Monday, November 18, 2013

Preparing the Bride



I would like to start this post by saying how much I appreciate everybody who takes time to read my posts and encourage me to keep going.  This is the first time that I’ve ever really used my gift of writing to glorify God, and I L-O-V-E it! I have decided to go back and finally tell the world about an experience that I had that lead me to spread God’s word in the way that I do.  This experience was so precious to me that I wanted to keep it as private as I could for as long as I could.  God has put it upon my heart to share it, however, so here it goes!

One night as I was dreaming, I was at a celebration where people were dancing, singing, and just having the time of their lives.  There were an equal number of men and women present, and every woman had a man to dance with.  The only exception was two women who were in the corner chatting as women usually do at parties.  I couldn’t hear what those women were saying, but somehow I knew that they were gossiping.  It seemed like a typical dream until something strange happened – something came over me, and I began to spin in circles.  When I stopped, I noticed that all of the women had somehow traded their former party clothes for beautiful wedding gowns.  It was quite a beautiful sight to see so many women in beautiful white gowns just twirling and dancing away!  Suddenly, my eyes began to zoom in on certain women’s dresses, and I noticed that they all had minor flaws.  Some were slightly unzipped while others had hanging straps or slightly revealed undergarments.  I then turned and noticed that the two women who had been chatting in the corner were still chatting it up, but they were the only two women with no wedding dress at all.  They wore all black cocktail dresses.  I remember sitting on a nearby fireplace confused, and that’s when I saw him: Jesus.

Every time I tell this story, the first and most obvious question that follows is What did he look like?  My answer is always the same – he was tall and thin, and had THE bluest eyes I have ever seen.  This was a shade of blue that I have never seen in any eyes on earth.  He also wore a golden robe with purple designs of some sort.  Despite what he looked like, somehow I knew he was Jesus the moment that I saw him.  He came toward me, grabbed my hand, and sat down beside me.  Holding his hand was the most realistic thing that I have ever done in a dream.  I could still feel his hand in mine when I woke up.  At that moment, I suddenly recalled several visions of Jesus that I had read about where people reported seeing the nail scars on his hands.  Of course my curiosity prompted me to turn his hand over, and there was the scar.  What surprised me is that the scar looked like it was almost healed (I had expected a gaping hole).  He looked into my eyes, and said one thing only, “You have to tell them.”  With that, the dream was over.

When I woke up, the Holy Spirit immediately began giving me interpretation of the dream.  I grabbed my computer to do some research, and the Holy Spirit led me to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb that is mentioned in Revelations.  The crazy thing is that I knew nothing about the marriage supper until shortly before my dream.  I know that the lord had been preparing me for the dream because in the weeks before, it seemed that preachers and prophets were talking about the marriage supper everywhere I turned.  The marriage supper is said to be the celebration of Christ reuniting with his bride, the church, after the rapture.  Over time, I have come to understand that God was telling me that the bride (church) was not ready.  There are many people who appear to be ready just like the brides I saw in the dream, but upon close inspection they are, in fact, not ready to be reunited with Jesus.  Furthermore, the two women who had no dress at all represented those who use their tongue to constantly defame and disgrace others.  God absolutely despises it when we speak negatively toward and about our brothers and sisters.  When he told us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, he really meant that!  (Mark 12:31)

Finally, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that seeing that Jesus’s hands were almost healed was an indication of the fact that he is almost ready for our reunion, and our time is running out!  We don’t have much time to get ready to be united with Jesus, so we all need to commit our lives to him the way that we know we should TODAY.  I know that there have been a lot of conflicting views about when the rapture will happen.  Let me tell you that I have no clue about that even after having this dream.  What I do know is that we only get one life on earth, and whether the rapture comes tomorrow or a hundred years from now, time is running out for each one of us individually.

So, that’s what woke me up and propelled me to stop making excuses about why I didn’t have the time, resources, influence, or anything else to help bring people to Christ.  Heaven and hell have become so real to me, I want to see every single person that I know meet Jesus one day and celebrate at the marriage supper!  I owe the world an apology for sitting on the life-saving knowledge of God for so long, but I’m hoping to make up for lost time.  Time is running out, so make a commitment NOW to do God’s will no matter what!  Nothing outside of his will is worth losing an eternity in heaven!

