The "Path Through the Woods" scene of the dream
A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
"The spring season of the year is the time when everything in the natural world awakens to new life. It is the life that I designed My creation to have so that seed-bearing plants and trees would bear fruit with seeds according to their kind (Genesis 1:11-13). The spring season of the year is a time of much change and new growth. It is the time when you can see new shoots spring forth from the ground and buds unfold their delicate leaves on the trees. The old creation has been exchanged for the new (2 Corinthians 5:17)!
I designed it this way from the very beginning of time. I created the natural world first before I created you, because I wanted the beauty of nature to always be a reminder of My goodness and My faithful love to you—My child (1 Corinthians 15:46). I wanted the natural things that I created to always be a sign—a token of how I AM the Creator who chose to make you in My image and My likeness.
Yes, I made you with the capacity to hear My voice, and have fellowship with Me through My Spirit. I created you so that you could respond to My call of love upon your heart. You were the crowning act of My creation—I created you for My glory!
Just as I have ordained each season in the natural world to come at its appointed time, so I have designed each season in your spiritual life to follow My chosen plan. As you look back on your life, you will recognize some of these times of spiritual awakening. You will remember the tug on your heart each time My Spirit revealed Himself to you as you and I walked through the “woods” together. I remember how your heart burned within you at times when you were deeply touched by My goodness and love. During those seasons of spiritual awakening, your life was being prepared to respond to My Spirit at the next appointed time.
I remember how child-like and trusting you were as you and I walked through the “woods” together. You were delighted as you looked up at the “tall and airy” trees growing in the forest. Not for one moment in your child-like innocence did you ever suspect that those trees symbolized the “lofty” doctrines of Adventism. That’s because you were “raised in the woods”. You were familiar with these “trees”.
I remember how you smiled with joy as the same breeze that caressed your face caused the spring leaves to shimmer in the sunlight. But you never realized that those same leaves would become a canopy so dense in the summer season that they would obscure the “light,” and prevent you and your “family” from seeing Me clearly. You didn’t know that those leaves were like the leaves on the fig tree that I cursed because they were taking all the sap instead of producing fruit!
I saw how you admired the beauty of the green carpet of leaves at your feet as you slowly walked along the winding path through the “woods”. You never once suspected that this covering over the forest floor that appeared so lush and green actually covered up the truth about the foundation of Adventism’s “house” not being built upon Me! That’s because you were still a child of Adventism.
Even though you weren’t aware of My presence, I was with you at all times as you followed the winding “path” through Adventism’s "woods". While My path is a straight path, the path that you were walking on was the “required” path that Adventism had marked out for you by the “trees”. Although you hadn’t yet chosen the Adventist path that was marked out for you by the “trees”, you still followed it through Adventism’s “woods”, because that’s all you knew to do as a child growing up in the “house” of Adventism.
It continually breaks My heart to see that there is so very little room for Me in the “house” of Adventism. Consequently, My grace and truth are made to fit around Adventism’s “lofty” teachings and squeezed between its endless requirements. How I long for you to come to know Me so that your old life could be exchanged for your new life in Me! How I long for the time when you will be overjoyed to be in My presence!
But even though many of you were raised in the “house” of Adventism, I have been faithful to bring about seasons of spiritual awakening in your lives when I saw that you were ready to take the next baby steps in your walk and understanding of Me, and My love for you.
I remember the day your spiritual awakening came. You lost your child-hood innocence when I called you out of the “woods” and brought you into the “open wilderness”. As you stood at the edge of the forest and peered out into the open wilderness, you were delighted to see a large company of people in the distance, because you didn’t want to “walk” alone anymore. You noticed that they were walking in line at a good pace, and you became afraid that if you didn’t hurry up and join them you would be left behind. So you took a shortcut, running as fast as you could to join them on their wilderness path.
Only later when it was too late did you wish that you had chosen a different path. Because you had grown accustomed to the “safety” of the “woods” you thought that the wilderness looked like a far more dangerous place to be by yourself, so you chose to leave My path and join up with people who felt “safe”, and even “familiar” to you. But you didn’t recognize that they were walking away from Me.
For a brief moment you received a glimpse of My love for you, when I stopped you dead in your tracks. You saw the Light that gives light to every person who comes into the world, and your heart desired to follow Me. I remember you thinking that surely they must have see the Light, too, and wondering why they were walking so quickly away from the “harvest” fields that filled the horizon.
In that brief encounter I saw how you wanted to tell “them” about the Light that you had seen resting over the “harvest” fields. You hoped to persuade them to turn around and face Me. So you continued to run towards them, feeling sure that they would listen to you and turn around to see what they were missing... You never realized that after joining them, they wouldn’t be able to “hear” you...
Oh, how I longed for you to know that the wilderness is where I call all my children to be alone with Me! The wilderness is the place where I draw My children into My presence with My deeds of loving-kindness and tender mercies that I have towards them. The wilderness is the place where I give back my children their vineyards of lost fruit (Hosea 2:14-15)! It is in the wilderness where I show them their fruitfulness in Me.
I know all of My children’s hearts. I know that if you sow to please the Spirit you will reap a harvest of righteousness, because you will reap the fruits of walking in Me. But I also know that if you choose not to walk in Me, you will turn your back on Me. Instead of sowing to please the Spirit, you will sow to please the flesh because of your fear of being alone. This will result in your reaping what you have sown—a terrible harvest of unrighteousness (Galatians 6:8). But the biggest “harvest” that you, My Adventist children, are in danger of missing is the harvest of your own souls!
