We have seen a move of God coming that is so vast and powerful that nothing on this earth or in the kingdom of darkness can stop it. It is a wave so powerful it will sweep away the traditions of men that have stolen the power and authority of God’s Word. Words alone will fail us at this juncture if they are not joined with the Spirit of Revelation. What we need desperately is the ability to know the difference between our thoughts, ideas, opinions, and reasonings and the revelation knowledge that comes from the Lord. I propose that it is through the wonderful spiritual gift of dreams and visions that unlocks the life-giving power of God’s Word that will deliver us from the deadly influence of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Joel 2:17-19
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above,
Oh, the blessed wisdom of God. Some years ago I was sent to a seminary and commanded of the Lord to ask the students a question. It was truly a supernatural door the Lord opened in order to teach at this prestigious school. The question I was commanded of the Lord to ask the students was this, “Why did the Lord say that in the last days He would pour out His spirit on all flesh? Your old men would dream dreams and your young men would see visions, and your sons and daughters will prophesy. Why did He not say in the middle ages or some other time in Church history?”
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
I will never forget the eyes of the young man who sought to answer that question. The Lord had showed me in a dream before I got to the seminary that a bald red-faced man would challenge me when I asked the question and I was to answer him like this, “I did not come here to debate Theology, I came here to say, “Thus sayeth the Lord!” ‘ After this encounter with the bald, red-faced man and his humiliation and defeat – “for he was under a powerful “religious spirit” when he challenged me. The power of the Lord fell in that room. This is when the young man asked if he could answer the question. As I looked at him and acknowledged his desire he said, “Could it be that the Lord said that it would be in the last days that we would see dreams and visions and prophesy because it would be in the last days that we would need them?” The young man was exactly right. But the question is why do those of us who are living in the last days need the restoration of dreams and visions so badly?
The answer to that question is found in the challenge I received from the bald, red-faced man. The seminary I was preaching in was part of one of our leading pentecostal movement educational systems. This movement was born in the fire of renewal and revival but like so many such movements has found itself under the strong grip of the religious spirit under-girded by the spirit of pride and intimidation. The great danger of knowledge is that it has the hidden leaven that puffs up. How strange that something that the Lord had meant for blessing and strength could become such a stumbling block. For if we search the scriptures concerning knowledge we will find that it is spoken of very favorably throughout the word of God. Take for instance the following scriptures.
Proverbs 2:3-5
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
Indeed, there are scores and scores of such scriptures throughout the Word of God regarding the blessing of seeking after knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Where then is the problem? Is it not found in the very first book of the Bible and does it not revolve around Satan’s promise?
Gen. 3:4-7
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened,
So then we find there are two kinds of knowledge available to the one who is pursuing the Lord. One comes from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the other comes from what is known as Revelation Knowledge.
Revelation knowledge cannot be gained from study alone but includes a great deal of “waiting on God.” Indeed we need both. That is we need the knowledge that the Word of God tells us to pursue with earnestness and yet there is a knowledge that is deadly to the things of God.
“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.”
Yet, like so many things that get messed up it is because of the order we put them in. In most schools it is academics that is worshiped, not revelation. We can gain academics without waiting on God, but we cannot gain revelation knowledge without quietly waiting on the Lord in His presence.
One writer put it like this. -
Prophetic ministry is not something that you can take up. It is something that you are. No academy can make you a prophet. Samuel instituted the schools of the prophets. They were for two purposes – one, the dissemination of religious knowledge, and the other, the writing up of the chronicles of religious history. In Samuel’s day there was no open vision; the people had lost the Word of God. They had to be taught the Word of God again, and the chronicles of the ways of God had to be written up and put on record for future generations, and the schools of the prophets were instituted in the main for that purpose. But there is a great deal of difference between those academic prophets and the living, anointed prophets. The academic prophets became members of a profession and swiftlydegenerated into something unworthy. All the false prophets came from schools of prophets, and were accepted publicly on that ground. They had been to college and were accepted. But they were false prophets. Going to a religious college does not of itself make you a prophet of God.
(emphasis mine)
Well, where then do dreams and visions fit into all of this? One of the great powers of dreams and visions that come from the Lord is that they have the ability to reveal and pull down religious strongholds that seek to keep the Lord’s message from going to those He desires it to. Take, for instance, the Apostle Peter as he sits and waits upon the Lord on the roof top. Here is an Apostle of the Lord who has spent a great deal of time with Jesus himself. He is hungry for the Lord. He desires to obey the Lord but he has been powerfully deceived by the religious spirit of his Jewish heritage. The Lord must send him a vision in order for him to find deliverance and freedom.
Acts 10:9-15
Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: 10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, 11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: 12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. 15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Some time ago I was seeking the Lord and asking the question, “Why do we know so little of the power of the Lord in our lives and in our Churches?” As a result of this prayer I was given the revelation that is to follow. I have found the most important elements in hearing from the Lord are humility, child-like faith, humility that includes a willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to challenge all that we have come to believe.
Vision- I heard the Lord come to my heart’s door. As I opened it I saw Him standing there with a wooden bucket full of crystal clear water. He came and placed the bucket on my table. He then reached in and began to pull some things out. First, He pulled out some crabs and placed them into my hands. Next, He reached in and began to pull out handfuls and handfuls of zebra mussels and place them in my hands. I wondered what I was supposed to do with them and then decided the Lord wanted me to throw them away.
The vision ended with me throwing them away.The next day I sat before the Lord and the scene picked up where it had left off the day before, except this time I had a sword in my hand. I decided to thrust the sword into the bucket of crystal clear water and much to my disappointment it only went in a few inches before it struck something solid. I was greatly disappointed that I could not put my sword any deeper into the bucket of water. As a result I became forceful and drew my sword back and struck the obstruction with all of my might. Much to my delight the sword broke through and began to descend deeper and deeper into the bucket. It was going down hundreds of feet per second and all of the time picking up more and more speed when suddenly it came to an abrupt halt. As I looked at what stopped the sword I was so shocked I nearly fell down. The sword had penetrated the heart of the Lord – and then I hear the Lord say, “Leave your sword of the spirit in my heart until it beats with my heart and then pull it out and go forth in my mighty power declaring my heart.”
As I sought the Lord for the interpretation of the first part of the vision, I realized that the zebra mussels were hindering my ability to go deeply into the depths of God’s Word and ultimately in touching His heart. After much research and prayer the Holy Spirit began to unfold the interpretation. He began to teach me that the zebra mussels were the ideas, thoughts, reasonings’, and opinions that filtered out the Word of God until there was no power left. The water was crystal clear but had no life in it as a result of the over-filtering of the zebra mussels. I then thought of the following verse.
Matt. 7:13
Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
In our next writing we will discuss how we can tell the difference between our opinions, ideas, thoughts and reasonings that rob the Word of God from its intended power and God’s divine thoughts. But for now, let us begin with this, we must learn to mistrust our “opinions, thoughts and reasonings. Are you ready for the next move of God?
MORE TO FOLLOW
Apostle Robert Rogers
To read more about the next move of God contact Mike or Penny to obtain a copy of the book “The Coming Glory of the Church: And the next Move of God”
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Attn: Penny
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Muskegon, MI. 49442
This was such a GREAT blog! And very important! Thank you. Looking forward to the next one