There were men in those days keeping flocks by night

August 6, 2007

Joel Akin

 Across the wave there are men keeping flocks. Flocks are sheep and if you have sheep you are blessed. Sheep are dumb but not in the sense of ability. When it comes to escape a sheep tries everything to escape the handler. It doesn't try to keep itself dumb it tries to run. And if you have a handler that is a dog the dog doesn't know what to do without the help of the shepherd.

I had a friend who was a shepherd in his youth. He was an overseer and a smart man. He was able to overcome his youth and become a pastor and that was a move from sheep to sheep.

Now the real point of this is that there were men. Men are the same then as they are now. They went out and tried to do what was right. Yet when angels appeared to them they were staggered. They could deal with bear or lion but courage is the one thing which gives men ability. If you have courage you can deal with a lion. To have courage means to deal with men. And to deal with men remains a gift from God.

So when God gave me a gift he gave it to me indirectly. I didn't go out to fight but I did. I won and I gave glory to God. I fought with evil and I beat them but it wasn't easy. Yet in the battle I gained courage. Not in a way that is obvious but in a way that is sincere. And that courage was the gift I asked for.

God knew I had fear of men. Angels are men but with wing or gift of voice. The voice of an archangel is designed by God to shout. And if you heard one you would quail. That is because they shout loud. And when I was in the story I shouted loud. I don't know how loud but once it sounded like thunder. And if that is strange it is because I have a vocal disorder called Spasmodic Dysphonia. It was diagnosed by three experts at once which is a blessing. Even if the disease is not. I also have Myoclonic Cervical Dystonia and that causes me pain and suffering especially with shakiness. Today I went to Walmart hoping a line would open. Everytime I moved away because of spasm another cart would fill the space I hoped would move. I finally went through self checkout and learned how to do it. It wasn't hard and it worked even though I shook badly while doing it. The machine didn't care and it worked and I ended up having fun learning a new trick.

Now I have gifts and gifts is the ability to learn. So when God told me that he wanted me to return to school I was both shocked and filled with hope. Hope because to return to school is only possible if I'm healed. Some might say I should try to go no matter what but perhaps you've not heard me say that I deal with things that I've tried. I can't sit in a normal chair. If I do I'm into spasms beyond control in a short time if it isn't against a wall. And some teachers don't want students at the back of the class. And even if they let me it wouldn't be the same because asking me to speak up is like asking a blind man to read what you just wrote on the bulletin board. I do have a voice but it is like short and people notice that it wears out quickly. And once its gone my brain follows with pain. It is a complicated disease and it is one thing which training won't fix. So I would like to go back to school but if I'm focussed on trying to sit I won't focus on the lesson. And so the lesson becomes film and film requires patience and lugging a tripod and equipment around. And it is this which is why God wants me to go.

He wants me to read the manual for once. He wants me to learn how to be a real photographer and learn how to use old film and develop in old cameras. I was close to learning but if I said it scared me that would sound foolish. Yet I'm a child and it took me years to say "I'm a man". Not because I couldn't but because like many we never overcome our fear. And dealing with it is like dealing with a tiger. The snake is one size fits all but the tiger is a special brand which some men learn to hunt.

But imagine as a tiger you saw me as a flit. That is a butterfly. I was nothing but a tiger has to submit if the butterfly doesn't stop. Eventually the swat and smash doesn't work. And so God created a way for me to sweat and fight by prayer. And it wasn't easy but it gave me courage. And courage is what I have even if I don't know it.

Now here is a twist on things I think is a good point. Does courage mean that I should stand there in front of people and let myself shake? Does courage mean I overcome my lack of voice by straining to speak with the voice allotment I have? In other words I may have a day I can speak but if I push it then I lose the ability. Before it took me months to learn if I spoke to people I might hit overload. And if I pushed past it I may lose that ability for days or weeks or in one case months.

So is it courage? We often think that courage is the ability to overcome impossible odds. It is. I overcame impossible odds to write this. But does my courage mean I should be able to overcome my spasms? No. That is outside of my control. How about my voice? Some would like me to speak but I refuse to see them. Does that mean I lack courage? No. It means I have sense. If I am alloted an hour of prayer time and it requires me to speak then that would be one thing. But I don't speak in my prayer time. I sometimes try to fight but God always tells me to trust and basically back off.

It isn't that I lack for faith. It isn't that I lack courage. It is that I fight with a world class opponent which requires me to have a massage and therapy as often as possible. And if that sounds bad it is only if you think I go into things to do wrong. I go out and fight with Sin.

Now here is who Sin is. He is the one who created a spirit. He made it up from fragment of soul and la. He put it together and made it do things. A little like today's robotics. They are putting faces on them and giving them name and voices. They don't do much but imagine it was a hundred plus years in the future. Now what would a robot be able to do? We'd be far past Robbie the Robot and be into I Robot. The fact is I Robot is a true story spiritually speaking. For robot spirit is what we are. We are all made of fragment of DNA and RNA and a spiritual part which I call Shia but the Lord called it Shit with ta. That is offensive but it meant hidden dung or shit. And that is the way God called it not me. It is hidden in scripture if you want to look it up. Hebrew was written with some words as key reference to this age.

