This month’s newsletter focused on the spiritual preparation the Lord is calling each of us too instead of the economic storm that we’ve been typically focusing on. Since we haven’t had any spiritual posts in a while for you the blog reader, we thought we would share it here in two parts. To sign up for the newsletter click the following link. We’ve been talking about the difficult times ahead for two years now. Today, we’re going to discuss the only really important way to prepare yourself.
Today, I wanted to share a dream that the Lord gave my friend Tim which is extremely relevant to our time so that we can pull out a couple of important points for you to prepare yourself for the times ahead. Here is what he recently wrote…
Comment: I had this dream several years ago and the Lord has reminded me of it from time to time. I wrote it down and kept record of it. Just a couple days ago, I was reminded of the dream again because of the global financial crisis going on. I then went to re-read the dream and could not find any record of it at all. So I have re-written it here:
Dream:
I was in a city in a large valley and all of the people had just been informed that there was going to be a flood coming into the valley. Everyone began to run around and gather things and try to get out of the city to higher ground. It then became clear that the time was shorter than was first thought and everyone was trying to get to the highest place possible. I had my little dog Coconut with me and came to a flag pole near a building and climbed the pole to the very top. It was difficult to do while holding Coconut. When I was at the top I could see all around the valley from this higher point. I looked over to the left of the valley and saw the flood waters coming. They were rushing in like a wall of water and were as high as the mountains themselves.
I quickly realized that I would not be safe on the flag pole so I set Coconut off on the roof of the building next to me and quickly slid down the pole. I went in to the building through the double doors in the front. It was kind of dark inside and there was an anticipation of the wall of water that would come in a matter of seconds. I notice that there was a group of men who had been sitting down together around a table in an area in front of me and to the right. They had been discussing how they had planned this flood. There was an evil intent behind it, but now they too would be caught in it and over taken by it. The flood waters had begun to rush over the building we were in. (Until this point, I had been myself in the dream. Then there was a time when I took on the perspective of one of these men who had been meeting at the table.)
One of the men who was sitting at the table got up and began to go up a stairway to my right. I followed and as I did, I took on his perspective. Reaching the very top floor the man walked around a large empty room that had some windows around it, but there was no way to see out because the flood waters had covered the building. The room was large and rectangular in shape and at the side that was on the far end across from the stairway, there was a sliding glass door. The man walked over and opened the door and looked out over a long balcony.
There were many people and families on the balcony and they had with them some supplies and food they had brought in preparation for the flood. The balcony was covered by a tarp and amazingly, when the flood had rushed over the building, it had created a conclave that made this open space under the rushing waters where the balcony was. The people were planning on finding safety there until the waters receded. The man then closed the sliding door and locked it so that no one from the balcony could get in. I then realized that this flood was going to last far longer than anyone knew… 3 1/2 years was what I was thinking. The supplies and food the people on the balcony had would not last this long.
I then awoke from the dream and thought about it. The Lord told me that only those receiving provision from Him would be able to endure this flood.
Let me provide a little commentary to the meaning of this dream as I see it as it provides some wonderful direction from the Lord.
The “flood” is a series of natural and economic events that combine to form a tsunami of “evils” and difficulties. Imagine a third of the angels (those who hate God and His plan) being cast to the earth to unleash every kind of havoc. We have certainly seen the beginning of these things in the form of natural disasters and economic turmoil, but they are about to scale up in ways that are difficult to imagine in the mind of one who has always had things easy (as almost every American has).
“Time was Shorter” then most everyone had assumed. Most Christians who are familiar with the scriptures believe that someday there will be some very hard “end times”. Of course, they don’t really believe that’s going to impact them in any way in the here and now.
I do not believe that Jesus is going to be coming down in the clouds (Mt 24:30) in the very near future. But many of the difficult times described in scripture are very much on our doorstep and Jesus coming in the form of His Body (1 Cor 12:27) & His Temple (Micah 4:1) is very much at hand! So time is short and it would be wise for each of us to prepare ourselves.
I wanted to share an economic story of a friend and client from South Africa. We were talking about the possibility of US Dollar debasement and hyperinflation and he was able to share some real world experience with me that I don’t have. He had already gone through something like this where interest rates rose more than 7% in only a few months. He said the effects were devastating on the real estate market. And of course, the real estate market has by far the biggest effect of any market on the overall US economy.
I had to check back in with him for the numbers to write this because those didn’t stay with me, but what did stand out from our initial conversation was how dramatically and seemingly “overnight” the affects were on their economy. No one realized before it started how short the time was until this sledgehammer would hit their economy. And of course, in the grand scheme of things, the inflationary affects in S.Africa in 1998 were not tremendously large compared to what has happened in many times and places in the world, and what could happen here.
My main point in this newsletter is not economic or financial, but instead about the important battle of the soul we are or will be facing. But economic disruption is most definitely a way the Lord can bring us to our knees (and has many times before throughout history.)
In our next post, we’ll get into the main message that God is giving us to prepare ourselves for the times ahead so that we can receive the full blessing that He has for us in these times.
Watch the previous economic update video series we did at: 1) Europe Economic Update 1, 2) Europe Economic Update 2, 3) Europe Crises Explained, 4) World Economic Update, 5) US Economic Update, 6) US Economic Update 2, 7) US Economic Update 3, 8) Hyperinflation Signs, 9) Hyperinflation, Inflation, or Deflation?, 10) Gold Update, & 11) Gold & Silver Update.