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Prophetic word for today

Dry river bed (Part 1)

First posted: January 13, 2011

E-mailed: January 28, 2010

Word received by: Crystal Thorne

 

{Hyperlinks, font styles, and titles added by us}

 

Preamble

I read "Elizabeth" and "Rose from Salt". Reading these I knew they were spiritual dreams from the Lord. I do not have understanding all the time of dreams, but sometimes I see significance, or puns with names and the like.

 

I had this dream this past week. I thought it pertained to the church in general, but it may not; and I thought I would just share it with you.

 

It began with a book (Bible, I assumed) before me and it was opened to a particular word, or verse; and it was like a flashlight was shining on it. It said something like "rain is a blessing from God". I then went into this dream.

 

The unrecognised dryness

I was walking with this fellow who reminded me of [a relative]; [there was] just a familiar feeling [about him]. We were walking in the woods and went down this deep embankment to a creek bed (although I kept calling it a river bed). I noticed the large boulders, the smooth stones on the bed, the smaller stones, and pebbles. Then I noticed there was no water in the bed. Everything seemed so vivid in the dream. Where the water had once been there was a layer of this residual white stuff on the very middle of the bed. The residual stuff made me think about salt.

 

I kept looking at this bed, and I felt a certain amount of grief. We were walking in the bed, and I asked the man why there was not water in the river bed (although it was a creek bed). I heard him mumble some explanation. I just felt like it was an excuse, it just seemed to me that way.

 

(This man reminded me of [my relative] in the excuses. The history is: I always thought of [my relative] as lazy even though he worked everyday. He would sleep until it was time to go to work, [go] home and sleep again, you know, sleep 15 hours, use 1 hour to get ready for work, and work 8 hours. My [relative] loved poverty. The least amount of work for less pay was considered good to him.)

 

Anyway, I was angry. I said, "No! It rains everyday. Every single day it rains. No way should this river bed be dry!" He ignored me and kept walking in front of me.

 

The shanty dog

There was a shanty built beside the embankment. We began the walk up the embankment. I go into it, and it is just a one room place. There were hardwood floors that had deep gaps between them, dirt, and pieces of the edges were missing.

 

I go outside and am talking with some people. I have my purse, and something else I am holding. I see a dog or a cat go into the shanty. I am thinking the animal will fall through the floor, or it will slide over the hill or something. I am thinking it is a dog (I like them better than cats).

 

I go into the shanty and the floors have already deteriorated since I was there last (a few minutes before). I place whatever was in my arms on the floor, and I put my purse on a nail on the beam. I don't want the excess weight on the floors. I call the dog to me, but I have to pick him up to take him out.

 

I look back at my purse still hanging on the nail. I am thinking it is too dangerous to go after it. I shut the door and hope no one will come by at some point and decide to get it and use my credit cards, license and the like. I shut the door.

 

The party dog

Then I am at this party, and it seems it is like at my [relative]'s house (though it is a different house). Many people are there. I smell the grill going and stuff, and I ask my [relative] if he has buns for the hamburgers and hotdogs. He said he did not, but it was alright; they had light bread. Then I began to panic. I thought, "Was I supposed to have purchased the buns and some other things? Did I forget?" I was searching my mind for information on what I was supposed to have done. Then I thought maybe I was a tight-wad or something and didn't purchase them. My purse is in the shanty. I began to search for this information that I am missing. I need to know if I am at fault or something. I keep searching myself to know what I had done. I am in a panic still. I am screaming in my mind, "THINK! THINK!" I couldn't figure it out. I gave up on wondering about it.

 

At this party is a fellow. Printed on his (black and white) T-shirt was, "Really Am God". I look again and it says, "Really am Dog". Then the word "God" and "Dog" switches around. (I am thinking God was calling him a dog even though the guy is saying he is "God").

 

The fallen wall

The dream changes, and I am at a friend's house. She had invited me to swim in her pool. Her name is [Gorkya]. I stand in the pool, but I cannot see my feet. The water is a deep blue, but it is not clear water. I am thinking there is something wrong. She is on a raft in the middle of the pool, so I swim around and around the (round) pool. It is really deep, but I can't [see] under the water.

 

She gets out of the pool and into the house. I swim around to the backside (away from the house), and a portion of the wall falls down. The [water] gushes out, but the pool level is still nearly the same. I go out with the water. I see it fills up the whole bottom for a very long way, and I am so excited! I am exclaiming inside, "It is supposed to do that!" This mountain was at a distance, and the sun was beaming brightly on the side of it, and I am so excited about all of it. The water had changed color to a prettier blue as it left about 5 feet in front of me; it looked more like the pure pool water. I am like a cheerleader when I see all this.

 

(Now a few of my friends say that [Gorkya] and her husband [Volcask] are better than righteous people. They know everything, and have it together more so than others. I see this too, but I don't know what to say except I love them.)

 

Anyway, she is at the window and begins to fuss when she sees the wall had fallen. She says, ''Now I have to pay for the water to fill up the pool again [the pool is half-full still]. This is going to cost me money! (Blah-blah)".

