Hi Friends,

Today I am sharing two visions that the Lord has given me recently. These are serious visions so please read them both.

The Little Bird

First,  I saw a chubby, little bird perched on the fingers of a man’s hand.  The bird had a grey head and wings and a bright yellow belly.  I saw the hand caress the little bird with the thumb.  This did not startle the bird, for it was quite comfortable sitting perched on his finger.

The man had the little bird’s trust. It wasn’t nervous or fidgety, but felt safe in his presence.  

I believe this vision represents the Lord’s loving care of those that are his.  He is known as the good shepherd, because he cares for his sheep.  But the Lord uses many different metaphors to describe things in such a way that we can understand his heart.  

The man in this vision gives his finger to provide a resting spot for the little bird.  He touches the bird softly, showing his loving care for the bird.  The Lord cares for us as he does with all his creation. 

The little bird is covered grey and yellow feathers.  Grey represents old age, and wisdom.  This color is appropriately placed on the bird’s head, for the head is the location of the brain, the seat of wisdom, and the head is where one finds grey hair.

The body of the bird is yellow, a color which has several different meanings in the Bible.  According to one source, yellow can symbolize faith, the glory of God, the presence of God, anointing, joy, and fire. These are all  things that the Lord gives us when we give ourselves to him.  It is God that gives us faith to believe him, for answered prayers and miracles.  It is the glory of God and the presence of God that we receive and experience when we devote ourselves to him.  He gives us his anointing to do things that we could not otherwise do.  He gives us joy when we turn to him in our troubles.  And he also gives us fiery trials to test us and purify us.  “The Lord disciplines the one he loves.”  Proverbs 3:12

But we are also greatly loved by him.  In the Old Testament, God referred to his people as “the apple of his eye.”  He took pleasure in them, treating them as his treasured possession.  He especially values those who have made Jesus their Lord, Savior, and King.

There is no doubt that we have a special relationship with God.  The Father has held nothing back from us, not even his own son. “For God so loved the world that He gave the only begotten Son, so that everyone believing in Him should not perish, but should have eternal life.”  John 3:16

This is the proof of the Father’s love.  And Jesus, Emanuel, “God with us,” demonstrates his love by the cross.  He was willing to die in our place as punishment for our sins.  He was the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the entire world.  He wants none to be lost but that all would come to a saving knowledge of him.  When we choose the Lord over all that the world has to offer, and give him his rightful place in our life, we will be able to spend all eternity with him.  He is our treasure and our great reward.

The Lord chooses us as his bride, a bride without spot or wrinkle.  He chooses a bride that he has prepared for himself.  He purifies us as gold in the refining fire.  The trials we face in life are there to test our faith.  He wants a bride of noble character.  And the refiner’s fire is where our character is formed.   “Consider it pure joy, my brothers , whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”   James 1:1-3

Yellow represents the fiery trials that refine us, and make us pure and holy.  It is the Lord’s design to prepare us for the testing that is ahead. Can we submit to his will and separate ourselves from the world and its values?  Will we be found faithful through the trials we face?  Our desire is to follow him wherever he leads, and to be holy unto the Lord, for he says: “Be holy for I am holy.”  1 Peter 1:16

I have experienced many tests in my life:  

The Lord asked me to give up my design business.  So I did.

The Lord asked me to give up my masters degree.  So I did.

The Lord asked me to give up my exercise ministry.  So I did; then the Lord gave it back!

The Lord asked me to “cover up,” to be more modesty.  So I did.

The Lord asked me to give up pop (soda).  So I have not had any for twenty-two years.

The Lord asked me to give up sugar.  So I have not had any for two and a half years.

The Lord asked me to write.  So I began to write these visions four and a half years ago and I hope to continue. 

