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Tuesday 19 June 2012

Believe, all things are possible

When I first came to be born again of God's Holy Spirit I experienced many things in my life that revealed the absolute power of God and His ability to do that which is not possible for man to do.  Over the years I have still seen so much of God's goodness in not only my own life but in the lives of others too, but I have felt many times that I have been in a battle.  I have always tried to seek God in areas where I have needed help, and feel that I have been shown that there is only one plumbline to go by when seeking counsel, it is the word of God.  If anything is spoken during my time of seeking the Lord on an issue, if advice is given me by other people, whether they be christian or not, I must always go back to check that it is what God is speaking to me.  I truly believe that we can miss out on blessing through not only our own unbelief but other people's.  The daily bread that we each receive from God has the ability to mature us spiritually and if someone has not reached a certain faith level, no matter what 'title' they may have in this world, then they may actually cause you to doubt what God is encouraging you to believe. Yesterday I met a young man who had recentlty become a christian, who was so passionate about his salvation and seeking God's word for guidance it was a pleasure to speak to him.  I came away from him praying that he would never become a lukewarm christian. 

The following is a testimony of an event in my life several years ago that I believe the Lord has brought back to my remembrance to encourage me to persist in seeking his voice, always believing what He is saying to me without doubting, and not watering it down with mans' doctrine or unbelief.



I thought about the dream I'd had, as I lay in bed that morning.  In it I had been walking through a Woolworth store, with a ginger cat in my arms.  First the cat had jumped down and disappeared, and then one by one my clothes had started to disappear from off my body until I was completely naked.  I had a strange feeling that there was a spiritual meaning to the dream, and that God was trying to reveal something to me, but what?  My first thought was that it involved loss, and I started to think in the negative, that maybe I was going to lose something, and I started to worry that it might be my spiritual garments of praise or salvation, but where did the cat fit in?  I decided that the best thing that I could do would be to pray to the Lord about it and wait on Him for answers.

About a week later I had another dream.  This time I was in a town, and I was looking for wedding clothes.  I had been looking in many shops and could not seem to find anything suitable.  After much searching I met a lady whom I recognized.  She lived near me, and her name was Grace.  I told her I was looking for wedding clothes and she said that she had some that I could borrow.  In my dream she lived at the top of a very high apartment building, and she went up to fetch the clothes for me.  When I looked at them I saw that they were extremely nice wedding clothes and took them, telling her that I would look after them.  I then started walking through the busy shopping area of the town, still looking at clothes, carrying Grace's clothes in a large bag.  I found nothing so I went further out away from the town looking, still nothing.  I returned once again to the town but could find nothing I wanted.


After quite some time I suddenly realized that the bag was missing.  I must have put it down somewhere and forgotten to pick it up again.  I started to worry because the clothes belonged to Grace, and I knew I had to go to her and tell her what had happened.   I felt terrible because I knew they were very expensive clothes, and regretted being so careless with them.   I went to the apartment building and rang the bell at the bottom.  Grace came down and I told her what had happened.  Although she was sad about it she was very forgiving and said that it was alright, that I was not to worry.  I realized that I had to find more wedding garments and I started to look again but could find none that I liked in all the stores. 


I then thought about a place that I had already been to, it was a small store that was away from the busy town, out in the quiet of the countryside.  Maybe I would find something there if I looked again, I thought.  I walked through the town, past all the stores that I had searched in, out to the very edge of the town and a little way down a quiet country lane to the store.  I went in and looked around but could find nothing there for the wedding I was to attend.  I started to make my way out of the door when the sales lady said 'Excuse me, you left this here the last time you were here'.  I turned and looked and saw that she held in her hand the bag with the wedding clothes from Grace in it.  I could hardly believe it and was overjoyed to have found them again.  I thanked the sales lady and made my way back to the town to tell Grace that I had found them.  When I got to the apartment building where she lived, the door was open.  I went inside, climbed the stairs, found Grace and told her the good news, that I had found the wedding clothes that she had given me.  She smiled, said she was very happy and I went on my way, telling her that this time I would look after them.

