Dear People Who Keep Company with God,

On June 18, 2006, which was Father’s Day, I turned the TV on for my mother-in-law to watch some preaching as I headed out the door for our Sunday morning services. The first words I heard as the sound came on over the TV was Bishop Eddie Long saying “Are you ready Byron?”. I knew the Lord was speaking to me, but I did not have any understanding or interpretation, I thought “ready for what?”. I simply prayed and told the Lord, “Only you know; make me ready if I am not”. The following Wednesday I shared this with some pastors I regularly meet with and one of the pastors had a vision of me as a runner getting down into the starting blocks preparing for a race. He said, “ready, set, go”.

This was very encouraging and intriguing, but I still had no clue what this meant. One week later I received a phone call from a young man in our church, he told me the Lord had spoken to him that morning. He said, “I feel like the Lord wants us to get our feet set, like a runner who gets his feet set in the starting blocks”. I responded and told this young man that he really had no idea how much that was the Lord. In October of 2006, we began to experience a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit that continues to this day. One of the more significant fruits of this outpouring is the Lord giving our body a vision and an assignment to be part of and build a ministry we have chosen to call The Father’s House (John 14:1-3,18). Receiving this vision and agreeing with the Lord to take this on as an assignment from Him has been life changing for me and it is something I want to be a part of and connected to for the rest of my life. I believe we will literally see the manifest glory of the Lord rest on the Father’s House.

John 14:21
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 

I now understand the reason the Lord spoke to me, “Are you ready Byron?” on Father’s Day. It is God’s heart for Riverlife and other like hearted ministries to join together in Mooresville, NC to be an expression of the Father’s House that Jesus told us already exists in heaven.

There is a prophetic word circulating that emphasizes the importance of being properly positioned at the gate in 2008. I believe the Lord has positioned or set our feet in the starting blocks. I believe the outpouring of the Holy Spirit we have experienced has in part been God’s grace giving us time to prepare or get ready for His promises. As I said from the first day the Lord began to move in our midst, this has been a time of acceleration, getting us from where we were to where we are suppose to be. In many ways it was an indication of our lack, which is why I believe it is God’s grace. He has helped and covered us in our lack and made us ready to receive and take care of what He has decreed to be rightfully ours.

We are like a runner in the starting block, ready and set, waiting for the word to go. We have to be very careful and not jump the gun; if we go prematurely then we will suffer unnecessary setbacks, however we must not hesitate when He says goes.

On Jan 4 of this year I had a dream from the Lord. In part of this dream I was walking down a narrow path toward the interstate highway. I was following a long haired man, who seemed hesitant as we walked. I questioned in my mind if he was afraid or something. As we walked I saw a backpack lying in the path. I knew this backpack belonged to Riverlife. It was opened and some of the contents were laying half way out of the backpack. I bent over and began to put those things back into it. As I did I saw a pair of running shoes in the backpack. I looked up and the long haired man was facing me a few feet away down the path.

It was the Lord Jesus and my heart leapt within me as I knew He was waiting on me. I felt such love from Him. He hesitated earlier because He wanted to make sure I saw the backpack, gather up the contents, and put it on my back. I believe the backpack represents the burden of the Lord for Riverlife which includes The Father’s House (Matthew 11:29-30).

As I walked toward Him with the backpack on my back I knew I was to put the running shoes on before we reached the interstate highway which was very close by. I took them out of the backpack and when I did their appearance changed. They looked smaller and appeared like an average pair of running shoes while in the backpack. When I took them out they became my size and their appearance changed to solid white with what appeared to be some type of colorful tribal markings on the side. I thought, “I would never buy a pair of shoes that look like this”.

I put the shoes on and socks appeared on my feet, evidently the socks were a part of the shoe. They were very colorful like the tribal markings on the shoes. The dream ended.

Ready, Set, God!

Many Blessings, BW

Pin It on Pinterest