Pentecost

(Acts 2:1-4) 1 ‘When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed like tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’

            Last week when I read this, I saw not the gift of tongues as we have thought of it, but the ‘loosening of tongues’. I then sensed that we are about to receive this loosening of our tongues again. I felt that the Lord was saying that he is about to loose our tongues so that we can speak freely, and declare his marvelous works. This is a freeing of the church from fear of man on our words.

            (Acts 2:6) ‘When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.’

            And 2:11, “we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

            For a long time the church, like other groups, have had their own way of talking, their own language. Different professions and groups, tend to have a different language that they speak in, for example medical staff, techies, artists, gamers, and on and on it goes. Sometimes this language seems foreign and difficult to understand for those outside of that group. I felt God saying that he is bringing new voices that speak different languages to the people in the language that they understand. They may sound and look different or foreign to what the church has come to know. Some may be offended by this, as it doesn’t look the way that they think it should.

With this, I also saw a breaking up and a dispersing all over. This doesn’t refer to the church as a body or unit being disjoined, but to placement. This may not necessarily be a reference to physical placement, but places where voices will be carried, possibly being spoken over airways or the written word. It looked similar to a puzzle, and all the pieces of the whole were moved outward throughout the nation.

Vs. 13, ‘Some, however made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”’ There will be scoffers and mockers. Be prepared. Pay no heed. Look to the Lord.

A day or two after this, I picked up a 2019 Idaho quarter with the words ‘River of No Return Wilderness’ upon it. The words were instantly highlighted to me. Not long before, during prayer time, I had seen a white river that separated into multiple streams. After that, I saw a wooden damn that was bulging out, and was about to burst. At the same time I felt a sense of fullness, as though I had just eaten a full meal, though I hadn’t. There was that feeling of, ‘not one more thing is going to fit in here’ or ‘if I eat one more thing, I’m going to burst’. The water from that damn would flow out into that river creating a mighty flow. That flow would then separate into multiple areas.

            When I looked it up, I found the ‘Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness’. Frank Church’s name had been added to the name of the wilderness in 1984. In the dictionary frank means, ‘marked by free, forthright, and sincere expression’. It also means ‘to enable to pass or go freely or easily’. Frank was the adjective describing the church. I felt God saying that he is about to loosen the words of his people to flow freely, where our words have been inhibited by self-doubt, fear, and oppression of the enemy.

            The story of the River of No Return is interesting as well. Those who were transporting lumber down stream, were not able to travel back up to where they began, because of the harshness of the terrain. They built wooden boats, called sweep boats. Once they reached the end, the boat would then be taken apart. The wood used for the boat would be sold as lumber. Only very strong men would trek their way back up and do it again.

Here are some definitions of sweep,  ‘to clean by brushing away’,  ‘cause to move swiftly and smoothly’,  ‘affect (an area or place) swiftly and widely’, extend continuously in a particular direction’, and ‘a comprehensive search or survey of a place or area’.

            The boats, or way of transport would not make the return trip, thus where the name came from. The church is not only the Body of Christ, it is the way the Lord is transported in and through the earth. We are not returning to the place from which we came. The old way of doing things is no more. The church is not going back. We are in a new day. God is doing a new thing.

            This new thing is in its infancy stage, but this infancy will not last long. By leaps and bounds it will grow. Buckle up church, the damn is about to break.