Hit the Mark!
Hi Friends,
I have several visions that I would like to share with you today. Most people can sense the wickedness in our current time. We need to know that with all the wickedness, we need to stay close to the Lord and focus on him. He is the author of life. He is our creator, our healer and our deliverer. He is our provider and our song, our joy and our delight. He is our savior. He will guide us and lead us into all truth.
The Visions
The first vision is of a set of keys on a table.
In the second vision, I see two black women, tall and slender wearing turbans and fluid long tunics or dresses. These women were outside pulling an orange colored cart like the ones used at a Home Depot, down a long wide flight of concrete stairs. As they pulled the cart behind them, there was no noise, no bumping. It was as if they floated down the stairs very quickly. When they reached the street below, they turned right and continued out of sight.
In the third vision, I saw a dart board.
In the fourth vision I saw a young boy about 6-7 years old with freckles and glasses.
In the fifth vision I saw a dishwasher or oven in profile with its housing removed. The heavy insulation surrounding the interior compartment was wrapped in grey.
In the sixth vision I saw a Siamese cat with dark legs sitting under a table.
What I believe the visions mean:
The Keys
There is a well known passage in the Bible, where Jesus is speaking with his disciples. He asked them “Who do others say I am?” Then Jesus asks them “Who do you say I am?” It is Peter that speaks up.
“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’
Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Matthew 16:16-20
The rock upon which the Lord was going to build his church was the fundamental teaching that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. He gave the keys, not just to Peter, but to all those who would believe in him.
And those keys were the keys of the kingdom of God which operate by the spirit, through binding and loosening. We bind up lying and deceiving spirits, and the powers of darkness that operate in this world, in the name of Jesus. And we command Satan and his demons to loose anyone who is held captive by sin and wickedness. We loose people, in the name of Jesus, from wrong thinking, and from harmful ideologies, beliefs and sinful practices.
These keys are an important aspect of Christian life. The spiritual power and authority to bind and to loosen are essential for a believer to overcome the attacks and temptations of the devil. The Lord does not want us to compromise with the world or to co-exist with wickedness. We are not to become complacent and live with wickedness all around us. We are to be good soldiers for Christ. We are to “fight the good fight of faith.” (1 Timothy 6:12) and to be obedient to our heavenly Father. The Lord gives us authority so that we can restrain evil. “Submit yourself then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee.” James 4:7
Because we see a great increase in wickedness, it is vital to resist the devil and his demons. This increase in wickedness is just one of the signs that point to the end of days. This is another well known passage of scripture where Jesus is instructing his disciples about the signs that will indicate the time of the end. They asked him:
“‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’
Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, “I am the Messiah,”and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.’”
Matthew 24:3-14
So we see in this passage that “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold…” We must not be put off by those around us that are cold, or even hateful towards us. Instead we love our enemies and pray for them. In this way we keep our hearts pure and our faith strong.
In the Bible we see that there is a “restrainer” that holds back wickedness. So things could be much worse than they are right now. Many believe that the restrainer is the Holy spirit which indwells each believer. And, in the last days, the restrainer will be taken out of the way so that the anti-Christ will be revealed and the Tribulation will begin. Those who believe the restrainer is the Holy Spirit, believe that when the Lord raptures the church, they will leave with the Holy Spirit in them.
So the keys of authority and the spiritual power to bind and to loosen, are effectively restraining evil. So while we are on this earth, we must be faithful to continue to restrain the demonic powers of darkness by our prayers of faith, by binding and loosening and by declarations of truth over the lies of the enemy.
The Two Black Women
This vision is not about two black, human women, but it is about the demonic forces at work in the world. Demons in my visions have been shown in a variety of ways, (black, white, brown, male, female, mammal, and reptile) so please do not take offense or be put off by the “race” of the “women.” Angels are neither male or female, and they are of no “race,” because they do not procreate. All the angels that the Lord created, were created directly by him. Some are God’s angels, and those that followed the devil in his rebellion against God, are now considered demons, or fallen angels.
The female demons looked human, but moved down the flight of stairs with the cart as if they did not need the ground below them to move. Their turbans and tunics were simply their disguises. They did not want to be noticed, however, I saw them from my vantage point at the top of the stairs.
The cart that they pulled behind did not belong to them. They stole it, having some planned use for it. Perhaps it will be used to trip someone up, or entice someone to sin. Jesus told us about the devil: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
The cart was orange which according to one source, its Biblical meaning is: “obtained by mixing red (flesh) and yellow (trials). The result is a color of fire which represents the Fire of God, deliverance and passionate praise.”