I saw how Jeremiah agonized and wept over the people to whom he had been sent by Me. Yes, he and I both agonized and wept because they had missed the time of their harvest. Spring had turned into summer, and the summer had ended, and they were not saved (Jeremiah 8:20)! Sadly, they had missed the harvest of their own souls!
Oh, My beloved children in the “house” of Adventism, when will you choose to turn around and not follow down that same path?
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Next: The message for the second scene...
A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
A spiritual awakening
I designed it this way from the very beginning of time. I created the natural world first before I created you, because I wanted the beauty of nature to always be a reminder of My goodness and My faithful love to you—My child (1 Corinthians 15:46). I wanted the natural things that I created to always be a sign—a token of how I AM the Creator who chose to make you in My image and My likeness.
Yes, I made you with the capacity to hear My voice, and have fellowship with Me through My Spirit. I created you so that you could respond to My call of love upon your heart. You were the crowning act of My creation—I created you for My glory!
Just as I have ordained each season in the natural world to come at its appointed time, so I have designed each season in your spiritual life to follow My chosen plan. As you look back on your life, you will recognize some of these times of spiritual awakening. You will remember the tug on your heart each time My Spirit revealed Himself to you as you and I walked through the “woods” together. I remember how your heart burned within you at times when you were deeply touched by My goodness and love. During those seasons of spiritual awakening, your life was being prepared to respond to My Spirit at the next appointed time.
I remember how child-like and trusting you were as you and I walked through the “woods” together. You were delighted as you looked up at the “tall and airy” trees growing in the forest. Not for one moment in your child-like innocence did you ever suspect that those trees symbolized the “lofty” doctrines of Adventism. That’s because you were “raised in the woods”. You were familiar with these “trees”.
I remember how you smiled with joy as the same breeze that caressed your face caused the spring leaves to shimmer in the sunlight. But you never realized that those same leaves would become a canopy so dense in the summer season that they would obscure the “light,” and prevent you and your “family” from seeing Me clearly. You didn’t know that those leaves were like the leaves on the fig tree that I cursed because they were taking all the sap instead of producing fruit!
I saw how you admired the beauty of the green carpet of leaves at your feet as you slowly walked along the winding path through the “woods”. You never once suspected that this covering over the forest floor that appeared so lush and green actually covered up the truth about the foundation of Adventism’s “house” not being built upon Me! That’s because you were still a child of Adventism.
Even though you weren’t aware of My presence, I was with you at all times as you followed the winding “path” through Adventism’s "woods". While My path is a straight path, the path that you were walking on was the “required” path that Adventism had marked out for you by the “trees”. Although you hadn’t yet chosen the Adventist path that was marked out for you by the “trees”, you still followed it through Adventism’s “woods”, because that’s all you knew to do as a child growing up in the “house” of Adventism.
It continually breaks My heart to see that there is so very little room for Me in the “house” of Adventism. Consequently, My grace and truth are made to fit around Adventism’s “lofty” teachings and squeezed between its endless requirements. How I long for you to come to know Me so that your old life could be exchanged for your new life in Me! How I long for the time when you will be overjoyed to be in My presence!
But even though many of you were raised in the “house” of Adventism, I have been faithful to bring about seasons of spiritual awakening in your lives when I saw that you were ready to take the next baby steps in your walk and understanding of Me, and My love for you.
I remember the day your spiritual awakening came. You lost your child-hood innocence when I called you out of the “woods” and brought you into the “open wilderness”. As you stood at the edge of the forest and peered out into the open wilderness, you were delighted to see a large company of people in the distance, because you didn’t want to “walk” alone anymore. You noticed that they were walking in line at a good pace, and you became afraid that if you didn’t hurry up and join them you would be left behind. So you took a shortcut, running as fast as you could to join them on their wilderness path.
Only later when it was too late did you wish that you had chosen a different path. Because you had grown accustomed to the “safety” of the “woods” you thought that the wilderness looked like a far more dangerous place to be by yourself, so you chose to leave My path and join up with people who felt “safe”, and even “familiar” to you. But you didn’t recognize that they were walking away from Me.
For a brief moment you received a glimpse of My love for you, when I stopped you dead in your tracks. You saw the Light that gives light to every person who comes into the world, and your heart desired to follow Me. I remember you thinking that surely they must have see the Light, too, and wondering why they were walking so quickly away from the “harvest” fields that filled the horizon.
Fruitfulness in Me
Oh, how I longed for you to know that the wilderness is where I call all my children to be alone with Me! The wilderness is the place where I draw My children into My presence with My deeds of loving-kindness and tender mercies that I have towards them. The wilderness is the place where I give back my children their vineyards of lost fruit (Hosea 2:14-15)! It is in the wilderness where I show them their fruitfulness in Me.
I know all of My children’s hearts. I know that if you sow to please the Spirit you will reap a harvest of righteousness, because you will reap the fruits of walking in Me. But I also know that if you choose not to walk in Me, you will turn your back on Me. Instead of sowing to please the Spirit, you will sow to please the flesh because of your fear of being alone. This will result in your reaping what you have sown—a terrible harvest of unrighteousness (Galatians 6:8). But the biggest “harvest” that you, My Adventist children, are in danger of missing is the harvest of your own souls!
I saw how Jeremiah agonized and wept over the people to whom he had been sent by Me. Yes, he and I both agonized and wept because they had missed the time of their harvest. Spring had turned into summer, and the summer had ended, and they were not saved (Jeremiah 8:20)! Sadly, they had missed the harvest of their own souls!
Oh, My beloved children in the “house” of Adventism, when will you choose to turn around and not follow down that same path?
___________________________________________________________________________
Next: The message for the second scene...
