We saw the movie, INCEPTION!, last night. DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a specialized spy or corporate espionage thief. His work consists of secretly extracting valuable commercial information from the unconscious mind of his targets while they are asleep and dreaming. Unable to visit his children, Cobb is offered a chance to regain his old life in exchange for an almost impossible task: "inception", the planting of an idea into a target's subconscious.Each of the "extractors" carries a "totem", a personalized small object whose behavior is unpredictable to anyone except its owner, to determine if they are within another person's dream.Cobb's totem is a spinning top which perpetually spins in the dream state.
I saw a parallel with our life. God created men out of love to enjoy his presence forever. His enemy did an inception, caused men to doubt God in the Garden of Eden and implanted the idea that he can be more powerful than God. (the three-level dream state they did in the movie is very interesting too and has a lot of parallel of how the enemy operates. The first dream level, their objective is to have the son doubt his relationship with his father, the second level is to make him see that he can do things on his own and destroy what his father built, and third level is to make him believe that his father agrees with him and wants him to do what he wants to do on his own). Sin entered and we have been living in this state of dream that this life is all there is to it, that this is the reality. And the reality became just a dream. But what is reality? The reality is found in Jesus Christ.
Col 2:17 (NIV)These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Even though the context of this verse is in the religious traditions, I believe it is true in everything in this world. That is why C S Lewis calls this world, the Shadowland. Every hapiness you feel, every good thing, every pleasure, every love, every joy; it is but a shadow of what awaits us in heaven with our Lord Jesus. Every pain, every heartache, every hopelessness, is but a shadow of what awaits for those who do not choose to accept God's gift of life through His Son Jesus Christ: an eternity in hell.
1Cr 13:12(NLT) Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.[fn] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.
The reality is that the life we live here now is just a small grain of sand in the beach compare to the eternity that awaits us all after death: eternity in hell or heaven. That is the reality. This is where the heart of God is. This is the reason, He gave His only Son to die for our sin, to be the perfect sacrifice. God does not want anyone to perish. John 3:16.
And to make sure we get jolted everytime to reality, He gave us a totem: His Holy Spirit, who dwells in us and reveals to us all truth.
Jhn 14:16,17And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, [fn] who will never leave you.He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
There is also one other truth that you should always remember: God has an enemy and he is your enemy too. The devil. An "inception" has been successfully done in the mind of so many believing the lie that there is no hell and there is no devil.
1Pe 5:8Be self‑controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Our 30 days prayer for 24 hours just passed. The commitment you gave to pray is over and I pray that it brought you closer to the Lord. As I talked to some of you, God definitely moved in our behalf. There are so many answered prayers. I believe they were all answered: Some YES, some NO (because God has something better), and some WAIT. I have to be honest that this has been a tough month for me. God has shown me several areas in my life that He is still working on. There was even a point of discouragement, but Praise God that He has shown that HE is always faithful, even when I do not understand HIS WAYS! He is true to His Word, that He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 33:3), that He has a plan for us to give us future and hope (Jeremiah 29:11,12)
Jer 29:11,12For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."
Isn't that just beautiful! And believe me, it is true. It is also true that we have an enemy who has a different plan for us, as mentioned earlier, it is to devour.So with this in mind, I would like to invite you to a new adventure. If you would like to continue the habit of praying you started from last month's prayer vigil, join me in the next 40 days for a time of prayer and we will add fasting too. Why fasting? So we can fight the enemy as prescribed by our Lord Jesus and allow us to operate more powerfully in His power.
Mat 17:20,21(So Jesus said to them), "... if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
As in the previous commitment, this is not meant to be a yoke or another burden, but to draw us closer to our God. You know God's graciousness! I am sure you experienced it during the last month (I know I did!). He looks at the motivation of our heart. Do not let your fear that you will fail, stop you from doing it. You may fail once, twice or more during this time, just like the last time: but remember your God is compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love. Do it anyway! For the love of God! This He desires, that we desire to do His will. And His will for all of us, is to know Him and to know how deep, how long, how wide, how high, is His love for us..This is the reason we are going to do this. This is between you and our Lord. I am only facilitating this, to help motivate, encourage, and to provide resources and accountability.
Pray about it today. And tomorrow, as we start, set it in your heart to do. It could be fasting for one meal (lunch or dinner), or fast for sweets only or sugar, or Daniel fast (no meat), or juice fast, water fast, etc. I have included an article on fasting in the website. You do not need to tell me the type of fasting you will do, just let me know if you would like to commit to do this. I ffeel like we should do, the 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting this time starting on March 8th and ending on April 17th. This time, just let me know what time works for you regardless of whether someone has also taken the particular spot or not. I myself am taking a new time since I found it hard to commit on the time I have chosen earlier. I am going to take 11pm since I am always awake at that time and available. I will keep the same website. I will add to the prayer request and praise report as I received them. Again, just let me know if it is to be kept confidential or if it can be shared in the website.The website again is: www.tgbg.weebly.com, As before, feel free to share this with anyone you know who maybe interested in joining us. This is going to be another exciting time.
With love and prayers to all of you.
For His Kingdom and His Glory....
Linabelle
I believe that another Great Revival is coming. God will continue to do great things in each one of us individually, as a family, as a community, and as a country ; as we humble ourselves before His holy throne.Isa 57:15For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
2Ch 7:14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Expect spiritual battle as you start this. Be alert, put on the full armor of God, and be on your knees praying Eph 6:10-18).
(Eph 6:10-18) -Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.