This revelation was given on Simhat Torah (the opening of the Torah) 1995 – 20 years ago.
As I hastened, I heard the voice of Jesus say very clearly, “Obedience, Anna.”
I stopped in my tracks.
He continued, “I delight to show you your heavenly home, but for your safety, you must be trained in obedience.1 There are grave dangers.2 All doors to the enemy must be shut.”
As I stood in wonder at the gravity of what He had said, an angel appeared on the path beside me.
The angel began talking to me as though he were continuing some conversation we had already begun, gesturing with his hand toward God’s park. “All of this is for the children of God, but you, Anna, have chosen to eat from the hand of God. You must love your Father enough to choose obedience rather than gratifications on Earth.3 Choose Him minute by minute. You are careless with His gifts, and you are careless with His love for you.”
His overfamiliarity stunned me, as well as his knowledge of a decision I had only recently made, but yes, I was careless. As the Lord had drawn me into a deeper walk with Him, those things permissible a year or even a month ago were now no longer allowable. Somehow I could no longer get by with them, but I still lapsed into many of these faults.
THE THOUGHT LIFE
Elusive sins caused me to pay a high price in my relationship with the Lord. I thought to myself, “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts4”. I had moved from the “way” category to the “thoughts.” My mind did not focus on unforgiveness or covetousness or such obvious sins. My sins now were in engaging my mind in some area where I was not called, or in letting my mind dwell on the past, or in making a judgement that was out of my boundary of responsibility.
My life had become very constrained indeed.5 If I walked without turning to the right or the left, I remained in the flow of God’s grace. Any thoughts that were “vain in their imaginations” caused my mind to run in grooves around a track.6 Such thoughts were driven by tormentors, it seemed.7 But I found that I could stop them by repeatedly catching myself and halting the train of thought as I began to think on such vain thoughts.
Of course, these thoughts would tiptoe back in, needing to be run out time and time again. Therefore I was halting them and throwing them out, standing against them with my will, as if my shoulder were against the door of access.
Still, I was careless, as he had said, and was mentally running around many tracks in torment and weariness until each thought was taken captive to Christ.8 Earlier in my life with Christ, my mind could usually do as it pleased, but not now.9 Narrow and narrower was the way, but in this obedience to His Word was life.
THE ANGEL SHAMA
Without missing a beat, the angel on the path beside me said, “I am Shama.”10
I saw no reason to give my name, for he seemed to know almost as much about me as I did myself.
“Shall we walk?” he continued.
Almost stumbling, I moved forward.
He had long, straight, silver hair that was caught at the base of his head and hung down on his back. He was very muscular, and although his hair was silver, he looked perhaps forty. He wore a full-length white robe, which looked as though it had been stained with blood or the juice of red grapes. This stain was on the hem of the robe and on the cuffs of the long sleeves, discoloring the garment to the knees and elbows.
“You delight in God,” he continued. “I have watched you and have seen that you desire nearness to Him. However, do you not know that disobedience creates a wall between you and Him?11 It is a wall of your own making because you cannot curb your natural desires. He will replace with Himself every delight you push away, Anna.”12 In looking at me, his eyes caught sight of a hill slightly beyond us. “Come with me,” he said.
As we walked up the hill, he continued, “There is a type of suffering in obedience, but the rewards far, far outweigh the pain.”13
THE PROTOTYPES ABOVE
From the top of the hill, we could see a broad plain below. Herds of various kinds of creatures were grazing; among them were prehistoric animals.14
My hands went to my face in amazement.
“Heaven itself is like an ark, Anna,” he said. “These animals do not have resurrected bodies but were part of the heavenly kingdom before the earth was created.”
“Magnificent,” I whispered.
“Aren’t they?” he said, observing the scene. Then, almost with a sigh he continued, “Let’s return to the path.” He was slightly ahead of me going down the hill, and he assisted me with the incline.
“Do you have hair?” I asked him.
“It looks like hair,” he said. “We are creatures of light. We are spirit, Anna. We are not flesh and blood as humans are. Some of us in service to the King look like humans, but some do not.”15
We returned to the path and continued to walk. “We can change our appearance,” the angel said, “whereas you cannot. We are known by the essence of what we are, not by the outward appearance. On earth this is often reversed, is it not? Humans often dwell upon appearances.”
“You seem to know me,” I queried.
“I know you better than you know me,” the angel laughed.
THE STAINED ROBE
“Why is your robe stained on the bottom and on the sleeves?”
“I am called to assist in child training – the kind that squeezes the child – like being in a wine press.16 These,” he looked down at the stains, “are visible signs of the child’s development. The more stains, the greater the work has progressed within the child. Obedience is not learned easily, Anna. Some on Earth never learn it.”
“Are you an angel assigned to help train me?” I asked.
“I am assigned to you.”
“Helping to train people in obedience cannot be a pleasant job.”
The angel replied, “It is of great significance to the Father and absolutely necessary. By this time in your life, my robe should be entirely stained and my face and hands dripping, but there are only stains on the hem and sleeves. So may I suggest that you are hindering your growth through known disobedience. Immediate gratification can never replace serving the Lord with a whole heart. Such obedience releases joys untold.”
REPENTANCE
I looked out over the landscape, letting the truths he was sharing work within me. “I have sinned,” I said quietly.17 I did not wish to seem glib, but I did wish to show a willingness to repent promptly. “I ask the Lord to forgive me.”
He put his arm around my shoulder and jostled me, as a coach might a football player. “And you know He does. This is a good day for new beginnings,” he smiled. Then he removed his arm and looked ahead solemnly.
“I thank you for your patience and for helping me. I can see you are a powerful angel. If you were a human, I would say you ‘worked out.’ ”
“We do ‘work out,’ ” he laughed heartily, “but our workout comes from wrestling with humans. 18 I look as I do because you have given me so much resistance through your flesh. So,” he laughed, “you might say I do ‘work out.’ I would suggest that you turn this very day so that my work out is less strenuous. Delight yourself in God, Anna, and reduce my exercise program,” he smiled.
Then he sobered rapidly. “Nothing, no one can compare to Him,” he said. “Speaking for those of us who are assigned to you,” he continued haltingly, almost as if he was going to reveal something deeply personal, “we would like to get a little closer to God.” He almost stammered, “If it were only us, we would; but much depends upon you concerning that.”19 He seemed so embarrassed by what he had said that he vanished.
SIDE NOTES TO THIS SECTION
The natural or earthly self is the greatest hindrance to following the Lord; therefore, it must be set aside (Matt. 16:24).
The enemy has erected his fortress in our natural minds in the form of man-centered attitudes, speculations, and beliefs (2 Cor. 10:4-5). From these citadels his demons can deceive and torment the believer, as happened to the slave with the unforgiving attitude in Jesus’ parable (Matt. 18:33-35).
The name Shama is a Hebrew word meaning “to hear with the intent to be obedient.”
Jesus in His human nature “learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). Faith was perfected in Him as He endured the rejection and betrayal of those He came to save.
Celestial beings have bodies of spirit instead of physical matter; therefore they are able to appear or disappear (Judg. 6:12, 21) or to change their outward appearance (Exod. 3:2) as needed.
The heavenly host is watching how we believers on Earth run the course of obedience in Christ Jesus (Heb. 12:1).
NOTES CONCERNING THIS REVELATION ARE UNDER THE SECTION CALLED “TEACHING”.
