Recently Keith has felt the need to write about the times we are in and how Christians should think and prepare for these times.
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Dreaming Dreams – A meditation by Keith (president of Healing Communities )
May 2004
Last Autumn (fall), much of what I hold most dear seemed to collapse around my ears. During all of it I just clung to Jesus. More than ever HE became the point of stability that I needed. I lived a season of darkness alone with the LORD.
January found me in the UK where I began to see glimpses of light again. Then, in February, I arrived in the U.S. for 6½ months of ministry. In the 4 months that I have been here so far, I have been so blessed by individuals and ministries, who have taken time to reach out to me allowing the Lord to strengthen me and build me up: Aaron, Frank, James, Mark, Mick, Robert, Roger, Steve and Tom, as well as many others.
During this time I have shared my heart with hundreds of people, mostly in small groups. Many have moved into blessing. At the same time, the LORD oh so graciously touched me, sharing HIS heart with me. I have dared to dream dreams again. Those dreams are what I want to share with you here; not the end of the process by any means, but a stop on the way. I'm also inviting you to dream some dreams with me, and then watch them come to pass as the Lord fulfils our wildest dreams.
So I'm dreaming. Joel prophesied, "Your old men will dream dreams". I don't feel old, but I guess I'm not young any more, but I am dreaming dreams. And oh what dreams.....
Some 30 years ago, when the LORD first called me, I described my call as, "Calling
the Church back to JESUS." Since then I have done that as faithfully as I could (at
times more faithfully than others). But in this past few years I have seen more clearly
than ever that so much of the church is wearing blinkers, playing religious games.
Now more than ever the Church needs to hear the call of JESUS, back to HIMSELF. For
the past few months that is exactly what I have been doing. And people have been
responding to a new call of GOD on their lives. New expressions of Church have started.
Others have found new depths of healing and purpose. But, most importantly, folk
have dared to look over the wall, and some have taken their first tentative steps
outside the camp. Why is this important? Because that's where JESUS is (Heb.13:12-
If we are going to really touch this hurting world, we must dare to be in the world
but not of it. That means that we have to outside the camp of the "holy", outside
our "holy huddle", and into the mess of the world. Will we get our hands dirty? Probably.
Will we become contaminated? Not if we keep our eyes upon JESUS, allowing our hearts
to be conformed to HIS. All that we are, conformed to HIM. Some will say; that's
just too much, we should stay holy and safe within the camp. Yet how can we fulfill
the great commission without going out? What is it about, "GO into all the world...."
that the Church doesn't understand? Go means go!!!!! Yet, oh too often, we wait for
the hurting and sinful to come. Our fear keeps us "safe in the camp", yet Jude taught
us that we are kept by JESUS CHRIST (v.1), and he finishes with the most beautiful
doxology in verses 24 and 25; "To HIM who is able to keep you from falling and to
present you before HIS glorious presence, without fault and with great joy -
The same one who sends, keeps. We need not fear to step outside the camp to touch this fallen world for our beloved.
So, I'm dreaming, what do I see? I see a beautiful and colourful collage, created by our artist GOD. For well over 1,600 years the church has been bound by the clergy/laity system, spending fortunes maintaining professional leaders and temples, neglecting the SPIRIT in the poor and unlearned, failing to feed the hungry, clothe the naked or shelter the homeless. The Church grew into a drab grey representation of the glorious bride that the LORD longs for. There have been splashes of colour here and there; a Francis, a Luther, a Wesley, or a Booth. But they were the exceptions. And this is the real challenge! GOD calls us to an exceptional walk. Not self powered, but HIM powered, HIS life in us, making us truly exceptional.
For months my life has been hidden on the inside, where GOD has been doing a transforming, healing work. Like a chrysalis I died, fearing what would emerge; a beautiful colourful butterfly, bringing joy and hope to all who see, or a dull grey moth, bringing corruption. Well I have felt the hardness of my chrysalis hardness split, wings are beginning to emerge... and... I see.... a flash of colour. Hallelujah!
As the life of CHRIST flows through us we will be transformed into a glorious army. My friend Frank summed it up like this:
"“What are the rules of engagement?” As I began formulating the answer, it seemed good to send it to a wider audience as a general newsletter.
For all of us, but especially for the elders, unity is a huge consideration. God’s ultimate strategy is to unite all things in heaven and earth in Christ, while Satan’s strategy is to divide and conquer. Our army consists of every man woman and child in whom Jesus Christ lives. The commanders and officers in this army must remain clear on this crucial issue, and not allow the will of Satan (divide and conquer) to continue to emasculate the forces of God.
We are at war. Warfare is not optional for any of us. We do fight at different locations and in different battles. Our military configurations and skirmishes vary according to our assignments in God. But, we are ALL in this life and death struggle, or battle, or contest that Paul refers to as wrestling. Wrestling is a grueling sport that requires superb conditioning and discipline. Wrestling is hand to hand. There are no other sporting battles with more disgusting bodily contact than wrestling. For us the reality of Jesus victory is our hope and confidence. On the cross, Jesus met every one of the slime beings which attack us, and He not only triumphed over them, but He made a public display of them. (Col. 2:15)
Satan is a defeated foe. HOWEVER, he still prowls around and devours everyone he
can. He still kills. He still steals. He still destroys. He still accuses us before
our Father, but when he is cast out of heaven, it appears there will be an even more
horrific battle for three and a half years. (Rev. 13:5-
“They overcame him (the accuser of our brothers)
(1) by the blood of the Lamb and
(2) by the word of their testimony;
(3) they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
The blood of the Lamb. His blood be upon us and our children. His blood cover our sins. His blood be upon our houses and families like the blood of the paschal lamb which pictures Jesus. We are washed in the blood of the Lamb once and for all. Every accusation against us is countered by and actually destroyed by the blood of the Lamb.
