Volume 9 - Issue 1 - January 2005
 

DREAMS HAVE SURVIVED, VISIONS HAVE ARRIVED, AND HIS SONS ARE ALIVE IN 2005
By Bishop Gary S. Brooks

Romans 8:18-22
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Greetings to you all once again in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word that the Lord put in my heart at the beginning of last year was “In 2004 an open door”, and it was through the obedience of faith that many of us discovered and pursued the open doors that were set before us. For us at ROLC an open door was granted to purchase a public school for our new church home. It was a walk of faith and having to trust God like never before, along with many pressures and sacrifices of time, talent, and treasure. At the time of this writing I am sitting in my new office and we have been officially conducting services here since December 18^th, 2004. We all are humbled and so thankful to the Lord for His blessing and grace, in granting such an awesome new home for the House of God.

I began seeking the Lord about the year 2005 during the holiday season of 2004 and recognized that there was a prophetic “hush” in the Spirit. At the same time I knew in my heart that the “hush” in the Spirit was a prelude to something great for the Body of Christ. In the evening of December 21^st, 2004 at our church Christmas party, there were 2 thoughts in my mind that I shared with our church family. The first thought was that “Unto us a Son is given”, and secondly that “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together” for, “the manifestation of the sons of God”. Five days later on December 26^th came the tragic Indian Ocean earthquake resulting with devastating tsunamis and the loss of many lives. My heart bleeds for all of the victims and their families, and my thoughts and prayers I have given to the Lord. This earthly disaster though is not the “something great for the Body of Christ”.

Listen, I am not attempting to give myself prophetic credentials but rather only to speak what it is that the Spirit of the Lord has shown to me for 2005. I knew nothing of this earthquake and tsunamis before it happened. I saw it in the news. I also am not prophesying in response to this horrendous event. It is not a sign from God. It is not the end of the world, or a sign of the times. It is certainly not God’s judgment upon the nations affected by this disaster. The earth has long been experiencing the corrupting effects of the transgression of Adam in the garden. For from that time sin entered into the world, and death and corruption by sin. The earth is corrupted and is just a part of the whole creation that is groaning and travailing together waiting and expecting to be delivered from the pain and the vanity of the old creation man called Adam. Many sorrows have come to pass throughout history since our Lord Jesus spoke “And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows” (Mark 13:7-8). The word sorrows here is defined as “the travail of child birth”. For “the creature (new creature and the creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now”. Not only the children of God, but the earth also is in the pangs of child birth and shall be delivered into the new day and glory of the new creation man called Christ, the Son of the living God. For the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain together until now, and we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for and fully expecting the manifestation and revealing of the Son of God in the sons of God!

Now the following is what I have received from the Lord for this new year, and is the “something great for the Body of Christ”.

DREAMS HAVE SURVIVED…

Our Father has dreamed a dream for each of our lives in Christ. In the Bible we read that Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers and father. He was then hated by his brethren and rebuked by his father. Yet it was God’s dream, not Joseph’s. So why was he then hated and rebuked? Often times, after we dream the Father’s dream for our own lives and tell it to the others, we are misunderstood and despised by them for one reason or another. Many of us, like Joseph, because of the pressures of our lives being processed for the dream to be fulfilled, tend to forget the dream and our Father’s House. Then at some time circumstances take place in our lives that causes the remembrance of the dream and we finally begin to understand our purpose. Like Joseph, we did not fully understand the Father’s dream from the beginning and therefore we must trust in Him and His wisdom, and in His reasoning for the processing. Although the Lord declares the end from the beginning, all we can really see is the beginning and then we experience the processing needed for the end of the dream. So let me say then that if you have dreamed His dream for your life, remember now the beginning, for the dream has survived and is packed full of His promise and potential for your life in Christ!

VISIONS HAVE ARRIVED…

There is a difference between the dreams, as I have just described, and the visions that we receive from the Lord. The dream fulfilled is the Father’s completion of His predetermined plan for our lives in Christ. Visions are like mini dreams, which correspond to, and come to pass within the dream. The fulfilling of the dream is over our lifetime, but visions are at hand. This is what the Lord said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth? Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision” (Ezekiel 12:22-23). Visions are received in faith and must be walked out by faith. This is the appointed time and the vision that the Spirit gave to you is at hand. Visions have arrived!

AND HIS SONS ARE ALIVE…

Once again we need to understand that the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain together until now, and we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for and fully expecting the manifestation and revealing of the Son of God in the sons of God!

The scripture says about our Lord Jesus that, “Though he were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9). I am not suggesting that the sons of God are already perfect (fully matured). What I am saying is that we, as the sons of God, have learned and are learning obedience by the things that we have suffered and are maturing and being matured (perfected), but we are all still growing up into the Head of the church, Christ. Yet this level of maturity is now being manifested through the lives of the true sons of God. We, not our Lord Jesus, have suffered as sons through our ignorance and disobedience. Therefore we have been disciplined and corrected by the love of our Father that we may be a participator in His glory, and now the Spirit of the Lord has said to me that, “The time of beholding what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon His sons is beginning”.

DREAMS HAVE SURVIVED, VISIONS HAVE ARRIVED, AND HIS SONS ARE ALIVE IN 2005!