Messiah’s Message
The Divine Commissions of Eli and Jasmine - Volume IV
By Donna J. Farris
Copyright 2011 Donna J. Farris
Ebook cover image copyrights:
Unicorn Logo: Zorica Lukacev - Gra - Fotolia.com
Heavy construction equipment: Lee Prince - Fotolia
Jerusalem at night: Yevgenia Gorbulsky - Fotolia.com
Kneeling man Ivan Isak - Fotolia.com
Man holding young boy at sunset: srnicholl - Fotolia.com
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Len - a professor who taught me endings are more important than beginnings.
For Micah
“For He orders His angels to protect you wherever you go.” Psalms 91:11
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - A Prophet in the Making
Chapter 2 - Man Makes His Plans
Chapter 3 - Where is God When You Need Him?
Chapter 4 - Revelation and Discourse
Chapter 5 - Trouble in the Pit
Chapter 6 - Is it Worth it?
Chapter 7 - Living With the Pigs
Chapter 8 - To Speak or Not to Speak
Chapter 9 - A Battle Worth Fighting
Chapter 10 - Can Faith Move Mountains?
Chapter 11 - The Prodigal and the Prophet
Chapter 1 - A Prophet in the Making
“Who established the ways of a man? Who records his days before there were any?”
“Sir, you know,” replied the heavenly multitude.
“Before I formed them in the womb, I knew them. Before they were fashioned, all were written, the appointed days of their lives.”
“Marvelous are your works, oh Sovereign LORD of all!” declared Eli and Jasmine.
The clock struck midnight. Bells in the tower began to ring. With each chime Micah became more and more afraid but he did not know why. When the twelfth bell sounded, Micah’s heart was pounding so hard he could hardly breathe. He wanted to cry out but could not make as sound. Then a doorway appeared in the ceiling. A blinding radiance from another world poured down over his bed like dancing sun beams and wrapped his body in a blanket of living light. Then Micah woke up.
Micah Anthony Collins turned nine years old on April 15th. He remembers that particular birthday for two reasons. First, his mother made him a birthday cake shaped like a red fire engine. And second, that was the night his dreams began. Micah had the exact same dream every single night for twenty-one days. “What does it mean?” he asked his father.
“I’m not sure, Micah,” his dad replied. “You gave your life to Jesus when you were six years old. You read God’s word every day and I know you love Him with all your heart. Let’s pray and ask God to show us if these dreams are some kind of message from heaven or just meant to frighten you.” So Micah and his dad prayed and the dreams stopped.
A year later, on the evening of Micah’s tenth birthday, he remembered the dream again. He decided to talk to God about it in prayer when he went to bed that night. Micah turned out the lights and walked over to the side of his bed. But instead of crawling up onto the mattress, he got on his knees. Micah doesn’t remember what he said, but he remembers praying and then climbing into bed. As soon as he covered himself with the blankets, he realized he had not decided to get on his knees just then. Someone or something had pushed him to his knees.
All of the sudden he started to tremble. Wide-eyed Micah looked all around the dark room thinking, “Someone else is here! I can’t see them but I can sure feel their presence.” To protect himself from the invisible intruders, Micah remembers quickly piling all the blankets on top of his trembling little body. Then he hid underneath the covers for the rest of the night.
Micah still remembers the experience like it was yesterday. Especially since the next day his memory verse was Proverbs 1:7. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” As he thought about the verse, Micah wondered if God had visited him the night before to teach him a lesson.
“There is a lot I don’t know yet,” he thought, “but I know now it is good to have a healthy fear and respect for the Maker of heaven and earth.”
No one in Micah’s family fully understood what God was doing in his life until Micah’s twelfth birthday. As he was getting ready for bed that night, he heard his father calling out his name. With a toothbrush in his mouth, Micah walked down the hall and into his parent’s bedroom.
“Yah Dad?” Micah said.
“Yah what?” replied his father with a sleepy grin.
“You called. What’s up?” Micah asked again.
“I didn’t call you, son. It must be the TV down stairs. Your mom is watching a movie.”