Over the next few days I started to realize what the Lord was trying to reveal to me through the dreams. The first dream represented my initial coming to the Lord, a putting off the old way of life, the clothes representing the grave clothes of the wisdom of this world, and the cat representing the natural things that I loved and adored.   God and His word to me had to come first in my life no matter what.  The wisdom and the pulls of this world must no longer govern me.


There is a peace within my soul no riches could have bought it
I found it not in wealth or fame in wretchedness I sought it
This peace that passes understanding peace that I can call my own
Can not be found in all the world, It's found in Jesus Christ alone

The second dream represented my being given the wedding clothes, and the fact that I had been given them by grace, when Jesus had come into my life as my Saviour and my guide.  Even the fact that Grace lived in a high apartment was, to me, showing the majesty of God.

I began to realize that the Lord was portraying a warning in this dream that I was, or could be in danger of, letting the busyness of this world distract me, and it could cause me to lose my wedding clothes, my garments of salvation.  I thought about my life and how I had ceased to pray in the Spirit as fervently as I used to, slowly losing the close contact that I had always had with the Lord from the moment I had been born again of His Spirit.  It was as if I was carrying my garments of salvation in a bag instead of wearing them.



I had been sustained in sickness and finances for several years by the Lord, experiencing miraculous healings and being supplied with all that my husband and I needed,with His word being my guide.  Yet it was as if I had almost begun to think negatively, allowing the voice of this world to question what God was saying, and the Lord's promises seemed as far away and mislaid as the missing bag of wedding garments in the second dream.  When I had first come to the Lord God had spoken the words 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, you and your household' to me.  Then the words 'Take every thought into captivity' had been spoken to me, and 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding'.  I had listened and been very close to the Lord, being guided by Him and taking everything opposing His words into captivity.  I had been wonderfully in His preaence, and kept in good health.  Now I realized that I had let the world slowly encroach into my life.  I had stopped taking every thought into captivity.  Ones that did not confess what Christ and His words said to me had been allowed to cause doubts that all things were possible with God, or even that God was wanting my welfare in this world.   The dreams had come with the perfect timing of God, and I was being shown that there was a battle going on in me between the light of God's words in the renewed mind of Christ in the newly created me, and the darkness of the thoughts in the carnal mind of the old me.

At the time of the dreams I actually was searching for wedding clothes to wear to my son's wedding, which was to take place in Scotland.  I eventually found an outfit, a light skirt and a dark top.  Even these clothes seemed to reflect what was going on in my life, a mixture of the light of faith and the darkness of doubt.  The wedding over, I returned to Wales, stopping overnight at my cousin's house in Lancashire.  While there, I went into a shop and noticed a little scented candle in a jar with a china lamp shade that sat on the jar.  It was very pretty and I decided to buy it.  As I was carrying it to the till I noticed the label on the front of the jar had the words 'Believe.  All things are possible'.  I knew the Lord was encouraging me to do this because I had been singing a little song over and over at the time in which were the words 'all things are possible with You Lord'.  Incredibly, at the same time, a song was playing in the shop, from which flowed the words, 'I need you to be my guide'.

When I returned home, the following Sunday morning I was in the prayer meeting before the service at the church I was attending when the pastor spoke out regarding whether we really believe that God will do that which He has promised to do in our lives.   I shared with the people at the prayer meeting about the candle lamp, saying that I believed the Lord was encouraging us to keep the light of the truth of God's promises burning, casting out any thoughts from our minds which would cause doubt and rob us of those promises, and I prayed for the Lord to help all of us to take every thought into captivity, opposing doubtful thoughts by declaring 'The Lord has said..'. 




The word 'paragon' was brought to my mind several times, it was on a white van which was in the church car park and also in ;the garage opposite my house as I was writing this testimony.  When I looked up the meaning of the word, one of the things the dictionary  said it meant was 'a pattern of perfection, a model, a person or thing of supreme excellence'.  Jesus is perfection, and a paragon is what we shall become if we truly believe on Him, putting Him first in our lives, listening to and acting upon His word to us as it is spoken..

