On July 17 I was wakened at 1.07 and prompted to read Luke 17.
It is the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers. It begins, “As Jesus was going…..” and continues with his instruction to the ten, “Go and show yourselves to the priest.”
The number 17 represents victory, and we had just concluded we were being told to “Go” on 3 assignments over the next three months…… to the east coast of the US in August, then to Ireland in September and then to South Korea in October. We have made these 3 journeys a number of times over the years, however this time Father said,
‘This time they are to be 3 Victory laps.”
We read of the 10 lepers ‘As they went they were healed.” In their going there was a degree of faith in obeying Jesus before there was any physical evidence. However in the only one who returned to give thanks there was a higher level of faith that resulted not just on his outward physical healing but in an inner healing.
Jesus commends him saying, (while the nine received a physical healing)….”Your (higher level of) faith has made you whole.” (Gk. sozo).
It was CS Lewis who said, “Thankfulness is inner health made audible.”
Only this one completed the Victory Lap.
I had a dream just before we went on our 17 day, 7 stop, 4000 mile trip in which my ‘sports car’ had been taken away and I had been given a new ‘top of the line’ model. As we headed east our friend Pastor Collins in Great Barrington sent me this photo of a bag of cherries with the message…….
‘Just saw these in our local grocery store :)’
The sweet memory that came back to me from a previous visit there was of my friend Eugene and I tearing round the New England country roads in winter with the roof down in our Ford Mustang sports car. They said there was no economy rental available and they would have to upgrade us🙂
Father said to me, “I’m offering my people at this time an upgrade of faith“
As Hilary and I took this first substantial roadtrip in many years and the first in our new Subaru Crosstrek, he began speaking to me about the I.T. changes over the 30 years since we moved to the US that had manifested in our driving experience.
In Ireland in 1994 we drove a ‘shift stick’ We discovered in the US ‘automatic was the norm.i.e. The gears were sorted! Then over the years ‘cruise control’ arrived. The accelerator was sorted. Now on this trip I discovered that when the car in front slowed so did we……the brakes were sorted!
Father showed me this was the natural proclaiming the spiritual. The first level of faith is Passover faith where we rejoice that our sins are forgiven and we have been delivered from bondage to sin. (Justification) The second level of faith is developed as we journey through Pentecost and learn to hear and obey the voice of God.(Sanctification) The third level of faith is where we come into agreement with God as he removes our ‘heart of stone’ and replaces it with a ‘heart of flesh’ on which he can write his law. (Glorification)
This ‘seeing’ by the vehicle was also manifested in the warning sign that would appear,”Lane departure’
The scripture came to mind from Is.30, “Your teachers will be hidden no more……Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way walk in it.”
I remember recently on my way to share at a Men’s retreat I asked my friend Mike what I should speak about. He replied,”Whatever is in your heart.”
My thoughts immediately turned to Jer.17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” Father then reminded me of the scripture further on in Jeremiah, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” (Jer. 31:33)
This is this new covenant promise God is fulfilling in our lives in our day.
As we enter into the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles we are to expect to walk with God as Enoch walked and in the step by step of everyday life expect that like him who ‘was not’, we too will disappear as we become one with the one from whom we’ve come and to whom we go.
The I.T. that is our salvation is not the counterfeit man made Information Technology but rather an Inspiration Theology that is not a knowledge about God but a knowing of God mediated by the fullness of His Spirit in our lives.
I shared these thoughts at Living God Fellowship in Great Barrington MA. it occurred to me to conclude with the song ‘On The Day You Were Born.’ which ends with the exhortation,
‘You’ve come this far now step father out
Out of the vale of tears (and fears)
You’ve come this far now move farther in while all of heaven cheers
‘Freedom! Freedom!’ Let all creation sing
As we take the hand of our Father as we take the hand of our King”
We sang the song again, this time with the nation of America in mind,
On the day you were born I danced over you……
And as we came to proclaim, Freedom!Freedom!
………Creation did indeed sing, as the rain from heaven began pounding on the roof above for all to hear.
You can sing the song again here…..
When we returned to our daughter Laurie’s house we discovered this new purchase in her fridge
It had the same PLU number as was on Collins bag of cherries but with a 9 in front….the number for ‘visitation’
Later we went to the grandkid’s favorite ice cream place 🙂
