Amber N. Johnson MD is a physician in pulmonary and critical care medicine, as well as a writer, speaker, and a prophetic voice. She has a heart for people to be radically touched by the love of the Father, the grace of Jesus, and the sweet friendship of Holy Spirit. She is the founder of Arise Ministries, a non-profit ministry dedicated to connecting people to the logos and rhema word and heart of God, enabling people to walk in the freedom of Jesus and fullness of the faith, and accurately teaching the word of God. She is also the founder and president of Stand Fast in Freedom, a nonprofit organization dedicated to provide healing and restoration to young women and girls affected by human trafficking. She is author of the book, “You are Powerful: Becoming the Woman of Power and Purpose God Created You to Be.” She resides in Omaha, Nebraska.
Websites: standfastinfreedom.
Pure Devotion To Jesus – A Word by Amber Johnson
Amber Johnson
Email: [email protected]
On May 1, 2022, I had a prophetic dream in which I was in a large church service when I received word that a friend of mine had died. I immediately dropped to my knees and started worshipping while at the same time crying and grieving, but choosing to worship through the grief. People around me bent down to grab my arms and pull me to my feet but I wouldn’t let them; instead I stayed on my knees in surrender and raised my arms in worship.
After the service, I walked around outside with such a heavy grieving heart. Outside, I saw the body of my friend who had died and it looked awful, like it had been a brutal death. I heard one woman nearby who seemed to be in church leadership comment that if there is a God then He must not have any power to have allowed something like this. This upset me even more, and I wondered if perhaps the Lord would call me to go raise this friend from the dead so that people would not say such things about Him. But I immediately knew in my spirit that if this person were to raise from the dead, then people would proclaim devotion to the Lord only for the sake of the miracle, only when He gave them what they wanted – and I knew that would not be real relationship with the King if people were only following Him for what He could do for them rather than being devoted to God Himself. In the dream my soul and spirit continued to wrestle with each other as I wanted Holy Spirit to give me permission to proclaim resurrection life, but in my spirit I knew this is not what He wanted, because He did not want to perpetuate a shallow relationship with Himself.
HE WANTS TO BE WANTED
I woke from this dream feeling the heavy weight of it so strongly. I knew the Lord was calling His true church to purity and revealing the measures He is taking to purify His bride.
The particular church in this dream represents for me a church that is bound by outward show of religion, with a fear-based/rules-based relationship with God. The Lord has been speaking so much lately about revealing and destroying religion, and I knew this dream was about purging the true church from religious mindsets and religion-based relationship with Him.
In order for the Lord to do this, something has to die.
In the dream, my friend who died was dressed all in gray. We are in a season where there is now no more gray. True colors are being revealed, and people are choosing sides whether they realize it or not. The dark is getting darker and the light is by contrast shining brighter.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” Isaiah 60:1-3 ESV
The Bible says that friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). There are relationships and places and activities that simply are not okay any more. For too long, our hearts have been divided, chasing after Jesus but also chasing after other things: chasing after the approval of man, chasing after acceptance from people, chasing after reputation and status and recognition and blessing and security. These things are not just sin, they are idolatry. A divided heart is an adulterous heart. It is cheating on Jesus. Acts 17:30 says, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent.” We are in this season now. God closed His eyes at our ignorance for a time, but no longer. Now He is calling our hearts to pure devotion to Him. Now He is purging His church of anything lukewarm. Now He is making a divide between those who want Him for His blessings and those who want Him for Him. To be pure in heart is to have our hearts filled with only Him. No longer can our hearts be set on “Jesus and.” It is now “Jesus only.”
Psalm 103:7 says, “He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel.” In Moses’ day, Moses was the only one who truly knew the Lord Himself, and the Lord considered Moses His friend (Exodus 33:11). By contrast, Israel had a fear-based, rules-based relationship with God and did not want to talk with Him personally (Exodus 20:19). Instead, they wanted Moses to tell them what God wanted them to do so they could avoid judgement and reap blessing. They were after God’s works, wanting what God could do for them, but they did not want the Lord Himself. They did not want a personal intimate relationship with Him.
Likewise so many today know the Lord’s works, but don’t know HIM. And in this season, the Lord is no longer tolerating being treated as a blessing machine. He wants people who want Him, not people who are after what He can do for them.
TRUE VICTORY
I looked up the meaning of the name of the friend who died in the dream, and found that her name means “victory”. The people in the dream, leadership included, were mad at God for letting her die. They were mad that He took away the ability to live a lukewarm life (she was dressed in gray, rather than black/white), and they were additionally mad that He took away their ability to live in victory.
But the religious church cannot and will not ever attain victory, because victory is obtained only through battle and the religious lukewarm church is not willing to go to battle, not willing to contend for victory. They want blessing without devotion, victory without warfare, and inheritance without labor.
According to Scripture, victory comes only through trial and tribulation. That is why the church bound by a shallow relationship to God and wanting to avoid hardship at all cost cannot have true victory. Romans 8:35, 37 says, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (NASB). It is IN the tribulations and hardships that we become more than conquerors. There is no victory without a battle.
I believe the Lord is at work erasing false definitions of victory, erasing the idea that victory can be had without a fight. John defines victory for us this way:
“For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.” (1 John 5:4 NASB)
Victory comes only through faith, and like victory, faith is refined only through the trials. Peter tells us that the trial-tested genuineness of our faith is more precious than gold and results in praise and honor and glory (1 Peter 1:7).
I hear the Lord asking His church in this hour, “Do you want what I can do for you? Or do you want ME? Will you still love me if I don’t give you what you want? Or are you only proclaiming devotion for what you can get from Me? What if I say no? What if I know a better way? What if My ways are NOT your ways? What if My ways are higher? What if I ask you to trust Me, when everything looks opposite to how you wanted it to go? Will you still follow?”
Jesus answered one of the scribes (ruled by the spirit of Religion) who had asked to follow Him by saying, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). Jesus sees through the superficial show of religion and cuts to the heart of the matter. He was asking this religious young man, “Do you truly want Me? Or are you after what you think I can give you? Because it won’t be what you think. There will be times of hardship and trial, and if you are in it for the blessings it won’t last. The only way you’ll make it as My disciple is if you are after ME, and choose to trust Me even when it doesn’t go your way.”
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