Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Healing

Acts 3 begins at the Beautiful Gate. While there is some dispute regarding its location, we were told when we were in Israel that it is sealed because it is the gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, Mat 21, on a donkey, and will reenter from the same spot when He returns to rule in the Millennium. It sits directly across from the Mount of Olives, upon which both Jews and Christians expect the Messiah to descend.

While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?

Acts 3:11-12

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,

Zechariah 14:4-11

A lame man who had lain daily at the gate asks Peter and John for some stuff. The Bible calls it alms. Peter replies,

“I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Acts 3:6

One question that sticks out in our minds is, “Does that imply that Jesus would have passed him by?” If so, was it so that God could heal him as Peter told him to stand and walk?

In any case, everyone begins freaking out and as is usual with human beings, they begin assigning power and significance to people. Peter counters with “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?“

This is the first Apostolic healing. Peter establishes an important truth that frames every incidence of healing thereafter.

The power of God, not the power of people heals.

After rebuking the Jews once again for delivering Jesus to Pilate to be killed, Peter declares,

And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Acts 3:16

My first question here is, “whose faith?” Was it the faith of the lame man that healed him? Was it the faith of Peter? Or did the faith of Jesus alone in the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy that healed him?

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

The exact interpretation is the jumping-off point for a major theological controversy in the body of Christ. Word of Faith adherents maintain that physical health is a right of all believers. They maintain that healing itself is the emphasis behind divine healing. An absence of healing correlates with the absence of faith. Some claim the faith of the one praying determines healing. Some claim it is the faith of the one receiving the prayer. Others hold that the sole purpose of healing is to glorify God.

“Doesn’t all healing glorify God?” You ask.

Not necessarily. As someone recently said, “One thing we don’t do well within the charismatic stream is illness.” We have seen parents blamed for the partial paralysis of their child.

“You need to take authority! Command him to walk!”  They said. “He’s not healed because you don’t believe!”

If the parent assumes the blame for their child not being healed, then it follows that they would get the credit if the child is healed. A similar dynamic can be seen in those who take credit for leading someone to the Lord. That’s great that you did that! But that also means it’s your fault anytime someone refuses.

Thankfully Paul was clear about his and our responsibilities in God’s plan.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 

1 Corinthians 3:6-7

In John 9 Jesus declares the man was specifically born blind for the purpose of Glorifying God. Similarly, in John 11, Jesus declares of Lazarus “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Then again, in Mark 10, Jesus declares of the blind man, “And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” Jesus declared the same thing regarding the woman with an issue of blood in Luke 8:43-48. “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”  Was their faith in the sovereign deity and the power of Jesus? Or was their faith in God’s desire that they should be healed?

It seems that our role as believers is to be faithful and obedient. I don’t pray for people because I believe I have the power to heal. I pray because I have the power to know when and how to obey God. If someone is healed or delivered when I pray, it’s because God did it. I simply obeyed the word that the Holy Spirit brought to remembrance. If He doesn’t heal, it’s because His will or maybe His timing is different, as was the case with our friend Crystal who was repeatedly prayed for by Todd White before and after he became a celebrity.

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If you insist that God always wants to heal our flesh and to say otherwise is heresy then please click on the link above.

Also consider Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

2 Corinthians 12:7-9

For the record, while it is common for people to project the sin they have yet to overcome onto Paul and claim it as their own thorn, Paul was speaking about his poor eyesight. He could not read or write though he was a scholar among scholars and had to depend entirely on Luke. If it is always God’s will to heal then Paul must not have believed. Obviously, the argument falls apart when we apply the laws of coherence and noncontradiction.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Mathew 28:18

Either Jesus has been given all authority or He has not. If indeed Jesus is on the throne then nothing can happen that He does not cause or allow. “But all sickness is Satanic!” you say.  Perhaps. But God causes all things to work together for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. If Satan can sift us, Luke 22:31, apart from the will of Jesus, then Satan, not Jesus, is on the throne. To say otherwise is completely incoherent.

Given the location of the opening scene in Acts 3, I can’t help but wonder if this first Apostolic healing wasn’t a prophetic eschatological foreshadowing. After all, a man who could not stand or walk stood and boldly marched through the gate that marked the beginning of Jesus’s journey to the cross that is the source of all healing and into the very city and temple from which Jesus will one day rule.

At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.

