The prophetic word for March 2024 is titled The Cup. This is based on a dream.
Who is this word for? Everyone. It’s a snapshot of how the new church will look.
In the dream I was a volunteer along with many others wrapping gifts. I showed up at the building and as I entered I went to find the usual spot to leave my purse before walking into the larger room where all the volunteers were busy working away.
When I walked over to the table, everyone had their bags under the table on the ground. While on the table was the bag of the leader of the group and a cup with water which I knew also belonged to the leader. As I approached the table, I noticed that it was actually an empty container with the label peeled off and repurposed as a cup.
It looked like JIF Peanut butter container with no lid and the label removed, or a mayonnaise container. It was plastic. The outside of the cup was old, I picked up the cup because I was thinking how ugly and dirty it looked on the outside even though I knew the water inside was clean. I noticed that dirt had lodged up into the cracks and crevices and where the seam in the cup joined.
In my mind, I thought this is not acceptable for the leader, this person needs a better cup than this. So I went over to a counter where they were serving the juice and waters and told them I need a clean glass, not plastic, with water for the leader. They gave me a beautiful clear glass with water. I went back over to the table and put it down in the same spot where I took up the old one and went into the main room to find my volunteer station.
When I went into the room everyone was divided into groups and each group was assembling a different size box, then putting in the tissue paper, then the gift, then wrapping the box with the gift wrapping and putting on the bow.
I asked where they need me to serve and they pointed to a table with an empty seat, I went to my spot and started assembling the boxes.
Everyone was quietly working away, there was no talking, there was just the silence and the sound of the boxes being assembled and wrapping paper going around boxes. I still didn’t see the leader even though I knew in the dream that the leader was in the room. There were about 200 of us just working away and we were all dressed the same. Not in a uniform but it seems were were all wearing blue – blouse and skirt or pants and dress, T-shirt, shorts. Everybody was wearing the same shade of blue so that we looked uniformed and in order. There was no jewelry or white shirt thrown in to draw your attention. No, were fully clothe in the same blue from head to toe.
Then I woke up.
Interpretation of the dream:
Initially the whole dream felt very simple and my focus was on the cup but as I reflected on it even more I saw so many different messages wrapped up in one.
I believe the dream is a snapshot of what the new church will look like once God is finished working on us. As you know we are all going through a transition, and we don’t quite know yet what the new church will be. What the Lord has told me so far is that the new church is going to look like the old church, meaning the Acts 2 church.
I’m a volunteer working with a group of other volunteers wrapping gifts.
The Gift
1. The greatest gift of the church to the world is Jesus. That’s the first gift we should be packaging and giving to others. (Matthew 28:18-20)
2. The second gift is the spiritual gifts which we are to disciple and train people how to use them for the building up of the body of Christ and to serve others. (1 Corinthians 14:12)
3. The third gift is your promise, the thing you are waiting on the Lord to deliver to you. Even this I believe comes through the fellowship of the believers. Once you are properly discipled and you read the word on a regular basis and pray, you will one day walk into that promise. There is no way you will walk into your destiny if you are not continuing in the ways of the Lord. Hence, through the church/ministries you will get what was promised. (2 Corinthians 1:20-22)
Notice, we are not responsible for providing any of these gifts. All we do is package them and give them to the world.
The Volunteers
1 We were there to serve, in a volunteer capacity. This says to me that we are not to hold on to our titles and positions too tightly. You are a volunteer. That means at any moment the Lord can move you into another position. When I arrived I had to ask the question, where do you need me? There’s no assigned seating. Wherever I was needed is where I went. Our positions are not set in stone, so get ready to move as the Lord leads.
2 All of us were dressed the exact same way, even though it was not a uniform, we were uniformed. No one was standing out above the other person. It felt like we were all on the same level. To the point where the leader was in the room and you couldn’t even tell that He was there. He was blending in with everyone else and was probably at a table assembling boxes too. The church or ministry “one man superstar” days are over. We are one. All on the same level. And, yes there will always be a leader but your leader should be a servant too. Nobody is standing out. We work together. Blue is the color of revelation and the Holy Spirit.