And another test:

Almost 20 years ago, I was praying for a friend’s father that was seriously ill in the hospital. It so happened that he died in the night while in his hospital bed.  My friend was so distraught that she asked me if I would go and pray that God would bring him back to life.  I told her that I needed to pray first to understand the Lord’s will.  So I prayed and this is what the Lord showed me.  “The court sat in judgement, and the books were opened.”  Daniel 7:9-10

When I saw this passage, I knew that it was too late.  The books were already opened.  His life on this earth was finished, that he would not be returning.  I wanted to know why, could we not pray for his life, and for him to be returned to his daughter.  The Lord answered me by reminding me of a relationship I had with a friend.

This friend would come to church to spend time with me.  We were together at least 4-5 days a week.  We were friends for over 6 years.  I would pray for her all the time, and would witness to her about the Lord hoping that someday she would make a commitment to him.  But over time, my spirit became grieved because she refused to submit her life to God.  Even though she came to church, she was coming to be with me, not with the Lord.  

So as I was praying for direction regarding the man in the hospital, the Lord my relationship to show me how he felt about the man in the hospital.  

The Lord knew that I had become weary of being with her, because she refused to love and submit to him.  So he wanted me to know that he felt the same way towards this man.  The Lord spoke to my heart saying, “You are asking me to spend eternity with someone who does not love me and has not been faithful to me.  Isn’t this how you feel about your friend?    You no longer want to spend time with her because it grieves your spirit.  Do you expect me to accept him when his unfaithfulness grieves me?”

The Lord shared his heart with me that day.  I understood that the Lord had given him a chance to know him, but he never made the time. Now the books were open.  And the Lord was reserving heaven only for those who were devoted to him.  

Once I fully understood the Lord’s will, I told my friend that I could not pray as she had asked, but that I could only pray according to the will of God.  Situations like this test us.  But we must choose to be obedient to God, and not give in to someone simply to appease him.  “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”  Proverbs 9:10

Returning to the vision, we see that the color yellow also represents faithfulness.  The Lord values faithfulness in the believer.  Faithfulness means to be true to him, to love what he loves and hate what he hates.  He loves the faithful one that is devoted to him and puts him first in all circumstances. 

The bird’s head was the color grey, which I believe represents wisdom. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”   James 1:5

The Lord wants us, his bride, to be wise.  I have often spoken of the Lord’s parable of the ten virgins, five of whom were wise and five were foolish.  The virgins represent believers in the faith, those who refer to themselves as Christians.  However, the five foolish virgins in the parable represent those who are ill prepared to meet the bridegroom, who is the Lord.  They carried lamps, showing that they had some understanding of who the Lord is, and what was expected of them.  But they had no oil for their lamps.  The oil represents the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord gives us when we are “born again.”  

We are told in the parable that the bridegroom was taking a long time in coming, so the virgins fell asleep.  When the midnight cry came to announce the bridegroom’s arrival, the foolish virgins asked the wise virgins to give them some of their oil.  But the wise said that there might not be enough, so the foolish were told to go buy some for themselves.  

These virgins who were without oil, lacked the indwelling Holy Spirit.  They were not true believers, giving the Lord merely “lip service.”  

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  Matthew 15:8

There are some people who will pray to “receive the Lord,” but their desire is shallow.  It is only a fleeting fancy.  If someone like this prays “the sinner’s prayer,” but prays without godly sorrow and a repentant heart, and without a willingness to make a lasting commitment to the Lord, then they are not yet saved or “born again.”  

The Holy Spirit comes to those who are true believers, not to those who merely go through the motions. That is why the Lord instructed his disciples to go and MAKE disciples.“Therefore go and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19  

Please understand: the Lord does not say “Go and get decisions for Christ.”  The Lord is looking for disciples, not for people who think they have an easy pass to heaven.  Those who believe that nothing else is required, and that they can live life as they please are greatly mistaken.

