Monday, February 15, 2021

The Dream. The Reality.


"When the islanders saw the snake hanging from Paul's hand, they said to each other, 'This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, justice will not permit him to live.' 
But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects."   --- Acts 28:4,5


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Most of my nighttime dreams are, well, boring. Basically they're filled with crowds of people having dull conversations. Or I'll be at a crowded mall and can't find my purse anywhere.

I awake from them, roll my eyes then turn over and hope for something more exciting.  シ 

Yet super-occasionally God will give me a dream to remember forever, like this one from 3 weeks ago:

Tom and I arrived at a dark parking lot so to attend a church service. I noticed a woman from our former church (let's call her Ellen) sat surrounded by 6 ladies patting her shoulders. A woman beside us whispered, "Ellen's been battling spirits of depression and hopelessness for weeks."

We neared the group of ladies and I heard them say, "Poor Ellen. We're here for you, Dear. Tell us what's wrong. We'll listen." You know, all the stuff those circulating meme's tell us to say. 

Truthfully, those quotes bother me. I don't want to commiserate with you just to leave you in pain. No! I want God to set you free from it.

I leaned past the other ladies, quietly asking Ellen to please stand so I could pray for her. She rose with a weak smile and hope in her eyes then I asked Tom to stand behind her.

Ellen raised her hands limply and then oh my goodness! I felt anger with the evil spirits tormenting her. The spirit of God rushed through my arm as I stretched it forward then shouted, "Enough!"

Suddenly Ellen fell backward, Tom caught her and a visible tremor buckled the knees of the women surrounding us. They struggled to keep standing. 

Soon Ellen stood with Tom's help and her smile! One of being set free from months of torment.

Then I awoke.

Wow, sleepily I smiled, thanking God for a dream 1000 times better than the usual ones. And before I fully awoke I sensed Him saying, "That 'Enough' word? There's an anointing upon it. Use it whenever you need to."

And I have. See, anytime you fight our country's current evil, satan will make certain to bug you. He'll try placing hard-to-shake dark clouds over your head (figuratively). Friends (or relatives) will become snippy for no reason or will do worrisome things. Others will accuse you of being on the wrong side, etc.

But thank goodness! Jesus within us is greater. His name, His power, return us to freedom, back to our should-be-normal heartland of marvelous light. 

So if you, also, have fought and grown weary beneath that dark invisible cloud? Today, to you, I would also say, "Enough!"

Enough!

'It is for freedom that Christ has set us free' with a freedom so vital, so real, that it spreads and visibly shakes others from their bonds, as well.

When we believe.





Remember--there's such a thing as being attacked by satan for doing the right thing. Yet never forget Jesus within us is far greater and can easily defeat our foes!

Before God gave me this dream, I fought that invisible cloud a couple weeks, but since then I've used that Enough! word a few times along with the name of Jesus and the cloud keeps vanishing, returning my Life's switch to Bright. Color me grateful!
 


"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."   ---2 Corinthians 3:17








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"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

3 comments:

Carrie said...

Color me grateful that I found you with your upbeat and profound words. The Lord surely led me to this blog. Jesus always causes us to triumph!

Betsy said...

I, too, have been having profound dreams and I don't remember EVER dreaming before and remembering the dreams. Usually they vanish when I wake up. God is doing a mighty work in His people who are turning to Him during these days.
I posted a link to a sermon by Max Lucado on FB tonight. Dennis and I watched it just awhile ago and I still hear the words in my ears. God has a plan for humanity. We just need to remember to trust Him in that plan and do our part. That means trusting. And trusting even more.
Blessings always,
Betsy

Pam said...

It's almost uncanny how we can be living day to day, going along pretty well, then BAM! Satan tries to pull the rug out from under us, or maybe he just paints us into a very dark, depressing corner of life. It happened to me last week. Out of nowhere, I felt the weight of the world. Thankfully, God's word helped me and it wasn't long before I felt "normal" and hopeful again. Debra, I like your word, "enough" and it reminded me of a lyric in an old hymn: "It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me." Our Savior has always been and always will be enough for every single day of our lives. Hallelujah!