(Note* This study was first given in Feb. 1999 @
ALM in Lampasas, TX. @ a Tues. evening Bible study in a ‘traditional’ church
setting) {If you are going to down load from the web all that we ask is that you copy all of it in it's entirety and give credit to where credit is due please. PS.}
I will start this study with a vision the Lord Jesus
gave me in Oct. of 1995 (I had been saved about 6 months). To this day Holy
Spirit is still using it to explain things to me & to expand on it’s
meaning. Now isn’t that just like God! He is always giving us new insight to
words we have read a hundred times! Praise Him for He is new each day &
ever increasing in our lives!
(Note* This was the first public sharing of this
vision with a group of people.)
“I found myself in a crop dusting plane- you
know all open to the wind and flying low just above the tree tops. Then I
realized that Jesus was the pilot of the plane & we were just soaring along
& then He said – ‘Look down’ – and so I looked down & there was this
enormous field. The dirt was dark & rich & I could smell the earthiness
of it. But boy were the rows of the plow all sorts of ways. He pointed to a row
way on the far right of the field, it was the first row in the field. It was
long & straight & beautiful to behold. He then pointed to Himself as if
saying I am the one who plowed that row. So I ask why are all the other rows sp
crooked & going in all which a ways. I mean I could see people in the field
at their rows. Some had a donkey & plow but were looking back over their
shoulders. Then there were some who had different types of instruments trying
to plow the ground with them- like shovels & rakes & hoes & even
small garden trowels. It was ridiculous to see this. But wait- there was folks
further down the rows with wheel barrels full of rocks they were carting along
behind them. Some had even stopped plowing & used the rocks to build houses
& stores & such. Then I could see some folks that were coming from way
across the field from the wrong direction trying to plow in the direction. Man
there was even some folk plowing across others rows. And then there were some
who had stopped to help the ones beside them or close to them. Boy- I said-
Lord this field is a mess. Even if they ever get anything planted it will be so
messed up you could not harvest from it. He shook his head in the yes. Made me
very sad because I could see tears on His cheeks. Then I looked again &
there in His row was the prettiest tallest wheat I had ever seen & He took
me down low to it & pointed and I could see that where ever the seed from
His wheat fell some folks rose up out of it and started plowing the field
straight like His row. And the most amazing thing was they did not have a plow
or donkey or anything- they were just walking down their row. He then said to
me ‘You must decrease that I might increase’ and as He said these words some of
the folks with the messed up rows started to die but everywhere that they died
a new folk came up & started walking the row & it was plowed straight
& true but not by any visible means.”
Now I know you want to interpret this dream
(& truly if the Spirit gives you any insight into this- please feel free to
contact me) but the Lord has already done that for me & it seems to be on
going. First off, I knew it was His call in my life and second that it was His
calling me into the type of ministry He was going to work through me. But &
most importantly, it revealed His heart to me about His church/churches. The
big overview of the field is the church universal, that church which is made up
of all those who accepted Jesus as their savior. Each row represents either an
individual or a group as His local church in specific locations. Now as you can
see there are some things seriously wrong with how most of the folks were
trying to plow their rows. The only successful ones were those who had died &
then had been brought to life by an invisible force- that invisible force is
Holy Spirit. And He is the one who
plows the ground. This study is concerned with how we become a fallow field for
Holy Spirit to plow & bring forth His purpose in the earth through us.
Below is also a sound interpretation I received
from a sister concerning the same vision. It has started to come to pass in my
life.
From Deb in Canada: (In summer of 1999)
What instantly came to mind is the one row that
has been laid, as the example row for ALL the others to follow is the apostolic
church model of the Early Church. Sadly there are a lot of churches that talk
about wanting to be a New Testament Church but are still operating under a
pastoral model and frustrated that they are not having the apostolic results
they want to see happen. So for sure many churches are not following the
original model. The vision also says that some had the right model in mind but
got only so far and didn’t complete the mission, as they were poorly equipped
for the task. For example if the church is functioning with a pastor and not an
apostle at the helm then it will not have the anointing and strategies to
become an apostolic church with a global perspective. I see that some started
with the right vision but then became satisfied in meeting their own needs and
seeing their own work flourish and built their own kingdoms. I see the coming
from the wrong direction and trying to plow the fields being false religions:
Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses for example. And we see many falling prey to their
deceptive doctrines :o(( Jesus did speak in the Bible about a plow.
