Well it happened again. I had a dream about the moon.
I was with my family and at some point, TAK Connections (who, of course, is also my family). We were in a battle with evil forces (think Mission Impossible). We finally defeated the bad guys and made it home.
We were celebrating our victory as night fell. I looked out over the horizon and saw the full moon rising. It was bright white and huge! I told everyone to look. As they did, a dark cloud passed over it, then cleared.
All of a sudden, to the right and higher in the sky, there appeared what looked like another planet with two rings circling it (similar to an atom without the vertical ring.) Milky clouds wafted around it. Everyone was astonished.
Within seconds of its appearance, the sky grew brighter and the moon slowly dropped out of the sky, leaving a milky trail behind it. People started screaming and scrambling. I stood still and watched as bright daylight filled the sky. I knew it was the end.
Then I saw what seemed to be a news report, showing a map of the continents. They were breaking apart. Then they, too, became engulfed in the same milky substance. As I watched, the masses of land began reforming into what I understood to be the new earth.
As I woke, I heard a voice say, “Wheels within wheels.”
The last time I had a dream about the moon falling was December of last year. At that time, Connections was planning a Sabbath retreat. We were never able to pull it together.
On a leading of the Spirit last Thursday, I stopped into the place where we wanted to have this retreat. (It is nearly impossible to get a date, but I knew it was time to secure one – no matter how far in the future.) With the coming High Holy Days and my trip to Israel, I was looking for some time from the beginning of December forward. Much to my joy and surprise, January 6th was available, so I booked it.
Then I had this dream. So I am wondering, is there a connection to Connections plan for a Sabbath Retreat Weekend?
I have heard that the rabbis say when we perform mitzvot, we help repair the world, hastening the day of Messiah. For the last year, my heart’s longing is to help people learn how to enter into God’s Sabbath rest. It is more than honoring the Sabbath. It is more than helping repair the world. It is more than being obedient.
God offers an eternal rest, where we cease from striving, cease from laboring, and just enjoy being in His Presence, surrounded by perfect peace. He offers us a way to do that, not just in the future, but each and every week.
This weekend, Rabbi Joe Vitkus did a teaching themed around Labor Day. He spoke on how ‘the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few”; that we have a job to do.
After the dream, I realized that while we are on this earth – this side of eternity – we are to do as Messiah did, be about our Father’s business. That business is to bring the Good News to people, the joy that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. That business is to help them see the eternality that is fast approaching, and is already here.
As hard as we humans try to avoid it, it is coming. Our mission (should we decide to accept it) is to help them realize that eternity is coming; help them see that it is better to enter that eternity as a sheep of God’s flock, rather than a goat who is cast away. Our job is to help repair the world.
Each one of us has a specific assignment. That assignment is not to just show up at synagogue or church on Saturday or Sunday, with a bible study or two thrown in for good measure. No. Our assignment is to help repair the world.
God has called each one of us to do something specific that will repair the breach between God and man. Just look at the disciples of Yeshua. Each one of them had a call on their life, and each one answered it with a resounding ‘YES!’
What if they had merely taken the Good News into their heart, faithfully attended synagogue each week, and traveled to the Temple each feast day? No one would know that Messiah had come. No one, outside of the Jewish people, would seek after the Creator of the Universe.
Instead, they went out to the highway and byways, preaching, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”
Or did they? Did all of them do that?
I cannot say for sure, but when I read the book of Acts and Rav Shaul’s (Paul’s) words, I tend to think that each had a specific assignment.
It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers – Ephesians 4:11
And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues. Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform miracles, do they? Not all have gifts of healing, do they? Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all interpret, do they? – 1 Corinthians 12:28-30
Over the last 10 years, God has been revealing to me what my specific assignment is – to teach; to disciple; to repair, rebuild, and restore. In recent years, it has become more refined. In the last year, especially, my heart longs to share the joy of the Sabbath.
People need to understand what a great gift it is. People – all people – need to start honoring the Sabbath. By doing so, we honor the One who gave us this gift.
