“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)

Last night, as I was snoarking (a term I coined to describe the times you fall asleep while soaking in the Presence of the Lord…lol), I had a dream.

In the dream, I noticed that the bedroom window looked like someone had made an attempt to break in—with a twist, literally. The aluminum frame had been twisted at one end, so that it could be pulled back to make room for the thief to enter without the noise of breaking the glass or puncturing the screen.

How would you interpret this dream?

Here is what the Lord showed me. He warned me that the enemy of our souls (who is described as a thief by Jesus in John 10:10) is attacking us at the place of intimacy with the Father (bedroom). He knows that if he attempted to do it in an obvious way, making much noise about it, with a direct attack, we would be quick to notice it and prevent him from coming in.

Instead, his strategy is to twist the framework of our faith little by little and make us believe that intimacy with God is not really all that important.

After all, we are too busy serving the Lord. We are too tired from doing His work. We can’t afford to take the time to be with Him, when there is so much ministry to be done.

We don’t need to spend time in the word…after all we hear from God clearly. We obey when Holy Spirit tells us what to do. What more do we need, eh? Yadi, yada.

Get the idea?

Before we know it, we neglect one of the most essential elements of life in Christ. As intimacy with the Lord is reduced, neglected or downright ignored, we give the enemy permission to deceive us into believing that we can live our lives without it.
Jesus makes no bones about the fact that without intimacy with Him, we don’t stand a chance.

“Without Me you can do nothing.”

The Greek word translated nothing (ouden) actually means, are you ready for it, NOTHING. Nada. Zilch. Not a blessed thing.

Over the past few weeks, the Lord has been speaking to me directly as well as through friends about the NECESSITY of INTIMACY, especially at this critical juncture in time. I have re-affirmed my commitment to the Lord to spend a minimum of an hour a day, where I do nothing but spend time with Him and let Him minister to me.

This is a time with no agenda. I am not seeking revelation. I am not seeking strategy. I am not doing this to get something out of Him. I am doing this, simply because I need to, I want to…and more importantly, because He needs me to, He wants me to.

Without Him, we can do nothing. With Him, we bear much fruit. Take your pick. (The word “pick” should give you a hint as to the right choice!)

In the dream, I noticed that even though the framework was twisted, it was still not completely sheared off. In other words, the opportunity to straighten it out is still there.

Dear DWOD friend, would you take this word to heart and stop the attempted robbery before the enemy gets too far with his scheme?

I hope so. I pray so. Let it be so. Amen.