God speaks ~ In a dream to the Duke

Here you go~ 30 minutes outside of Denver now. . .

God speaks ~ In a dream to the Duke.  (Relating to dreams in Matthew 1-2)

Is there any topic that elicits more interest than hearing the voice of God?  Not likely.  While I can’t be certain, it is my guess that most people want to know that God has spoken, God speaks, and he will yet speak to them as well. 

[As I am winging my way across America in a jam-packed airplane with a noisy baby in front of me, and two conversational tech-y guys next to me, I am just hoping that God will speak to them, and tell them to be quiet, so I can hear him speak to me.  Kidding…sorta.  I have earphones, listening to Billy Strayhorn, hoping that will help.]

Finding myself very thankful today that Joseph believed that God spoke to his people, and that in fact, God spoke to him in his dreams.  I mean, really—what if Joseph hadn’t trusted it was God speaking to him in his dreams, regarding the peculiar circumstances of Jesus’ conception, and the fact that he should marry Mary?  What if he asserted his right as the Jewish ‘father’ of the Messiah to name the babe Moshe instead of Yeshua (Hebrew) or Jesus?  And surely Joseph did not miss the part in the dream where he said that Jesus would save his people from their sins!  ‘Amazing’ does not capture the substance of these dreams—the way God chose to speak to Joseph, in his dreams, and that Joseph right received them was nothing short of divine.   

Since “John” is brand new to the Morning Briefings, (and a few others), I have to relay a key piece of information.  Several years ago, I worked with street people—homeless, addicts, and gang-bangers, in Long Beach.  God sent one such fellow (all of the above) to the Basement Prayer Meeting I led at 9^th and Atlantic in the basement of a big old church—where we averaged between 50 and 75 people.  His street name—the Duke of Earl; I still call him Duke.  In short order, the tall, imposing Viet Nam vet became my bodyguard, enabling me to go anywhere in that wicked town.  Even though I was threatened a few times, between the Holy Spirit and Duke, I was never, ever afraid.  I knew who I was, whose I was, and what I was called to do. And God gave me an amazing capacity of love and compassion for those I encountered.  Still it shows the sense of humor God has--I would pull up to the curb, a smallish blonde, driving an Escalade, loaded with food and blankets, pick up one very dark martial arts-trained tough guy, who enabled me to minister freely in various capacities.  We were quite a sight, and often turned heads. Ha, he was always proud to wave to his street friends from my passenger seat.

These years later, Duke is a respectable citizen, living in an apartment, who works on the other side of the law in a very valuable role—quite a transition, wouldn’t you say?  This past week he left me a message, saying he needed to talk to me right away.  It seems that in his line of work, he has been given the opportunity to go after a major crime figure—however, being the guy is a ruthless murderer—with quite a posse, the stakes could not be higher.  “Should I do it?” he asked me.  “You know what I’m doing is right, so God’s got my back … you feel me?” 

“You can’t go in uncovered, Duke.  Yeah sure, I’ll be praying for you, but you gotta come proper with God,” I said in the street vernacular he uses, “if you’re gonna ask him to protect you.  I know you’re carrying a boatload of resentment and unforgiveness for people who have hurt you in the past; unforgiveness is sin, Duke.  Don’t go in, unless you’re willing to get rid of that sin.  Think about it—I will call you tomorrow and see what you have decided to do.”

Why would I say such a thing?  Because I remembered a verse I had learned long time ago—a simple two-liner David uttered: “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened”, Psalm 66.18, or “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.” 

Thinking about him, and what might well be a life or death decision, I prayed for him over the next 24 hours, and then dutifully called.  “So, what did you decide, Duke?”  “Well, it was the most peculiar thing.  I thought about what you said – a lot, tossed and turned all night, probably fell asleep about Five am, when I had the strangest dream.  And listen to this, everything that came to me was scripture,” he said.  Then he rattled off what he had dreamt, barely taking a breath, one verse after another.  Oh, he didn’t cite the references or anything, but just kept talking.

Here’s what he got, in order—I looked up the references and cited them at the bottom.  As you read them and then come to the end, what do you think he decided to do?

>Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.¹ 

>While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.² 

>if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.³

>I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.⁴

>What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?⁵

>No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper⁶ 

>But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession…⁷

First of all – the Christian life, boring?  Puh-leeez.  You can’t make this stuff up!  

So, is the Duke going after the guy or not?

1 - Romans 5.7; 2 - Romans 5.8; 3 - Romans 10.9; 4 - Philippians 4.13; 5 - Romans 8.31;  6 - Isaiah 54.17; 7 - 1 Peter 2.9