"Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, 'My lord, what shall be the end of these things?'" (Daniel 12:8)
I finished the Book of Daniel yesterday. Much of what Daniel experienced was in visions and dreams. Usually my dreams are a hodge podge of something like a newsreel. Perhaps there is a connection with having finished the Book of Daniel and what "happened" to me last night.
I was praying in a very public place. It seemed to be outside some of the Bethlehem Steel buildings here in Johnstown. I was on some sort of make-shift platform, more like a stack of boxes. When I woke up I heard myself saying, "Amen." The reason? I remembered every word I was saying, praying so fervently, so intently. There was a large crowd of men, mostly laboring men, and they had a look of, "What the...? But one black guy, in particular, was smiling, as though something had ignited in him. I was praying in a realm I have prayed for before, but with an intensity which actually awakened me. I was praying for every aspect of the culture/society, employment mostly, but also much more.
I finished the Book of Daniel yesterday. Much of what Daniel experienced was in visions and dreams. Usually my dreams are a hodge podge of something like a newsreel. Perhaps there is a connection with having finished the Book of Daniel and what "happened" to me last night.
I was praying in a very public place. It seemed to be outside some of the Bethlehem Steel buildings here in Johnstown. I was on some sort of make-shift platform, more like a stack of boxes. When I woke up I heard myself saying, "Amen." The reason? I remembered every word I was saying, praying so fervently, so intently. There was a large crowd of men, mostly laboring men, and they had a look of, "What the...? But one black guy, in particular, was smiling, as though something had ignited in him. I was praying in a realm I have prayed for before, but with an intensity which actually awakened me. I was praying for every aspect of the culture/society, employment mostly, but also much more.
Now what? I don't know. But I can share with you that perhaps our Lord Jesus was reaffirming what He has been speaking to the Church in recent times, that the times in which we live call for such praying, maybe as never before. The Bible indicates that the cosmic struggle against the Prince of Darkness will continue to increase in intensity right up to, "in the last days...." It is the struggle of which the messenger spoke to Daniel in chapter 10. Mark ye well! "Then he said, 'Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight with the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come....Yet there is no one who shows himself strong with me against these forces except Michael your prince.'"
The famous line came to me again today: "What are you prepared to do?"
Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray for my friend and me that we will be open more and more to the dreams/visions/revelations which you give us, that we will walk in all You show us. May we pursue the "answer" to, "Do you understand why I came to you?" Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
