From relinquishment to rebirth……How to recycle dreams (and compassion)....What "mercy-cution" looks like!

​Well, hiya there, you, you and you! 

Got the most bless-edest news for y'all!! In the 2d half of the 5/16/24 blog, I mentioned how, on Sun, May 12, a group of us prayed w/"R"....& together, renounced his former religion. He'd experienced trauma yrs ago & was having nightmares after reading the Word before bed.
 
Well, my friends.....the following Thur. morning, he called w/a WOW testimony of a GOOD dream!!! Yayyyyy! While watching a large army of men on horseback fighting w/swords, a " STRONG MAN" rode up on a horse & asked what he was doing. He said, "Just trying to keep a safe distance." The strong man said, "I AM JESUS. Get on my horse.".....R was stunned....."You're Jesus?????? Really????" He said "yes" & REACHED DOWN, pulling R up onto da saddle of GRACE!!! Then, R woke up in tears of joy! His wife attentively listened to his story....When he told the guys in our Bible study, his face radiated w/the childlike wonder of a little boy. He told his sister, who lives in their homeland. She was angry that he'd left their religion but is over it! Pray for these two ladies!.......God always reaches DOWN.....just like when He came DOWN to earth to redeem people. 

WOWOWOWOW! Ain't that JUST like our God? He reaches down because we can't climb up!!! Psalm 18:16. Many from "that other Abrahamic religion" are having such dreams. Ahem....uh....& yeah....May 19 was Pentecost Sunday! (Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:16-18) 

I told him that his exp. w/Jesus exceeded anything the rest of us had ever known although we'd been believers for many yrs.....that his intimate exp. was deeper than ALL of our head knowledge. I confirmed w/the others, "Ever had a dream like THAT?".......I joked w/him that I was jealous. "I WANT A DREAM, TOO!!!" LOL......I now kinda understand the curiosity of angels, as portrayed at the end of 1 Peter 1:12. They'll never personally exp. the beauty of redemption. And, this side of heaven, we'll never exp. R's unique ecstasy of redemption from such grief. 

……The Lord showed me that these folks have traumatized souls, just like those who've had severe head trauma. Yrs ago, a friend got a severe injury from driving into a brick wall. While visiting him the next day in the hospital, his mom said that the doc had insisted all visitors commit to a daily routine or stay away....as consistency was part of his therapy....Similarly, routine contact over time w/the Fruit of the Spirit via believers heals the traumatized soul. Simply the power of presence. And the Power of the Presence of the Holy Spirit in us. More is caught than taught....& many will initiate in their own time. No need to panic. (John 18:9) So, nobody's a "hard nut to crack" if the Spirit woos them. (Acts 9:1-19)

We need to "Be still & know that I am God". (Ps. 46:10) "He WILL be exalted among the nations". We just need to show up. After persecution, they need "mercy-cution" from the Church for the renewing of their minds! Although a bit out of context, Romans 12:2 may apply here.
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This song by Petra has become a personal anthem. "Beyond Belief" will PUMP YOU UP!!! Sometimes I just listen over & over like some of your kids used to listen to songs by Barney the Dinosaur, Cocomelon, Sesame Street....or WHAT-EVER! HAH! Let's go to even higher places! 

Most Americans resist Jesus because they've never seen the Church live out Micah 6:8. We've not been "letting our light shine before others". (Matt 5:16). Gospel engagement is hard. But they WILL listen to stories about dreams. Over breakfast, I got the ear of a thoughtful but very secular friend when I told him R's dream. He's not hostile to faith but he doesn't really believe the Bible. However, he'd NEVER deny a man's dream. He had to leave for work but wants to hear more!....Pls bear w/another story while "the tangent king" is ranting: I'm a city boy. I know that hipster urbanites eat up stories of humanitarian work because they're masters of vicarious empathy & recognize mercy.....A friendly acquaintance has zero interest in my Jesus or His Book but respects my work. She's proud of her abortion & her interest in extreme sexual perversion (fortunately, she's spared me the details). Sympathetic to vandalism in the name of social change & sympathetic towards the gay/trans community, she's a real piece of work. I tolerate her crass topics of conversation because her sheer honesty often moves our conversation effortlessly into topics of spiritual import. Moreover, my radical anti-establishment approach to doing Church seems to have also opened her ears & heart. After 3 yrs, I recently asked if she'd be open to reading a book written by apologist Abdu Murray, who came out of "that other Abrahamic religion". I was elated when she accepted a copy of "More Than a White Man's Religion: Why the Gospel Has Never Been Merely White, Male-Centered, or Just Another Religion"......Also went to a class reunion recently. (I was a real piece of work in H.S.) Had the opp to tell some of my classmates how God is working through me in what is essentially my "job". Many were stunned at how God had transformed me......

Friends, I believe that God is using stories of their dreams & how we serve to wake pagan America up!......In the same way that the Jews were made jealous by the newly saved Gentiles in Romans 11:11, I assert that the spiritually dead West will be made jealous by people like R! I call this "The 11:11 Principle". 9/11 inspired a brief repentance but I believe the coming revival will be deeper! 
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For recycling whatever God gives us, the "mercy-cution" of all and the nations.....
........Just another witness to His Glory!