As long as I can remember, I have been a dreamer while I sleep. Dreams varied through the years and changed as I got older.Job 33:14-15 For God speaks again and again,though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night,when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds.
As a child, I would dream things like flying with my friends, helping other kids fly by holding their hands, Peter Pan style.
As a young teen dreaming, I was frequently running or lost in the woods. Usually in danger, always fearful.
(No need for deep translation there. Lost as a young teen? Yup, sounds like almost every young teen I know.)
As an older teen, they changed and grew with my life experiences. Suddenly, I was more social in my dreams having conversations and remembering in detail of what happened, and what was said instead of the fly on the wall type from younger days. Nameless cute boys would also frequent in my dreams in this time period.
At this point, I started having déjà vu feelings about conversations and events.
I never gave it a lot of thought then.
As a young married woman, my dreams became even more realistic and I often carried over the emotions from the dream into real life. Sometimes becoming angry or excited from dreams.
Dreams can be a lot of things, scary, funny, silly, romantic, but do they ever impact your real life?
Have you ever had a dream that you knew held weight? That you knew was important? You can't say how but you just feel it.
Genesis 41:8 The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell him what they meant.
Have you had dreams that left you very disturbed?
What do you do about dreams like this?
Have you ever had a dream that changed you just from having it?
I have had one of those dreams...
The dream started off with me doing something I love, entertaining and grilling.
I'm standing over a hot grill with all kinds of delicious meats cooking over the fire.There are friends all around me chatting, everyone is having fun.As I grill my pastor approaches me and ask what I'm doing. I start to reply with nonsense about grilling, but he cuts me off. He says, "no what are you really doing". I instantly know its a life question and I can feel his eyes burning into my soul. He says "you need to stop messing around, start losing weight, get into the Word, and let others feed off you."
Weird right? I know but it make sense in my head. You see I have sometimes used my extra weight as a crutch. It prevents me from being the best me, the healthy me, the confident me.
Reading the bible part, well that's pretty straight forward.
Let others feed off me? That's weird, or is it?
The Bible talks repeatedly about building up the fellow believers, making disciples, equipping the saints.
Ephesians 4:11-16 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Some people are young believers, they don't know how to feed themselves yet. They don't know how the get the life sustaining power, peace and joy on their own. They need to be guided, fed.
I know some stuff, I have been doing some studying, I have learned some lessons, gone through some stuff.
I can share what I have learned. I can help others. I can pray. I can share a verse with a friend. I can love.
The areas where you have had victories are the areas you can help lead others to victory.
Your testimony can give someone else the hope and faith to see their victory through to completion.
So if you thought I was a weirdo before, get ready cause I'm just going to lay it out on the table.
I believe in demons and angels and the whole (usually) invisible world that so many are unaware of.
So the dream continues...
My pastor then reaches his hand in front of my mouth, as I'm opening my mouth to speak, and catches a tail hanging out of my open mouth. A tail belonging to a demon who had been trying to take up residence inside me.He pulls the tail and I start choking and coughing. He continues to pull, and pulls the demon right out of my body. I instantly feel relief, freedom. Like bonds had been broken and chains removed. A weight off my shoulders.The pastor swings the demon in circles and it soars out of sight.
I wake up.
I still feel the peace, the relief.
Did I just have spiritual warfare in my sleep?
Was a demon cast off me in my sleep?
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
My mind, being of a very logical nature fights my soul on this. My mind says, it's a dream. My soul sings "I'm free!"
That is the first dream that changed my life!
Dream #2 -That changed me life.
I had been thinking a lot about the first dream I had, and dreams in general. I know God sends dreams and visions to people. I know God reveals things in dreams, talks to us in dreams and much more.
Jeremiah 33:2-3 “This is what the Lord says—the Lord who made the earth, who formed and established it, whose name is the Lord: Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.
So I pray... "Jesus send me a dream tonight."
That's was it, then I went to sleep...
I am standing completely naked in an empty dark room. I can feel a presence there with me, but I'm not afraid.I feel whole.I stand unashamed.
I wake up.
I feel awkward.
I remember my prayer.
I say, "That wasn't from The Lord."
I think.
I say, "Was that from you Lord?"
Instantly, I hear in my spirit, as loud and clear as if you are speaking to me, "I love you exactly the way you are! You don't need to put on anything to come to me."
I instantly know the presence I felt was God. I was standing before my maker, my Lord, surrounded by His glory. His perfection making me whole.
You see, I had been struggling with feeling like a faker when I went to church and when I worshiped.
I felt like I wasn't good enough to approach the throne of my God. My sins and mistakes were too great. I was too bad.
I still did what I knew I was supposed to be doing but I couldn't feel it.
I knew my dirt was keeping me away.
I was wrong! The only thing keeping me away was my incorrect thinking.
You see, when I accepted Jesus as my savior, He took that crap and nailed it to he cross. That's his junk now, not mine. I was the only thing holding me back. The lies I believed.
I don't have to put on my perfect mask to stand before my savior. He has already seen my dirty room and He is not only OK with it, He still thinks I'm awesome!!!
I don't have to put on the good mom cloak, or the soulful worshiper. I can take my hot mess and lay it at the cross. He takes my dirty rags and turns them into robes of righteousness.
Not only that, but He is also pleased with my offering of dirty rags!
Why?
Because it's what I have!!!
He only wants the real me. Not what I think He thinks I should be. Or even worse, what I think they think I should be.
What a relief!!!
He loved me without the charade!
I can come freely and openly into the throne room of the Almighty.
He loves me for me, just because He loves me.
That is the second dream that changed my life!
Ephesians 1:3-14 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
And then #3...
I'm praying in tongues over my mom.
Simple, easy, and I clearly know the meaning.
It was not one of those feelings of, "My mom is in trouble." It was a longing in my soul. My spirit was crying out for its companion, the Holy Spirit.
(Side note...did you know that you are a triune being? You are a spirit, that has a soul, that has a body. When one of your dimensions is out of whack, you lose you peace. When you lose your peace, you need to go back to where you lost it and get it back. You spirit needs to be in communion with the Holy Spirit in order to stay healthy. An unhealthy spirit can look like; depression, hopelessness, feeling lost, and lonely.)
So after the dream, I know what I have to do.
You see, if you are looking for a victory in your life, find someone who has victory in that area. They have received the grace needed in that area to obtain victory and can impart that onto you.
Their testimony can build your faith.
That same day I knew I was riding to the beach with a great friend who speaks in tongues.
It took a while to build my courage but on the way home I told her about the dream.
I told her that I know God wanted be to take advantage of that gift, my prayer language.
Of course she prayed for me and was nothing but encouraging.
That day in the car, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit so strong, I felt like I was high. My head started to swirl and my body filled with joy and peace.
Fortunately, we had arrived safely in my driveway and didn't endanger any other drivers.
I was still apprehensive to try my gift.
I waited till I was home alone to open my mouth and start to practice my new gift.
From that day till now, I have been aware of the a Holy Spirit and His influence on my life. I talk with Him, and He with me.
He is starting to reveal secrets hidden in the Word and He drops little nuggets of love on me when I need a boost.
I have not dealt with depression since that day!
And that is the third dream that changed my life!
Joel 2:28 “Then, after doing all those things,I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy.Your old men will dream dreams,and your young men will see visions.
