I Will Pour Out My Spirit

"‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams."
Acts 2:17

Church, my brotha's and my sista's, I believe we are living in the last days. My sister and I talk about it often. We don't know the day or the hour, but God does; and Jesus is so ready to come get His children and I can't help but imagine Jesus sitting on the edge of His throne just waiting for God to tell Him, "Go get 'em! Bring them home!" What I'm about to lay out here is very true...no I won't be predicting dates...but I can tell you what the verse about tells us in Acts is very true. Prophesy will happen, visions will be seen, and dreams will be dreamed. I want to talk about the Holy Spirit in this post, as apart of our "The Power of the Church" series. I believe His Spirit is in face being poured out on all, and I particularly believe it is being poured out through the arts. Another thing my sister and I were talking about. Just today I have been overwhelmed with all the inspiration of writing I need to get busy on; I have felt such an anointing and urgency to get as much as I can on paper. It's like God is pouring out heavy because so many need to hear.
I had what I call a divine dream last night. I have debated whether or not to share this, but you can call me crazy if you want...I promise I've been taking my medication...haha! But truthfully and honestly I had a dream last night, and it's a dream that when I woke up I had to write it down because I knew in my spirit that is was straight from God Himself. Even as I was writing it down it almost read like scripture, it was the Voice of God...I guess since we are so still and quiet when we sleep, He can speak. This dream has shook me all day, it has had me searching scripture trying to interpret it, and understand what God is trying to convey. I've not been able to take my mind off of it, it's been like a conviction. Here is the dream:

I dreamed of what seemed to be 2 moons or planets. One was red and seemed to be of fire and Satan was standing on top of it. The other was white, with what appeared to be Jesus on a white horse on top. I was watching all this from my window. In between the 2 moons or planets, there was a huge cloud the color of a rainbow, but it was also dark, and God was in the rainbow, or dark cloud. It was called the mercy seat, for from it He judged the nations. He raged in His judgement; to see what humans had done to His creation and how they rejected His son's blood. For the Son's blood reaches everyone, and every nation. His wrath would light up the sky and shake the world. The stars would fall out of place, and some would revolve around the cloud which was indwelt by God.

This is what I wrote when I got up this morning. All I could think of was a verse found somewhere, I figured one of the major or minor prophets in the Bible where it said your sons and daughters will prophecy and dream dreams and see visions. I had no idea what it meant. At first I thought it was showing the 2 forces of power on the earth, the battle of good and evil. I looked up in my concordance the word "prophesy" and it directed me to Joel 2:28, as I began to read the entire second chapter of Joel it started lining up with my dream and I was tripping out! Have you read Joel 2 lately?!
We will start with verse 2, be sure to pull your Bible too.
2 It is a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of thick clouds and deep blackness.

10 The earth quakes as they advance,
and the heavens tremble.
The sun and moon grow dark,
and the stars no longer shine.

“Then, after doing all those things,
I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on servants—men and women alike.

31 The sun will become dark,
and the moon will turn blood red
before that great and terrible[f] day of the Lord arrives.

The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow. -Revelation 4:3

Do you see how this aligns with my dream?! And it's not like I sat and read Joel last night and dreamed because it was fresh on my brain. I've not read Joel since last year when I read the Bible in 90 days. So what is the message of Joel and my dream, and what does the Holy Spirit have to do with this?
The message is this. There is a deadline, a deadline for the people of every tribe nation and tongue to turn to, and turn back to God. In Joel the people of Judah were living evil, rebellious lives. Joel reminded then that those who ignored God would one day face God's wrath. God judges sin. But we don't have to live in sin, we can be forgiven. Jesus' blood reaches everyone, and this is where the pouring out of the Spirit is essential to the empowering of the church. We need to spend less time bickering in the church and set out on a mission as a body of believers to reach the nations to Jesus Christ so Judgement will not come upon them. It's coming, and it's not Satan that judges, it's God who pours out wrath. It's not okay to accept, it should break our hearts. Do you know how precious the gift of the Spirit is?! In Israel, the empowering gift of God's Spirit had previously been given only to select individuals such as priests, judges, kings, and prophets. But a time was coming when the Spirit would be given to every one of God's people, regardless or age, gender, or race. It is a fulfillment of Moses' wish that every Israelite might be a prophet (Num. 11:29), all would prophesy and see visions. In Acts 2, Peter expands this promise to include people from all over the known world who were gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2:39; Gal. 3:28).
The Spirit is God the 3rd person Trinity. Y'all fasten your seatbelts, don't unbuckle until the end of this post. You've been warned. Peter's powerful message in Acts is an alert to opportunity. In Acts 2 Peter quotes the prophet Joel, who prophesied of the Spirit, and that He would be poured out on all people, Jews and Gentiles. As a result the ability to minister is not limited to young or aged but is extended to all generations. Notice that Peter changes the "and afterward" to "in the last days." Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, adapts Joel's prophecy to the present age of the Spirit-an age that begins, with the outpouring of the Spirit of God. Tongues are not mentioned, rather the gift of prophecy is referred to. Prophecy is the ability to declare the Word of God. They are equipped by the Spirit to tell forth the Word of God with power. And I'm here to declare to you today that a day of Judgment is coming, and it's going to be here before you know it, and without the blood of Jesus covering your sin filled life you are going to a place where, if you thought the world was bad you haven't seen anything yet. But I'm also here to declare to you that "Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!" The age of the church, the age of the Spirit, is an era of faith. When men and woman believe what God has said and invite Him to be the Lord of their lives, they will be filled with the Spirit. The age of the Spirit will begin with the outpouring of the Spirit. It will end when the sun is darkened and the moon turned to blood. However, clearly, these dire events did not take place on the day of Pentecost. These events will take place in the future (now):

27 "For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man[a] comes."
29 “Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken."

A day is coming when God's signs will appear on the earth and in the heaven's above. We are so close to the end, but there are still so many who need to hear the message of Jesus and the power of His blood and love. His Spirit is continuing to be poured out and will continue until the Great Tribulation, it is up to the church to spread the word and touch lives, so that those lives will be filled with life in Christ through the Spirit and touch other lives. The Spirit is like another character in this story of life, "A Divine Drama" the Author who knows and loves the people he created, he wrote himself into the play. He has left the visible stage, but He remains behind in an unseen way, leading, and guiding, and strengthening his people. Receive His spirit today.