 

I go under the water and feel around for the top of the wall. I cannot see beneath the water. I feel around and find it, and I get up and begin to put it back in place (sad to say I want to please her).

 

The left-wedge mirage

Then I am in a car behind the guy with the black-and-white T-shirt. He is in a Hummer. He is very clean, like before. His hair is crew-cut, and he is cocky. I am thinking he may have been in the military, or something.

 

He pulls up in front of [Gorkya]'s house. I get out, and I follow him into her house. [Gorkya] and [Volcask] are sitting in the corner to the far left (my left facing them). Their house is full of people sitting in chairs. The guy goes straight across the room to this really large poster that was hanging and divided in sections like spokes on a wheel (it was a large circle). There was a wedge to the far left of the circle that said in black and white, "Really am God", and it would change to "Really am dog". I kept squinting to see which was correct, but it would change to the other.

 

This fellow says, "So there will be no question about this [he places his finger on the wedge of "Really am God"] from anyone -- that is who I am!" I was embarrassed by this stupid fellow's announcement. I looked at [Gorkya] and she hid her face behind her hair. She was terribly embarrassed by this fellow.

 

The guy has either a black T-shirt with white print or vice versa.

 

I am thinking this dream may reflect the Church itself.

 

 

Our comments

 

The vision of the Rain

The dream begins with the Spirit of God (literally) highlighting a spiritual principle embedded in Scripture, a principle that is clear enough for those in the Spirit to see but obscure enough for those in the soul not to see. As you grow in the Spirit, you become aware that the Lord has called you beyond a life of simple adherence to basic moral principles and the performing of basic religious activities. As you grow in Him, He begins to show you the vision of a future "rain", a rain you begin to long for with all of your being, for you become aware that your ultimate reason for walking in the flesh on the surface of this Earth is geared towards its manifestation. You begin to evaluate everything from the perspective of that rain, taking it as the standard that you measure the Church and the world against, and nothing below it is enough to satisfy or fulfil you, for everything below it amounts to works of iniquity, to acts of whoredom, to offerings from murderous Cain intended to compensate for the "blood" sacrifice God is calling for:

 

"1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. 4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. 5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. 6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. 8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. 9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. 10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people." (Hosea 6:1-11)

 

"1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. 2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. 4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? 5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest." (Jeremiah 3:1-5)

 

The reason why nothing but that future rain satisfies you is because you know that He shall come in that rain (v3). In other words, God is in that rain, and if that rain does not come, He shall not come either, and He shall not dwell amongst us and overwhelm the atmosphere of the Earth with the Glory of His Shekinah presence.

 

"In the light of the king’s countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain." (Proverbs 16:15)

 

"23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. 24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed." (Joel 2:23-27)

 

Those who long for this latter rain also know that it does not come without a remnant clamouring for it on Earth. It is not an "automatic" rain; it is not the default rain of "basic mercy" that God sends down on both the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). It is not the "basic" rain that simply allows the normal cycles of natural existence to continue. Instead, it is a rain with a different quality, a rain that bears supernatural fruit and releases transformation. Those who clamour for this exceptional rain also know that, as it comes, and as He comes in that rain, judgement shall rain down upon the pastoral matriarchy spirit that has polluted the Earth's atmosphere and hindered the manifestation of God's Truth and Glory.

 

"1 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. 2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. 3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. 4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together." (Zechariah 10:1-4)

[As we have shared before, the word "shepherd" and "pastor" are synonyms in both Hebrew and Greek (if you try to translate the word "pastor" to Hebrew using an online tool, you may get the word kamar, which actually means "priest", and is used in Scripture 3 times in a rather negative context --- 2 Kings 23:5, Hosea 10:5, and Zephaniah 1:4). Therefore, the Lord is declaring that, as His latter rain comes, so does the manifestation of His anger against the pastoral spirit (v3) that has exercised matriarchal rule over the Church, turning God's people from "sheep" who hear His voice (John 10:27) into "goats" who veer to the left (Matthew 25:32-46), away from God's judgements and into the purposelessness of Sheol.]

 

"21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. 22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD." (Ezekiel 38:21-23)

 

The river bed

In the creek bed, sister Crystal saw 4 types of "stones": large boulders, smooth stones on the bed, smaller stones, and pebbles. As we have shared before, "rock" or "stone" points to our spirit nature; the 4 types of "stones", in turn, point to the 4 faces that comprise our nature as spiritual beings:

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The large boulders point to the evangelistic Ox-Face of giant conquest.

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The smooth stones point to "aerodynamic" rocks that can cut through the air with ease, like arrows; therefore, they point to prophetic arrows and to the prophetic Eagle-Face.

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The smaller stones point to the apostolic Lion-Face that bring "smallness" through God's consuming judgements.

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The pebbles point to the pastor-teacher Man-Face; this face is a face of earthly weakness, which correlates with the "less solid" nature of "pebbles" compared to the other 3 types of stones.

 

Thus, the 4 types of "stones" on and around the river bed are a figure of how the 4 spiritual faces of man and the 5 ministerial endowments are lying about in a state of abandonment and disrepair. The current manifestations of these faces and ministries are but incomplete and distorted versions of the true reality that the Lord wants to manifest in His people.

