Breaking the Bottleneck
It was an amazing dream. It could be one of the most significant revelations that God the Spirit has entrusted to me to share with His people!
I saw what appeared to be an hourglass of gigantic proportions. In fact, the top of it seemed to reach into the heavens, so that I could not see the upper rim at all. The lower portion of the hourglass was smaller than the upper part, so that if what was in the top part were to pour into the lower part it would not be able to contain it all.
The lower portion of the hourglass was so immense that it covered great nations, including South Africa, where I was at the time. The lands inside that lower part seemed to be in a condition of drought and famine, with need and hunger everywhere, and with very little nourishment to be found anywhere. The lands cried out for rain, and the peoples were in desperate need of hope, health and nourishment. Shadow and gloom shrouded the countryside. Here and there I perceived pockets of abundance, but they were pitifully small and inadequate for the countries encircled by the hourglass.
How can I describe what was in the upper portion of the hourglass?
It appeared to be overflowing with heaven’s refreshments, life, light, love, fulfilment, rest and joy. The presence, blessing, and superabundant provision of God himself seemed to permeate all that I envisaged in that wonderful and glorious upper part of the hourglass.
In addition, perhaps strangely, I saw sweet believers also mingled in with the ingredients of heaven. But they were not, or at least not all, believers who were already in heaven. In my dream I recognised some dear brothers and sisters in God who are still very much alive and well here on the earth. Although I did not recognise many, it was sufficient for me to understand that in the hourglass were the kind of Christians that others aspire to be, those who here and now have entered a spiritual land that flows with milk and honey, and where they “find refuge in the shadow of [His] wings. / They feast on the abundance of [His] house, / [and] drink from [His] river of delights.”
It is amazing, isn’t it? God has made such abundant and astounding provision for the multitudes of earth! Well may He ask, “What more could have been done for My vineyard / than I have done for it?”
Through the atoning death of Jesus, through His triumphant resurrection and ascension, through His continual intercession for us, through the outpoured Holy Spirit, and through the continuing expressions of His grace towards us, the eternal, almighty, all-wise and all-powerful God has done all that is possible for Him to do so that mere mortal man may continually experience a very delightful foretaste of heaven’s wonder here and now, and its eternal fullness later.
The Great Paradox
Yes, all of that, God, in His stupendous, fathomless love has purposed and provided for frail, simple, sinful, fallen mankind! It exists, it is available freely, and God wants it to be fully availed of now!
Then what is the hindrance? Why do multitudes live in the spiritually arid conditions depicted in my dream? Where is the blockage? What is the bottleneck? How is it that even the vast majority of those who have come to know life in Jesus experience such a pitifully small measure of what has been clearly and unequivocally promised for them?
Why the bottleneck?
Has it truly been declared that we are intended to be super conquerors through him who loved us? (3) Have inexpressible and glorious joy, (4) and peace like a river (5) as well, really been pledged to us? Are we, in very fact, intended to live a life in the midst of pressures and problems where being seated with Jesus in the heavenly realms (6) is glorious reality and not simply frustrating and disillusionary theory?
Why the bottleneck?
Hasn’t God in His grace promised forgiveness, cleansing and a totally new life for even the vilest wretch who turns in repentance and faith to our Lord Jesus Christ? Cannot even such a person be assured of hope that gives! We can know as much of God’s blessing, fullness and enabling grace as the sweetest, noblest saint ever has, and thus even we can declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light.
In this day of challenge and crisis, we must be this kind of people. We must find a way to affect our generation in such a manner that God is fully satisfied, wonderfully pleased, yes, and even glorified throughout the whole earth in this present day.
Simple, honest, wholehearted believers can be used by the Holy Spirit to change the course of nations
Let us break the bottleneck!
Oh, yes, I do understand that it will take the grace and power of God. But they are available! So let us break the bottleneck!
In the church of my dreams, the day comes! A people of God are equipped, Christ-like and Spirit-enveloped so that even in the desert a way is prepared for the Lord. In the wilderness a straight highway is made for our God. Valleys are raised up and mountains and hills are made low. Rough places are made level and the rugged places become a plain. The glory of the Lord is revealed, and all mankind sees it together. For the mouth of the Lord has declared it.
Glory to God! Lift up your heads, for the day is approaching, the great and awesome day of our God. He will have a glorious Church without malfunction, imperfection or even sign of aging. We will be the people of God for this day of the Lord. Hallelujah!
Are we willing to pay whatever price is required so that the bottleneck is broken? Surely there are many who are! Are you? In this book we look at areas of church life, as well as personal life, that need radical adjustment so that heaven’s finest fullness may overflow earth’s deepest needs. As we look, we pray, “Build your Church, Lord Jesus.”
by John Beaumont (Church of My Dreams)