God Finally Speaks – You are Arrogant!
Then one night, I had a dream. It was unlike any dream I had ever experienced before. The colors in the dream were so vivid; it was like dreaming in blazing Technicolor! In this dream, I was sitting next to Jesus. He was dressed in white and blue and He seemed to have a brilliance and depth like diamonds – yet like nothing I had ever seen in my life!
As I was sitting there, Jesus reached up and pulled out a slice of His own eye. It looked like a contact lens. He reached over and gently put the thin slice of His eye into mine and said, “I want you to see everything and everyone through My eyes.”*
Then, just as suddenly as the dream began, it was over and I woke up. I knew that something supernatural had happened. And I felt it was the first time in several years that God was speaking to me in an overt way again. But what did it mean?
I began to ask, as much myself as God, “How can I see everything and everybody through the eyes of Jesus?”
The answer, whether from God or my conscience or my own mind, was crystal clear: I must read every word Jesus said, because if I know Him and His words, then I can see everything through His eyes.
Instead of reading my usual two motivational or inspirational books each day, I began reading the Gospels every day. I read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I didn’t bounce from one book in the Bible to another; I studied every spoken word of Jesus recorded in the Bible. I got a red-letter edition of the Bible from the chapel library, the words written in red indicating the words of Jesus. I literally wrote down every word Christ spoke as recorded in the Scriptures. Then I wrote a condensed version of the verses to help me remember them. For instance, “Love your neighbor.” “Love God.” “Do not sin.” As I studied the Scripture, I began to see things in the Bible that I had never seen before. I made up my mind then that I was going to ask God all the difficult questions I’d skirted over in my busy years. The first question I asked God was, “Why are there so many dying people here, and why can’t I help them? I’m not allowed to preach. I don’t even feel welcome at chapel. What can I do?”
I was surprised at the answer I heard from God: “You are arrogant. You think you are the only person I have in this prison. I have many others here. I am God.”
And then God said to me, “I did not bring you to prison to minister. I brought you here to get to know Me.”**
*If you see with the eyes of Jesus, how would things look much different to you?
**How has God shown you that His thoughts are not necessarily your thoughts?
Oh Jim, THAT’S MY GOD!!!! He came to this earth to save People. His mission was for us. He loves us and wants to bring us home to his Father. It is not what we do for him, but for
family. God wanted a family. I have recently discovered the gift of worship. I put about 45 of my favorite worship songs on my ipod. As I listen to them and fellowship with him from the deepest part of my being, I can feel him healing the deepest wounds of my soul. I can hear him loving and guiding me. We are the branches and He is the root. Life flows from the root. I find the fruit of the spirit (love, patience, forgiveness, etc.) flow out of me effortlessly as I spend time with him. Thank you for your ministry. I am proud to call you my brother in christ.
Everytime God shows us something it’s like He is giving us a gold nugget of truth. Some ladies in ministry used to use the term gold nugget. I have learned from people who are not Christians. I pray for the Lord to show me my “like” sin and, oh boy, when the Holy Spirit reminds me of what I did it’s so easy to have compassion on that person. I remember when my daughter and I were having dinner with my mom and dad. They asked us to move in with them after my husband divorces me. I had been judging my mom and got very irritated by something she did. Well, guess what, it flashed through my mind that I had done the same thing. Then my mom immediately stopped what she was doing. It was like the Lord had turned off that thing. The lesson was learned. It was really funny. God is good.
The people who were arogant are those that sent you to prison. Your Christian minsitry was making money that many thought in Charlotte, NC was being taken from their coffers. With every hotel came money into your ministry and away from their business enterprises. Who in their right mind would think that you wouldn’t honor your commitments to your partners, especially with the whole world as onlookers. Jesus was popular in His day and was nailed to cross. You are the greatest among TV evangelist and was sent to prison for it. Most of our famous men in the Bible went to prison. Your’re one in our age.
