I saw in a vision a beautiful woman walking down a long mountain path. She was tall and slender, dressed in a colorful and attractive sundress. She had sandals on her feet. Her hair long and flowing, was blowing in the gentle breeze behind her, occasionally falling in curly tresses upon her shoulders when the wind would die down. She wasn’t really dressed for a regular mountain walk. However, this seemed to be no regular mountain. Although the path was high as though in a high valley, it was paved and meandered through a meadow alongside a gurgling mountain stream. Another higher, snowcapped mountain range acted as a backdrop to this scenic vision. The walk presented very little difficulty, and she was enjoying it, seemingly, to the fullest degree.

As she walked along she was adjusting her makeup, checking the way she looked frequently as though she was expecting a visitor on her walk. I overheard her talk to herself and heard her frequently giving herself commendations for her appearance. Following behind her was a little child who was very needy. This child tried numerous things to get her attention yet remained several paces behind the woman, so the woman never seemed to notice the child was there.

Then I noticed a second path closer to me on this side of the stream. It was a little more rugged. Walking on this path was a prophet. The prophet it seemed was keeping up with the woman and frequently attempting to get her attention. He would yell across the stream in an attempt to divert her attention to himself so he could communicate something very important to her. She would turn and look at him and nod approvingly as though she heard everything he said and agreed, then she would look back to her mirror or start studying the beautiful landscape, but her walk never changed.

Day turned into evening and evening into morning several times during the vision. I noticed that although the woman never wanted to be without the old prophet who was walking on the parallel path, neither did she want to much take the things the prophet said to heart. I noticed that because of the coarseness of the path the prophet was on, he suffered a great deal, traveling through many hardships to stay in sight of the lovely lady. But he willingly suffered these things because of his great love for her and his desire to see that none would harm her. So, the vision continued. I also noticed that the prophet had a look of concern and compassion for the child that followed the woman, but again he was unable to draw the woman’s attention to the child. So the three kept walking.

Finally the stream opened up into a little mountain lake and the path came to an end. The lovely woman and the prophet finally met at the end of this little lake. Standing there to meet them was an older woman who was a prophetess. She looked at the young woman staring deep into her eyes. She remained silent for a moment, and then she looked briefly at the old prophet. Turning back to the woman she said in a low, firm but gentle voice, "My dear, you think you are so beautiful. You take great pains to present yourself in beauty to all you meet. But do you know what the Father sees as beautiful?" The young woman looked shocked. Finally she was able to break her own silence and replied slightly stuttering, "Why I guess not!" Then the old prophetess looked at the old man and said, "This is what the Lord sees as true beauty. A selfless, giving heart clothed in meekness and separated from the world." The young woman was so surprised by her anointed words that she was struck to the heart. She bowed her head and began to weep. Then she turned, looking for the little girl who had been following her all along, pulled her up into her arms, then grabbed the old prophet as though he were her father, clung to the two and wept. It looked as though her heart were breaking with the revelation of her own superficiality and selfishness. When at last she looked up, her eyes were filled with love and wonder. I knew she was forever changed.

Application

The young attractive woman is the Church, the child is the needy world, and the old prophet is the voice of the Father speaking to us through His Word and the prophetic voice of His Spirit. The old woman is the Spirit of Wisdom.

The Church thinks she is okay. She thinks that because she has made her sanctuaries beautiful and can display her beautiful music to the world that she is lovely to the Father. She thinks that because she wears make-up and dresses like the world that she is pleasing to the eye, and she is! But these things do not make her pleasing to the Father’s eyes. Man may find her attractive and pleasant to behold because her life brings no conviction. But the Father sees her as marred, scared by the world and with only a little character or heavenly quality.

He says in His Word:

If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on the things of the earth. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. Col. 3:1-3

He is always pleased when we reach out beyond ourselves to do a kindness for another. It pleases Him when we feed the hungry, reach out to the sick, and visit the prisoners and other such charitable acts. When we give our tithes and offerings so the Gospel can go out throughout the world, it brings Him great pleasure. These things the Church ought to do, but there is another aspect of Christianity that must not go undone. That is the character changes that enable us to exemplify the Son. He desires that we do great acts of mercy for the world to see and know the love of the Father. Albeit, we cannot so much as give a cup of water to one in need that it goes unnoticed by Him. However, He is also looking for meekness, selflessness and separation from the ways, customs and the spirit of the world. He wants to turn the beautiful lady into a bride of heavenly beauty. He is looking for those who desire to learn how to worship Him in spirit and in truth. He is looking for those who will adorn themselves with the virtues listed by Paul in Colossians.

Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Co. 3:12-14

And furthermore as he admonished us to do in the book of Romans:

I beseech ye therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:1,2

In this wonderful transformation we reach a place wherein we are able to enter into the glories of putting on the Lord Himself.

To put on Christ is to live a life of holiness. To live a life of holiness is to put on bowels of tender mercies, kindness, humility, gentleness and so on. It is to put on love. In the book of Corinthians Paul calls us up to the life of perfection when he tells us to perfect holiness in the fear of God. Again the life of perfection is the life of unqualified love for our brother, friend and enemy. The same love with which we are called to love the Father we are called to give to our fellow man.

How is this possible? The answer is simple but not necessarily easy. Walk in the Spirit! The beautiful young woman walked on a path that was seemingly carefree, easily walked, and without much substance. The prophet on the other hand walked on a path that was filled with difficulties.

As a Christian we often fear difficulties and run from the tender compassions and sustaining grace of our Lord when we recoil from the complexities sent our way by the loving hand of our Father. Instead of remaining steadfast on the path put before us, we often turn back to the world and unhealthy ways of dealing with the issues, when what the Father is looking for is a walk of abiding trust. In keeping our focus locked on Him and waiting to see His plan begin to materialize, we grow in strength and in purity. Self-seeking begins to lose its hold on us. Slowly the fruits of godliness begin to become visible. This is not the path of ease. It is the path of greater hardships. But the disciplines if embraced, will in the end develop the godly character Messiah is looking for. This is the revelation that struck the heart of the young lady. She realized that in her decisions to trek the easy road, she lost something vital and necessary in her character. This reality broke her heart. As she understood that the road the old prophet had traveled and had many times encouraged her to travel with him, had produced in the prophet the character the Father thought was admirable she bewailed the wasted days of ease and comfort. What pain her heart was filled with; what sorrow she experienced as she realized her critical error. Knowing that she would have to, in essence, once again travel the lost years of her life, she wanted to cling to the pure voice of the Father. In hearing the voice of Wisdom confront her and repenting of her fruitless life, she wanted to cling to her call to a needy world. She understood that in holding to the ways of the world, she had sacrificed the higher purpose and plan of the Father. That too broke her heart. Though she looked beautiful to the world, she was of little value to a world in need. Sorrow filled her heart over this as well. This is where the Church is today. She is seeking to look lovely to the world, but she is looking in many of the wrong places to do it. She has not yet realized her mistake. Though the Father is sending the voice of the prophet, who has walked the old paths and knows the value of those ancient trails, she is not yet ready to hear his words of wisdom with her heart. She hears and she enjoys the sweet song of the prophet but she has not yet let his words sink deep into the seedbed of her heart and bring forth transformation. She is enjoying the scenery of the kingdom and walking on paths of relative ease. But the day is coming when she is going to come to the end of her preordained limits imposed upon her by the loving Father, and she will be met by Wisdom who will convict her careless heart and heal her ways.

She will cry out to be made into His wonderful image for she will see that her image, at best, is marred and without much substance. The bride is already crying out. Thus the work will be completed in her first. As this crying occurs, she will cling to her Father and His ways as never before for she will have seen life in its vanity to the highest degree. She will want no life but His. Once His work is brought to relative perfection in His bride, He will turn to the remainder of the Church and begin to bring the Church through the same sifting process. The wrestling of His Ruach HaKodesh will ensue until the breaking and yieldedness of His precious Church is complete.

When at last we turn from the ways of the world we will meet Christ and in meeting Him be like Him. In that moment we will be meat for the Master’s use, and we will be crowned to reign for we will have prevailed with the Father and with man.

I want to encourage all who read this article that there are many levels of intimacy that a Christian can experience with the Lord. There is a way to walk with the Father that is unearthly and is heavenly in its substance. However, the world, the flesh and the devil must be overcome to enter into the highest of all degrees afforded the Church. By the time you have come close to these victories, my Dear Friend, you will realize that those things which you were asked to relinquish were hindrances to unearthly joy and were in no way of any value.

Begin today to ask the Ruach HaKodesh (Spirit of the Holy One) to make new paths in you for the kingdom of the Father to rule and inhabit. Seek His face to remove every hindrance to deeper fellowship. Then submit to His holy ways and turn from all that even smacks of the world. Then you will know pleasure in His presence such as you have never known, and you will experience a depth of intimacy unlike you have ever experienced before. The world will come to see Yeshua (Jesus) in your countenance and you will bring the Father great glory by your life of submission. He is calling those who are seeking to worship Him in spirit and in truth: those whom He can teach His ways and bring them to rule at the right hand of the Son while still on this earth. Will you answer that call and make your life one continual quest to know Him and be as He is in this world to His glory?