Joy in my Spirit-baptisms, dreams, visions, and prophetic rhema words

 

 

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The consistent experience I’ve had from many Spirit-baptisms was that immediately after getting just overwhelmed with unconditional-love, I soon experienced profuse tears of joy for such non-judgmental, totally-accepting, undeserved, unearned, unmerited, unconditional-loving-favor-of-grace.  And sometimes, I just wanted to run down the street shouting the praises of God I was so happy!  See the Spirit-baptism page for my experiences.

 

Once while jogging around the park in the summer while proseuchomai conversationally-praying by the Spirit, which is by the grace-gift of tongues (a), I was trying to get to a stand of weeping willow trees to cool down.  As I got near it they appeared to be extra bright, almost as if the leaves were mirrors and the sun was reflecting off it with sparkles.  I thought maybe I was getting heat-stroke!  I looked at them closer, and in the air between between me and them I saw what looked like a small soccer-ball sized piece of fruit somewhere between an orange and grapefruit in color – see Unconditional-Love – BT3.  Man, was I freaking out!  Especially when I saw the words in my mind, “Take and eat!”  <Notes> a) 1 Corinthians 14:2, 4, 9, 14-15, 18, 26, 39, cf. Ephesians 6:18, Jude 1:20.

 

So I literally reached out, grabbed it, and took a bite.  I was immediately overwhelmed with unconditional-love, but after awhile after having surrendered-control more I started crying with immense joy!  Then when I could finally catch my breath, a great peaceful-rest came over me and I was as calm as a sea of glass.  I had absolutely no worries!  And I had so much energy I thought I could run 10 miles!  Then I came near the shade of the trees, still in wonder about the reflections of the leaves.  Then suddenly hundreds if not thousands of monarch butterflies flew out of the trees into the sky.  This was other-worldly!  I got into the shade where the park’s lake was and saw a big goose floating on the water.  I looked at him and said, “Does all of creation praise the Lord with the joy I feel right now?”  I was truly bubbling over with great exultation or glory for God.  I was full of energy!  I almost started dancing up and down in the park!

 

The goose immediately sat up out of the water with his feet barely in it, doing so by flapping his massive wings, and he continued in this position for 15 seconds I bet – a really long time!  It was so obvious the answer was “Yes!”  I will never forget that afternoon!  I understood then that worship is “true worship” WHEN you are “worshipping by [singular] Spirit,” just as Jesus said the Father was looking for (a).  It was WAY different than most church services I’ve had to sit through!  I’ve played drums for 15 churches and only 1 or 2 were this free to worship, and even in those I didn’t witness much abandonment either!  <Notes> a) John 4:23-24.

 

I once had a vision of a kid building a sand castle on the beach, his father watching with a smile as his son was lost in the joy and fascination of his project.  When I looked back it was me playing my drums all those years as a kid and I saw The Father’s smile of pleasure!  However, throughout much of my childhood, even though I could feel intense joy and success in my drumming through so many bands from the time I was in 7^th grade, I didn’t know it was God’s joy and success but claimed it for myself.  It’s only been the last few years that I became aware that it was God’s joy He was sharing with me and that He was calling me into deeper fellowship through this.  See Spirit-Practice-Drums – BT4 with the video “Keep the Joy in the Journey or end up with an Urn full of ashes” and Spirit-Practice – BT1.

 

On 8/5/2016 I had a God-dream:  I was ‘in joy’ playing my childhood drum-set in my childhood home’s carport.  As I was, I saw what looked like a colorful butterfly shining like the sun, coming into the carport, being attracted to my drumming.  It was mesmerizing and I just wanted to watch it.  It landed on a cymbal and I was compelled to play on it.  Now I had mallets and I felt compelled to roll on it.  I felt a kid-like joy!  Then it moved to a tom and I felt compelled to play on it.  More joy!  It just kept moving and I kept chasing it.  We were like 2 kids playing a “cat and mouse” chase and I started laughing more and more – I didn’t want the game to stop, I was having the best time!  Also, I was absolutely amazed at the skill of the drumming – I was watching myself in awe as the Holy Spirit took control/mastery of me.  Kids have a lot of fun with the Lord – see Least Among You – BT12!

 

In one vision, God said to get up out of my bible study chair, walk away from my study desk, and open the door in front of me, who I knew was Christ and go outside. When I did I saw the bluest sky, greenest vegetation, and brightest flowers ever, and sparkling bread floating down from heaven like floating diamonds and I was filled with incredible joy!

 

I remember a dream where I saw people from another country playing on hand-drums, and without knowing their language, I joined in and we were massively filled with joy by the Holy Spirit and I felt as if we were a big family.

 

 

 

 

Then there was the time I was in the backyard just feeling grateful for all the music experiences I’ve had growing up and in my career – see About-Resumes.  Then I noticed a bunch of birds on my 3 power/cable lines across my backyard, and from the angle I was sitting they formed a perfect staff of music, and the birds were forming a rhythm I immediately recognized as “shave and a hair cut,” so I had to laugh.  Then I noticed that the lines and the rhythmic tune was leading right to my drum room!  When I did, I got massively filled with joy by the Holy Spirit with many tears.