 

Interestingly enough, as sister Crystal was listing the 4 types of "stones", the Lord prompted her to append the phrase "on the bed" only to smooth stones, i.e.- to the prophetic Eagle Face. The reason for this is that, in order to visualise the potential in the dry river bed, you must operate in God's prophetic anointing, which allows you to discern things from "on high", from the eternal eagle-eye perspective of God. This is why the dreamer insisted on calling it a "river bed", even when it seemed like little more than a barren creek bed in the natural. This also explains why the dream was "so vivid" because the dreamer was under a strong prophetic anointing during the dream, an anointing inherently linked to overflowing waters of life.

 

The dryness of the soul's dominion

The residual material that was lying in the middle of the river bed and that looked like salt to the dreamer speaks of the desolation judgement that comes from God upon the places whose atmosphere is inhospitable to His River:

 

"But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt." (Ezekiel 47:11)

 

Those who are in the Spirit can perceive the desolation, and, as a result, they are overcome with grief as they realise the River's absence. This is why sister Crystal felt a certain amount of grief as she beheld the dry river bed. By contrast, the relative walking with her rationalised away the desolation, attributing it to circumstances unworthy of any major attention.

 

As we have shared before, the soul operates exclusively within the realm of the "familiar". The things of the Spirit are unfamiliar to the soul and are immediately rejected by her when she is in control. Therefore, the  fact that there was "a familiar feeling" about the man walking with the dreamer  points to the realm of the soul. As a being operating in the soul (as opposed to the Spirit), the relative could easily establish a soul connection with the dreamer because they were within each other's "familiar" realm, but, once the dreamer began to speak of a grief flowing from within her spirit, her words became foreign and unfamiliar to him, and they were quickly dismissed and rationalised.

 

In the dream, the relative acts as a guide for the dreamer through the landscape, the way a shepherd (i.e.- pastor) acts as a guide for sheep. In the dream, there is also a subtle sense that the relative is somehow responsible for the care of the landscape being surveyed, as someone assigned to "steward over" (i.e.- bishop) the place. Therefore, the dreamer's relative points to the pastoral bunch stewarding over God's Church. The relative's excuses thus point to the "pastoral shield" that the soul is quick to raise up when God's judgements come against her. Even though the "salt" of God's judgements was clearly revealing the spiritual barrenness of the landscape, the relative could not bring himself to admit that he had failed and that he was stewarding over spiritual dryness caused by his inability to produce any fruit in the Spirit. In other words, he was willing to happily steward over barrenness in order to avoid the indictment of God's judgements against him.

 

Just like the dreamer's relative, the pastoral bunch that is matriarchally stewarding over God's Church is consistent and hardworking when it comes to things pertaining to the visible, natural realm, but is extremely mediocre and quick to settle for second best when it comes to things of the invisible, spirit realm. This is why the relative (in real life) is a consistent 8-hour worker during daylight but sleeps through the entire night until the next day.

 

"The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets" (Proverbs 22:13)

[As we have shared before, the "lion" in Scripture, when used in a positive context, is a figure of God's judgements. Therefore, the Lord is declaring that the slothful man has a deep distrust of God's judgements, believing that they are so cruel that they will inevitably destroy him. He is unable to trust that God will mould him through the fire of His judgements without annihilating him. In other words, he sees the God of Israel as an overzealous cook who will leave the cake too long in the oven, burning it beyond edibility. Thus, we can conclude that the slothful man has no faith in God's processes, for, as we have shared before, God's moulding processes are His judgements.]

 

The relative's aversion to "work in the dark" also points to the lack of "night-time shepherds" in the Church. As we have shared before, the "pastors" to whom the Lord is revealed are those who are willing to work in the darkness of anonymity (Luke 2:8-12), i.e.- those who are not interested in forging a name for themselves but who are truly interested in the "sheep's" God-potential being manifested. These are the "pastors" who are capable of seeing a baby lying in a manger made for animals and still recognise the Son of God.

 

Unfortunately, the Church is overrun and ruled by "day-time shepherds", and, as such, they are incapable of seeing the potential in the brethren around them, quickly settling for a Church that operates at a very "natural", earthly level. Thus, the dryness that their paradigms produce becomes an acceptable part of the spiritual scenery, to the point of turning completely transparent to them. By contrast, those in the Spirit become grief-stricken when they perceive the dryness and compare it to God's vision, and, whenever the grief subsides, anger rages forth, an anger emanating from the judgements of God that the slothful "day-time shepherds" endeavour to avoid. This is why the dreamer angrily stated, "No! It rains everyday. Every single day it rains. No way should this river bed be dry!". Whereas the matriarchal soul is quick to declare that things have not changed because "it is not God's timing", those in the Spirit realise that the door of opportunity has been there "every day", waiting for someone to forge it wide open; unfortunately, the matriarchal soul is unwilling to see beyond anything that exposes her guilt and nakedness.

 

God willing, we will share more on this dream in a future posting...