I was reading I Corinthians 3:9-17 today and felt the Spirit begin to speak to me. I scrambled to find my journal to get it all down, for I don't want to miss anything He says!
[1Co 3:9-17 NKJV] 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, [you are] God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation [with] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone's work which he has built on [it] endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which [temple] you are.
Here is what I felt the Lord say: We are His building, We are His temple. The Spirit of God dwells in me. We are being built together. And the vision began:
I sit here, upon this large cool stone of rest where I have been for quite some time. I have not always been patient. From time to time, I have jumped up to stare expectantly down the road. A few more oddly shaped stones have appeared around me, a few stacks of rough lumber, some nails and tools, but nothing here appears very organized, nor does it look like any of it goes together. As I watch, another stone arrives on a rickety cart. The back of the cart opens and the stone is roughly dumped right on top of another stone. I see pieces fly off of both stones. I wonder at the pain, but marvel at how they now fit together perfectly as one stone rests against another. I begin to see order forming out of chaos, rough stones being polished against one another.
My eyes move from the building materials being gathered together to the old abandoned house next to me. I see that some of the old worn out boards have been removed. Little by little the old structure is being torn down to its foundation. The parts of the house never intended to be included will not remain.
A fire burns next to the house, consuming all the pieces that cannot endure. Some pieces that have been thrown in the fire glow and as the fire burns off the dirt, they rise out of the fire, clean and new. Each piece added to the old house in the past is being tested in the fire. The parts that endure are laying together in a neat stack, ready for the rebuilding.
My eyes widen as I notice idols being carried out of the old house, so many being revealed from the darkness where they were hidden! As I watch, they are thrown into the fire, which quickly blazes up and consumes them. Not even ashes remain of the things man thought he should worship alongside his God. I feel like cheering on this work! Pull it out! Pull it ALL out!, my spirit says within me. Let only that which passes the test of fire remain for building this house.
I must add that I never saw anyone moving the stones, nor who was tearing things off the old house or carrying out idols. But I know it is at the Word of the Master Builder. He is doing all this. We don't have to see Him to know this. I also know that my God is a consuming fire. [Hebrews 12:29] He is the fire and is consuming all that will not endure.