The word of our testimony. Who am I? What is my testimony? Am I an old sinner saved by grace struggling along until I get whisked out of this life by death or rapture? Or, am I a new creation in Christ, complete and whole and righteous and washed and clean? Right here and now I can be what I am – a living stone, a part of God’s temple, a representative of Christ, an ambassador or spokesman for God and His Kingdom, a literal part of Christ’s very body on the earth.
If I try to enter the battle as a “sinner,” I am doomed. The helmet of salvation
is that I am saved. The breastplate of righteousness is that I am righteous in Christ,
and I face the evil one as a righteous son of God. The belt that holds the my weapons
is truth and I am truthful. He who is truth lives in me and I also speak the truth
and don’t lie lest all my weapons fall on the ground. My feet are covered with the
preparation of the good news of peace in Jesus. Jesus is my peace, and I am not ashamed
of Him, or of the fact that He is being formed in me. Each day I am to be more conformed
to His image. The shield of faith is the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave Himself for me. It is the measure of faith that the Spirit has given me. The
sword of the Spirit is the word. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. He has
now become flesh again as He lives in me and I become more like Him. The Bible, the
God-
Did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. “I don’t really want to fight, I just want to live my life and leave the enemy alone. I hope he leaves me alone.” You lose. You’re dead.
“It’s already all done in Christ. It is finished, I’ll just live in His rest.” That’s
true. Salvation is finished, now work it out with fear and trembling. Part of working
it out is resisting the devil, drawing near to God, fighting the good fight, putting
on the armor, prophesying, interceding, overcoming in Him, not growing weary in well-
Glory to God, saints. It won’t be long now.
Love in Christ,
Frank"
Peter Grieg, the leader of the 24/7 prayer movement, spoke about this same Glorious army in his vision, with which I feel VERY identified:
'THE VISION'
So this guy comes up to me and says "what's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open
my mouth and words come out like this…
The vision?
The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people.
You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.
They laugh at 9-
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They
wouldn't even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.
They
are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.. People
write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free
yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.
The vision
is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave
up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good
and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.
Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.
It loves people
away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down
its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers
choose to loose
that they might one day win
the great 'Well done' of faithful sons
and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"
And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations
shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy
is breathing…
This is the sound of the underground
And the army is discipl(in)ed.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back
boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain".
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can
stop them ?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them
or death kill them ?
And the generation prays
like a dying man
with groans beyond talking,
with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and
with
great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.
Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its
cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing
at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot
hold them. Peer-
They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive
inside.
On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate
and celebrate but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives -
With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,
they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.
Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)
Their subconscious sings.
They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make demons scream in shopping
centres.
Don't you hear them coming?
Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the
freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk
tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children
of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient
dream of Eden.
And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come
soon.
How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning
of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is
his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding,
bone-
Guaranteed.
The change in my life has been cataclysmic, rather like being born again, again. I am living this out in a very real way.
What about my dreams for the Church? I'm seeing a very different church. A Church that will really fulfil the heart cry for intimacy, authenticity and hope, craved by so many young people, singles and men, that are just not being touched by much of the Church. A Church that meets on the street, in homes, in bars, in libraries, in restaurants and anywhere else where people are gathered. There will be no leaders (as understood by so much of the Church today), but 1,000's of servants, willing to pay all to serve. Slaves of the LORD, without rights or reputation, but with a real vision for the future.
What will my part be? I'm a servant. As GOD gives me grace, a servant of servants. How will this affect what I do? I don't know. I'm taking baby steps, one at a time. I know that I feel the need to travel, to share, to serve: I will go wherever the LORD opens doors: I'm HIS, and in HIS name, I'm dreaming dreams.
Keith Smith
May 2004
castillofuerte@msn.com
www.healingcommunities.org
More dreams about Church
Church should be a glowing place, a place where GOD’S presence is permanently evident. As the glory of the ALMIGHTY permeates every part. But if each part is functioning at just 50%, rather than the radiance of HIS glory, all we’ll have is a dull afterglow.
We need power! We need to be electrified by the presence of the HOLY SPIRIT in our lives. Then we will be bright. Lights to set on a hill, to light the way for others.
Sadly, too many seem satisfied with 50% life, a sort of minimal Christianity, doing just enough to get through the pearly gates. Many think that they have so much spiritually, when in fact they are poor, wretched and blind. Fellowship is so much more than a handshake on Sunday mornings, so much more than worshiping in the same building. Worship, so much more than singing songs led by a skilled few. Prayer, so much more than spoken needs.
Oh for a place of true fellowship, where salty, son-
No more religious games. Just GOD’S truth, and that truth will set us free!