answered prayers

Today during beginning  worship at church, I had a vision. It was not your normal sort of vision… if there is a sort of thing as a “normal vision”. It began with a thought from Revelation and memories of a sermon from months, possibly years  gone by. Revelation 4 speaks of the 24 elders bowing before the throne of God and throwing their crowns before Him and worshiping Him saying :

                “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory, honor and power; for You created all things and because of Your will they existed and were created.”

One of the lovely things about not understanding all of the words of worship songs in service is that there is a blessed freedom of prayer in the midst of a congregation of worship, ascending to Our Father. These times for me are precious. So, in the midst of not understanding what everyone else around me was singing to Our God, I began to speak to him, and all of a sudden, before my eyes was Zelda. Yup. Zelda. I don’t even think I have ever played Zelda. I remember once watching my little brother play it and not being interested enough to try it myself.  However, this Zelda had a different mission. He was running about hurriedly seeking out and picking up crowns. When he reached the end of the level, he rushed into a glorious palace where you would expect to find a dastardly foe for him to obliterate, but instead, he ran to the feet of the master of the house, and threw down before Him all of the crowns he had collected. There was an expectation in Zelda of one who has a present for their dearly beloved father, waiting to see if He likes it or not.

This made me contemplate quite a few things. First off, what exactly are the crowns I am to collect for my Master, and it made me think about some of the vocabulary I use in a different light. When I say to someone “oh, it’s all for the Lord” do I really mean that the things I do are for the Lord? That if I receive a crown or prize for anything I do on this earth, that I am doing it with lack of selfish desire, and solely as an offering to my creator? Do I honestly go about life looking for the fruits of His kingdom to gather and bring to Him on the day of judgment, to cast them down at His feet and wait to hear Him say “well done, my good and faithful servant, enter into the Joy of your Master.”? Is this really the works of my hands and the intention of my heart? I would of course like to say “yes, all that I do is for the Lord with no selfish ambition what-so-ever.” But if I am honest with myself, I would love the credit for the things that God has done in my life.

It made me laugh too, that right after I had this epic thought, I got so angry at the girl sitting next to me for doing something childish, that I almost was incredibly horrid to her, and had to go through some intense repentance and forgiveness before I could receive any more form the Lord.

I was intrigued to find that when the pastor got up and spoke, that he preached about John 17:3 which says”

                “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

The sermon was about differences in the characteristics of this life, and the life to come, and that how God desires to know us, and that He has us here as shining beacons of light into the dark that we may attract others to Him, that they also may know Him, and spend eternal life with Him.

He right off answered my question about the crowns. What greater joy could a father have, than adopting new children, that his older children had brought to Him? Now my theology might be a little off here. But really. Think about what will transfer into the life to come? 1 Corinthinans 13 says that Love never fails, and will not cease. And I know that those who are saved will live on with our Father into eternity. So I can imagine that the crowns that delight our Father are those of souls saved and love. So I prayed. I prayed today for divine appointments to love, and share His word. And our God never fails. Today Kristin and I had 2 very blatant chances to share the gospel and love today, and we were so honored that the Father would bring these 2 needy souls into our path. And it was SUCH a blessing to talk with them!  I do not say this to boast, I say this as an encouragement for your faith. Ask! Ask our Father to put people in your path to love. Then stop and take the time to love them. There really is no greater joy in this life, than to do the will of the Father, and be His hands and feet to a world that is lost and dying.