The City of Our God

The City of Our God

by

Amy Fleming

Copyright 2013 Amy Fleming

Smashwords Edition

Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations are taken from the New King James version of the Bible or New International Version.

For my daughter Cora

and for the Bride

Dear Reader,

This is my personal journal of dreams over a three month span in 2007. Every day, I would go in to the presence of the Lord while my little children took their naps. And every day, like the exhausted new mom I was, I would fall asleep just as I started to pray. But, He spoke to me through dreams, which I wrote down faithfully. Although I’ve had visions and dreams before and since, these were truly unique. I would go to sleep, stopping sometimes in the dream in midsentence, awakened by one of my children. The next day, I would always pick up exactly where I had left off.

As I began writing down what I dreamed each day, if I missed a detail or wrote down something wrong, I would repeat that part of the dream over and over until it was done correctly. Isn’t it amazing how Jesus teaches us so patiently?

One thing I struggled with in the writing of this book was how childlike the narration sounded. Even years later, I tried to rewrite it and it still sounded the same. I really feel this is simply because God wants the childlike voice in this narrative. He wants us to come to Him as little children.

You will see that the narrator- or main character- in this book represents the Beloved of Christ. This includes all of us who deeply love the Lord. Please don’t forget that. I hope you will be able to see yourself as you relate to her.

Another main character you will see is David. This is, of course, King David. However, he represents the Jewish nation. You will see a very close relationship between the two characters. They are brother and sister in this story. This is to signify the family of believers in Jesus being grafted into the Jewish people.

This book is the first in a series. The second book is called Through the Bride’s Eyes. This book concentrates on the City of God which is in Heaven. However, this is not an out of body experience of Heaven as so many have written about. As the main character walks through the streets and visits the different buildings, do not take this as a literal interpretation of what Heaven looks like. It should, rather, be a learning experience- where Jesus is the focus- not the setting of Heaven. I believe that as I ventured through the different places of the City, I was actually seeing different parts of our hearts.

Originally, this book included the names and characters of people I knew. I have altered the journal to protect the integrity of this story. I took my own name and personal reflections out as well. At first, I had a hard time with taking myself out, but then I remembered when we sold our house, the realtor told us to remove family pictures, so that the buyer could see herself in the house. So it is with this book. I removed my family pictures for just that reason.

(If you see a mistake in this book, it is because I am human. This book should not compete with scripture in any way- it should illuminate your understanding of it. It is far, far below the integrity of the Bible. This book is merely a story- a dream, told by a very imperfect person.)

I hope you can see yourself in the story. I pray you can feel His arms around you in each chapter. I know that this story is not just mine. It’s for all of us.

My prayer for you is that you will be as radically changed by these dreams as I was. And more than anything else, I pray that you will receive the revelation that our reward is not the mansions or the riches or the royal titles. Our reward is not Heaven- it is Jesus. And HE is more than I could have ever dreamed.

Forever His,

Amy

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Battle Scene

Chapter 2 The Chamber

Chapter 3 The Bath House

Chapter 4 The City

Chapter 5 The Father of Lights

Chapter 6 Psalm 46

Chapter 7 The Walk

Chapter 8 A Shepherd

Chapter 9 The Lily of the Valley

Chapter 10 The Brother

Chapter 11 Another Cave

Chapter 12 The Gates of Hell Cannot Prevail

Chapter 13 Back in the City

Chapter 14 Back to the Temple

Chapter 15 The Bright and Morning Star

Chapter 16 The Ship

Chapter 17 The Leviathan

Chapter 18 Paperwork

Chapter 19 Graduation Day

"God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,

The holy place of the Temple of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;

God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;

He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord,

Who has made desolations in the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge."

–David

(Psalm 46)

Chapter 1

The Battle Scene

The angels hoisted me up and tightened the invisible stirrups. The huge, white horse grunted and nodded. The small group of angels standing by him patted and petted the beautiful stallion as he neighed back to them. They looked like angels straight out of Michelangelo’s art. May I ask you a question? I said meekly.

Yes, the one nearest his nose said.

Why no saddle and why are there no reigns?

They looked at the beauty as if he could have answered himself and said, He has an angel's spirit. He will move perfectly to the will of the Spirit. You will not need reigns, because you will move as one on the battlefield.