In my second dream, when I had lost the clothes and I had to go to tell Grace, the door was shut, representing my separation from God by letting the things of this world distract me from the things of God.   The fact that there was a doorbell reminded me that through Jesus there remains a connection through prayer in these times, God responding being represented by Grace coming down to open the door.   Even Grace being sad but telling me not to worry represented to me God's love, long suffering and forgiving nature when we fail Him.   The second time I approached the home of Grace to say that I had found the wedding clothes, the door was open and I went up to her.  This reminded me of the prodigal son and his Father's open armed welcome once the son had repented and was on his way back.  Even the place where the clothes were found spoke to me of finding grace in that quiet place of prayer.

For some time after I was reminded of weddings and wedding clothes and I realized that the whole of what had happened over the previous couple of weeks was encouraging me to draw closer to God in prayer, throw off the grave clothes of the wisdom of this world, put on my garments of salvation , and believe that all things are possible with God, including complete physical healing.



I believe that this testimony has been brought to my attention to once again increase intercessory prayer in my life as it once used to be.  Something happened a couple of days ago that painted a picture of what is happening to cause much unbelief amongst God's people today.
I was looking on Google for help to see street views and came accross what I thought was a download that would do this. 


I ended up downloading a search engine called 'Babylon'.  'How did I end up with this'? I thought, and wondered why I felt so uncomfortable that it was on my screne.  Then I realized that, as well as simply not liking the change, and the fact that I still didn't seem able to view the street maps, the name 'Babylon' brought disturbing thoughts to mind.   I was reminded once again of a parallel between the Lord's people being in Babylon in Daniel's time.  Babylon is the Greek form of Babel, which means 'confusion', and I believe that the church is in danger of  being in the spiritual Babylon, a state of confusion by mixing man's doctrine with God's doctrine and not believing every word that comes out of the mouth of God.  By Daniel not eating the 'rich' food of the king of Babylon, and just eating the 'vegetables' with nothing added to them, He remained in communication with God and was protected by Him in the 'fire'.   

I believe the Lord is encouraging me to believe absolutely everything that He speaks to me will come to pass.......if I only believe it.

21 comments:

child of God said...

Hi Brenda,
What amazing dreams you have! Very prophetic. My daughter has prophetic dreams but doesn't always know how to interpret them.

I agree with you that we need to check and weigh everything we hear by God's word. We need to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand the truth. Sounds to me like you are a Berean. :)

I also agree with you that the church is in confusion and big time. I believe our Lord Jesus will be rapturing the true believes soon. The way the church is falling, the crazy weather all over the world, the stuff that is happening with the Middle East, these all point to Bible prophecy that is coming true right before our eyes. The times we are living in are very sad but also for a Christian on the watch, very exciting. Joel Rosenberg believes there is a very good chance the war of Gog and Maggog is being set up and could happen sometime this year.

This is no time for Christians to doubt God's word but now is the time to shout it from the mountain tops and who really cares if we look like fools because being a fool for Christ is awesome and in reality not foolish at all.

I will be praying for an increase of encouragement for you.

Blessings sister,
<><

child of God said...

Oh yea, here is a blog I believe you will really love http://the-end-time.blogspot.ca
Just copy and then paste in your search engine and you should come up with The End Time by Elizabeth Prata.

Blessings,
<><

Brenda said...

Hi child of God,
thankyou for your encouraging comments. There was quite a bit more that I could have put on this post, but I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to. The Lord has shown me that just in the same way that the Rechabites were so obedient to their father, He wants that we should be obedient to His word as He speaks it to us. Only good for all can come from it. I will pray for your daughter to know the interpretations of her dreams. Thankyou for the referal to the end of time blogspot, I shall look at it. Thankyou also on the tip, even that little 'copy and paste' advice I didn't think about myself. This is how sharing information is so good, whether physical or spiritual.
God bless

Unknown said...

Hi Brenda,

I only just today found your comment left on my blog "LOVE FOR ALL," on May 21. I am so sorry that your comment wasn't forwarded to my email for reply. It's almost impossible to find comments left on a blog like mine without remembering how many were there prior, how many I've answered, etc. So, I have them forwarded so I never miss one. Either way, I'm very grateful for your visit and wanted to come visit you as well.