In brief the Acacia was the tree called Shitta. It was also Shittim. Shit Ta meant hidden shit and Shittim meant time to shit. I know these are very offensive words and I apologize for showing this but this is what men were made of. We were made of the Acacia tree which was originally pure. It became the A Pel tree but didn't produce any real fruit. So Sin put a spirit in the tree so eating a fragment of it would give men sordid strength. He put into it knowledge and it was this which caused men to faint. But what they didn't know is it was designed to make the real person die. And so when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree which was a leaf, they were given enhanced ability to understand. Only it was their sin side which awoke. And they were spiritually dead.

Now there is more but one day I'll write it so I don't have to hide the knowledge. We were lifted up to God and are held accountable to Him for this. Not the words but for the sake of offense. He knows it is an offensive word and he knows I apologize for using it. I don't apologize for speaking it by order of God. That is why I am a mixed man. I have the right to apologize for the word but am not apologizing for what God does. If I do that is an offense to God.

I faced this once and it was an offense but not to me but to men. In other words I failed to lift God up fully in a service where I was ordered to rebuke. I did but at the end of the service I said "I still like you" and that is why it was offensive. For I was built up by God to pray for them and to help them and to encourage them. At least that is why I went. But the Spirit of God came on me and rebuked them. It was an gift from God that I didn't curse but rebuked. God would have rebuked them if there had been someone there to interpret but they had lost that gift. Many of our churches don't use the gift of interpretation. We turn it off. And so God tried to use me in it once but I failed due to lack of understanding. It wasn't so much lack of courage but lack of understanding. It was Gods will that I speak but there were others who were under the same conviction. So I didn't know why. It was a test of the Spirit to see who could do it. I could have but I was bent out of shape and that meant I wasn't ready.

I also had a gift where I could discern when the Holy Spirit was about to speak. It had been 100% accurate but I happened to mention it and the next time it wasn't there. I blamed myself for speaking of it but it was a way of glorifying God and the enemy heard it and thwarted it.

So in a way that is the gift you know but Sin was the fight of a life. I gave all and I fought but it was Sin which put this spirit of sin in everyone at birth. He fought day and night with God. And I had to put on faith to the point of ultimate before I was ready.

God prepared me by giving me faith but it wasn't my faith. It was His. He saw I knew that it was like a mantle but the mantle was given as need to use. And so in a way there are faith of men and faith in God. Faith in God isn't given because we claim it but because we learn it.

A basic explanation is the following. You are surrounded by emotion which is like the force in Star Wars. It touches you and without thinking you accept it. That is sin. Now God arrives and trains you in faith. It is then you face opposition from evil. You faint only in trying to hear. That hearing is what men want but they faint and think they failed. They don't know that is the great trick of sin little. Faint in the day of adversity and your strength is little. Grow in faith by listening. Grow in faith by hearing. Grow with God in friendship. And when you are true friends and can ultimately hear clear then you wake up one day and God gives you things as gifts. If he doesn't think you are ready then you are not. I tend to go in ignorant which is how I like to deal with things. I get excited by life and so God gives me knowledge. And now I find I overcame all things with God. Only I don't really know what that means as yet.

So there were men tending flocks by night. That is a gift to men for they are men who give. My father gives but at present he is well but not of men. Spiritually. He is going to live and declare the works of the Lord. And so am I.

Mom is going to do well. She is going to be healed. She is going to be delivered. And so is my family who all suffer. My nephew Joshua is in hospital, or the hospital, and it is this which means he fights with illness and spirit.

All these things are war. But if you could see it I would share it that God isn't giving up. He is going to deliver and set free. And so I give this much to you. Don't fret word play. Don't fret use of sh with it. It is a bad word but it was bad in the beginning. God created it to explain. It was the most direct word there was. There are others but they were things God will heal soon. It will shock at first but it is intended to shock so it doesn't get used in language. Imagine that these words spoke and were used in context. So people would say penis but they wouldn't say pen is. In other words I need help and courage. For one day I will have to explain my use of those words to God. As in He wants to see how I will do it. He is curious.

And if you wonder of a main rapture it will arrive but not until we are ready. So give it to men who pray. For they are the one people God wants to speak with. And they are on the way up soon to hear the Word of God. And that means they will see it not dream it. Dreams are for the Spirit of God to speak to our soul. Dreams are for the day of hope and Hope to be seen. Like a wish upon a star.

And so the reality of the rapture is that God comes and takes away the heart of the church. Those who pray. For when they are gone then the people who are left will have to chose who they will serve. And it is this which invites in the Spirit of God to move upon the face of the earth to make people see. And it is this time when the poor are awoken and blessed. And it is this time when men will cast off riches. For if we seem small the prayer of the righteous man availeth much.