ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: DREAMS FROM THE LORD IV

[Regner A Capener]

Dreams from the Lord IV

Solutions! Salutations, too! Hey, you need solutions, don’t you? So, I’m declaring solutions to you. Hehehehehe………

All right. Good Morning! You DID sleep well last night, didn’t you?

Lots more French Roasted Columbian Supremo in the pot this morning, so pour yourself some brew. It's Gooooooooooooddddd!!!!! Mmmmmm Mmmmm..........love that aroma!

If there is anything I’ve learned throughout the years it is that dreams – and specifically, dreams from the Lord – are given to us for a variety of reasons. I marvel at the unique nature of the pictures and experiences that come this way. These dreams are intended to communicate the heart of the Lord in a visual way.

1. They are given for the purpose of prayer and intercession.

2. They are given to us so that we can declare and decree events that have already happened in Heaven, bringing them into this time-space world in which we live.

3. Dreams allow us to see critical events which will happen, and are given as a warning for our protection.

4. Dreams are given to communicate the purposes of God.

5. Sometimes dreams are given for our discernment to know the plans of the Enemy and his conspiracies against us so that we can destroy his works.

You understand, of course, that I’m not referring to the dreams that derive from eating chocolate-covered dill pickles or some strange combination of foods before we go to bed. I’m referring to the communication that is Spirit-driven.

Because we are first and foremost spirit-beings, then soul and then body, anything which is spirit-driven or spirit-motivated and/or has any kind of spiritual emphasis will be reflected in our dreams while we are asleep. Ever wonder why you have certain dreams that seem to lack logic or rationale? Ever wonder why you have dreams that communicate some kind of message? Ever wonder why you sometimes have nightmares?

Everything that happens to you during the day or over the course of several days is retained in your subconscious memory. Everything you hear and everything you see goes straight to your subconscious memory. Your dreams won’t necessarily come out of your subconscious memory – although some will be influenced by it.

Dreams are a form of spirit communication. When you watch certain television programs, listen to music or focus heavily on the news of the day, for instance, there is a constant level of spirit-communication taking place. Virtually all media is spirit-driven.

That may seem to be a stretch or an exaggeration, but as one who has both studied (and taught at the university level) and put into practice the art or science of subliminal communication, I speak from practical experience. I don’t want to get sidetracked on that subject today, but it is important to emphasize that we are constantly being communicated with on a spirit-level.

If our daily input comes from television programs, a barrage of negative news, or much of the popular music on the radio today, much of what goes straight to our spirit will be driven and motivated by demonic spirits with a demonic agenda.

If, on the other hand, the majority of our daily input comes from spending time in the Word, listening to and participating in praise and worship music, and simply enjoying the presence of the Lord, the Holy Spirit will be transmitting and imparting the very life-flow of God into us. The result will be that we will begin to have more and more dreams, visions and visitations from the Lord.

When the dreams took place that I’ve just described and shared with you on the night of August 7^th/morning of August 8^th, Della and I had just completed a period of some two weeks of literally soaking in the presence of the Lord. The River of Life Campmeeting that Peter and Cathryn Nash (Frontline Worship Centre) sponsored in Red Deer, Alberta was filled with praise and worship, revelatory teaching and prophecy (**not the so-called “End Time” prophecy that many Christians often think of), and miraculous displays of the presence of the Lord. We had seen non-stop signs and wonders accompanying the teaching and preaching of the Word.

You simply cannot be in that kind of environment without it impacting every part of your being. Your spirit is continually receiving revelation and impartation from the Holy Spirit. These dreams I’ve just described are only a tiny part of the experiences we had in God during this two-week period!

In the weeks since, I’ve had several more dreams from the Lord – some of which confirm these dreams and add to a collective experience. Why am I saying this? Many of you – my friends, my acquaintances and my Coffee Break readers – have been having dreams, visions and visitations from the Lord during the past months or even years; but the frequency of these experiences has increased and is increasing even more!

It is important to pay attention to what is happening. We are in the midst of the greatest world-wide harvest of souls in history! Despite all of the negative news that we hear and see on television and in the news media in general, spectacular things are taking place as we come to the end of this era.

What’s it all about? Jesus is coming back for a Bride without spot or wrinkle (see Ephesians 5:27). He is coming for a Bride who has made herself ready for Him; that’s to say that she has pursued Him with a fervent love, and has done all to respond to His every desire so that she reflects His glory, His nature, His character and His makeup. She is ready because she has done all to become His Counterpart, His Other Self!

Folks, right now the body of Christ is not ready for His return! Certainly there are many Christians who meet the criteria of Ephesians 5:27 and Revelation 19:7-8, but as a whole the biggest part of the body – those who profess to know the Lord and walk with Him – are not in pursuit of His presence in their lives, no matter the cost!

Many, many Christians are very passive about their Christianity. They’ve become religious instead of relational! They have the form of Godliness but they lack the power and authority that goes with a personal love-relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because the Lord Jesus Christ is desirous of having a full house, a completed Bride, a readied Bride who is anxiously looking for Him to come and receive her, more and more and more believers are experiencing supernatural dreams, revelations and visitations as the Holy Spirit draws the people of God. God is revealing Himself in spectacular ways to His people. His objective is to inspire them, to draw them, to make them so dissatisfied with who they are and where they are spiritually that they begin to cry out with their whole being for His 24-hour presence.

