I was driving to work one morning listening to some praise and worship music and I heard the Lord speak to my spirit.
He told me to watch the sun rise that morning. It was a cold morning,(I have recognized one way to know when it is God speaking to me. When i feel lead to do something that is completely against what my flesh wants. It usually requires effort, sacrifice, and discomfort. Sometimes it may seem flat out ridiculous), so I knew this was going to take some dedication and some self motivation to get myself outside of my warm dock shack to watch the sun come up. (it's hard to make it to church, or it's hard to go to the altar sometimes. It usually requires getting out of our comfort zone. Especially when it is very important) I knew it was a word from God, so I decided in myself that I was going to do it no matter what. I get to work at 5:15a.m. so I had a couple hours until sunrise. I kept my eye on the clock, and I had a strong anticipation to see just what it was that the Lord was going to show me. (we need to keep watch of God's timeline. The more you study his word, the better you can see how your walk lines up with the timeline of reoccuring events in a person's walk with God. You will see seasons coming in your life and will be more effective for the Kingdom in being able to spiritually plan ahead.)
The time finally came for me to get up out of my seat and find a good view to see the sun rise. I walked out of the dock shack and the cold air hit me. (sometimes when it's time to make our move toward God we are met with opposition. It could be people giving you the cold shoulder, or just your flesh not feeling anything... Discomfort or numbness) I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I tried to find a place with a good view, but that wasn't going to be easy either because there was a HUGE crude oil ship docked, and it was blocking my view of where the sun would rise.
(Sometimes we have to put extra effort into making it to where we can see Jesus, just like the people who climbed on the rooftop to lower the crippled man down to Jesus, or the person who climbed a tree to see Jesus as he was walking by, or the woman who crawled through the crowd to touch the hem of his garment) I thought all I would have to do is just walk right outside the dock shack to see the sun come up, but now I know that I am going to have to climb to a higher place to see what the Lord wants me to see. There is a tall sructure on the dock with a ladder leading to the top. It is about 90 feet up in the air and it is the only way I am going to see over this ship. (this ladder could symbolize the steps we have to take to approach the lord, or the things of the spirit we need to receive in order to see things that we can't see without it. This climb may be a hard, uncomfortable, time consuming climb, but it will give us great faith and strength.
90 feet= 9 fruits of the spirit. Coincidence? I think not) I make up my mind that I am going to stick to what I decided to do and make the climb. When I get to the top I have no problem seeing over the ship. I look around and can see things I never could see from down on the dock. (when we reach a new level in our pursuit of God then we have a better view of things we couldn't see before. We can now look down on the obstacles that seemed so enormous before.) I never had a reason to climb way up there before, but now God has given me one. The wind is blowing hard up there, and I still have some time to wait until the sun breaks the horizon.
I just begin to pray and sing to God and wait. (sometimes we make it to a place in our walk or climb when we just have to wait on God. This is when we just give thanks and praise Him for everything. This may be a time of testing to see how patient we are and how faithful we are. We may feel all alone and even begin to second guess whether or not we ever heard God. We may look back at where we once were and be tempted to return to that place. It may be a cold miserable lonely place where we have to wait on our answer.
There may even be people not as far along in their climb trying to persuade you to climb back down and be with the crowd or where it is comfortable.) I start getting really cold, but the sky is getting brighter and brighter and the surroundings are lighting up. I start to see a few birds flying around and I see more and more things around me that I couldn't see before because it wasn't bright enough outside yet. I look at the horizon and it is lit up with the most brilliant colors.
Truly breathtaking sight. It was a moment of awe and amazement to see how beautiful the morning sky is and then I hear God begin to speak to my spirit again that this was His Good Morning to us. I tell Him how amazing this view of what He created is, and I apologize to Him for never taking the time to enjoy the way He tells us good morning. I always seem too busy to waiver from my schedule and go to where God is. I expect God to show up when and where it is convenient for me. I apologize and thank the Lord for showing me this. I turn and begin to climb down the ladder thinking that I have heard what the Lord wanted me to hear and seen everything He wanted me to see, but I hear him tell me to STOP.
The Lord then tells me that I am leaving too soon and that I haven't even heard what He wanted me to hear or seen what He wanted me to see. I look out over the horizon and I notice that the sun still hasn't broke the horizon. I hear him tell me that we as Christians are bad about leaving before we receive the answer or the blessing that He has for us. We don't wait on Him long enough and leave having only experienced part of the blessing we were meant to get. (to me alot of this applied to how we are when the altar ministry begins at the end of service. We go to the front and worship briefly until we feel a little bit of his presence and we leave before he shows up in all his glory. We cheat ourselves and miss out on many miracles and blessings and answers because we don't give God the proper reverence and undivided attention. We are distracted by plans to go eat, or making it to the restaurant before it closes, or making it home in time to watch TV or get rest for work. We miss out tremendously because of this and we don't get the words or direction we need to grow to another level. We should never put a time limit on our visit with the Lord. The Altar ministry should last longer than any other part of the service. It is a time of laboring in the spirit and waiting on the Lord. If you cant wait on the Lord to show up in a service before leaving to go back to the world, then it reflects how your walk with God will be.
You will tire before his return and be back in the world when you should have been laboring in the spirit and waiting on his return. We leave the altar with a blessing, but an incomplete blessing) I then begin to praise Him and wait on what I am up there for to begin with. I thought that the little bit of light and the scenic horizon was everything God wanted me to see, but when I saw the sun finally break the horizon, I knew that what I thought was His presense was only a prequal to what was on its way. The sun finally rose, and it looked like the Horizon exploded with light. The whole area seemed to come to life. Birds began to fly that had been sitting still all night long. (the birds mentioned here and before are symbolic of the Holy Spirit moving and now beginning to move like never before) Everything the light touched began to glow. It was more than I can put into words. The warmth from the light of the sun pierced through the cold and hit me, and I new it was a smile from God. The Holy Ghost fell on me up there and I got a revelation and experienced an encounter with God that I never would have known if I hadn't waited just a little bit longer. Have ears to hear what God is speaking to us.
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