Jeremiah 3:17

In fact, the entire third chapter of Acts is framed by prophetic declarations beginning with Moses.

The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you…

Deuteronomy 18:15-18

Interestingly, Moses’s prophecy regarding Jesus emphasizes a warning about false prophecy.

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak…

Deuteronomy 18:20-22

I often think many of our would-be contemporary prophets and prophetesses would do well to meditate deeply on these verses.

In any case, Peter reminds them that all the prophets since Samuel have prophesied the coming of Jesus. He reminds them they are the sons of these prophets and are of the covenant God made with Abraham.

‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’

Genesis 22:18

I could be wrong, but healing when it happens seems bigger and more significant than our flesh and comfort on earth. “But people come to Jesus as a result of miracles.”  That’s not what the Bible says.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 

John 6:44

Jesus denounced the places where He did most of His miracles because they did not repent of their sins. Matthew 11 People who are divinely healed but don’t truly surrender to Jesus may actually be worse off.

Are there healing and material blessings in this life? Of course. But these are not the determining factors for God’s love. We know God loves us because He gave Himself for us. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. Transgressions are sins we have committed. Iniquity includes the pressure to sin. The power of God is most clearly described in 1 John.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:5-10

One thing is certain everyone reading this is going to die. Barring some form of unexpected instant death, there is a good chance people will be fervently praying for you to be healed while you pass.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die..

Ecclesiasties 3:1-2

Again, physical healing in this life does happen. But it may not be the main point, or the main event.

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him

Hebrews 9:27-28

Everything God does on earth serves His purpose in drawing the current aeon to a close with Christ’s return followed by the reset of all creation according to His original plan.

I could be wrong, but I think human beings are myopic by default. Entitlement and ingratitude are also common. Some of us are so consumed with seeking superior natural experiences that defy natural law because we have never embraced the miracle of creation itself. We are so easily consumed with the present, often presented on a smartphone, that we forget we are living in eternity. Those chasing the manifest presence of God often forget, or perhaps never knew that at one point, we were destined for eternal torment.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 2:1-3

How many today have really embraced the reality of that from which we are saved because of who He is, not because of us. It about,

HIM, HIM, HIM!

Not

“US, US, US!”

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 

Ephesians 2:4-5

I am convinced that our primary focus in reading scripture should be eschatological from the start. Or as Steven Covey wrote,

Begin with the end in mind.

-7 Habits of Highly Effective People-

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Ephesians 1:3-10

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

The Prophet or the Cross

Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin. Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:1-2 -Berean Study Bible-

What most informs your Christian walk? Is it a moment-to-moment guidance from the Lord? Do you acknowledge Him in all your ways and He directs your steps? Prov 3:5-8 How do you discern His leading, His voice from your own voice, that of the world, and finally the enemy who presents himself as an angel of light? 2 Cor 11:14 Is your spiritual guidance system primarily informed by the voice of contemporary teachers and prophets? Do you emphasize dreams, visions and seers, and books written by contemporary authors? Are you wooed by anointing such that you exalt a man?

The Bible is clear that there is a gift of prophecy. 1 Cor 12:1-11. The office of the prophet in the New Testament is more ambiguous. We see Pastors, evangelists, teachers, and even apostles operating as part of the fivefold ministry. Eph 4:11 I have yet to see a genuine contemporary prophet who operates as part of a fivefold ministry. I’ve seen patently false prophets and I have seen individuals with a prophetic gift. Others mislabel words of knowledge, and words of wisdom as prophecy. I could be totally wrong and if so then please correct me, but every self-proclaimed prophet I have personally encountered is operating on his own with little to no accountability to anyone. Anyone claiming to hold the office of a prophet and utters the words “Thus Saith The Lord!” apart from the Word of God must realize that the standards for doing so have not changed.