3 We were all silently working away, no one was making noises to direct attention to themselves and away from what we were assigned to do. No self centered, look at me personalities looking for the platform or stage. We work and move as a unit with zero distractions. Focused on what the Lord asked us to do.
4 We were servants, there to serve. Even the leader was there to serve.
5 Humility and the ability to follow instructions and serve where you are needed.
The Table
When I entered all the bags were on the floor under the table that belonged to the leader. This shows the humility of the people in the room. They didn’t think they were on the same level as the leader, so everyone’s bag was on the floor under the table and the items on the table belonged to the leader. We know our place. If it were not for the table, I probably wouldn’t have known there was a leader there. It was the only thing in this dream that indicated that someone was in charge and leading the group and everyone else just fell in line to do what was necessary.
The Cup
I left the cup for last because the majority of the message is about the cup.
Have you ever been to a construction site in a third world country or even just see the regular people having their meals? A container, is a container, as long as it is clean on the inside they will eat out of it. Even a pot cover can turn into a plate sometimes!
This leader was drinking His water from an old plastic peanut butter container. I believe this is Jesus, even though I never saw Him in the dream. I went into the room with the volunteers I knew He was there but He blended in with everyone else. He was probably wearing navy blue as well and was sitting at a table so that He wasn’t standing out. This demonstrates His Humility. This is what He is requiring of the leaders today. And on some level we are all leading someone. Perhaps the person who brought Him the empty peanut butter container as a cup, that was all they had or they didn’t know any better. For me, I knew it wasn’t right so I fixed it. I could give Him more so I gave more. Either way, He received BOTH…because He’s humble.
When I picked up the cup and saw that there was dirt on the cracks and crevices, there was no way I was going to leave it like that for my Savior to drink out of it. That is why I went and changed it for something more fitting for Him. He deserves better. This means God is asking us to Honor our leaders.
It’s like the woman with the alabaster jar of oil that was willing to waste all she had on Him. She knew His VALUE. (Matthew 26:7)
When there is a leader in a church/ministry that is humble, you’re always going to have the one and two people that think that meekness = weakness. Because the leader is humble they equate that to mean that they can just trample and step all over this person. They misconstrue the humility to mean that this person doesn’t know their value or worth or they are stupid. This is incorrect. The reason they are humble is because they know who they are.
Pride is what drives someone to always try to prove themselves to others, humility is secure.
So, if you are someone that is humble and you are wondering what you can do to stop the occasional person from treating you badly because of it – First, DON’T CHANGE A THING! Continue to be humble. This doesn’t reflect badly on you. It reflects badly on them. It means that person has never encountered a humble person/leader before. That is what it says. They will try everything to get you to break out of that and turn into what they think you should be. The minute they realize that it’s genuine they will go for the next move. What’s that? They will try to take your position. Remember they think you’re stupid so to them they can take what belongs to you. Like taking candy from a baby as they say!
Of course, that won’t work either. Because what they failed to realize is that it is your HUMILITY that gave you what you have! (Luke 14:11, Proverbs 3:34, Proverbs 15:33)
Proverbs 22:4
Humility is the fear of the LORD; its wages are riches and honor and life.
At some point they will realize that they are running in circles and that they are not progressing. Eventually, they give up. All of the backbiting and backstabbing doesn’t work. Humility pays dividends, when combined with the fear of the Lord, the results are riches, honor, life.
When was the last time you saw God promote a prideful person? He doesn’t.
I don’t care how humble, normal, down to earth the leader appears to you, they are STILL the leader and should be honored and respected as such.
1 Peter 5:5
5 Likewise, you younger men [of lesser rank and experience], be subject to your elders [seek their counsel]; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another [tie on the servant’s apron], for God is opposed to the proud [the disdainful, the presumptuous, and He defeats them], but He gives grace to the humble.
This goes for your parents, teachers, pastor, ministry leaders, president, your boss, your husband, the manager of anything, whoever is in charge. Whether you like them or not!
There was enough space on that table for everyone to put their bag but it was understood that the table was for the leader. We know our place.
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As a leader of anything, it is important for you to have people on your team that share the same spiritual DNA. You are the same. You don’t need to come from the same country, have the same skin color, be the same sex, but when you are of the same mind, things work so much better. You don’t need to be looking over their shoulder to see if they’ll do the right thing, you know they will!! It takes awhile to cultivate this but once you have it, this is GOLD.
