God is Stirring This Up

January 12, 2000

I received this from a prophetic list from Australia today called the Diggers and thought you might like to read it. God is really stirring up this issue on leadership and the leader of this group also received my last mailing. Most of my day yesterday was in getting through my e-mail. As far as discussion, I would like to know how much action this group might be capable of. You know me, I love to be part of the action but I have already blown my trumpet as loud as I can on this. If the door is truly being opened in Heaven according to the first trumpet, are we to let others be led to spread the word or are we to be where the action is? The vision below is a good example of what the Lord expects but also that not all the leaders will get the message directly from the Lord, He needs us to spread the message. I love discussion and coming to one accord but after we are blessed and edified, what then? Could we be rightly called an action group as well as a discussion group? It's the Lord's group. I guess that depends on where you think that we are going with it. Anyway, let's discuss it.

Jay.



3. A NEW YEAR'S DREAM: by Terry Long

(This is the first submission from my wonderful wife, to this newsletter. She has a prophetic ministry, which often means that she gets powerful revelations through dreams. I get to listen to most of them, plus the many other things the Lord shows her, but this particular dream, seemed especially appropriate for leaders as we enter a new century. It is a little longer than most submissions, but I think you will find it worth the read. Yes, she does get dreams that are this detailed! As with all "words" we submit it to all of you for your discernment and for your use as you may see fit. )

I had a dream in the early morning hours on the first day of the new year of the new millenium. I spent New Year's Eve praying to the Lord, and I asked him specifically for a dream before I went to bed. This dream has encouraged me personally, and I believe that it could also encourage others, and so I feel led to share it.

I was walking along a dirt road with a group of about 30 people, mostly women and some men and children. We were walking with the intention of reaching "the city", and I was leading them, showing them the way and walking out ahead of them. We had traveled a long way and now we could see the city in the distance, and anticipation was building within the group. The city was a special place, a haven, and most importantly, we were to meet the Lord there and commune with him. But our journey was cut short.

There was a river with an almost finished bridge that we had to walk across. It was an old type of bridge, a long and narrow arch spanning the river, about 6 feet wide, much like a Roman aqueduct, and made entirely of stones. All of the stones were hanging in place without the aid of mortar or cement, suspended and supported entirely by the weight of each other. The bridge was temporarily held up with a wooden frame, waiting for the keystone to be dropped into place, and then the wooden frame could be taken away. The stones would then settle into place and be a completed bridge. However, there was no keystone on this bridge.

I was about to lead the people across the bridge and make them jump the gap, but a man came up from the river. There were many men like warriors down in the river, working on the bridge. He halted us and told us that we could not go across. He said there was no keystone, and until they found one, no one could walk on the bridge, that it wasn't safe, and the bridge itself couldn't support the weight of the people walking across it.

All of us in the group were very disappointed, because we had come all this way, only to be told we had to wait, and could go no further. But I knew all was not lost. I knew that the Lord would help us, and I instructed the group to get on their knees there with me and pray to the Lord to come and help us. I told them to pray with me to ask the Lord for a miracle solution to bridge the gap as He is our great cornerstone. I had faith and fully expected him to come and lay Himself down as the keystone for us to go across.

In the dream, the Lord appeared before me as I was praying. I thought that He was coming to answer us as we had prayed, but to my amazement He told me that I was praying "amiss" and that I had instructed the people to pray amiss as well. He told me that He is the great cornerstone and that He had already laid his life down for all of mankind. And said that His work on earth was finished and that He continues to work in heaven always interceding for us as the bridge to God.

But He emphasized that He does that work in heaven. He said that He calls us all to model and imitate His great work here on earth by continually doing what He did on earth and what He does in heaven. That Christians here on earth, by His Spirit, are to follow his example, and lay ourselves down, bridge the gap with our bodies and souls, and be His bridges on earth so that others may find their way to the "city" and to be with Him.

And then I knew what He was going to ask me. He asked me if I would follow Him and lay myself down in the gap on the bridge so that the people could get across. I can't tell you how disappointed I initially felt. I told the Lord that I had led them all this way, and that I wanted to celebrate with them in the city, and that I wanted to see their faces and share their joy, and to receive my joy "reward" for the work that I had done. I knew that if I was placed in the gap on the bridge, that it would be for a long time, because all of the stones were jammed in and were held up only with the pressure of each other. It would be a permanent calling, and I knew it would be painful.

The Lord then told me, "The world and the groups may esteem leaders because people follow them, but that is not what a leader is. These leaders on earth are followers of my leadership; they are all following me. I am the true leader.

My values are different from what the world esteems. Many who are great leaders on the earth, who have their names known on the earth, and have groups following them are of little significance in heaven. The one who lays down his life, who makes himself of no reputation, who hides his face and does secret deeds of life for the life of the brethren is of great significance in heaven.

My work is to reconcile the world to my Father. There is no greater work on earth for Christians then that of being used to reconcile people to God. It is what I did on earth and what I continue to do in heaven. Bringing them along the road is easy. I am asking for these leaders to become actual instruments of reconciliation.