 

The Lord has also spoken directly to me prophetic rhema words about sharing in fellowship with Him the joy of watching Him paint a beautiful sunset, the joy of practicing drums like He feels when He still creates beautiful music, the crests of joy and swells of peaceful rests like ocean waves that I’ve felt while playing spontaneous music by the Spirit with a few musicians that actually know how, the joy of showering my plants with water like He feels when sending rain, the joy of seeing the beauty of bright yellow flowers in my yard or on walks or on the walls and ceilings of my sleeping room – maybe because I’ve had visions of bright-yellow gold rain from the Holy Spirit – see 1-25-21 vision, 1-23-21 revelations about colors, 12-20-20 vision, and the joy of listening to birds sing so many beautiful songs, which He created for them to make music. One time while Spirit-practicing-drums, God said:  “Tension is evil.  It is work.  It is striving.  Rest and let the skill come to you.  I will give to you what others run after, if you will rest in Me and stay in My joy!”  Sometimes, these experiences of joy have taken my breath away, oftentimes with tears, and sometimes with shouts of praise and leaps of joy!

 

The Lord also showed me that visual and sound beauty and joy are very related to one another, just as St. Francis was reported to have praised “The Artist” in every one of his works:  “Whatever he found in things made, he referred to ‘The Maker.’ He rejoiced in all the works of the Lord’s hands, and with joyful vision saw into the Reason and Cause that gave them life.  In beautiful things he came to know ‘The Beauty’ itself.  They cried out to him, ‘He who made us is infinitely good.’”  I’m looking forward to exploring more of this and more kinds of this also!

 

Reflection:

 

 

As Christian musicians, don’t we want worship music to come from the Spirit and not our flesh by our own “might and power?” That is “worship by [singular] Truth” that the Father is searching the earth for per John 4:23!  Then we will have to be “routinely filled-to-completion with the abundant-fullness of God by the means of the Spirit” according to Ephesians 3:19 and 5:18 – we will need more Spirit-Baptisms!  Only then we will play with great skill and be filled with Unconditional-Love that reflects Himself as Joy and Peaceful Rest.  Don’t we want this for ourselves and those we play music for?  The little children that we are to “become like” for God’s “kingdom to come and His will to be done” know how to learn while they are ‘in joy’ playing and the Lord loves to play with them!

 

Our word “Enjoy” is like the biblical word “Rejoice.”  The Greek preposition En means “inside or within, by the means of, or with the company of” and the Lord showed me that all of this is true when it comes to Him!  Joy comes from within, by the means of the Holy Spirit, because we are in the company of the Lord, so “para with/close-beside God all things are possible.”  Yes, even if we are depressed, when we get into God’s presence the Holy Spirit within us will change this to Joy!

 

So, when you see the word “Rejoice” in the bible, don’t think this means to conjure up our “might and power” and ‘psych ourselves out’ to muster up Joy.  No!  It means the opposite:  Totally surrender-control of our ‘weakness’ of depression to the Lord, boldly and relentlessly aiteo ‘ask’ and zeteo ‘diligently-seek or crave,’ and persistently knock on God’s door for His attention just as a little child would, UNTIL you are in His glorious presence and are Spirit-baptized and filled with God’s JOY!  Now you are “inside of Joy as He is within you, filled by the means of the Holy Spirit, ‘with or close-beside’ the Lord.”  That’s what “Enjoy” is supposed to mean, for “The Joy of the Lord is your strength” per Nehemiah 8:10.

 

I’ve also been told by the Lord to watch or listen very closely to beautiful creation whether sunsets, flowers, birds, plants, rain, or music, because if you do long enough, the Lord will reveal Himself to you – the Joy that you feel from Beauty is actually Him sharing Himself with you so that you can experientially, relationally ginosko know Him better.

 

 

Prayer:

 

 

Lord, we need You so much!  All our “might and power” of the flesh can’t give us the zoe genuine-life we are all looking for, just in the wrong places.  That’s because it is Your Unconditional-Love we seek but we don’t know it.  When we look elsewhere we just live frustrated lives, like all those scientists looking for “the unifying theory” in all the wrong places!  The happiness or Joy and Peaceful-Rest we seek is not ‘out there’ somewhere in creation, but is but one of many facets or flavors of “the singular fruit of Your Spirit that is-defined-as/exists-as Unconditional-Love.”  Lord, we ‘ask, seek, and knock’ for You alone!  Everything else is IN YOU.  We want to be IN Love with You, IN Joy with You, and IN Peace with You.  Even self-control, mastery, or skill is IN You – Your Unconditional-Love.  Baptize or fill-to-completion us with Your abundant-fullness by the means of the Spirit over and over again until “the kingdom of God is within” and it really has “come on earth as it is in heaven.”