I had a disturbing dream the other night that I feel like I'm supposed to share. During my dream (the subject of which I can't remember) an angel appeared. Its appearance was a simple generic male form, no detail. He beckoned me to him like he was going to take me somewhere and I placed my head on his shoulder, eyes closed and waited. Something loud and tumultuous began to happen all around us and I told him I was scared. He placed his hand gently behind my head, hugging me into his shoulder and began to tell me everything was going to be okay. I kept telling him I was scared and he kept telling me everything was going to be okay.
As this was taking place, I began to feel a tingling electricity in my head, neck and shoulder area and I remember thinking, "This is it! This is the rapture and my flesh is being transformed into my eternal form...I can't believe this, it is actually happening!"
The only way I can describe it was that I remember thinking it was like I was being "unzipped" from my body. Once this "unzipping" got down to around my shoulder area, I had a "wait a minute..." moment and tried to raise my head up while asking the angel who he was. I started asking, "Who are you? Wait..stop...who are you?"
As soon as I began to question who this entity actually was and on what authority it was sent to me, it began to hug my head tighter against its shoulder and change into something else. It began to change into something hideous and it didn't want to let me go. I was horrified and repulsed and the only thing I could think to say was, "Jesus is Lord!" When I said that and the entity didn't agree with me, I began to panic. The only other thing that came to my mind to say was, "The blood of Jesus upon you." I began to repeat that over and over and although what I was saying was making the entity more grotesque in appearance, it still didn't let me go. I was confused because I expected the fact that I even mentioned Jesus' name to send the thing scurrying back into the darkness it came from. But, that wasn't happening and I couldn't understand why.
The next thing I did was simply cry out for Jesus. I screamed His name like a terrified child would scream for its mother. While screaming out for my Savior, He did not appear...He was nowhere to be seen, and the entity was beyond enraged and beyond grotesque and I was utterly horrified because it would not let me go.
The last thing I did was think to myself, "Jesus, I may not see You but I know You hear me. I know that I am Your child and that I belong to You and that You have authority over this thing." I remember thinking about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they were being thrown in the fiery furnace and said, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God Whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power....but even if He does not, let it be known to you...that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Dan 3:17)
Even though the entity showed no other reaction to my words other than the change in its appearance, the moment I made up my mind to believe that Jesus heard me and would deliver me even though I didn't see Him, while simultaneously resolving that even if He didn't deliver me He was still my God, I woke up from my dream.
For several days after this dream, it bothered me that God would allow me to have such a horrifying spiritual experience. The reason He allowed it was to show me my own spiritual weaknesses and to share my dream with those whom He has prepared to be convicted by its spiritual implications.
The understanding I have been given in regard to the spiritual implications of this dream is:
1. I had accepted this entity at face value, that it was what it appeared to be. It looked like an angel, so I accepted that it was an angel without any further question. However, it was actually something quite different when tested according to God's Word.
-There is a desperate need for the Body of Christ to apply this spiritual teaching in their lives and their churches. Examine all books, preachers, Bible studies, ministries, etc., according to God's Word, not their appearance, popularity or how they make you feel. Just because someone claims to represent God, doesn't mean they are actually representing Him according to His Word.
2. The entity was telling me what I wanted to hear, so I accepted its comfort. I was allowing the change that was being made upon me only because the entity was telling me everything was going to be okay because that's what I needed to hear. But the changes that were being made weren't from God, and neither was the entity.
-When we follow ministries simply because they tell us what we want to hear, the spiritual changes being made within us are not by the Holy Spirit and will ultimately lead us further away from truth.
3. I had been putting my faith in my words, like they were some kind of magic charm, rather than putting my faith in God's words-- His promises of deliverance and protection for those who love Him. I honestly expected the entity to cringe and yelp as soon as I uttered Jesus' name, and much more when I pleaded Jesus' blood.
-It wasn't the words I spoke, but the belief in my heart that released me from the entity. Christians, as a whole, have lost a true understanding of real faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment