While crying out to
the Lord to assist me this week in overcoming something that's been a long
standing problem for me, the 3R's came to mind.
The angel of the
Lord was assisting me in preparing my sacrifices for offering with my petition.
This brings to mind the way Chief Elder Apostle Eric brought it out yesterday
in assembly concerning the soul finding rest in completing the cycle of making petition
and offering our sacrifices.
The way the 3R's
came to mind was first in the form of the schoolboy version of it with reading,
writing, and arithmetic. This brought to
mind the word fundamentals and after a brief chuckle about how the 3R's of man
don't even start with the letter R, I quickly made connection to the true
fundamentals of our education in Christ: Revelation, Resistance, and Reward.
This is the record Jesus Christ set for us while in the form of flesh so that
we could follow after Him in His new covenant.
The Spirit then
brought to mind several dreams I've had in the past which spoke to addressing
this very thing along with other dreams addressing similar things that I've
cried out about in the past too. I was also reminded by how, in the past, each
time I've cried out for any of these things these dreams have been brought to
remembrance.
The word
"resistance" stood out to me. The Spirit reminded me of something
from yesterday's assembly about how the imagination of man is quick to justify
self and how common it is to make excuses for our behaviors as with driving
faster than the legal limit for instance. This brought to mind the inclination
workshops we did with Chief Elder Teacher Maria. We are naturally inclined to
justify ourselves using the scale of our own feelings.
So by working with
the anointing, it became clear to me that each of these dreams addressed
petitions offered with sacrifices and that there has always been resistance
following these revelations which was not overcome through prayer, preaching,
and prophecy (the other 3R's of reflecting, rehearsing, and reciprocation).
The Spirit brought
to mind what we are overcoming: Ourselves, Satan, and the world with ourselves
being the hardest part.
The initial thought
of "reading, writing, and arithmetic" came to mind while I was lying
in bed. The first connection to "revelation, resistance, and reward"
and the imagination being quick to justify ourselves did too. I wanted to fall
back to sleep as I was up earlier than my alarm but instead I decided that this
was far too important and I got up to record it in my reflection book. As I did
so, the Spirit continued to bring more things to mind and these notes are the
result of that.
As I put the period
on that sentence, the alarm went off. Praise God.