But I believe that in this case, the orange cart represents the plans of the devil to inflict punishment (yellow - trials, hardship, pain) upon people (red - flesh).
I noticed that the two women went to the right after reaching the bottom of the staircase. Right as a direction, usually indicates “going the right way.” To go to the left, means to “go the wrong way.”
Years ago on a Friday night, after 3 hours of corporate worship, I opened my eyes and saw an “open vision” of angels on horseback. They were riding white horses in single file, taking demons away on foot, in chains. They led the demons far off into the distance and turned left. By this I believe that the demons were going somewhere to be detained. So the direction left, I believe represents going the way of the devil, the way of wickedness or taking the path to hell.
The demons in this vision took the cart to the right. They were not in chains and being taken to detention by the Lord’s angels. So if they were free to go wherever they desired, they would most likely choose to go where they could do the most harm. If left is towards detention, then right would be in the direction of people who they can tempt to sin and torment.
This is simply a warning vision, for the Lord wants us to be aware of the enemy’s schemes. But we are to use the keys that the Lord has given us to bind the devil and his demons, and to loose the people that are held captive. It is imperative that in these difficult days, we stay close to the Lord and walk with him, so that we will have the authority to use the keys of binding and loosening. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7
The Dart Board
The dart board in the vision I believe represents focus. In order to throw a dart accurately, it takes focus and careful execution. Precise speed, direction and position are all part of being able to successfully hit the mark.
Having a focus that is lasting requires us to dedicate our lives and our time to the Lord. It was only a few months ago that I heard the Lord say to me “Finish strong.” In order to finish strong, every day, every moment needs to be given to him. “You are not your own, you were bought at a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Unfortunately, we can grieve God with our unfaithfulness. Several years ago, the Lord spoke to me saying, “I keep my angels around you, but you go your own way.” Every time I think of disappointing God, I feel so disappointed in myself. Thank goodness, that when we repent and express godly sorrow for our waywardness and our sins, the Lord picks us up, dusts us off and gets us going in the right direction once again. He is so merciful!
The center of the dart board is called the bull’s eye. To hit the target perfectly in its center requires even more skill and focus. We cannot do anything on our own. we need the Lord’s help if we are to hit the center of the target, and be in the perfect will of God. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
If we fail to remain in him, and choose instead to go our own way, then we sin. We grieve the Holy Spirit and open a door that gives the devil an opportunity. But when we repent, the door is shut and we are kept safe.
Paul states in his letter to the Romans: “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 The phrase “to fall short of the glory of God,” means to miss the mark.
So we pray, “Lord, help us to keep our eyes on you! Help us to not miss the mark! Take away any distractions; help us to be obedient to your word and to the calling that you have placed on our lives. Thank you for your gentle rebukes and for the conviction of the Holy Spirit. How can we ask for forgiveness and restoration, if we are unaware of our sin? So, thank you Jesus, for loving us when we fail you. “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 Hallelujah!
The Young Boy with Freckles
This was a simple vision. I just saw a 6-7 year old boy with freckles and brown hair. He wore glasses. I believe this vision is about seeing things through the eyes of a child. Jesus had a great love for all people, and especially children. It is easier for a child to come to faith in God, because they tend to be more trusting. Because adults have suffered more in life, they tend to be on their guard, and to put up a shield to protect themselves from harm. Children have fewer experiences with rejection, pain and emotional harm. They are pleased with simple things, and take things at face value. They are able to believe in the Lord more readily if only they are given the opportunity. “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” Matthew 19:14
Jesus always taught from a higher perspective than his disciples or the teachers of the law could anticipate. On one occasion, he used a child as an example:
“He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Matthew 18:2-6
The Lord wanted his disciples and us today to understand that everything that the world teaches and values is upside down from the way he views things. To be great in the eyes of God is to be humble in heart and childlike in faith.
And, because without the knowledge of God, children can grow up with no faith at all. He would have us teach our children about him and about his word. It is our job as parents to prepare the next generation to live a life of faith. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
As we teach our children we are able to also learn from them. Let us re-train our doubtful, fearful, and harden hearts to simply trust God. Lord, help us to have a heart that loves and is able to believe the truth of your word. Lord, help us to place our faith in you as a believing child does. Thank you for all the times you have come through for us, even when we have not been faithful, you continued to be faithful to us!
The Insulation
In this vision, I saw a large home appliance, either a dishwasher or an oven that was wrapped in a heavy blanket of insulation. The outer layer of insulation was covered in a grey colored wrap.
