I find myself walking with Jesus through the land that was once dry and is now beautiful, since the River of the Spirit began to flow. The earth and all that is in it seem to be rejoicing. We stop along the river and Jesus said, “Fill your canteen from the river and here are six more canteens, fill them also. You are going on a journey and you will need them.”I did as Jesus asked, filling all the canteens. We continued to walk. I wondered what type of journey I was going on. I knew Jesus would tell me in the fullness of time. As we went along, I began picking different kinds of fruit and place them in my supply sack.
We finally come to a place where the land began to become dry and dusty. Jesus turned to me and said, “You must cross this land to reach the mountains on the other side.”I looked up and saw on the horizon the very tips of the mountains. The Master continued, “This is the Land of the Closed Gates. It is good that you picked fruit and you have water from the River of the Spirit. You must not eat or drink anything that is in the land, unless it overtakes you.” I said, “There is nothing in the land that I want.” The Lord puts His hands on my shoulders, turned me fully towards him and said in a firm voice, “There is water there and there is fruit. There are 7 pools of water, each surrounded by an oasis. The 7 pools of water are 7 deceptions and the fruits, are the fruits of deception. Do Not, eat or drink of deception.” Then I bowed down and worshiped Jesus and when I looked up He was gone.
I have walked many hours in the dry Land of the Closed Gates, I climb up a ridge, there below in a valley there is an oasis. From a distance the oasis is beautiful to the eyes. As I come down the ridge, I noticed there is a paved road leading into to the oasis. As I am walking, I take out some of the fruit I picked and began to eat and drink the water from one of the canteens. Upon entering the oasis, the people I pass look at me with concern, but say nothing and turn back to what they were doing. The buildings that looked so beautiful from a distance don’t look nearly as good up close. The buildings are in need of minor repairs and maintaining. Some need painting and others need a window or a door fixed. The people have the tools and the paint, but they just stand there just looking, then shrug and walk away. This is truly a place of indifference. As I reach the center of the oasis, there is the pool that feeds the oasis. There are weeds that have grown up all around it. There are fruit trees but they are unattended. The trees have fruit that is ripe and ready to be picked. A lot of the fruit has fallen from the trees and has rotted on the ground. There are men and women there but they just don’t to seem care.
I talk with them about winning the lost and opening the floodgates of their hearts and let the River of the Spirit flow. They listen, and say, “That nice.” And they walk away. This is truly a place of indifference. Night is beginning fall and I decide I rather sleep on the dry ground, than spend a night in this place. I quickly head out of the oasis.
I reach top of the ridge on the other side of the oasis paved road comes to an end. I am back on the dirt path as I start down the other side of the ridge. As I am moving down the ridge, I notice a cave off to side of the path. The cave is not very high and I have to bend over to enter it. The cave is only about 5 foot high and maybe 10 foot wide and about 10 foot deep. It is the perfect place to stop and rest. I build a fire at the entrance and settle in for the night. I begin to think over the day’s events. The walk and talk with Jesus and his warning to me. Then I think about the oasis of indifference and the people I met there. They did not even realize what indifference had done to them and how trapped they are. I begin to pray that God will break through the deception in their lives and after praying I dose off to sleep.
©2011 COPYRIGHT RICHARD SPANGLER
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