Saturday, December 27, 2008, 8:49 a.m. – The Lord put this song in my head:
His Grace Is Greater / Greg Nelson, Phil McHugh, Lari Goss, and Steve Green
His grace is greater than our failure,
His peace runs deeper than our fears,
If we go to God for mercy
Our hearts can rest assured
His love will keep us through our tears.
He’ll give us strength to simply trust Him
Through times we may not understand.
We will gain a sweet assurance
No passing doubt can dim.
Our lives are safely in His hands.
Though countless souls have come to Him
So desperate and lost
With faith no greater than a tiny seed,
Each one has found a wondrous truth
Beneath His simple cross:
His grace is greater than our need.
Ah-No height or depth in all creation
Can reach beyond His love for me.
And His pow’r has raised my spirit,
The work forever done,
With grace,
God’s pow’r has raised my spirit,
The work forever done!
His grace is greater, His grace is greater,
His grace is greater than my need.
The Lord also gave me a dream: My husband and I were getting ready to receive guests, in particular my mother-in-law. My husband and I went grocery shopping. Then we drove the car home and into the garage. The garage was at a basement level on the left side of the house and we had to go up stairs to get into the house. We were in the process of carrying the food into the house when I noticed (again) that there was oil (like motor oil) leaking in the garage, but not from the car. It was leaking from the back of the garage from what looked like a fireplace flu or a overhang of some kind.
I told my husband that oil was leaking (slow drip) into the garage and there was actually a large puddle of it on the garage floor and it was moving toward the car. It was slippery and I was concerned that someone could slip and fall or that someone could get injured in some way. But, he didn’t care. This, evidently, was not the first time I mentioned this to him, so he got upset with me and began to pick a fight with me just as our guests were arriving. I was concerned that we not get into an argument in front of other people, in particular his mom.
I believe he went back to the garage and I began putting the food away in the kitchen while his mom got settled into her room. I asked her if she could find her way ok. She had stayed there before, so she knew right where to go. Her room was off the back of the living room and to the left of the kitchen and it had her own private bath off to the right. There was another person in her room looking into her double closets as I remarked to the person something to the effect about how nice her room was. I looked out her bedroom window and I could see we were on the ground floor. Her bedroom was not square or rectangular but it was round in shape.
I left her bedroom and I was back out in either the living room or the kitchen when all of a sudden I realized that I had not cleaned her bathroom and I had not put clean sheets on her bed since her last visit with us when she stayed with us for two weeks. I did not have any spare sheets for a twin bed other than ones I had out in the garage in a give away bag. I had cleaned the other two bathrooms in the house, but for some reason I forgot about her bath and bed.
Then this man showed up and said that we owed him money, like we had made a pledge a long time ago to a college, I think, and how he was coming to collect what was owed him. I told him that I didn’t remember making the pledge, but that he would need to talk with my husband about it. He kept insisting that we owed him money and I kept telling him that he needed to talk with my husband about it. So, he went down to the garage to find my husband, but he did not see him, so he looked into the fireplace in the back of the garage to see if he fell down a black hole in there. End. That is when I woke up. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
I read Hebrews 8: The High Priest of a New Covenant
1The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
3Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." 6But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.
7For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8But God found fault with the people and said:
"The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
9It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
10This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
13By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
My Understanding: I inquired of the Lord as to the meaning of this dream, and I believe this is what he has shown me. My husband represents President Bush and the US government. I represent the church that is walking in faith and obedience to the Lord, though not entirely without fault. My MIL represents the apostate church. The garage represents things hidden in darkness in our homes, lives, marriages, families, churches, government, etc. The garage to the left side of the house means political left, i.e. socialism and globalization, etc. The oil that is leaking represents lamp oil (See the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25:1-13). And, the fireplace represents divine judgment.
The overhang over the fireplace represents our covering of protection over hell, which is our salvation in Jesus Christ, and the oil represents the Holy Spirit. The leaking of the oil on to the damp basement/garage floor where things are hidden in darkness represents how the Holy Spirit is leaking out of the church and that there is a blending in the church of the spiritual with the worldly and the Holy Spirit is being trampled under our feet. The car represents the USA. The oil on the floor moving toward the car and the feeling of impending danger that I felt has to do with the direction the church in the USA has embraced (mixture of spiritual with worldly) and thus we, the church, are operating on slippery ground and are in danger of divine judgment. My husband didn’t care that this was happening, i.e. President Bush and the US government don’t care what is happening to our nation spiritually.
My husband (President Bush) got upset with me for telling him this and he began to pick a fight with me. This represents government control in our nation and the persecution of the true church during the tribulation, which I believe is already upon us. Our guests represent world leaders of other countries, such as Russia, China, Venezuela, N. Korea, Japan, Germany, the U.K. and the Netherlands.
My MIL’s (the apostate church’s) room (the guest room) that is round represents the world’s influences in the church and conformity to the world and its systems. Double closets mean the ecumenical movement in the church with the government and the church partnering together in union with each other. A bed represents a covenant relationship, but since it is a single (not double) bed, it means the Lord has been neglected, rejected and kicked out. The other person looking into her double closets is the Lord. He is examining what is stored up for her on the Day of Judgment. Her bedroom/living room/kitchen combo with private bath represents the world we live in. The description of this home was just like her efficiency apartment in real life.
I (the obedient church but not w/o fault) forgot to remove the dirty sheets and to put clean sheets on the bed and to clean the private bath in the guest room. This means that even the obedient church has allowed some of these worldly influences to thrive in the church, and we still have areas that have not yet been changed or cleaned out of the church, and thus we are in much need of revival.
The man who showed up to collect money pledged/owed represents these other countries coming to collect what is due them. The money pledged is our taxes in the USA. Because of all of these bailouts our government is providing private industries in order that they might have a piece of the pie in each area of private industry, and due to mismanagement of government funds, our country will go belly up, which is why my husband (President Bush/US government) has fallen through the dark hole of divine judgment. I kept telling the man he needs to talk to my husband about what is owed, because our government is who got us into this mess.
But, there is hope. That hope is our salvation in Jesus Christ alone. His grace is greater than our failures. If we go to Him; if we call on Him for mercy in repentance and faith and obedience, His love will sustain us in the difficult days ahead of us.