You're a great woman of God, I see. Living in His Holy Spirit and walking by signs and visions. It's all very real and very possible. I talked to a young man last night on my Google+ thread, 17 yrs old, that was being brought up in a church that is teaching him that laying on of hands was limited to the time of the New Testament. To which I assured him that all things God gave are for all of His faithful children and for all times. I laid hands on my own son and healed him of alcoholism. I assured my young friend, Solomon, that it's a faith thing, not a doctrine thing. We have to be careful what we are taught in the church. We also have to be careful not to look outward for answers before seeking God for them first. I'm a firm believer in the leading of the Holy spirit and if I ask my Lord something, I wait for His leading to find what I seek. Sometimes He'll speak through dreams, visions, other believers, and scripture. Sometimes He'll just speak directly to my heart and there's no need to look further. Unless like many believers we question whether it's from Him or not. In that case, He may lead me to a particular verse of scripture to confirm His word.

God bless you and thank you again for coming by "LOVE FOR ALL." I look forward to a future interaction.

Brenda said...

Hi Kelline,
How lovely to hear from you. Yes, I have experienced a two miraculous healings from the Lord and other healings. I have known people who were instantly healed from drug addiction by the laying on of hands and the prayer of faith when I was in Australia. I agree totally that the Lord can speak through dreams, visions, other believers, and scripture. When I first came to the Lord some words came to my mind and I knew the Holy Spirit was telling me something, these words were confirmed to me some time later by another person saying them with no knowledge at all that they had been brought to my mind. The words were 'I am like a leaf on a slow moving stream', and I knew that God was telling me to just remain still in Him, it is He that carries me wherever I must go. On my journey I have seen that God's LOVE FOR ALL is indiscribable.
God bless you

T-Childs said...

Well, as ever Brenda, this is a really exceptionally good post and much food for thought. I think that God speaks to us in so many different ways; certainly through dreams and the Bible, but also to our heart too, and in ways that I think can't be fully quantified or explained.

I think you are absolutely right, we must first hear God's voice long before what the world is telling us; those two things are often at odds with each other. The world is passing away, but God's Kingdom is coming into view and will last for eternity; I struggle to understand this sometimes and wonder how living for eternity could be so good but when I worry I just let it go and believe that God has it all in hand.

Oh by the way, love your revamped blog and notice you're getting quite a following, a following may I add that you richly deserve.

Brenda said...

Hi Tim,
lovely to hear from you, my encouraging young friend. Thankyou for your kind comment. I believe I had a minute view of eternity when I had my 'near death experience' when I was twenty eight years old (before I was born again), which inspired me to write a short story called 'shoes' (both of which are posts on this blog if you ever feel like reading them). I believe I was taken to the same place that Paul speaks of when he said he knew a man more than fourteen years previous that was carried away to the third heaven, they believe he was talking about himself. A few verses down this same place is called Paradise,(this in itself is interesting because it suggests there is more than one heaven, and the thief on the cross was told by Jesus that he would that day be in paradise with Him), and I can truly say that I have seen nothing like it, it was absolutely beautiful. Thankyou for the comment on my 'revamp', a lot of which has been inspired by your own blog, I love the black background with the white letters. I just wish I knew how to place things in the right hand column, I don't seem to be able to find info on it.

T-Childs said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
T-Childs said...

Hi Brenda. When you are putting up another post, you have a choice of things to click on at the top; if you click on 'design' you'll see a page layout of your blog, and on the right of your posts section you should see 'add a gadget'. When you click on this you will see a number of things like I have added to my blog; you can add any number of things and put them at the top or anywhere else. It's not that difficult when you get your head around it. If you want me to explain further leave me a comment on my post and I'll get back to you :-)

Brenda said...

Thankyou Tim for your helpful comment on how to fix the right hand column. I don't know why the comment is not comming through on this post, it is on my 'comments'section.

Unknown said...

Sister Brenda,

"Indescribable" indeed is the word. He is constant and faithful. When I need to understand the meaning of that, I realize the sunrise. That is the thing I use to remind myself of His faithfulness. Would mankind see to the sun rising every single day without fail? I do not think so. In fact, I believe that if it were up to mankind, we would change it around and perhaps find a way to tax it or may be to make it rise at our convenience. But God would have us to realize that He is constant and His love for us is the purest form. The Agape!!

You're a very good writer and I enjoyed reading your post. I don't come to the blogs too often throughout my week. Only to post once a week or when I feel particularly inspired, or to comment in return.