I don’t think it is a coincidence that the first time Connections planned to have a Sabbath retreat, I dreamed about the end. And now that those plans are revived, I dream again about the end. Yet it isn’t just the end, it is the hope of a new beginning. We read in the Revelation, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist”.
Yeshua said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” When the Sabbath becomes a heavy burden, rather than a delight, we are not honoring the Lord. However, as it says in Isaiah 58:
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord
That is my call in life. That is my specific assignment – to teach people the joy of entering God’s rest.
What about you? What is your specific assignment?
Ro – It must mean something. About building up the body of Messiah for the trials ahead.
We need to shed fear of death. To be strong in the Lord. To have His vision as ours.
August 20th happened to be a significant day – it was a global call to allegiance to another god. Not many noticed it. I wish it were not so. But from where I stand/live I can see a storm brewing.
https://counterjihadreport.com/2016/08/29/dawah-the-call-to-islam-is-deceptive-dangerous-and-deadly/
Think about this. We have work to do. And fast.
Hi Margaret. Yes, we must shed the fear of death, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Other than the snippets we read in the word, there’s no clear picture of what it will be like. I think it’s more fear of the unknown rather than death itself.
Thanks for sharing the link. I was unaware.
We have a fairly heterogeneous society here…but there is a return of religious fervency on both sides with our counterparts covering up entirely – which is bad – considering the heat here. There is also a passion for procreation. Some trying for a child in advanced age – or in second or third marriages. The men are taking second and third wives. So something is afoot. As a medical person I am used to connecting dots. Nothing is assumed to be just random.
So I do remember passing by and reading about your first dream.
It must mean something. A second time denotes urgency.
We will have to make each minute count for these troubling days and squeeze quality into each day.
I guess it starts by living a daily life in Messiah, trusting and hoping – and daily expectation until it becomes part and parcel of the self. Putting on or clothing oneself with Christ. Putting on new garments for our souls – from the inner ones (our thought patterns) to the outer ones – our deeds. That we may not be caught naked.
Early believers did experience fear and loss of courage – but they showed vigour and strength that,as a medical doctor, I find hard to explain away easily. So apprehensive am I about pain…our professions are geared towards a lifetime of alleviating it.
Who can sing indeed today before hungry lions? Or face a furnace like Daniel and his friends? That is verging into the realm of the unknown. But I guess like facing an exam – 99% of success is accrued to preparation.
So do go ahead and strengthen what remains.
I pray that I too may know which direction to take and what I am to contribute to the Body of Messiah.
I’ve often thought whether or not I would have the courage to face the lions, or the chopping block, or whatever other manner of torture and death the enemy will throw at us in the days ahead. I can honestly say that in and of myself, I do not have that kind of courage. I do not have that kind of faith.
But God. Those are my two favorite words. If God has a reason for me to walk through that, I certainly will be equipped with what I need to get through it. The closest I’ve come to anything life-threatening is Hurricane Andrew. As the wind ripped through south Florida, pounding on my house, I was terrified.
God asked, “If I take your children, will you trust me?” I certainly didn’t want to hear that. But I suddenly remembered Peter’s words, and responded in kind, “Where else can I go but with you?”
You mentioned how people, with religious fervency are covering up. I can’t help but think of the Orthodox men in Israel (and other parts of the world) who where the long coats and warm hats – even in the sweltering heat of summer in Jerusalem. I also think about how the Lord put on my heart to look at modest dress, and start to change my wardrobe – not out of a need to look outwardly religious, but an inward need to reflect the majesty of my God and King.
I live in south Florida, and August can be brutally hot. There is a desire to shed the modest wear and go for cami and shorts. But God. But He reminds me who I am – His ambassador in a lost and dying world.
Not that I’m perfect. In fact, so far from it that it breaks my heart. But little by little, He is changing me from the inside out. At some point, the outside should reflect what is happening on the inside.
I join you in prayer, Margaret Rose, that Abba will reveal to you exactly what your specific assignment is, though I suspect you are already walking in it.