But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Hebrews 3:13
I had another dream that I would like to share with you, because the more I worked it apart to interpret it, the more encouragement I found within it. Walk into my dream with me:
I walked in this dream through my own eyes. I was whole and healthy but I had crossed a barrier into the nearby town and found that it was filled with people who were not well. Any bumps or scrapes on them would not heal but would stay open and bleeding, no matter what. They lived life so strangely to me. Some even went as far as leaving their car doors open when parked so they wouldn’t hurt themselves by opening them. I understood that the ones who did that had been injured that way before. People mostly avoided me as I walked around but there were some in dark clothes who noticed me and started following, intent on capturing me. I was taken in by a young man who was not terribly injured and he and his roommate told me I could hide in their upper room, which was safe because the people in the town no longer went to upstairs rooms for fear of falling down the stairs and gaining more injuries. I was going up to that upper room when I woke up.
As I wrote the dream down when I woke, I began to understand what the different pieces meant. Let’s break it down:
- Me as healthy and whole
As Christians, we are the ones who live differently. We walk in the world as healed and whole, without fear of being injured, because we know the Healer and have fellowship with Him. This does not mean that we are actually whole on this earth, because on this plane we live in a fallen world and cannot attain perfection. Only Jesus walked on this earth as a perfect Man. But we do not have to walk around like the people in the dream, bleeding everywhere and fearful. We may be hurt but our wounds do not have to dictate how we live and operate in the world. This sets us apart and the difference is obvious to those who are wounded.
- The cars
In a dream, a vehicle is a symbol of a journey. The door is the thing that allows you to enter the vehicle/journey. The people who treated their car doors in this manner have been hurt by other people and/or by the church, so they no longer treat the vehicle that should take them on their spiritual journey properly–they now fear it. Also, leaving a car door open drains the car’s battery so that it will not function correctly. Because of their fear of being hurt, they allow that fear to drain the energy or joy from their journey. Without a charged battery, the car is stuck and can’t go anywhere. These people do not use the tools God gave them well because of fear. The Bible has a lot to say about fear:
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them… There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
1 John 4:16b, 18
Fear makes captives. But those who know God, the Great Physician, know love and do not have to be captives any longer to fear. God desires that we walk in freedom, and when we do, the world takes notice.
- The people in dark clothes that were trying to capture me
We have an Enemy. To deny this is to set us up for failure as Christians. This Enemy does not want us to walk around in the wholeness and freedom that Christ gives and so he will pursue us and try to capture us. We must watch out for his traps! 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith”. We have the means to resist him. Ephesians 6 gives us the armor of God, which offers protection as well as an offensive weapon: the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We have the Spirit living inside us, guiding us and bringing to memory what we have learned and scriptures and songs that will help us resist Satan. Be alert, friends. Be on your guard.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
Jesus, John 15:18-19
- The young men who took me in and helped me hide
Not everyone is closed to hearing the Word. The young men who took me in represent those who are hungry and want to know why Christians are different. There are those who are yearning to know more about Jesus. This should encourage us in our ministry efforts! It is easy to encounter those who are disgruntled with the gospel, those who are carrying so much hurt and do not want to open up. But there are those who are eager and seeking and welcoming to the Word. The world is not closed off to the gospel. This is one point that I believe this dream was meant to be encouragement for all of us. We are not defeated! Keep going to all the world–even if it’s your grocery store cashier while you’re on a diaper run.
- The upper room/upstairs place
The upper room represents spending time with Jesus. The disciples spent Passover with Jesus in the Upper Room, sharing a meal, enjoying His company, and listening to His teaching and preparation (though they were unaware at the time how important it would be). We too must spend time in the Upper Room with Him, praying and studying. We are safe in His presence. The stairs leading up to that room show that physical effort must be put in to go to that place alone with Him, and people are not always willing to put in that effort to “climb up the stairs” and enter that space with Jesus. It IS hard. I am a working wife and mom and I struggle to get away with Jesus as often as I want to. But as I wrote about in both parts of my Solitude blog (part 1 here and part 2 here), Jesus set us the example by going often to lonely places and praying (Luke 5:16).
Be encouraged, friends. You are in the world but not of the world. We have an enemy who is the Prince of this World, but he does not win! (Spoilers: in the book of Revelation, God reigns supreme.) And because Satan does not win, he does not have total control of this realm. There are people out there who are hungry for the message of the Gospel, and you and I are in a position “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14) to live out the Gospel and share the hope of salvation with them.
Seek time in the Upper Room. And let that time you spend become so evident to others that it shines on your face and they know that something is different. Let your life speak of the evidence of God’s goodness.
Blessings,
~Lynne
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