Food for thought:

Revelation 19:7-9

Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
    was given her to wear.”
 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”  


Have an issue/idea that you would like to see in a future post?  Email me at whitney.p.gordon@gmail.com.  It’s confidential!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Let's Talk About Sex!


If there is one sin that garners the most repentance, it HAS to be sexual immorality.  Let me start this post by saying what I know is no secret – I was not a virgin when I got married.  (I mean, I was already five months pregnant).  I’m not trying to give TMI, but I think it’s important to let my readers know that I am not some virgin bride looking down her nose at a bunch of “sinners.”  I have been there, done that, suffered the consequences, and repented.  I give this message out of love and in hopes that maybe a young lady somewhere will learn this lesson earlier than I did as a result.

We all know that God strictly forbids sex outside of the covenant of marriage.  It’s certainly no secret, but so many Christians do it anyway.  Some are ever-so-discreet about it while others are bold about it, but one thing that nobody can say is that it’s okay in the eyes of God to be sexually active with anyone other than your husband or wife.  The question is: why do we do it?  Why is it that so many Christians have come to a place where it is just okay to claim to love God and be living in outright disobedience?

The answer to this lies in yet another question: why shouldn’t we have sex outside of marriage?  I have come to find that God is not a “because I said so” father.  He absolutely wants us to have questions and seek answers in his word.  The irony is that the usual answer given when someone asks why we shouldn’t have sex outside of marriage is along the lines of “because it is not pleasing to God.”  Sure, that’s a legitimate reason, but God is SO much more complex than that.  When he tells us not to do something, it is ALWAYS for our good, and never because he “just doesn’t want us to do it.”

The Bible tells us that when we have sex with someone, we “become one flesh” with that individual.  This may not sound like much on the surface, but we must consider what flesh means in the Biblical sense.  Our flesh is that carnal, child-like part of us that causes us to need God’s grace time and time again.  The flesh is mentioned several times in the Bible, and is cited as the dwelling place for sin.  Yes, our flesh desires some things that we need (like food for nourishment), but it also desires SO many things that we don’t need (like sex outside of marriage, watching ungodly shows, or two helpings of ice cream).  This is why God tells us that we sometimes have to starve our flesh through fasting in order to strengthen our spirits.  Let me put it this way: if we let our flesh run things, we would be consumed with sin and become a punching bag for the devil!

Now back to sex – when you make a decision to have sex with someone outside of marriage, you are becoming one flesh with that person.  This means that aside from your own flesh that you battle every single day, you have now invited that person’s flesh issues in so that your spirit can battle those as well!  Just imagine – having sex with several people means that you have invited the struggles and demons of all of those people’s flesh into your life, and now YOUR spirit has to fight to keep control.  God gives us the power to defeat our own flesh, and he even loves us enough to allow us to work with our spouse to defeat both of our flesh together, but let me tell you that one person's spirit is NOT strong enough to fight the flesh of multiple people.  For this reason, God creates a special man or woman just for us – so that we can enjoy having sex under his covenant. When we have sex outside of the covenant of marriage, we are basically telling God not to cover and protect us from anything that our partner might carry in his or her flesh.  God called us to be monogamous simply because he loves us, and he wants to be that umbrella that protects us when we join our flesh with someone else’s. 

If you (like me) have had sex outside of the covenant of marriage, there is no need to fret!  A guy named Jesus died on the cross thousands of years ago for such a time as this!  All that you have to do is pray and ask God to forgive you and use the blood of Jesus to wipe away your sexual sin.  Our God is faithful, loving, and forgiving.  He won’t just make you as good as new; he will make you completely new and whole!  Thank God for grace!

Food for thought:

1 Corinthians 6:16 - Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”

Galatians 5:19 -  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness

1 Corinthians 6:9 - Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men


Have an issue/idea that you would like to see in a future blog?  Email me at whitney.p.gordon@gmail.com.  It’s confidential!