The Happy King and His Commendation

24 Aug 2010 3 Comments

by estherskaffeklatsch in going deeper, our identity, prophetic visions

This past Monday when I was singing at Resting Place House of Prayer, I had a vision which greatly impacted me. In fact, it filled me with joy that I hadn’t really known in a long time.

We were singing spontaneously for quite a while, concerning God’s holiness and His throne room. My friend Christi was singing powerfully and with a lot of gusto about His holiness, when in the Spirit I saw in the center of the room, between the stage and the seats, God on His throne. He was robed in the richest, heaviest robe you could imagine. It was pure, pure white and encrusted with pearls and embroidered with gold. He had a huge crown on his head, gold, inlaid so incredibly minutely with pearls that it looked like it was made of pearl. He was the embodiment of joy in Himself. I could tell that He didn’t need anything to make Him happy; He was Happiness. So self-contained; He showed Himself to be undoubtedly and absolutely the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and there was no mistaking that there is no other God but Him. His holiness and majesty were really tangible.

All of a sudden, He stood up and pointed at Christi, and said with the happiest abandon and encouragement: “Listen to her! She’s telling you about me! What she’s singing is true! That’s right Christi! You’re doing a great job! Keep going!” What’s more, He turned all the way around to her and put both arms out toward her and started applauding her. The congregation was staring at Him in disbelief, as if they never believed God had an ounce of joy in Himself at all. And then Emily Schiavi, who was leading worship, began to sing, and the Lord did the same to her! I was so ecstatic to see these women being applauded and recognized by the Lord; I felt privileged to know them. What was amazing was Christi’s response (what I saw in the Spirit, not in the natural): instead of getting on her high horse from that recognition, she became so humble. She still kept singing with the same fervor, but her heart was so full of humility that she got down off the stage and went to the Lord’s side. He put His arm around her and held her like a proud Father. Her body got completely hidden in his heavy sleeve, but she just gazed at the Lord’s face. At that point, the crown on His head began to grow taller until it shot through the roof. I even saw myself go and sit at His feet, wanting to just lean against Him and be with Him.

After this intense vision that I could almost feel palpably, Rich Monaco, who was the prayer leader, got up on the mic and said simply and calmly, “The presence of the Lord is in this place.” At which point I saw, in the Spirit, the Lord look at Rich, point to Him, and in the most beaming, joyful, playful way, say: “That’s a good one, Rich.” And that’s when I started laughing. And couldn’t stop for quite a while. I became so aware of the playfulness of the Father that I just laughed with joy. Rich said something else about the river flowing from God’s throne, and I saw the Lord pick up His robe and start dancing in the river.

I wondered later about this vision and whether it was biblical. I thought, “Sure, I’d like it to be true that God recognizes our efforts to praise Him. But if all our deeds are like filthy rags and all…well, let me check what the Bible says about this.” I thought I remembered, vaguely, something about “receiving our commendation”, so I looked that up and found this:

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. –1 Corinthians 4:5

I was astounded. Here was Paul saying that God would bring everything to light when He comes. The one that knows the end from the beginning intends to commend His people. Not condemn them, but commend them. This understanding made me so confident before God that it made me want to follow Him all the more. I have to clarify that there was an underlying understanding in the vision that God was absolutely holy and took sin and rebellion extremely seriously. He does not willy-nilly give a free pass to believers to do as they please. But what I understood was that a true understanding of God’s character and the willingness to speak the truth about Him inspires and motivates our desire to follow and obey Him.

Psalm 62:11-12 echoes this:

One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.

This has to resonate deep within us: that God’s Kingship does not change, nor does His joy, nor does His steadfast love. He is fully confident in Himself and His qualifications and purposes. And His heart is for His people, to encourage them, and to show them that He truly is the source of all joy, happiness and satisfaction.

NOTE: I had a couple of other visions that night which I would like to share soon. Stay tuned.

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