Here, I offer you a place of honour. To lay down your life, your body, and your "leadership" so that others may find me. You can follow me, and do my work on the earth and bridge the gap. This group is almost at the city. They know the rest of the way now; they can see the city. Your leading them there is not the important thing now. Give up the pleasure of leading them to the end result, and you will have a greater joy."

I didn't totally understand, but I agreed to do it. I was honoured that the Lord would ask me, and in faith I trusted him, because I could see that it was my selfishness that really wanted to go with the group to thc city.

The warriors came up from the river, picked me up and laid me face down to the river. They placed me above the gap and dropped me into the space on the bridge. I could feel their feet stomp on my back to "jam" me into place. My face was looking down at the water. The wooden bridge frame was pulled away and my body settled in with all of the other stones. The bridge was complete.

The group was euphoric. They ran across the bridge. No one asked where I was. They didn't care. They could go across, and their anticipation was of greater importance then wondering where I had gone. They didn't see me, and didn't realize I had become the keystone. They all walked on me. I could feel their feet, boots, and wheels of the carts, etc, and I could feel the pain of it all on my back. I started to cry because I wanted to be with them. Soon they had all gone across and it was quiet as they got further away and closer to the city. Everything was quiet except for my crying. I couldn't even watch them enter the gates because I was face down to the river. Then I heard the most wonderful sound. Shouts of joy, laughter , celebration, dancing, and praises to the Lord. My tears of sorrow were turned to tears of joy. They had made it. I realized at that moment that the Lord was right. It didn't matter that I went with them. The important thing is that they got there. I was the means for them to get there. We would still have all been on this side of the river if someone didn't become the keystone. My selfishness could have prevented the whole group from getting to the city. With the Lord's help, and by faith , I was able to lay aside what I thought was "owed" me for leading these people. I truly had found the greater reward. I wanted to be in that bridge for the rest of my life. I had found my "niche" and wanted to have this unknown and faceless ministry, and even better that no one knew it was me. It was just my secret with the Lord. I wanted to stay there, so that other groups could come across, and walk on me and get to the city too. I knew that I was a reconciler, doing the work of the Lord, by actually becoming the means by which people got to the city to be with the Lord. Instead of "doing", I was "being".

Then something even more amazing happened. As I was facing downward to the river, I started looking around me, as I could move my head to the right and to the left. I then realized that the stones, which I thought were stones, were not really stones at all. They were people! I looked at the one beside me and recognized her. I said, "Oh, it's you!" and looked around at others. Some I knew, and others were strangers - men and women. I called out to those I knew.

There were some men down at the bottom of the bridge near the water who I recognized as leaders of some large groups. I called out to them, "I thought you had gone on into the city with your group years ago!" They replied that there was no way across for them so they laid own and became the foundations of a bridge which, by faith , they knew that others would come and complete. They were so happy. They added that they had been waiting many long years for others to come and lay themselves down so that the groups could go across. All types of men and women were in this bridge and I felt honoured to be lying there with them. And I also felt guilty that they had been lying there so long just waiting for others to join them. I was one of the ones initially who did not want to do it. But the time now was for rejoicing. They called out to me and others and praised the Lord for completing this bridge. An older man in the bridge called out and said, "In our great joy, let us not forget those who are still waiting. There are many bridges not yet complete." And it was at that statement that I looked down the river. There were many, many bridges in various stages of completion. I could see some just waiting for a keystone, while others only had a partial arch. I could also see groups of people waiting on the sides, waiting for the bridges to be finished. Some leaders were in the process of being lifted into the bridge. There were other leaders of these groups calling out like I was, praying and instructing the people to pray to the Lord, asking him for a miracle, or that He himself would come and lay down in the gap. Some leaders did not realize that the Lord would ask them to leave their leadership of the group, and become heavenly leaders by laying themselves down in the bridge.

I called out to the Lord, "Lord, please go to them, like you did to me. Make them understand how it works. They aren't laying down because they don't know it's their job. They, like me, are probably expecting you to do it or provide for them." Again the Lord spoke to me and said, "Some leaders and groups have been there for a long time. I have already spoken to some of these leaders and offered them a place of honour in the bridge, yet they refuse to give up their leadership of their groups. They don't realize that all of the groups are mine, and I am their true leader. They want to go with their groups into the city, and they expect someone of lesser importance to come forward from the group to lay themselves down in the bridge. Anyone can lay down in the bridge, but it is to the leader first that I offer this place of honour. The leader is responsible to make sure that the group gets across the bridge. Often times it is these leaders themselves who hold things up for the entire group because they refuse to be what I have called them to be. Often, the leaders of the largest groups find it most difficult to not continue with their groups into the city. The leaders of these groups must be willing to lay themselves down. The ones who end up lying in the bridge emerge as greater leaders. Many of the leaders of the groups know this already and still they are unwilling. Pray for them, that they will have faith to DO it." I woke up at that moment.

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