(Luke 9:62 NIV) "Jesus
replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for
service in the kingdom of God.""
The KJV says is not worthy. I am sure Barb said
it but I have to also. If you don't look where you are headed when you are
plowing you will have very crooked rows, even if you are just a little off from
your first straight row. Even if you take
your eyes off your goal for just a second and
look back it isn't possible to keep going perfectly straight. Of course this
has a spiritual connotation to us, which I am sure you all recognize so I won't
belabor it. I also think that if you are unevenly yoked you won't make very
straight rows, far from it as a matter of fact. (Luke 10:1-2 NIV) "After this the Lord appointed
seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and
place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful,
but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out
workers into his harvest field."
I think this is something we don't often focus
on, that the Lord sends His ministers out before Him, we think of Him going to
prepare the way for us to follow but this verse would say differently. *At
least to me, I am most willing to be corrected if someone has a fresh insight
to this* He sends us then He comes to where He has sent us once the ground has
been prepared. We usually skip that part of the verse and focus on this as a
call to pray for more workers, which we certainly need to be doing. (Isa.
28:24-29 NIV) {*Pepper’s NOTE* I was first given this passage of Scripture by
the Lord on July 19, 1996 with absolutely no understanding. I have many times
ask others about its meaning but until just recently have I began to receive
the understanding. June 2001} "When a farmer plows for planting, does he
plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? When he
has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he
not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and
spelt in its field? His God
instructs him and teaches him the right way. Caraway is not threshed with a
sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin; caraway is beaten out with a
rod, and cummin with a stick. Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does
not go on threshing it forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing
cart over it, his horses do not grind it. All this also comes from the LORD
Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom."
Don't ask me why I felt led to do a word search!
I just did! I know the Lord speaks to me when I do these often. What jumped out
at me is the need for specific strategies from the Lord, His wonderful counsel
and wisdom, as the same things don't work with every crop (every people group,
every church planting) So unless we obtain His Divine strategies we will not
see success, we will be poorly equipped even though we have caught the vision.
(Amos 9:13 NIV) ""The days
are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by
the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from
the mountains and flow from all the hills." {Pepper’s Note* I received
this scripture in the fall of 1996}
I chose to end this with this glorious prophetic
promise through the prophet Amos. I believe those days are not just coming but
they are coming SOON! Glory to His Name! Praying with Apostolic Passion, DEB
I was instructed in Dec. of 2000 by Hoy Spirit
to re-evaluate all of the things I have learned & shared with others. It is
good to be put into remembrance. I have found that this vision has even more
powerful insight & reveals the purpose of God in a greater way when put
into the context of the revelation of the true 1st. century church
we have received in the last year. With this in mind I will offer a greater
interpretation of this vision.
The field does represent the church of Jesus-
first through the eras of man’s time and also the types of churches grown or
put together through man’s times & seasons. Yes many started out with the
right vision but for whatever reason, be it the wrong equipment or stopping in
comfort to build their own kingdoms they went astray. And yes those coming from
the wrong direction are false religions, but it also represents Christians who
attempt to do it their way instead of God’s way. In our present day situation
we have most of the western church coming at church and God’s purpose for the
church from the wrong perspective- what we believe is the right way filtered
through our man teachings, traditions, & commandments. I have also seen
that the ones who cut across other folks rows are those well intentioned
Christian groups who have tried to force their church models on others i.e.
denominations, sects, etc. But the greatest insight is not into how we have
done it wrongly but that God by His Holy Spirit is the only One who has the
right plan & purpose in mind & heart for His church and that if we do
not surrender ourselves to His guidance and leading we will be like all the
others and find ourselves in as crooked a row as those seen in the vision. There
is a warning here but there is also great hope and grace promised here- IF we
will allow Holy Spirit to do His work in us and through us we will see all of
our rows plowed just as the first row Jesus laid down as our example.
In the joy of Jesus,
Pepper Skeen
June 2001
