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His Word ... a prophetic perspective

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February 23, 2004

The Old Grey Mare

        In a vision I saw a lush green valley with what looked like an old grey donkey or burro, that had been carrying many, many people. They were jumping off the old animal and were leaving the area and were headed out of the valley and up a mountain. I then saw Jesus on a white horse atop that mountain with the sun streaming brilliant rays of light behind Him.
        To make the trip from the valley up the mountain top, the people had to cross a long, barren strip of sandy desert. Some were finding it very difficult to continue, but when they asked for help, others would stop and help them. Some would give them food and/or water, others would help to physically carry them.
        All that had left the old animal and the lush, green valley were determined to complete their trip up the mountain and to Jesus. The more difficulty and the more obstacles they encountered the more they set their faces in determined effort to make it up the mountain and to Jesus.
        Jesus, meanwhile, patiently waited.
        Then I heard the words of a song I haven’t thought about for too many years to remember:
The Old Grey Mare

The old grey mare, she ain’t what she used to be,
Ain’t what she used to be,
Ain’t what she used to be.
The old grey mare, she ain’t what she used to be,
Many long years ago,
Many long years ago, many long years ago.
The old grey mare, she ain’t what she used to be,
Many long years ago

        Then the song and the vision ended.

Comment:

        A mare is a female horse or the female of other equine species. It’s also a work animal. Being in a lush, green valley would mean a fertile place of fruitfulness. A desert is a wilderness place and represents a time of testing and growth. Jesus on a white horse with the suns rays behind Him indicates Godly righteousness.
        I think what all this means is that the time is here, now, when those who want the true righteousness of God must abandon their “works” (and variations on a “works” theme—yeah, I’m talking about you) as a means of righteousness—even though it appears they are fertile and fruitful in the things of God.
        There must be a conscious and conscientious effort to cease our dependency upon the “old grey mare” of our good works, as fruitful as they may seem to us. To attain to the true righteousness of God, we must willingly enter into a desert place, a wilderness place. There we will be tested and suffer some deprivation, but we must help each other in our journey, when needed. There will be tremendous spiritual growth during this process. But spiritual growth is not our goal, it’s a means to an end. Our end goal is true righteousness in God that can only come from focusing on Jesus as our goal and enduring whatever deprivation and suffering occurs in our journey towards Him.
        When we arrive at our destination after having been tested and having grown to increasing maturity in God, we will be in the presence of Jesus Christ and His righteousness to a much higher degree than we can ever attain to in our flesh walk of good works. You will know by the Spirit of God within you when you are in that place. It will be a very, very private, personal and intimate knowledge and not one that you will talk about with others. If you find yourself wanting to explain to others about how you have “arrived” at a higher plateau in God, then you are not there.
        If those with whom you have to do don’t see a change in you, then there will have been no change.
        Selah ... pause and calmly think of that ...

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