Let the little children come to me

Let the little children come to me

I remember Shelly's words about waking up "very early in the morning while it is still dark outside" (Mark 1:35) during the talk "Woman of Grace" last Saturday.  She said from her experience in the middle eastern countries that would be around 4.30 to 5 am. I woke up at 5 am this morning more because I started to cough suddenly and I thought since I am awake, I will go downstairs for quiet time with God.

After praising in songs, giving thanks, I started praying in tongues and it was during this time, I suddenly had a vision of myself as a little girl dancing in a dress with full skirt. I was holding hands with Jesus and we did like a little fox trot and my skirt was swinging with the movements. Then He hugged me. I was then on my knees and He lay His hand on my head and that was when I started to cry while still praying in tongues. I started to thank Jesus.

I asked Him for a bible verse to study on and I suddenly remembered Nic's Sunday school verse yesterday of Mark 10:14

"Let the little children come to me"

I looked it up in the bible to read further in context.

Mark 10:13-16
" 13 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
 14 When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” 16 Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them."

I was thinking in my heart "Yay! I have the kingdom of God". As I read on to verse 16, I was amazed how similar my vision was that he hugged me and laid His hand on me! He wanted to show me this verse that I am deeply loved and as long as I keep coming to him receiving the Kingdom of God like a child, I will just enjoy His presence and He will show me great and mighty things, yes even healing. :)

I just want to thank Jesus for His wonderful love to me and a great time I had with Him this early morning! I know it is more important for His spirit to lead me then to use intelligence to find out who is right or wrong. I have been discussing with Leong Tien Fook about Joseph Prince over the topic of repentance. While he does seem right that Joseph Prince does not teach about repentance, I sense JP touches more than repentance. If someone is touched by God by the power of the holy spirit, He will be so in awe of God that He will come to know God. So, I am not sure "the steps" of what comes first or whether it is active or passive but I really believe the holy spirit will guide the person to receive Jesus. That person just receives when touched!

I am reading this book called "When Heaven Invades Earth" by Bill Johnson who said

"Repentance means much more than weeping over sin, or even turning from those sins to follow God. In fact turning from sin to God is more the result of true repentance than it is the actual act. Repentance means you change your way of thinking. And it's only in changing the way you think that we can discover the focus of Jesus' ministry - the Kingdom.

So, maybe this is a better explanation because unlike Joseph Prince, he did not omit repentance though both BJ and JP explains repentance as "changing your way of thinking". LTF says it is not changing over the nature of our heart but about we on our part changing how we think and feel about sin.

JP talks about changing our mind of thinking and believing how good God is.

BJ shared this experience in his book on page 69:

"One student named Jason was ordering a meal inside a fast food restaurant. Not content to share Christ only with those behind the counter, he began to speak past the cashier to three men in a car at the drive up window! After receiving his food, Jason left noticing that they had parked to eat. He renewed his conversation with them and saw that the man in the back seat had a broken leg. So he climbed into the car with them and invited the holy spirit to come..and He came. The man began to curse. He had no understanding about the holy fire on his leg. They all jumped out of the car, and the injured man removed his brace and stomped his leg. He was completely healed! The three were so moved by God's goodness that they opened the trunk of their car, which was filled with illegal drugs. They dumped the narcotics onto the pavement, dancing on them and destroying them! Jason brought the three men tot he Alabaster House, our 24 hour prayer house, and led them to Christ. The kindness of God led them to repentance...The holy spirit is the agent of heaven who makes these encounters possible."

It is this awesome goodness of God that lets us encounter the love of God, that makes us want to turn to Him, know Him more and find out more about Him. It naturally makes us want to leave our old ways behind. Where is the orthodox repentance, confession of sin in this scenario? That is the part I do not understand but God told me this morning not to get stressed over this issue and just enjoy His presence, His love - dancing with Him. Just receive the Kingdom of God like a child. He will guide me by His spirit.

Yesterday's sermon (2 Corinthians 3:1-3) got me thinking that it is good to think about whether we are good witnesses for Christ, whether we are like letters from Christ, written by the Spirit in our hearts. But sermons like these put guilt in our hearts if we have forgotten the love of God, how big He is, how awesome He is. Without His love, we would feel guilty and think "I am sorry God..then I must...". Then, our next step would be from our effort and not by the Spirit. But with the love of God, we say "thank you Father God that you loved me first. I want to be that light for you. I want to obey you" and really obey Him the next time God makes something work around you by the Holy spirit.. ie move as He moves!