God thinks ahead!

The very first vision the Lord ever gave me went like this:

I was laying in bed several months ago talking to Jordan on the phone. All of a sudden, with my eyes closed I saw a box kind of etched out with some scratchy looking writing on the inside. There were several words, but it happened so quickly that the only thing I could make out was the number "7" and the word "door."

Well, I went to sleep thinking about it and woke up thinking about it. I decided to go to the best source-- the word of God! I flipped open to the concordance in the back of my new bible and searched the pages until I found the word, "door." Hey, what do you know. The first verse listed was Matthew 7, verse 7. Coincidence? Nah. No such thing.

So Matthew 7.7 says this: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

Ever since I got that verse, I've been waiting on Him to tell me why He gave it to me. In my limited experience, God doesn't really show you things for no reason. Even if the purpose is only to bless you, there's still a purpose behind it. Well, up until a week ago He left me in the dark about that one. 

I was at a weekly meeting Jordan and I attend. It's called Fascinate, and the purpose is multifaceted, but it really boils down to seeking the Lord's face, releasing His glory, and ultimately physically being with God. Some really cool stuff has happened at these meetings and you'll probably notice the name "Fascinate" quite often in my writings. Anyway, last week I opened my notebook, wrote "Fascinate" at the top of the page and then proceeded to record the date. Guess what it was! 7/7!

Of course as soon as I wrote "7/7" I thought of the verse God had given me. I asked if He wanted me to share and got a "yes" so I did. Matthew 7.7 was exactly on target for that particular gathering. As the Lord has done before with others in the group, He gave me a verse that flowed with the direction that meeting was going. Later I asked Him, "God, did you give me that verse so many months ago just so I could share it tonight?"

The answer was yes. Our God sure does think ahead-- way ahead!

This same night some cool, yet kind of scary things happened. I got a word from our friend Mike about blessing in persecution. The Lord impressed it upon him to remind me that blessed are those who are persecuted in the name of Christ. Mike told me that when someone persecutes me, to take it as a blessing and then give a blessing. He gave me this verse. 1 Peter 3.9.

"Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."

The point was that sometimes the blessing we inherit is the persecution. So take it as a blessing and don't pay back with further evil, but rather with more blessings! Only God could think this stuff up, right?

I hadn't experienced anything recently that made Mike's word resonate to me, but during worship I got something from the Lord that makes me believe He is preparing me to handle such persecution. I had a vision of Christ being beaten and whipped. It was very vivid and very brutal. I saw this go on for a few minutes, and as it was playing out before me, my friend Will began to pray out loud. He was speaking to the Lord about wanting Him. At one point He said, "God, we want you. We want all of you. We want everything you have!"

In agreement I cried out, "Yes, Lord!" 

At this point I was still seeing Christ being beaten. Immediately after I spoke, I heard the Lord say, "Remember-- that means you want my suffering too."

Ha. Of course at this point, I was like, "AH! Wait! What did I just agree to again?"

So that's that. From my perspective, God must be preparing me for something. I don't know what yet, but I'd like your prayers. Don't get me wrong; I don't necessarily want to be spared the persecution. My flesh is fearful, but I would rather suffer for Christ and The Father's will than live a life of complete and total ease while going my own way. No, the prayers that I'll be depending upon now are those that beseech the Lord to be with me and comfort me through whatever I go through. I pray that whatever I encounter, He would give me the strength to handle it with grace and always, always act loving towards others, no matter what their actions. Scary, but whatever it takes for His glory.

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Love you all.

Peace, Love, and Christ

Kharis