This is when you have true unity of the spirit, the bond of peace. The prayers prayed by these people get answered because they have unity. Oneness. They share the same DNA – Psalm 133. This is where God commands a blessing.
All of them are wearing the same color and no one is standing out. They show up to work and go where they are needed. Nobody is “jockeying for position”.
Ephesians 4:1-6
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
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Cup in Greek is Poterion – Strong’s concordance 4221
a drinking cup, the contents of the cup; fig: the portion which God allots.
The Cup should be viewed as 3 different things, it is the physical appearance – what it looks like on the outside, it is also about what is inside the cup and it also means that it holds the gift (your destiny and purpose) that God has for you. Your allotment or portion.
I believe the cup was a test.
When God is testing you, you are given no notice. It just happens, you’re in the midst of the test and it could be over and you still don’t even realize it was a test. What may be a test for me, may not be a test for you.
I was one of the last persons arriving, why didn’t anyone else replace the cup? Perhaps that test was only for me. I saw the cup, I inspected it and deemed it not right for our leader to be drinking out of that so I went to get Him a better cup. It was a TEST.
I did not need to announce to everyone that I did it, no, I just did it and moved on to what I was there to do.
Believe me, if you saw the roach running around, that means you are suppose to kill it. It is not for anyone else, just you!
THE CUP IS A TEST
The Lord has something He is about to bless you with. It’s what you’re waiting on. However, it may come packaged in something that doesn’t look the way you expected. Don’t fail the test. How you receive, work with, accept what is coming to you in this package – that doesn’t look up to your standard – is what will determine if you will receive what’s inside. Your allotment or portion.
It will not look like what you think on the outside. Please pray before you reject it/him/her/the position/the opportunity. Regardless of whether or not you choose to accept or reject, you need to treat everyone equally because it is a test.
1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
The cup holds your destiny. To drink or not to drink. And it can sometimes be symbolic and not physical.
Matthew 26:39
He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
When Jesus said, let this cup pass from Me, this was not a physical cup. This was His destiny that He’s asking for it to pass because He knew He was about to suffer.
John 18:11
So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”
This is what Jesus said when they came to arrest Him and Peter tried to stop them.
Hence, the cup may show up for you not a physical thing – like a job or a person – but rather something that God is going to ask you to do and you may not feel like doing it because it doesn’t look appealing to you on the outside. PRAY before you reject it. It could be a test.
There are also evil cups. In Nehemiah 1:11, we see that Nehemiah was the king’s cupbearer. The job of the cupbearer was to serve the wine to the king but he had to first drink some of the wine to make sure the wine wasn’t poisoned. If the contents of the cup was poisoned that means the cupbearer would die and they king would know not to drink it. Talk about a risky job!
Even today, a lot of the world leaders travel with their own drinks and food because they are fearful another leader will try to poison them.
So, the contents of the cup can be poisoned; therefore, you have to be careful where you partake. Not every cup that is presented to you should be consumed. You need to pray.
The contents of the cup can determine your fate.
What was in the cup of the leader in the dream? Water, which signifies the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. This is what He is requiring of the leaders today to consume the Word or God, the Bible, on a daily basis and be filled with the Holy Spirit and to walk in humility.
Then lastly there is the cup of communion with Christ.
1 Corinthian 11:25
25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant [ratified and established] in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in [affectionate] remembrance of Me.”
Recapping – The mission of the church is to present the gift of Christ, followed by mentoring and training on spiritual gifts, then teaching on how to walk into destiny and purpose. I find that most ministries end up at the third gift and they discard the first two.
We should always keep the main thing, the main thing by reaching lost souls as the first mission.
The Lord is calling us to walk in Humility, respecting and honoring our leaders, working together with our brothers and sisters in Christ to fulfill our calling in this world. Remain focused. Serve where you are needed.
