KEEP ON BELIEVING!--The Way of Faith!    DFO1268  1/9/82
--A Beautiful Dream about Faith!

         1. MARIA & I WERE WALKING ALONG ALONE HAND-IN-HAND out on a deserted highway through barren desolate semi-desert country, sort of like West Texas & some places in Arizona. We seemed to be somewhat lost & searching for our destination.
         2. THEN SUDDENLY WE CAME UPON THIS BEAUTIFUL LITTLE WHITE ROADWAY leading off to the left & down a slight slope. And there just a hundred meters away or so was a beautiful sort of ornamental gate which was a building in itself.
         3. THROUGH THE GATE & BEYOND THE BUILDING we could see for the first time some beautiful green verdure & a wide expanse of beautifully trimmed golf course greens & fairways! And immediately I recognised that it was a Club House, a Country Club!
         4. SO WE WALKED ON THROUGH THE GATE, sort of an archway, & we were walking through a deserted parking lot which led onto the golf course. Then we saw this beautiful roadway with tall trees on each side leading off into the distance toward a beautiful little country town, only about a couple of miles away.
         5. IT WAS ALMOST AS THOUGH IN PASSING THROUGH THE GATE OF THE CLUB HOUSE WE HAD ENTERED INTO ANOTHER WORLD ENTIRELY, & we were very happy & relieved & thanking the Lord! But by this time I was very very tired because we'd apparently walked a long way, & even a couple of kilometers or a mile-&-a-half or two just seemed like an awful long way to go.
         6. THEN I LOOKED AROUND TOWARD THE CLUB HOUSE & HERE CAME THIS BUS, coming in from the same highway that we had been on, & driving down the pretty little white paved roadway into the arch of the club. Our hearts leaped with joy to think, "Thank God, a bus! Now we won't have to walk all the way into town!" So we started to walk quickly toward the roadway along which it would drive.
         7. BUT APPARENTLY WE HAD NOT ACTED SOON ENOUGH! We had stood there too long contemplating & looking to see what the bus sign said on the front indicator of the bus, & it was picking up speed more rapidly than we had expected & it suddenly disappeared out of sight down this slight grade & our hearts sank because we realised we had not started for it soon enough & it was getting away from us!
         8. AND SUDDENLY A VOICE SEEMED TO SAY, "YOU DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH FAITH!" We missed it because of our dilly-dallying & shilly-shallying & hesitating! As the old saying goes, "He who hesitates is lost" or "it's the quick or the dead"!--And I was just so disappointed & so sad & so upset about missing that bus I was just ready to sink down onto the grass in tears!
         9. BUT SUDDENLY I HEARD THESE VOICES SOUNDING JUST LIKE MY FATHER'S & MOTHER'S, just the way they used to sing these two beautiful choruses together! It was just beautiful:

         "KEEP ON BELIEVING, GOD ANSWERS PRAYER!
         Keep on believing, He's still up there.
         Troubles & sorrows will soon disappear,
         Nothing can harm you when Jesus is near!

         Keep on believing, the storm will pass!
         Look for the rainbow, 'twill come at last!
         Trust in His promise, 'twas written for you,
         Keep on believing & praise your way through!"

         And the other little chorus which begins with the same words:

         "KEEP ON BELIEVING, JESUS IS HERE!
         Keep on believing, there's nothing to fear!
         Keep on believing, this is the way,
         Faith in the night as well as the day!"

         10. SOMETIMES WE CAN SEE THE WILL OF GOD & WE CAN SEE HIS HAND READY TO HELP US & yet we don't catch on soon enough, we're not prayerful enough, we don't have enough faith, & that's what the voice said to us as we missed the bus: "You didn't have enough faith! You should have had more faith!"
         11. IT SEEMED THAT THE BUS REPRESENTED THE HIGHEST & BEST WILL OF GOD, the fastest way to get to our destination, the easiest way in the power of His Spirit & not the energy of our flesh! If we'd have had more faith we could have run & called out for help & jumped on the bus of God's Will & it would have whisked us away easily & powerfully to our Heavenly destination of that Heavenly-looking little country town in the distance.
         12. SO THIS DREAM CERTAINLY WAS TEACHING A LESSON, that even though you have left the desert wastes of sin & your past life & passed through the beautiful open gate of Salvation along the narrow white way of His way to Salvation, & through that gate, the open Door of Jesus, into the whole new Heavenly World of our lives in Him, you can still miss God's highest & best Will.
         13. YOU CAN MISS YOUR GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES OF SERVICE BY NOT HAVING THE FAITH YOU SHOULD HAVE TO ACT QUICKLY IN TIME OF OPPORTUNITY to run & seize the golden opportunity of the open doors that He gives you.
         14. OUR EXAMINING THE BUS & ITS SIGN TO SEE FOR SURE whether that was the destination we wanted to go to was doubt, & out there where there was so little & so few, it seemed like we should have been willing to run & grab any bus that came along! So sometimes when you see any opportunity at all, you had better seize it, because you may not get a second chance!
         15. BUT IF YOU HAVE SOMEHOW MISSED GOD'S WILL & you have somehow missed His highest & best, lift an ear to those Heavenly voices that are singing to encourage you that all hope is not gone!
         16. MAYBE YOU MISSED THE FIRST ONE & DIDN'T GET THERE AS SOON AS YOU SHOULD HAVE, but maybe you haven't missed the last one, thank God! He's still going to be merciful to you & send along another one so that you can get back in His Will & back in His service & you can find His highest & best & follow His direction to your Heavenly destination in His service.
         17. SO LISTEN TO THOSE BEAUTIFUL LITTLE SONGS & remember that God is still on the throne & prayer changes things, will you?--And believe God!--Have more faith! Perhaps you need to simply bury yourself more in the Word of God to encourage your faith. "Faith cometh by hearing the Word of God!" (Ro.10:17)
         18. REPENT & ASK GOD TO FORGIVE YOU FOR YOUR FAILURES & YOUR SINS & your shortcomings & your lack of faith & ask Him for another chance, & I'm sure He'll send you another bus, another opportunity, another chance at His Will & His highest & best in His service so that you can truly serve Him, & the bird with the broken pinion can fly perhaps even higher than before!
         19. SO KEEP ON BELIEVING, DON'T EVER GIVE UP! Never forget the words of these little choruses! Keep on holding on to His promises & keep on believing! And whatever you do, keep on going on for Jesus!
         20. IF YOU'RE TRULY SORRY & YOU REALLY WANT TO FIND HIS WILL, I'M SURE HE WILL SEND ALONG ANOTHER BUS OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY to pick you up & lift your spirits & encourage you & inspire you & thrill you & strengthen you & heal you & carry you along in the power of His Spirit to the glorious victory of your Heavenly destination!--Amen? Hurry! Have faith! Catch the Bus!