Hulk Smash!

I went to a men’s meeting at a local Panera Bread. The meeting is for a local church that I have been attending while I am in Enfield, NH. I have been going to this meeting, when up here for the summer, for a couple of years now. I love these things, for I get to share what I know, or understand, and everyone gets to share back. Usually, as has happened for years now, I get a few who see a spark of truth in what I share, and I can see it helps them grow closer to God. That is my heart’s desire. My addiction.

I know I’m not going to be “followed” by anyone, that God has made clear, but I still have this great desire to share what I see. There is a thrill seeing the look in someone's eyes as they brighten with a revelation. It could be something as small as Jesus really does know them, or as big as God has complete control over their entire life, past, present and future. I like it, because it reminds me of when I first saw it.

Sharing is caring.

However, often enough, someone will not see what I see, understand what I understand, and get plain angry. It happened this morning after the meeting. During the meeting, I only got a few annoyed looks. This is not unusual, so it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. After everyone left, one guy asked a question that led the conversation to an itchy subject, Free-Will.

“Oh, Lord, not that again. Will you just drop it!!”

Sorry, but I can’t. Like salvation, it is an area of trust in God that anyone who wants to get closer to God with, must face. Abraham did, Moses did, David did, and definitely, Job did. It may even become a salvation issue…for if anyone trusts in their work, their decisions, their effort, are they really trusting in God, through Jesus Christ?

It is a major concern.

So after telling him Free-will was not biblical, this guy started becoming rude, then he got mad and mean. No, it is not Christ-like, but then when we are not very mature, when we are still young in our faith, these things happen. We lose it…and he came real close.

Driving home, I was still shaken a bit by the event. I started talking to God in the car, trying to lower my defensive feelings. They are not needed, if I am trusting Him. In talking to Him, I said, these people can’t see it. It's like they are coming up to a massive wall, and they get rather frustrated.

Lot’s of bricks in this wall.

Back in early 2016, I had a dream. It was a God dream. God dreams flow with a different pattern than a regular dream. They seem more realistic, and have a story-like quality loaded with symbolism. Unfortunately, we can miss-understand the symbolism and believe God is saying this, when in reality He is saying that.

Of course, it’s God, so if He doesn’t want you to understand yet, you won’t. As a concrete truth, He alone gives the sight to see truth…and it comes through a vehicle He calls faith.

As I have said, and written many, many times, faith is a gift from God. It isn’t something you work for, earn, or muster up by your will. It is given, flat out, and we have nothing to do with it. Therefore, as it says, we have nothing to boast about.

It is also true, that due to the original sin of “eat this and you will be like God”, we struggle with the acceptance that we cannot earn, or work toward becoming anything like God. This is absolutely biblical, but like much truth, it is hidden until God wants to reveal it.

Faith is also a journey toward a closer, and closer, relationship with God. We all start out with a wee gift of faith that opens our eyes to the fact that Jesus Christ was real, and exactly who He said He was. From there, as Jesus said, He will reveal to us The Father.

“Wait! Isn’t Jesus God?”

Yes, He is, but clearly as God, acting in time, an “exact representation” of The Father, He points to a greater aspect of Himself.

Why? I couldn’t tell you. It is, however, written to be so. We grow in faith, by getting to know God, not just as Jesus, God in time, but also the other part of the trinity, the one who is outside, and above, everything.

“Who cares!”

Well, He does. Now, of course, as I said above, truth, even this truth, is only accepted when God, The Father reveals it, or makes it to be so. He is, in fact, Sovereign over everything, or He is not. There are no halfsies here.

Back to my dream. In this dream, I was at an outdoor church function. It was in the front yard of a house. Church people were hanging out talking and eating. Me, I was alone, as was a typical reality, no one would talk to me. I was standing by a rather large bush where a cat was playing in the branches. I jiggled branches to get the cat to attack, and I kept moving around to get the cat to move all over. Without noticing, I kept moving higher, until I was close to the top of the bush over 10 feet high. I found myself floating, off the ground. The church people noticed, but barely reacted.

However, I got excited and started to float, or fly, straight up higher and higher. Once at a certain height, I could see there was a massive wall on my left, and it went from one end of the horizon to the other. It was a huge prison wall. Very high and very thick.

I decide to fly over to the wall and along it. I could see “inmates” walking about, many looking up angrily, pointing and throwing things. As I was flew along, I saw a man start to transform into the Hulk. I said to myself, “Hey, that’s Bruce Banner! He is not a bad guy!” So, I flew down and grabbed the angry Hulk to pull him out of the prison.

That was when I woke up.

Understanding these God dreams, like I said with any truth, has to be a gift from God. Still, we try to interpret all these things based on only our current understanding. This is why we often get it wrong.

For a long time, I thought I was going to experience some “breakthrough” like thing with God. After many dreams, visions and the interpretation of situations, all things seem to point to some “event” where I thought I would finally be recognized by the Church, and get to do some wonderful things for God.

As anyone who knows me or has read any of my early articles, I believed I was called to more. There is nothing wrong with that, any real believer wants to see God make use of them. When we come to Christ, our hearts leave the world, and our new “ambition” is to be awesome for Him.

Yet, because of Jesus Christ, He already made us awesome. We, most of the time, forget that.

We are His work…not ours.

What this “ministry” would look like, I didn’t know, but something like Billy Graham Jr. suited me just fine.

