(WEDNESDAY, – Reynosa, Mexico, 2006)
In our morning chapel time, Yvette shared a vision she had of a purple dot which pulsated into a bigger and bigger circle until it filled her view. I remembered that Rabbi David shared that purple is the royal color and represents Jesus. Many people had different visions which later became reality, including Charles, who was having trouble accepting the claims being made early in the trip. On about the third day, he commented that he was going to puke if he heard one more person say they had had a vision. Strangely, this day – he was the one with a vision! 🙂 So God even used the one who came to Him kicking and screaming, although not until he had humbled himself before the Lord. Holy Spirit had been wooing Charles the entire trip with the possibility of life change and miracles, but he fought believing. He didn’t want to submit his will to God’s. After hearing a powerful story of Greg forgoing sleep to go out and prostrate himself in the dirt under the night sky and humble himself before God to receive an incredible breakthrough, Charles decided to commit himself as well.
Rabbi David had been teaching us of the Holy Spirit as seen in Ezekiel. This is a short paraphrase: The river comes out of the throne room and becomes deeper and deeper the further out it gets. In this life, we can stand on the banks and watch the river go by, thinking it’s interesting, but not for us(the unbeliever). Or we can hang our legs over the side into the water and sit on the bank, enjoying the cool water, but definitely staying out of the rapids (someone who believes in the Messiah, but who hasn’t really given any of their life over to Him). Then there are those who have fully jumped into the water, but who don’t want to leave the security of the river bank and still grasp on so that they are not swept away by the rapids (those Christians committed to Christ, but who still want to hang onto the world or their own prerogatives in certain areas). David kept encouraging us to take the plunge and jump right into the middle of the river. Sure, the currents will take us places we think we don’t want to go, but this is where the river is exciting, and enables the river to take you places.
Even though Charles thought it sounded stupid to go put his face in the dirt -which was apparently the small step of obedience God asked Charles to take – he wanted more of God in his life, so he set aside his pride and doubt to trust that God would meet Him there. And that leap of faith made all the difference. The vision that Charles received was simply a first visible sign. I can tell you that Charles has grown incredibly since that time, simply by putting faith in God and allowing Him to work in his life.
Do you show God this same faith in yours?
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