Look out for the cup that will be presented to you. The cup can be a test to see how you respond before the Lord promotes you to your next level. Don’t judge the outside. Pray about it. Pray before consuming because it can determine your fate. Communion is important and you should put that as a part of your schedule each month. Always read the Word and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Blessings
All we can say from this timely word is yes Lord, your will be done. I am on my job as an assignment and I always ask God who am I assigned to on this job, well sometimes it’s several peoples. My boss were up for promotion and the person she train who was last to come into the company was the person who my boss manager put them into place over my boss.
My boss is prideful and filled with revenge and spreads confusion and backstabbing around like candy bars, well she was supposed to pull us up and train us but she didn’t. It could’ve been where none of us were ready for promotion in the building.
I completely pull myself back and repented before all of this I had been really getting into the word of God more than usual but sometimes I would spend hours at my table studying and would go to bed so late. I started sharing what I was getting from the word and praying for my husband so after a close family members just passed, now he’s getting into Gods word even more.
I see my assignment and has fail some tests doing it but i quickly repent and get back on track with it and see myself. I believe the test was for me not for those whom i was assigned to. Thank you so much for shredding light on my dark place. I understood this very much, and may God be the glory through every test and assignment in Jesus Name
Even if our ‘Christian’ leaders are in cahoots with darkness ? Even if they’re not exemplifying Christ ? Even if they’re outright hypocrites ? We’re seeing leaders one by one being exposed for their secret sins left right and centre, almost everyday now….and the pain, anguish and trauma that they’ve caused to countless many. The thing that often covers up their spiritual abuse – and i’ve heard it all – is that they justify their actions w Scriptures and gaslight you for being a loony troublemaker. And then their fanboys gang up on you and hammer the Word down your throat and tell you that Christ has forgiven you, why can’t u forgive them ? What if you’re stuck in that place and can’t get out ? And you have to face them 5 days a week ? Some people think it’s as easy as a-b-c and as clear as black and white. There’s lots of shades of grey in between that its very hard to talk about and maneuver, because when has a whistleblower ever truly get immunity ? They will be hounded and bullied even more. You may lose your job and reputation in the community because their influence is far greater. Or it gets even more complicated. What if it was the boy who cried wolf who got bullied and abused ? Nobody will ever believe him because the easy excuse is to call out his sin and nobody believes a sinner, more than an esteemed spiritual leader, who speaks to hundreds, and have a long list of achievements done in God’s Name. Plus, they are lesser of a sinner in many eyes. So yes, i guess there’s really no other way except to forgive and continue to submit to these leaders. When we dont, they say its our pride. But with them, they’re always humble and full of favour with everyone, and get away scot-free with just about anything and everything. One moment, they thunder down God’s Word, expound and exegete like a theologian…but behave like a devil the next. But yes, who am i not to show grace and be merciful….
Finally a confirmation of what God has been telling me for over a decade, the Acts 2 church. This is a message to continue to stay focused on Him. Last year I experienced warfare with the leaders of a church that just didn’t understand to be humble. They thought that I was dumb and treated me like that. The world would look at me as out ranking them on paper/experience, but God told me to be humble, do what He saids, and show them by my actions how to be a leader. Warfare started and they wanted me to be something other myself, like that superstar and to bow to them and not God. They actually tried binding me to them. Those flaming swords caused a separation. I didn’t agree with their prayers in the service, didn’t open my mouth, but to pray to God covering that service from before it started. This year started with extreme warfare that attacked a family member trying to cause death. The Word, praise, songs, ceased that attack. So I know that this is an on time word because my household has been doing what your dream saids. Preparing for the New Church, unified, working without having to always use titles. Doesn’t matter if you are if you are an Apostle, pastor, a worshiper, or janitor, we are all needed for the Body of Christ and we can do something that needs to done. We have to just do the work that has to be done as a servant and a believer, without always getting recognition. Our awards are with God who knows our heart, that’s the truth behind what we are doing.
I enjoyed the cup article very much. I believe the Lord gave me an analogy that fits well. We are all like fingers on the same hand. Working together whatever the task. Wiping the tear of a child or setting cups for service on the table
This word is AWESOME and definitely CONFIRMATION!! Currently what I am dealing with! I believe I am being tested and it concerns a leader. I’ve always honoured this person, but the test is causing me some uncomfortability. We will see what God has in store! Thank you for this word (and for gleaming from the holy spirit) 💙