Micah walked back into his room, finished brushing his teeth then switched off his desk lamp. He was sound asleep when once again he heard his father’s voice calling, “Micah.” He switched the desk lamp back on, got out of bed, walked down the darkened hall and knocked on his parent’s bedroom door.
“What’s wrong Dad?” he asked.
Rubbing his eyes his dad said, “What do you mean, son? It’s two o’clock in the morning.”
“But I heard you call my name. Is everything ok?” asked Micah again.
“I didn’t call you. You must have been dreaming. If you hear the voice again, pray and ask God for guidance. Now go on back to bed and try to get some sleep. We’ll talk more about this in the morning.”
Micah closed the door and slowly walked back to his room. “This is bizarre!” he thought. “First dreams, now voices!”
Sitting down on his bed Micah said, “God, I don’t…” But no sooner had he opened his mouth to speak than his bedroom door opened. And just like in his earlier dreams, brilliant white light came flooding into his dark room. Only this time Micah was wide awake.
In the doorway Micah saw two unicorns standing side-by-side. One was a huge silvery white creature with feathery wings and long, slender legs. Attached to one side of its muscular neck flowed a magnificent shimmering horse mane. And placed between two large midnight blue eyes was a single, massive horn. It was an awesome-looking creature!
The other animal wasn’t a true unicorn. That is to say it did not have a horn in the middle of its forehead. Micah called it a unicorn because of the two small wings hugging the middle section of the creature’s body. The animal was smaller and much less intimidating than its companion. Micah thought it looked more like a small pony than a mythical creature.
The smaller creature was brown-colored with a glossy, grey-brown mane so long it covered the animal’s front hooves. The creature seemed to glow with a warm sort of comfort, as if comfort was also a touchable, living thing. Looking into its golden, almond-shaped eyes, Micah somehow felt safe, as if no harm could ever come near.
The shining white unicorn stepped out of the doorway and into Micah’s room. The animal raised its head and spoke to Micah saying, “Highly Esteemed One. You have been chosen to see the things which were, the things which are, and the things which will be. All you see and hear you will speak.” Then the creature stepped backward into the light, the brilliant doorway closed, and the unicorns vanished.
At breakfast the following morning after hearing her son’s experience Sharon, Micah’s mom, said, “Son, I wonder if God has chosen you to be a prophet. You know, just like the Old Testament prophets of the Bible.”
Micah’s father seemed to agree. “I think that is exactly what’s happening. And like the prophets of old, once God chooses a man to be His spokesman there is no turning back. Micah, more than ever you need to commit yourself to the study of God’s word and prayer. Listen for His still small voice. Whatever He says, you must declare.”
/> Micah was intelligent, a quick learner and academically ahead of most children his age. He learned to read at age five. A year later, he was reading stories to his younger cousins. And he seemed to have been born with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, especially about the Bible. At a very young age, Micah developed the habit of reading his Bible every day for one whole hour. It wasn’t long before he knew more about God’s word than many adults in church on Sunday morning.
Through the years, Micah’s parents did their best to nurture their son’s heavenly calling. But raising a prophet could be challenging at times. To Micah, things either were or they were not. Facts were facts, right was right, and black was black. Grey was for sinners.
His parents remember one particularly uncomfortable Sunday morning. Micah was sitting in the pew with his Bible open in his lap following along as the preacher read from the gospel of John. After the service, an older gentleman sitting next to him said, “My, my, son. You sure seem to enjoy reading your Bible.”
Micah said to the man, “I do. I read my Bible for one hour every day. How much time do you spend reading God’s word, Sir?”
The man became very sad and said, “Well, I am ashamed to say I do not read my Bible every day.”
Micah replied, “Only a fool hates the knowledge of God.”
Micah’s parents apologized to the elderly man and quickly left the sanctuary. “But mom,” Micah said later on that afternoon, “I don’t understand why people hate God so much.”
Mrs. Collins lovingly replied, “Because they don’t really know him, honey. If people took the time to actually read their Bibles, they would soon discover who God really is and would come to love Him just as you have.”
After a moment, Micah said to his mother, “When I grow up, I’m going to help people know and love God.”