I nodded. The soon-to-be battlefield was aglow in the rising morning as we awaited the orders. The smell of wet dirt was all around as the few of us who were on horses steadied ourselves. The horses anxiously stomped and kicked at the mud. I looked over in amazement to see all the foot soldiers on my right. I could make out the archangel Michael on the far right. We were both on the front lines. He did not acknowledge me, but was counting the cost ahead of him, dressed in full armor.

And then, there He was. From about 50 feet away, He smiled reassuringly and winked at me. I wanted to run to Him. I wanted to tell Him how much I love Him and cry into His robe until it was soaked. But I couldn’t. I froze.

I took a deep breath as He directed His sword and gave the signal. At once, we were off and in no more than ten seconds, a demonic army became visible and met our band in force. Some of the dark angels were unarmored and some armed with small, chiseled arrows. The arrows looked as if they had been broken from a previous battle. They were almost useless- pathetic, used weapons. They had no way of getting weapons on their own, since they had been stripped of them long ago. So they had rummaged through their own fallen comrades to get some sort of armament from our stock.

They clawed and bit at us as we cut them through. They were short and vulgar, not even a resemblance of their glorious brethren. I had to bend low to nab them as they tried to bite at my horse. Each devil looked distinctively different. They were all gray and wrinkled, but each possessed different, horrific traits. Some had faces like animals. One who attacked me had a face of a monkey. If they had not been so small, they would have been terrifying.

The angels were right, the horse acted as if his legs were my legs and we scurried and swayed in one accord. I felt like a centaur. As we pushed through, my small

battalion started catching up to me. I heard the Lord yell to me. I looked over. He was fighting on foot with massive sword in hand. He looked like He was actually enjoying this very easy battle. Take the city! He yelled.

Just in front of me was an ancient city made entirely of stone houses with a stone gate around it. The gate and everything in it was a sand color. I gave a signal to my troops. We pushed through with greater speed and strength then a band of wild horses would have.

A giant was asleep on the roof tops of the city. He looked transparent, as if he was a hologram. He was the size of the small city! As we approached, he started to stand up. Terror gripped me. I was startled to find reigns in hand. Without thinking, I pulled back on them with all my might, otherwise my horse would not have stopped, that I was sure of. My little army stopped cold around me and gazed up in terror. I did not know how to take this city! I did not know how to fight this giant. I just needed a moment to gather myself, I reassured myself. But then, who did I think I was? I could not pull my soldiers into that. In that same second, I blacked out, probably from a blow to the head by the enemy.¹

The Tree

When I opened my eyes, I was holding onto my knees. My sweaty, straggly hair limply fell in front of my face as I looked up. I was under a tree. It looked like a willow tree. It was dense and covered me on all sides. I sat up against the trunk of it. An angel was guarding it from just outside its umbrella of leaves. He was standing directly in front of me with his back turned. I looked at his beautiful sandals, which were the only part of him that was perfectly visible. Another set of feet walked towards him on the left. I knew exactly who this was by the uneven nail prints in His feet. Have you come to speak to the general? the angel asked with no emotion. I laughed in embarrassment of the word, ‘general’.

No, I have come to talk with My friend. With that, He took off a short robe and put on a longer one that was thicker. As He spoke, the tree dripped of honey all around me. ² I could not find the source. Some of it was dripping on me, but most ran down the leaves of the tree onto the ground. He parted back the tree limbs like a curtain. I could see His face. It was so sweet and gentle. Do you want to talk to Me? He asked.

Not really. I said in severe disappointment of myself. My wish to run into His arms and tell him I loved Him was gone. Instead, condemnation settled inside of me like a bruised apple. It separated me from loving Him as I should. Never had I ever felt that low and discouraged. My tears were pouring directly from my eyes to my knees, skipping my cheeks.

Can I sit by you? He asked. I nodded. He sat down on the ground on my right. Already I felt lighter, but I was scared to touch Him.

Why did you let me go into the battle, knowing that I would pull back like that? I asked angrily.

I hoped you would surprise me, He said smiling.

Lord, I can never surprise you.

He paused. I want to show you something... He reached with his right hand into a pocked under His outer garment. He pulled out a red balloon. I was a surprised that He even had pockets.

Are you going to try to cheer me up with balloon animals? I replied freshly.

No... He laughed. He looked at the little deflated balloon. "This was the demonic stronghold," He said,