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January 4, 1999 -- Kathy Kennedy
While in worship, our Lord showed me the following vision.
Although I appeared as the only human figure in the vision, our
Lord impressed on me at the very beginning of the scenario that
this was a vision for the body of Christ and I represented what
He is desiring to be doing with us all.
I saw a deep narrow valley situated between two mountains.
I was walking along through this valley and came to a clear stream
that was coming down the side of the mountain. The waters glittered
and sparkled as it cascaded over the shallow rocky river bed.
There was also a small picturesque waterfall. As I stood looking
at the mountain stream, the borders of it were being pushed back
and it became wider and deeper. The waters began to fill the narrow
valley and the water level continued to rise. There was no sense
of emergency in my spirit; as the water level rose, I just continued
to climb higher on the mountain side. At first I thought it was
the River of Life, but before I could utter those words, our Lord
said, "This is not called the River of Life, but it is the
River of My Glory."
I was aware that the River of Glory was nudging me higher,
even toward the top of the mountain, where the source of the River
was located. The mountain was steep, but not treacherous. The
path was not difficult as some previous mountains in my life had
been. Even though I was on dry ground, the sensation was that
of actually floating on the top of the River and just being lifted
up higher with it. That was what our Lord wanted me to understand:
that this River of His Glory, His very presence, was going to
come and fill the valley where I had been and that it would lift
me up the mountain to higher ground.
As I continued to move up the mountain, there came a place
where it was difficult to breathe. It was as though the atmosphere
had changed to such a degree that I could not breathe in this
composition of air. I heard the words, "spiritual gills" and
immediately had the understanding in my spirit that just as we
cannot exist as we are under water and as fish need gills to be
able to breathe under water, I would need gills to be able
to exist at this level on the mountain. I felt a slight sense
of approaching anxiety, almost as that of facing death. Not an
intensity of fear, but more of that feeling that overcomes the
flesh when we face something strangely new; we want to embrace
it, but all physical and emotional systems are on alert
because we know that something major is about to happen and that
there is a finality about it to such a degree that things will
never again be the same.
At this time I looked up and a cloud was descending over the
mountain and I saw the Feet of Brass emerging through the cloud.
I also saw the Left Arm of our Lord coming through the cloud.
I was almost to the top of the mountain as this occurred. I knew
that I was passing through the presence of our Right Judge, but
did not have immediate understanding of the representation of
His left arm. The cloud continued to descend down the mountain
and into other valleys where the River of His Glory was not. I
had not previously seen these other valleys, but now was at such
a height that I could look out and see numerous other valleys
which the River had not been filling. As I paused to take all
of this in, our Lord said to me, "What will you do with what
you see?" I knew instantly by the Spirit that I was to pray for
mercy for all those who passed through the cloud of judgment while
on the journey up the mountain, but also for mercy for those who
were not on this journey, but were still in other valleys, and
that the River of His Glory would begin to flood those other valleys,
also lifting them to the high places. Lord, have mercy on Your
children and on all this earth!
In hind sight, it seems that the time of being unable to breathe
and the time of passing through this cloud were almost simultaneous.
It was difficult to breathe while passing through the cloud of
His judgment, but it did pass, almost as the time of transition
in birth passes and new life is finally delivered. What I believe
I heard our Lord say regarding this was that I must be willing
to turn from all things as I have known them, even from breathing
as I once knew, that all things as I had known them were about
to change and in order to continue, I must be willing to allow
Him to move me through this place by the increasing depth of the
River of His Glory, to trust Him to supply the gills and
change even my way of breathing in order to accomplish His destination
for my journey. Lord, in Your mercy grant us spiritual gills to
live in the atmosphere of your presence!
The air by this time was clear and breathing was now easy.
I came to the very top of the mountain and there was no vision
of the person of Jesus, but the sense of our Lord's presence was
amazing! Here at the top of the mountain was a beautiful golden
pavilion and I heard the Lord tell me that this was prepared for
me. Forgetting for a moment that our Lord had shown me earlier
that I represented the body of Christ, I began to feel a slight
twinge of selfishness for a brief moment as I thought that
this had been prepared for me. I didn't feel worthy to have such
a special place made just for me, exciting and wonderful as it
was to be so entrenched in His presence. It was then that He told
me to look up and out, and I saw individual golden pavilions as
far as my eye could reach, forming an infinite circle. He reassured
me that He had prepared a secret chamber for each of us in the
Body to enjoy eternal intimacy with Him. At this I became lost
in His presence, filled with joy and wonder at what He is doing
and plans to do throughout eternity.
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