Again I thank you for visiting, "Love For All" so faithfully. I'm enjoying the exchange. God bless you. I would add (and left the same comment on my return comment to your recent visit) that my thumbnail avatar has disappeared. Google is quite naughty. They deleted a man's account recently and he lost over 5,000 members and their information as well as his entire blog and all archives. It's too uncertain for my taste. This bothers me that my picture is gone. It says that I don't have the control that I was told was mine by having a Google account. Sigh..oh well...it's all for naught in the grand scheme of things.

Unknown said...

Hi Brenda,

I just came by to thank you for letting me know that when I publish a post but then try to save it to drafts but accidentally click the "delete" which is beside the "edit" and "drafts" option under the posts, that it will still link to the blog lists of "Love For All"'s members. I also wanted to let you you know that I have enabled comment moderation for awhile. I have an individual that is coming into my life that I'm unsure of and I have yet to find an option that allows me to completely block a person by name or URL so I decided to moderate my comments. I have never used the option before so I'm not sure what to expect or what to look for, but if you leave a comment and something odd happens, there's no telling what I've done. I have also had to disable my email address from showing so bear with me and if nothing else, we can communicate here. I have chosen to follow your blog (as you see by my avatar in the members list here) but your blog title is not showing up in my reading list. This is something I'm trying to work out. Ugh...Google is such a headache sometimes. God bless you and I apologize for using up your comment time for my nonsense, hehehe. I think I'm forgiven however, :-) smiles to you sister.

Brenda said...

It's ok Kelline,don't worry, Only three blogs show up in my reading list but I have gone into 'layout' on my blog dashboard, 'with a little help from a friend' and edited the 'followers' widget and brought the blogs I follow up on my 'add to' list. They now come up on the right hand side of my blog. I haven't had time to add all the ones I want to yet, I definately get busier as I get older, but I will get there. I love learning.

Unknown said...

Hi Brenda,

I sure hope I haven't messed something up. I have a friend that says she can't access my blog even though she's a member. But in all fairness she changed her URL and it's been a problem with her blog name and my access ever since. If you have any problems getting on, just leave a comment here as I will be checking for future posts with you. God bless and again, thank you for your input and visits. They are insightful. I also meant to thank you for adding "Cross Tipped Churches" to your role. Russ is a great guy! I see we're both talking to Josh Ramos as well, of "To Be a Barbarian." His last blog entry is heart wrenching. I wept sore while reading a young man's despair. I hope we can bear him up on wings of prayer! I can't think of a more worthy prayer recipient than that young man at this time in his life. God bless you and I'll visit again soon.

Brenda said...

Hi Kelline,
there may be something wrong with your blog because I left a comment a while back and '0 comments' is showing on your blog now. Try having someone you know place a comment on your post and see if it comes up.

David C Brown said...

"Without me ye can do nothing", John 15: 5.

Brenda said...

I totally agree that without Jesus we can do nothing. This is why we must 'abide' in Him. Every poem, every testimony shared on this blog, the blog itself, would not be here if it wasn't for the love of having Jesus in my life, and my wanting to witness to others about that love. My life is a constant effort to abide in Him and to glorify Him by doing what I believe He is instructing me to do. He is my comforter, counsellor, teacher, the express image of God, without whom there is no eternal life for me.

Unknown said...

Hi Brenda,

I have disabled comment moderation. I don't know why you had a problem with the comment. Can you recall exactly where that comment was left? Russ of "Cross Tipped Churches" says he has no problem and neither do the other people I've bothered about it, LOL...hahahhaha...anyway. Thanks for commenting. May be that man that I was worried about hacked my blog or something. No telling. I'll try not to fret too much about it. God bless you.

Brenda said...

Not to worry Kelline, the comment was just telling you not to worry.
God bless.

T-Childs said...

I see you've revamped your blog Brenda; it looks fantastic now, even though it was already very good to look at!

Brenda said...

Hi Tim, thankyou for your encouraging comment. Your advice on how to do the right hand column has really helped. Knowing me, I shall change things again. I love meddling with pics, fonts and colours, and I love interacting on blogs. There is much yet to learn, but learning in the area that you love is pleasurable.