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Let the Whole Earth Be Filled With His Glory
Let the Whole Earth Be Filled With His Glory
By Daniel Parkes
October 13, 2000
"And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen." (Psalm 72:19)
One of the providential circumstances that occured when I first moved to the city of Ottawa in order to get married was that I got involved in a church that condemned the former "movement" that I had been involved with. Unknown to the pastor of this church, however, I had received a lot of genuine blessings from this movement, even if there were some areas in which they fell short in (as with all churches). I would have to endure frequent denunciations of this movement, inwardly grieving because I had been so blessed through it. The movement's name was nothing more, and nothing less, than the Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Now the Vineyard Christian Fellowship is not perfect, but they certainly were used by God to bless my socks off on a number of very significant occasions during the year 1991 especially. It was after that that God (yes, God) brought me to Ottawa to become engaged and get married to the sweetheart that I had known previously, but was not prepared to get married to. It had not been, quite simply, God's timing to get married to her. I needed to be "cleansed" first, of a lot of real "soul bondage".
God did his cleansing work in me throughout a period of about 9 months. No, I wasn't "perfectly clean" on the inside; there was still a lot of garbage to get rid of (and still more to go!). But I was "clean enough" to be able to enter into a harmonious relationship with my former girlfriend, whom I had previously shied away from because, quite simply, I was not ready to get married -- there was a terrific fear of disappointing God binding me. What I mean by this is that I was wanting to please God "all the way" and make sure that I didn't make a mistake by getting married perhaps, when he did not want me to. God would have to "do it himself". If he wanted me to get married to this wonderful woman, he would have to "clean me up" so that I would feel secure enough in my faith and my relationship with God so that I could actually go through with it without feeling that, somehow, I was possibly going to be disappointing God when, in fact, he just 'might' want me to remain single for the rest of my life!
So there it was. There was the challenge. And God took me up on it by sending me off to the Cambridge Vineyard Christian Fellowship for about 9 months. (After the nine month period was ended, and God had clearly led me to go to Ottawa, someone prophetically said to me, without knowing why, or even knowing really what God had done in my life, or why I was going to Ottawa, "You've been birthed!" -- referring to the nine months time span. He was right, for God had brought me through a "new birth" type of experience in reshaping my way of thinking so that I could enter into a marriage relationship; something that terrified me before.)
God was sooooooooo good to me throughout that nine month period. In fact, it was right at the very start of that nine month period that God gave me a humungous vision in the night, while I was sleeping, in which he showed me a large span of my life, from March of 1985 (my salvation experience) to beyond the present day ... at least 15 years (and counting). The dream was prophetic, and revealed to me that I was on a sovereign time schedule -- ordained by God; something which I couldn't change, but which I would do well to pay attention to. In that dream, God revealed to me the start of my working for my present company (Nortel Networks) and he described it as ... an African Safari ... full of danger and wild animals! "Get ready!" God was saying, "I am going to bring you on an adventure!" There was a difficult moment during the dream when I got my hand "caught in the lion's mouth" -- that was the time that I was forbidden by a certain "official" to have fellowship meetings at work, or to have a Christian website at work, or to send out emails to a Christian fellowship receiver list -- you can see now the symbolism behind getting my (writing) hand caught in the lion's mouth! That all came to pass sometime in 1997 (I think it was), exactly as God showed it in the dream, as foretold in May of 1991 -- more than two years before I even started working for Nortel Networks in 1993 (then, the research arm of Northern Telecom, called Bell-Northern Research)! Whoa! God knows!
I was on an adventure, all right, and the end of it was marked by a very specific event: a resurrection scene, in which I first (1) removed the muzzle that was binding the mouth of a seemingly dead, lifeless, rejected, person; and, in which I second (2) applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to this seemingly dead figure (now without the muzzle, of course) -- and the result was that this aweful black liquid came trickling out of this rejected person's mouth! Hallelujah! What a glorious event! Here we are, then, in the year 2000, and the dream is not over, but we are, I believe, in the midst of the resurrection scene, where the dead boy comes to life!
My interpretation:
The muzzle: The muzzle on the rejected, lifeless, boy, represents a prohibition of sorts, placed over the mouths of Christian engineers and technologists, who have seen themselves as oppressed in the workplace (I know what that's all about). They have been given ungodly injunctions by others, "Don't speak about Christ; don't write about Christ; don't pray behind closed doors; don't send emails with Christ's name in it"; and have therefore been "muzzled" by the enemy. Perhaps it is sin, or a combination of other reasons that has permitted this muzzle to be put on by the enemy. The lack of a Christian presence, and the lack of united, godly, prayer, are enough in and of themselves to allow this to happen.
The Lord wants the muzzle removed. Through FCET, the muzzle is being removed. Many people who formerly did not have any sense of "fellowship" at their workplace are starting to once again enjoy a sense of fellowship and communion with other Christian brothers and sisters and are gaining courage and motivation to speak about Christ in the workplace. For some of these, prayer is beginning, once again, to ascend to the Father, who is listening to every prayer whispered, whether faint or strong, and is answering them in his own wonderful way. Testimonies are coming in of what God is doing, and has done, through these prayers, and through individuals who have a story to tell. People are able to receive this encouragement, through FCET. His divine providence is taking effect, precisely through those he has ordained to do it through: that is all those who are willing to take a stand for Christ, and get involved, and make him known in the workplace (this must be done carefully and with wisdom, allowing God to lead, rather than us 'trying' to do something 'for' God).
The mouth-to-mouth resuscitation:
The mouth-to-mouth resuscitation represents the life which is being breathed into believers around the globe through FCET, as we send out encouraging, inspirational, devotionals and teaching material on a regular basis, written by various authors. As people are sent the messages of encouragement, as well as prayer requests, faith is being built up in them; praise God, the devil is starting to lose his hold! As that faith rises to greater and greater proportions, the devil is losing his grip on believers in the workplace. People are able to share their faith openly, and are once again beginning to be unashamed about their faith in our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who alone has the power to save. God sees this plainly, and is honoring the faith of his children, and is beginning to empower them with greater and greater measures of faith, and challenges, and victories, so that his name may be glorified throughout the earth, in accordance with his word:
"And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen." (Psalm 72:19)
God is using FCET to "raise up" what was once rejected and lifeless: the fellowship of Christian engineers and technologists (not the name of the organization, this time, but the actual group of believers who are represented through FCET). Thank God you are a part of FCET. If not, I encourage you, and appeal to you, to sign up today. All membership is free, and there are great things in store for those who are willing to give it a try!
(Feel free to read the letters/feedback section of our website for some testimonies of how FCET has been an encouragement to others. Simply visit our website at the address listed below and click on the link provided.)
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