Vision of the Banquet, May 17, 2010
Last night at the house of prayer, I saw a vision that impacted me in a powerful way. The intercessory team had felt that God wanted to impart joy. As worship leader for the evening, I had also chosen songs that dealt with our identity in Christ as the Bride. This vision took place before the worship set started, as we were “soaking”, and the prayer leader, Ali, was prophesying about our sonship, over very soft music. He was seeing images of us as God’s children getting messy in a happy feast.
I saw myself in a banquet room. It began as a small “castle” room–lit by several large fires in huge fireplaces. We were all at the table, wearing really fine, lavish clothes. Dogs were eating the crumbs that fell from the table because the provisions were so excessive. Everyone was raucous, laughing, wine was sloshing in goblets, almost getting into food fights. All of us, in the natural, have sat as guests at tables where we were very conscious of being guests, not part of the family. This was one hundred percent a family dinner. There was a feeling of absolute belonging at the Father’s table.
Jesus came over to me, smiling and laughing, holding a chest of treasure. He handed it to me, but it was so heavy that I immediately went to the floor with it. I opened it up, and it was full of pearls–millions of pearls. I looked up at Jesus, and he was laughing. He and I scooped out huge handfuls of pearls and rained them down over each other’s heads, cracking up–I mean, busting a gut laughing. As the pearls fell, they turned into other jewels of every color.
Later on in the evening, after the worship set, the prayer leader was asking God to pour out His Spirit in a greater way. Immediately I was in that banquet hall again. A servant (which could have been Jesus, actually, and probably was) came over to me with an enormous, heavy, jewel-encrusted robe–a Henry VIII-level great robe. The servant began to drape it over my shoulders and I thought, “That’s way too big for me! That’s going to crush me.” But instead, as he draped it over me, it conformed to me perfectly–as if it were sewn right on me. The weight felt perfect; the temperature just right; the feeling lavish. I immediately understood the robe to represent not just the Holy Spirit, but the calling He gives to each believer. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)
We have several missionary friends. We know they toil, they go through trials–but they are in the mission field because something about it “fits”. Personally, I love to talk to people about the Lord, especially artists. I could make it my life to preach the gospel to artists. For others, that holds no interest, and they would feel like a fish out of water. But my calling “fits” me. I encourage you to ask the Lord to speak to you about 1) Your identity in Him as a son or daughter–it is essential, of utmost importance, that we really believe the truth, revealed in the Word, of God’s character, and of our identity in Him as redeemed children. I tell my children all the time–If God is really a King, and we are His children, that means that we are royalty. We really, truly belong to him–we have all the rights (and responsibilities) of royal children. 2) Ask God to show you, in a deeper way than ever before, your calling in Him. He has gifted each and every believer. No one gets into the kingdom without a welcome gift. “When He ascended, he led a host of captives [happy ones! captivated ones!] in His train–and He gave gifts to men.” (Eph. 4:8) Don’t freak out about it. Just ask Him to show you the way He made you–and not somebody else. He will show you the way to walk.
I hope this blesses you. Comments are welcome.
May 19th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
i absolutely feel this is exactly what i needed to read right now. thank you for sharing.