Because of the way that the Lord has revealed Himself to me throughout my life, and because of the constant sense of His presence 24 hours a day, I cannot imagine life without Him being there, living in me, living through me, demonstrating His Kingdom for so much as ten seconds. The longer I walk with the Lord, the more I desire of Him. The more I have His presence, the more I thirst after Him. The more He demonstrates His power and authority through me with signs and wonders, the more I realize just how little I have of Him and how much more awaits!

The things I share in these Coffee Breaks, the experiences that I’ve shared over the past seven years (and continue to share) are designed to inspire you, to prod you, to anger you if necessary, but mostly to encourage you to move on in God! There’s no such thing as standing still in God. If you’re not pressing in for more of Him, you’re going backwards and growing cold spiritually. If you’re not activating and operating in the Gifts of the Spirit with the Fruit of the Spirit in full attendance, you are dying a slow death spiritually.

Remember the parable of the ten virgins?

Matthew 25:1-13: Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

I won’t make this discussion a complete breakdown of this parable, but there are some really important elements of Jesus’ statements to consider and meditate on.

Let me begin with one of Jesus’ last remarks where He says, “Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” Ouch! These are virgins! These are folks who have gotten “saved.” They’ve repented of their sins, they’ve acknowledged Jesus Christ as their Lord, and they’ve led basically righteous lives. They’re dressed in white. They’re supposed to be awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom.

The announcement has gone out, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.”

All of the virgins go to the assigned place of meeting the Bridegroom with their lamps lit, their flames burning, their passion and ardor for the Lord on display. The problem is, the Bridegroom doesn’t come when expected. Half of the virgins have taken extra oil so they can keep their lamps burning. Their passion and fire for God is clearly evident.

The other half has made no preparation for the Bridegroom delaying His coming. There is no foresight or expectation that He might … He just might not … come according to their timetable. What has happened? They’ve fallen into the trap of programming the Lord into a religious box. There is no pursuit of His presence. There is no thirst to really know their husband-to-be. There is no oil of anointing. (I’d really like to expand on this, but that will wait for another discussion.) There is no walking and living in the Spirit.

Here’s the problem, and this is a picture of a good part of the body of Christ today. Jesus has sent out an invitation to the world. John records Jesus as putting it like this:

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

All of the virgins believed on Jesus as the Son of God. Good, so far! But there’s a whole lot more. This is not an intellectual assent to Jesus being the Son of God. The Greek word translated “believed” in this statement is pisteuo. This is a whole lot more than simply “believing!” This is “to have faith in.” This is the result of hearing His voice, having faith generate within one’s being because you heard His voice, (see Romans 10:17) and then responding with your whole being to that voice.

The five foolish virgins stopped in their pursuit of the presence of the Lord. They ceased to pursue after hearing His voice in their being. They lost their passion for Him. Their flames went out, and there was no oil to restart the fire. They had ceased to “be filled” with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). The well of the oil of the Spirit had run dry.

Any personal and intimate communication by and through the Holy Spirit between them and the Lord had long since ceased. They didn’t “know” Him anymore, and when they presented themselves to Him – after He had already come and received those who were ready and waiting – His response was, “I don’t know you.” Jesus’ answer – literally translated from the Greek – was, “I don’t recognize you. I can’t see you. I don’t understand you.”

What a waste! To have come so far, and then treat the relationship in such cavalier fashion was a disaster. They were excluded from being part of the Bride. They were excluded from the personal and intimate presence of the Lord. Sure, they were “saved” from the fires of Hell, but they would never have the trust and confidence reserved for those who press into the Lord and seek after His best, no matter what it takes and no matter what it costs!

But here is the message of the Lord to all who find themselves in the category of the foolish virgins today. The call continues to go forth. There is a second chance for those who’ve blown it the first time around. He continues to seek after a people who will love Him with every breath of their being. He continues to look for those who will have His best in them no matter the cost. He continues to desire those who will not compromise His Word to them and in them.

There is still time – but very little of it!

That’s the essence of what happened in my dreams. There was a second chance for those in the cage who were biting and devouring one another. There was a second chance for the Russian officer. And they took it! There was repentance, and there was complete healing and restoration. There was deliverance for all. And Jesus received the Glory and Honor because of it.

For most of the past 20 years or so I have had a constant theme in my sharing and teaching. That theme goes like this: There is no substitute for the presence of the Lord.

In the past months, I’ve realized that there is one more element to this that needs to be added and it goes like this: There is no substitute for the Glory of the Lord being revealed in and through us.

Why do I add the second statement? Follow this if you will.

If we live in His presence, and continually respond to His voice, He will reveal His Glory in us. If He reveals His Glory in us, He will have received His inheritance in us – and that’s what this is all about! (See Ephesians 1:17-23)

Next Series: Heaven: A Trip to the Future.

The Holy Spirit is moving and operating in this day and age in non-traditional ways; and any attempts we make to box Him in or try to second-guess Him are doomed to failure. Those who are willing to hear what He has to say and are ready to “operate outside the box” will see and experience the Glory of the Lord!

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Prosser, Washington 99350
[phone]

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