my mind, “This is our song.”
Mulling over those words, I finally reply, “Lord, this song is about how much I need You. Why is it our song?”


His said, “Before you knew me, this is how much I wanted you.” Emotions came along with the words, I felt a longing that resembles a first teenage crush; every time you enter a room, you scan the crowd, hopping to get a glimpse of them. When you spot them across the room, you hold your breath, hoping they will look your way so you can at least connect with a smile.

The realness of these intense foreign feelings was too much, I was completely undone: I collapsed, putting my head on the chair in front of me. My shoulders shook as I sobbed, overcome by the strength of the unexpected emotions. Although I had heard many people talk of how much God loves us and how much He desires us to be with Him, it is an entirely different thing to feel it.

My friend Kristy looked questioningly at me as the pastor told us to greet our neighbors. “I was dancing with the Lord,” I said.

“When I saw you,” she replied, “I said to myself, she looks like she’s dancing!” On the way out of the service I described the words exchanged and the emotion that accompanied them. It would be three days before I could speak of this encounter to another person, even to Mom. (If you’ve read “Angels Believe in You,” you know she is my usual “go to” person for spiritual matters.)

I had a list of people waiting to hear about my long-awaited trip to Heaven. This was a small first step. However, it was much different than I expected. It was so filled with emotion that for days I couldn’t think about it without being overcome with that “love” feeling from God. It caused me to break down into tears. When I finally did call Mom, I still couldn’t get through the story without a few tears streaming down my cheeks.

On Thursday, I joined the young adults again, as I had been led to do for many months. I approached the leader’s wife, let’s call her Carrie. “Remember the other day when you told me about seeing Jesus while you worship? I had suggested that perhaps the woman from the 
Bethel Church who leads people in meeting the Lord might be a good guest speaker for the young adult group so they could encounter Jesus…? Well, I think maybe we don’t need her to come and speak after all.”

Quickly I filled her in on my experience. After talking with her husband later that night, the youth leader seemed to think it would be a good idea for me to give my testimony at one of the future meetings.

While I waited to give my testimony and pestered God, “Before I get up there in front of people and say that this is how You are going to prepare people for the outpouring, I would really like to know for absolutely sure that this is what you are saying. I have heard this before from a man who visited you in Heaven, and you confirmed it with a miracle and a vision outlining my future path… but I need to know 100% for sure that this is the same thing.”

Meanwhile, I tried to recreate the experience: Lying in bed with worship music on, I pictured the Lord, but I was unable to mimic the imagery and nothing really happened. This confirmed that it is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to encounter the Lord in this way. It isn’t just imagination.

The next Sunday there was a guest preacher at the church I watch on TV. The pastor’s father had a huge ministry during the Jesus movement back in the 70s. I didn’t really care for his style of preaching, but before I could switch off the program, the Holy Spirit swelled up inside me. A pressure formed right where my ribcage meets and a mild tingling prickled my skin.Knowing the Holy Spirit had something for me in this program, I kept watching. Two hours later his wife stepped up to the podium next to him.

She began speaking in tongues with an English word thrown in every now and then. The gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues was fulfilled as the guest preacher interpreted what God was saying through her, “The Holy Spirit will teach people in a new way, to prepare them for the outpouring of the glory that is coming…” As he spoke these words, the pressure in my middle eased.

I bounced up out of my seat with a shout, “Praise God, thank you Holy Spirit for confirming what You have been whispering to me!”

On Wednesday, I attended another church that was having a “healing” night. Our family had been out of town since I had danced with the Lord and I was looking forward to worshiping again. The first song was one I wasn’t too familiar with: the words were worship, but the beat was more like a hip-hop dance beat. I sighed and tried to dismiss my irritation as I struggled to follow along.

As my eyes closed, I saw the Lord dancing. Instead of a dignified waltz, it was a wild, exuberant uninhibited display that would fit right in with many ancient tribes. It was a mixture of “The Twist” and an old fashioned “Mashed Potato.” Dressed in a long robe, the King of all the Universe was twisting His way downward then slowly rising while swing one fist above His head then the other.

Laughter burst forth before I could stop it. My hand flew to cover my mouth and I looked back to the words on the screen. Every time I would close my eyes in so much as a long blink, I would see the Lord right before me rocking out with the same wild abandon – the shock of seeing Him in this way caused me to laugh every time. By the end to the song, I got His message: Lighten-up, have fun with it!

I meditated on these visions of the Lord, asking God what He wanted me to know about them. The Holy Spirit brought to me that this wasn’t the first time I danced during worship. In the past, it was more of a strong leading telling me which foot to move and when.In comparing the two experiences, it was much easier to follow the Lord when I could see us dancing. Instead of just flowing with the feelings, the urging of the Holy Spirit, I knew what to do and when to do it. This is why the Holy Spirit is going to be bringing people to Jesus for training in face-to-face experiences instead of the normal leading and guiding with the Holy Spirit. It is crunch time and we need a more direct leading.

According to her and what I’ve experienced, these face-to-face experiences during worship usually happen in the following way: 
First: He appears; many times with indistinct features. A person can try to picture an indistinct figure as a way of inviting Him to come while they worship.
Second: The Lord does something: we are created “like” Him. He likes physical contact, just like we do. It may be a hug, handshake, pat on the back, dancing, or many other types of contact.
Third: He will say something. It is always loving and uplifting like, “I’m proud of you,” “I love you,” or “You are doing so good.” Whether it is one of these or something else, it will be what means the most to that person.
Fourth: The Lord will want to take you somewhere for more training. The Lord has created a garden for each of us.
The garden is the Secret Place where the Trinity interacts with us in living parables to help us know them better. We learn what it means to be the sons and daughters of the Most High. Think of it like your own personal Garden of Eden. The Lord will heal hurts, both physical and emotional that are interfering with our walk as well as helping us to more fully develop the fruits of the Spirit: Love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

The Lord revealed Himself to me in worship during the 40 days of the Feast of Trumpets. The Holy Spirit showed me when I was meditating on this experience is how it lines up with the feasts of Israel. I have been researching the feasts since I was called as a prophet in the middle of one. The Hebrew word for feasts latterly means “appointed times.” Everything Jesus did lined up to the day with the Jewish feasts:

1. Passover: celebrates the coming Messiah as the Passover lamb whose blood would be shed for their sins. Jesus fulfilled everything they put the lambs through and was crucified on the day of Passover.

2. Unleavened Bread: celebrates the taking away of sin. Jesus was buried on the beginning of this feast. With His death, He took all our sin away.


3. Pentecost: Celebrates a freeing of God’s people. The Holy Spirit was poured out on Jesus’ disciples on this day, founding the first church.

Look for an upcoming book which will fully explain the details of the feasts and what the future ones represent.

Remember that Satan is the imitator of God. He often appears as an angel of light. When you have these encounters, you should always make sure what you are being told or things you learn line up with the Bible.

More articles on:


SignsWondersMiraclesDreamsAngelic Encounters, and Heavenly Visits 
can be found in the 
HEAVENLY ENCOUNTERS 
tab in the menu at the top.

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