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’ when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. Deut 18:18-22

Still, there is something known as prophetic preaching. Prophetic preaching is first and foremost FIRMLY rooted in God’s WORD, which is the testimony of Jesus. Rev 19:10 It is not “a new thing” or an extra-biblical thing proclaimed on YouTube or sold on Amazon. It tends to be countercultural in that it calls out that which is and is not of God within the House of God. It may expound on Biblical prophecy but it is not limited to the prophetic. The foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone; Eph 2:20 is its inspiration and source. True Prophetic preaching does not depart from God’s Word because the Bible is a blueprint and map of God’s plan from before the foundations of the world Eph 1:4-10 until the establishment of a new heavens and new earth. Rev 21 It is only through His word as taught by Holy Spirit John 16:13 that we can come to know the mystery of His will.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. Eph 1:7-12

The word is a mirror that shows us who we are in light of Him 1 Cor 13:12 and the image of His son into which He is conforming us. Rom 8:29 The word is the prophetic lens through which we should view and interpret all prophecy, history, and current events while we are still sojourners on Earth. Phil 3:20 Surely the Lord God does nothing Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. Amos 3:7 Still, this mainly refers to the fact that God has revealed the bulk of His plans to five major prophets and twelve minor ones. Again I could be wrong but I suspect that any genuine contemporary prophecy is rooted in the promise Gabriel gave to Daniel regarding the increase in knowledge and understanding of what was written and sealed up. Dan 12:4 and Dan 12:10. There is some horrific heretical stuff labeled as prophetic coming out on the internet today.

If you are one whose faith walk is primarily steered by dreams, visions, prophecies, and books from celebrity prophet pulpits then I would exhort you to carefully study and meditate on Jeremiah 14, 23, and 28. I am not a cessationist. I’m not discounting all prophecy dreams and visions. I’ve just seen too many proclamations of God’s will apart from His Word. Hence I would plead with you to use the above scriptures as a lens through which you view and consider what you hear.

For they are a rebellious people, lying children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord; who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah 30:9-11

Is their message rooted in scripture exegeted in context? Is it about Jesus, and the testimony of Jesus? Is Jesus even mentioned? Or are people simply in awe of a man?

Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Rev 19:10

Why am I coming so hard against the prophetic?

Let’s just say that if my destination is due north and I am off course by 22 degrees east, I don’t steer harder east to get back on course.

Again, I am not going to go to the opposite extreme and quench the spirit and limit God. Off course by 22 degrees to the west is no better than the same error to the east. The Bible says the gift of prophecy is real.

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thess 5:19-22

The operative question is “How do we filter the good from the evil, the genuine from the fake?”

Jesus’ first admonition when the disciples inquired about His return was, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” Deceive is planáō – roam (from safety, truth, or virtue):–go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander, be out of the way. Christ is Christos – anointed. To be anointed means to have authority. That authority is first and foremost to proclaim

“Thus Saith The Lord!”

Pay close attention to your own emotional responses when listening to another human being speak about God.  Are you compelled to exalt the man? Or is the man increasingly diminished such that you forget him entirely because you are so awed by God? John 3:30

If pastor Billy Bob claims to be a Prophet and proclaims “Thus saith the Lord” then he better not miss it. If he does then the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. Deut 18:18-22. On the other hand, if Bobby Sue in Billy Bob’s congregation has a prophetic gift and says “I feel like the Lord is saying…” or “I think I heard the Lord tell me…” and she is wrong then Bobby Sue is not a liar. She just missed it like we all miss it. The words “I feel like…” or “I think…? invite confirmation or correction. The difference between the two is in the assignment of an office and the assumption of authority. Pastor Billy Bob exalts himself by putting himself on equal footing with the Word that God exalts above all His name. Psalms 138:2 Bobby Sue is simply trying to make sense of what God is speaking amidst at least three other voices. It’s unlikely that anyone will put Bobby Sue on a pedestal and forgo searching the scriptures to see if what she said is true. Acts 17:11

People put Billy Bob Prophets on pedestals every day.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Cor 2:2

The cross marks our proverbial true north as we sojourn the earth. The cross is the hinge upon which everything in the Christian walk hangs. Hence Paul resolved to know nothing apart from it. And Peter exhorted us to arm ourselves with the same resolve by which Jesus suffered and endured the cross.

“We understand the value of suffering in the Christian life. Learning to love requires willingness to suffer for the sake of righteousness. Discipline and testing make saints out of us, and produce in us holiness, without which we will not see God’s face and share His glory. With Paul we rejoice in our weaknesses, for when we are weak we are strong.” Value #4 of 5 CORE VALUES OF IRIS GLOBAL

Interestingly, Suffering in some form is mentioned sixty-eight times in the New Testament, and Blessing just twenty-one. If we are going to arm ourselves with the same resolve as Jesus then we need to study and meditate on what He endured.