As I am now retired, and not anywhere close to being in any church’s leadership, I had thought I failed. Yet truth revealed, showed me that one, I cannot mess up God’s plan, and two, being His work has nothing to do with my efforts. So, my interpretation of the dream was off quite a bit.

No event happened at a church picnic (yes, I really thought it would, so I never missed one). No “walking powerfully with miracles” came about and I was never recognized as valuable by a church or church leadership.

“You did something wrong!”

Look, you who cling to your control, your efforts, your works, we did nothing to earn salvation. Why do you think there is anything you need to do to keep it?

“My choices matter! God gave me free-will!”

free will

2 of 2

noun

1: voluntary choice or decision “I do this of my own free will”

2: freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention

"not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention"

God didn’t limit Himself by your choices. That is not even remotely how scripture, including Jesus, describe The Father. Rather, He says…”Trust Him in everything”. How can you trust Him if He is not in control? You can’t! If you have the ability to mess up God’s plan for you, for another, for anyone in any way, how can God make His plan happen?

“He has back up plans!”

Do you not see how badly this idea fits into scripture? Ah, but here is the real problem…

Luke 18:31-34

[31] Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

[32] He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him;

[33] they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

[34] The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

He was rather straight-forward and speaking plainly to them. Yet, “It’s meaning was HIDDEN from them.”

By who?

A couple weeks ago, though I knew this passage, the Holy Spirit really smacked me in the face with it. I have debated the Sovereign God topic for years, with many people, most of them getting rather angry at me for it.

“How so?”

Usually it starts with this change in demeanor. “Who do you think you are?”, “What training have you had?”, “You think you are better than me!”, then it devolves into an insult throwing target practice, and I’m the target.

When you tell someone about Jesus, what do they do? Most of the time, you get a response like “Oh, boy, one of them!” along with the eye rolls. If you continue to try to persuade them, the insults and anger will flow.

We know this is normal, if we have done any sort of “witnessing”. People who are not being shown the truth by God, The Father, through His Holy Spirit, will not see and when pressed…get rather angry and mean.

When talking to an unsaved person, anyone with even a wee bit of experience in this, understands that it is nothing personal. You generally don’t get mad or offended. You just realize this one hasn’t been prepared by God yet, and you move on. Still, if it’s a family member, or old friend, you are driven by love, and concern, to really keep pressing. Oh, boy, this is when they will get to yelling and screaming.

Oops, I should have shut up a while ago. It is, in fact, a learning process.

Truth, faith in God, is also a learning process, accomplished by Him who is the teacher. The One given to us by Jesus, to grow closer in knowledge, relationship and trust with God, The Whole Being…Father, Son, and Spirit. The Big Package!

Still, those who can’t see, are not able to see, because it is “hidden” from them.

John 6:44

[44] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

Salvation is a gift from God. Faith is the vehicle. It is part of the gift. Without it, we do not see or understand. Faith is sight.

Growing in faith is the same. It is growing in what you see and understand about God. You trust who you know.

“What measure you have, you will be given more…”

Some are called to be the multitudes who follow. Some are called to be part of the 70 who serve. Fewer are called to be closer like the twelve, and even less, are those called to be His closest friends, like James, Peter, and John.

As you get closer to God, you will see more, and understand more. Like salvation, you will want to share this with those who cannot see it yet. Ah, but if it is not for them, or not time for them yet…they will get rather angry…almost turning green and ready to smash.

DING, DING, DING!

Yes, a truth that just hit me this morning, like a light bulb was turned on. I already understood that the flying represented me walking through life by faith, a greater trust of God, The Father, in ALL circumstances.

I already understood that if God wants it done, it WILL be done, whether, or not I walk perfectly for Him. His WILL, WILL be done, whether I believe it, or whether I accept it, or not. My job, my calling, is just to trust HIM in all of it. I have been training myself, reminding myself, in every situation, of this for a while now.

It is getting easier.

My biggest failing has always been when I meet with rudeness or resistance. I always jumped back to a personal response, and began the self reflection of what I did, or didn’t do. “They don’t hear what I’m saying because they don’t think I have value.” The truth is, “they cannot see it, unless God, The Father, wants them to…”

It has nothing to do with me.

Well, other than the fact that in all circumstances, good or bad, God has a purpose for it, and that purpose is for my ultimate, eternal benefit, me growing closer to Him. That IS what it says.

Seeing this, I have come to realize that if it’s hidden from them, my efforts will not succeed in winning them over. HOWEVER, it doesn’t mean my efforts are not required, or intended by God Himself. If, in fact, I REALLY believe He is in control, even over my stupid decisions and actions, then HE is in fact willing all of it. Even if they get so mad they pound the poop out of me.

God, talking to Ananias about Paul, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Yes, God ordains even suffering for His children. He did for Himself…why wouldn’t He for us?

“But I don’t want to suffer!”

No, no one does, even Jesus didn’t. Still, He trusted God and went the way The Father pointed. So, must we…if we trust Him. We must walk by faith, we must fly!

No, I’m not going to be “discovered” by the churches. No, I’m not going to be Billy Graham Jr. but I do have a calling. My calling is to fly along the wall that is separating many from knowing God fully, to do my best to reach out to them and pull them over the wall.

“Hey Bruce, hold on, I am going to try and help…please don’t smash me much…”