Dear Pastor Jim:
Thank you for sharing this dream. This is God’s doing that I read this today. I have a dear Christian friend that is in prison for a crime that he did not commit, back in 1987. He has struggled all these years trying to prove his innocence. We have stuck by him and prayed for someone to have wisdom, to see the wrong doing, and release him, nothing, but road blocks. These words from your dream has cleared up that question, why! I have copied and sent it to Rick. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
One more thing, my DAD was crazy about you two. He was not a Christian, but he watched your show every time it was on. He would talk about how he believed in what you stood for and he loved Tammy’s singing! Dad passed in Jan. 2007, and he went to be with the Lord, having accepted Him a few months before. We are grateful for you two planting those seeds of love and Jesus in my Dad’s heart! God Bless you.
Martha
Oct. 24, 2012
I think Jesus telling you He called you into prison to get to know HIm, was key to seeing through His eyes. You can’t see through His eyes without knowing Him. It’s not just about seeing other people’s sins, or your own sins, nor is it just about reading the Bible, it’s about seeking Him and breaking through into His Spirit so that you know you have experienced Him, on a daily basis. There’s just nothing that takes the place of breaking through into His Presence. Why wait for a special meeting, or a severe problem to come before you really get serious about seeking and finding Him? It does something for your spirit that reading the Bible and various other good activities just can’t do.
to see others thru the eyes of Christ. Sometimes we deal with the hurts of what others have done. Its especially hard when it is a professing christian or a family member. We may question why. We choose to forgive and if its a horrific thing. Like having your life savings stolen or abuse, we ask God to help us. While we deal with the hurt from people, Jesus deals with the soul. When I read this, my prayer was Jesus help me to see them as you do. Not from my perceptions of the wrong, but from your intense God sight. Seeing all things, knowing all things. What a touching statement in your post. Help us to see as you see.
Pastor Jim,
What I’ve found is that; for God to REVEAL to believers their own hidden corrupt sins, faults, or shortcomings is the GREATEST “thing” for Him to ever to reveal to us. Often times, before God, we
so-called “Christians” love to “flatter” ourselves; telling ourselves – and telling even God Himself; oh, just how supposedly “wonderful” that we think that we “are” before Him; that we are [supposedly] so “faithful” to Him; that we are [supposedly] so “sacrificial”, and “dedicated”, and “loving” before Him, through Christ Jesus…………
When all along – in REALITY, though; that the Lord is actually thinking that we “STINK” in His nostrils; and that He really “can’t stand” our sinful hypocritical prideful NARCISSISTIC selves that we love to demonstrate before Him; thinking that we’re being really “cute” for Him.
Jim, He’s only trying to get us to “see” ourselves for what we really “are”; or just what unbeknownst EVIL lurks in our wicked hearts. God is just trying to do us a “favor” in revealing the repulsive wicked thoughts of our minds and the hidden evil feelings in our hearts. The Lord wants us to be fully AWARE of the hidden and persistent “wickedness” that exists within our evil hearts; so that we would have an irrefutable COGNIZANCE – or “conscious awareness” – of just what hidden vile SINS lurk deep down inside our souls; so that we would know exactly “WHAT” sins to “watch out for”; to REPENT of them, and to pray AGAINST them.
The Trial of Your Faith (Pt. 12)
God Finally Speaks – You are Arrogant!
Dear Sir,
Thank you for these wise words from your ‘Trial of Your Faith’ series.
I try to fight my pride by kneeling at the High altar or the cross at church before and after the service. I try to humble myself and I hope my fellow man can find the courage to kneel at the foot of the cross also. Not many do though or follow suit! I suppose they think they have participated in the Eucharist service and that’s enough to be accepted by Jesus, after all they do kneeling during the service at certain church services at any rate. Why should they humble themselves anymore.
I was looking for a good verse of scripture that explains ‘arrogance’ and how this can be a stumbling block for people when they are trying to find salvation, and many of the New Testament verses containing ‘pride’ are the ones that list the other big sins in life also.
Following the words spoken of by Jesus was brilliant Sir. The advice I give people ‘how to read the bible’ is by firstly thoroughly reading the Gospels, and adding to that I would advise concentrating especially on the exact words which Jesus spoke.(like the ones in red which you read Sir.)
Thanks again Sir for your ministry.
God bless,
Stephen
Staffordshire,
UK.