I could not tell what appliance it was, for a dishwasher is insulated to make its operation more quiet, and an oven is insulated to keep the house from becoming overheated. The insulation is a barrier. It separates one condition from another. It separates heat from room temperature and noise from silence.
As these physical barriers are important, we believers need boundaries and barriers too. We are instructed by the word of God, to separate ourselves from the things in the world and from the world’s values. We are to be a holy people, separated unto God.
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
‘I will live with them and walk among them,
and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’
Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’
And, ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.’” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (Quoting - Isaiah 52:11 and Ezekiel 20:34,41)
The Lord is very serious about having us separate from close relationships with people who are living as enemies of the cross. Those with whom we associate can have a direct influence on our lives. We need to guard our hearts and our minds. We need to stay in a right relationship with the Lord that is not compromised. Those with whom we have close ties can negatively affect our walk with the Lord and can cause us to fall away from the faith. I have a previous post that covers this very topic: Two Donkeys. I hope you will take the opportunity to read it. It gives examples of people in my life with whom I needed to separate.
The Siamese Cat
In this vision, I simply saw a Siamese cat sitting under a table. It had dark legs and a champagne colored body. The cat beautiful to look at, but it was doing nothing but sitting.
A cat is an animal that does not particularly take instructions well. Without a treat in hand, if might be difficult to get a cat to come to you. Very often it will just look at you and flick its tail, pretty much saying, “I don’t want to bother. I am content to stay where I am.” I believe that the cat represents complacency.
The Lord hates complacency in the body of Christ. He calls the church his bride, and He is our bridegroom. Can you imagine a disinterested bride? Can you imagine how the Lord feels about us when we are content to just sit in our pew once a week. We believe that giving him one service on a Sunday, is “good enough.” “We did our duty. We paid our respects.” The Lord wants our passion. He wants us to be “all in.” He wants a devoted bride that waits upon him.
The Lord speaks his heart to the churches in Revelation:
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:14-22
I was reminded of another scripture: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Matthew 15:8
Unfortunately there are some in our churches who want to be admired, and revered. They carry an air of being “holier than thou.” They want an atmosphere of order and decorum, rather than the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Often these people are not free themselves, so they despise those who are free. Do you remember King Saul’s daughter Michal, who married David? It says in the word that she “despised him in her heart,” for he was not interested in regalia, pomp and circumstance, nobility and showing the appropriate arrogant pride of a king. David was a man after God’s own heart who was free to praise the Lord, extravagantly, jubilantly, dancing in the street.
“Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.” 2 Samuel 6:14-16
Michal waited for David to come home, then she blasted him with her sarcasm, and he answered her back:
“It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”
And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. 2 Samuel 6:21-23
David pleased the Lord with his exuberance. We know we all are individuals, and that we have different preferences. Not everyone will be like David wanting to shout, sing and dance. But it is God who looks at the heart. We can see that Michal’s heart was not right with God, not because she didn’t dance, or sing, or do what David did, but that her attitude was wrong. She showed great resentment towards David for thinking that worshiping God was more important than his dignity as king. David had the freedom and the love for God to give him, his all. Michal was unmoved. There was no love for God in her heart.
Whether we dance and shout, or sit quietly experiencing the presence of God, our Lord knows our hearts. The most important thing is that we love him passionately, whether or not there is an outward expression. In our inmost being we must be his and his alone. Anything we place in front of him, or give priority over him is idolatry.
I do want to share one more passage of scripture. When Jesus was entering Jerusalem on a donkey, everyone in the city came out to greet him. With shouts of praise and the waving of palm branches, they were acknowledging him as the Messiah. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Luke 19:38
However, just like Michal, the Pharisees showed their disdain towards the crowd and Jesus with their comments to him:
“Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19:39-40
I personally think, that whenever we are with the body of Christ in church, we are in a perfect place to celebrate his goodness. Let us make a place in our hearts to worship him with shouts of praise, singing in the Spirit, and dancing before him. Because the word says: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17
So give yourself the green light to let go and praise him! Give a shout to the Lord, and see if He will in fact inhabit your praises!
“Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.Psalm 24:7-9
Thanks for reading this post. Please share it with those of like mind, who will appreciate it messages. God is good. He wants none to be lost. He wants his church to be prepared and waiting for his return. Let’s share the gospel so that more and more people will be saved and have the opportunity to spend all eternity with Him. Isn’t this what the Lord really wants—to have everyone come into the saving knowledge of Him and to be in right standing with Him?
God bless you with love, freedom and joy in the Holy Spirit!