And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke 22:40-42

How often do we encounter suffering and tragedy and pray like Jesus in Gethsemene? Jesus did not tell His disciples to pray for deliverance from suffering but that they would not fall into temptation. Temptation to what? I think it was the temptation to quit. When Jesus sent Cornilieus to heal Saul / Paul’s blindness it wasn’t to pour out blessings but to tell Paul all that he must suffer. Acts 9:16 If they persecuted Jesus then why would we assume the same won’t happen to us? John 15:20 If the same might happen to us then why don’t we ever talk about it as a church? Arm ourselves with the same resolve does not mean arming ourselves with prophetic feel-good fluff. Arming myself means asking how I can finish well. Arm yourself means asking the Lord to show me how I could be tempted such that I might fail to endure and overcome. Mat 24:13, Rev 21:7-9

For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 1 Peter 4:3-5 -Berean Study Bible-

MARANATHA!

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Prophetic Joy

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1Pet 1:8-9

Peter is writing in the context of his previous exhortation to endure trials that test the genuineness of our faith. “Tested Faith is genuine faith”. Tested faith is evidence of belief apart from which we can not be saved. Mark 16:16 Some of our most profound experiences with joy arise after we endure the testing of our faith and we behold more clearly and fully that we truly are IN HIM. Eph 2:1-7. It is a clear and present joy that verifies,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Cor 5:17

The joy of encountering the manifest presence of God on the proverbial mount of transfiguration during worship and other encounters is an important part of the Christian walk. Mat 17 The joy of passing the test in the valley is another. God reveals Himself on the mountaintop and we rejoice. Meanwhile, our character is revealed in the valley. Character produces hope. Rom 5:1-11

“…joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” is chará – cheerfulness, calm delight:–gladness, fulness of joy.

In my mind “calm delight” implies a deep fearless, assurance of His salvation that is rooted and grounded in His love despite circumstances. Eph 3:17. This is the eternal perspective that sets our minds on things about not below. Col 3:1-4

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 1 Pet 1:10-12

The Old Testament Maranatha prophecies about Jesus are so very clear in retrospect.

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Maranatha 1 Cor 16:22 is usually translated as “Come Lord Jesus”. Yet Maranatha is an Aramaic word with a twofold meaning.

Jesus has come. Jesus is coming.

We walk in joy each day that is rooted in assurance. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, Eph 1:13 This is the first Maranatha, the fulfilled gospel of salvation about which the prophets searched and inquired carefully.

The second part is prophetic and refers to the fulfillment of the Gospel of the Kingdom. …the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Eph 1:14

We spoke a lot about our full inheritance when we studied the book of Ephesians. As good as the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit is in our lives is now, it is a downpayment- a taste of what is to come when the second half of Maranatha is fulfilled.

Still, I wonder what went through the mind of Isaiah as he wrote the script for the first part of Maranatha 700 years before it took place. Isaiah 53 Did David know he was quoting Jesus nearly 2500 years before He was crucified?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? Psalm 22:1

There are at least 350 prophetic references to Jesus in the Old Testament that connect perfectly now that we have the whole canon of scripture. We can rest in the assurance that the Gospel of the Kingdom will be fulfilled because we now see the intricacy of the fulfilled promise of the Gospel of Salvation.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Mat 13:16-17

1 Peter is framed in the context of our faith being tested and found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet 1:7 As I said there is a unique experience of joy that attends our passing the test in the valley. Similarly the joy we experience in the valley here is but a taste of the joy that is to come when our tested and genuine faith is found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Let’s face it. Most of life is lived apart from the mountaintop experiences that so many covet and roam from conference to conference in search of the Shekinah Glory. However, there are times when we may feel we are drowning in grief and suffering. We may wonder if God has abandoned us. We can take comfort in the fact that even Jesus had the experience of feeling abandoned by the Father. He wasn’t of course. It is for this reason that Paul instructed us to …rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer. Rom 12:12 We rejoice in hope while waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13, Mat 24:29-31.

We rejoice in the reality that Jesus has come and experience joy because He is here directing our paths. Prov 3:5-8. We also rejoice in the fact that Jesus is coming...for the he Joy of the Lord is our strength. Neh 8:10 The prophetic nature of Maranatha joy is even more poignant if you understand the eschatological significance of the Feast of Booths. And while many do their best to imagine streets paved with gold and eternal life devoid of pain and tears, what lies ahead is beyond our wildest dreams.

This is the seed of prophetic joy.

Maranatha