So in the parable, when the bridegroom comes, the foolish virgins cannot go into the wedding supper, but are refused entry by the bridegroom himself as the Lord describes:

“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”    Matthew 25:11-13

The Lord just told them: “I do not know you.”  Can you imagine what they must have thought?  No one had ever fully conveyed to them the necessity to be born again.  They did not understand that salvation required a relationship with the Lord, and a turning away from sin. An actual choice needs to be made to follow the Lord with an obedient heart. These are the Lord’s words:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’”  Matthew 7:21-23

This group of people and the foolish virgins did not know the Lord. They were not obedient to his commands and they had no fear of God.  

Instead we need to be like the wise virgins, who prepared themselves and were ready to meet the Lord any day and at any hour.  “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”   Philippians 2:12

The wise virgins had a fear of God: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10 

And because they believed and trusted God, they had oil in their lamps: the Holy
Spirit. “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”  Ephesians 1:13-14  

Let us be like the little yellow and grey bird.  He was content to sit on the man’s finger.  And when the man caressed the tiny bird gently with his thumb, the bird did not move or fly away. The bird trusted the man and was at ease to sit and enjoy his company.

The Lord wants us to be able to sit with him, and enjoy his presence. “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”  James 4:8

And rest: “Be still and know that I am God.”  Psalm 46:10 

The Woman in the Water

In this vision, I saw a woman floating on her back in deep water.  I viewed her from about 20 feet away, and at a depth of 5 feet below the surface of the water.  I saw her still body in profile, just floating. 

I knew immediately what the vision was about.  The woman, even though relaxed and floating, was in survival mode.  There was no one to rescue her; she was alone.  The water was deep so that she could not rest by standing on the bottom.  She was waiting until someone would find her and save her from drowning.  

She knew not to attempt to tread water, for it would keep the body upright and eventually she would tire herself to the point of exhaustion and sink.  She was floating on her back to distribute her weight evenly over the surface of the water.  This is a survival technique to gain more time for someone to find her.  She was still, trying to reserve her energy and avoid panicking.

In the vision, the woman represents the church, the believers in Christ. 

The water represents the social and political ills of our nation:  the riots, the lock-downs, the threat of vaccine passports, the open border with illegal aliens pouring in, bringing drugs, violence, human trafficking, terrorism—the water represents the fears and unrest in the streets, the mask and vaccine mandates, the corruption in government, engineered diseases, cancel culture, voting fraud, loss of businesses, loss of jobs, critical race theory, homelessness, innocent people being targeted by the government, infringement on free speech, free press, the right to assemble, the right to carry arms, the right to practice our faith without government interference, and the other civil rights as guaranteed by the Constitution, fear of inflation, fear of the loss of freedom and the loss of privacy and on, and on it goes... 

The Lord is showing his church, his people, how we can endure the onslaught of the dismantling of our nation’s traditions, values, and faith.  The Lord shows us that the woman’s back is to the world and its problems.  She has put it behind her.  “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me.  For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”  Matthew 16:23

She is looking upward, toward heaven, knowing that is where she will find help.  “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  Psalm 121:1-2

She is waiting upon the Lord, waiting for his deliverance.  “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”  Isaiah  40:31

She knows that the Lord is faithful and will come to her rescue.  “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.  Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.  The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.  Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”  Psalm 116:1-4

We as the church, as believers, need to rest in the Lord.  We are not to fret or worry over the issues of life. We are to trust God for he will deliver us from all our fears.  Jesus tells us not to worry:  

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” 

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.   Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  Matthew 6:25-34

Again, we are told not to worry but to pray:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:6-7

So the message from the Lord regarding all these things is to trust in him, for he will deliver us from all our fears.  We are to seek the Lord first, for he will take care of us.  Thank you Jesus!

So let us live by faith, for the Lord knows what is going on in the world.  Nothing takes him by surprise.  Even the most terrible situations, and the most vile people, God can use for his glory.   Therefore let us remember the Lord’s words in the Book of Revelation:  

“Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”  Revelation 22:11

Please share this post with those you love, and those who need to know that God loves them and has a plan and purpose for their lives.  God bless you!