My dreams had been silent for awhile, but started back up the other night. In one particular dream, I was trying to close three doors, two that were like French doors and then the third that was wooden and supported the other two. Outside, I saw three black lions approaching, walking steadily at me. I panicked and began working harder to close the doors, struggling the whole time. Then I woke up.
Three black lions felt pretty significant, so I did a quick Google search to find suggestions of what they might mean. One site suggested that a black lion could symbolize power, strength, and authority, as well as the darker side of your personality, or that someone may be trying to take advantage of you.
While I know better than to take everything I read on the Internet as gospel truth, I found the first part of that definition as extremely interesting, particularly one word that resonated: authority.
Last week, I wrote about having a case of the “blahs” stepping into a new year. In the week that has passed since then, life has become challenging. Turmoil cropped up at work and has been consuming a lot of my brain space as well as my conversations with others. And while it is important stuff and my feelings on the topic are valid, I also realized that it’s distracting me from other places I need to be giving my focus, particularly on a potentially challenging conversation I have coming up later this week as well as a collaborative project that I’m part of.
With that distraction has come the feeling that my power is being usurped away. That my voice isn’t being heard. That my feelings don’t matter.
Of course all of those things are lies! Satan had me right where he wanted me–helpless and alone.
As I dug into this, I realized: the lions in my dream weren’t out to hurt me. They were reminders following me of what I felt like I could not access: the power, strength, and authority that I have in Christ.
This realization sent me to the Bible to see what I was missing. The following verses may be very familiar, yet all together they show the power we as Christians can have in Christ:
- Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV): ”Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”
The resurrection from the dead gave Jesus ALL authority, and He told His disciples, “I have the authority, and I’m sending you in My name. So go!” We walk in the name of Jesus, therefore we carry His authority within us everywhere we go. How?
- Acts 1:8 (NIV): ”But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth.”
Following Jesus’s last words, the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost and that very same Spirit descends on us when we accept Jesus as Savior. The Bible confirms this truth:
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20a (NIV): ”Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.”
The Spirit lives inside us and we are no longer alone or walking in our own broken power. Jesus paid a dear price for this precious gift, and the result of that gift is the authority of God living inside of us. I can feel like I’m without it, but the truth is that the power is always inside of me, waiting for me to tap into it.
- Jeremiah 1:9 (NIV): ”Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘”‘I have put my words in your mouth.’”
This still applies to us today. He puts His words in our mouth every time we study the Bible and memorize it. Just because these words were given to Jeremiah thousands of years ago does not mean they are not also for us today.
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV): ”All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
God gave His words and inspiration to every single person who wrote a part of the Bible, and the books span over thousands of years, yet its message is still the same. For us, it is described as the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6) that we can use to refute the enemy. It is our weapon and our authority.
Those three black lions were a reminder for me of what I was actually running from–the truth that I have power, strength, and authority in God regardless of how I’m feeling. By shutting down and letting myself be overwhelmed by all that was going on, I was actually trying to close the door on the very authority and power I needed to get through it.
We do this All. The. Time, don’t we? More often than we’re willing to admit.
It’s easier to curl up and admit defeat.
It’s harder to get back up and keep on trying. But that is exactly what we are called to do.
Tucked away in the recesses of 2 Samuel 23 there is a role call of David’s Mighty Warriors. In verse 20, we are briefly introduced to Benaiah, whose claims to fame include going down into a pit on a snowy day and killing a lion. He didn’t run away. He ran toward the lion and emerged victorious.
Without authority, we cannot function in ministry in any capacity. We must have some starch in order to stand up for what is right, and speak and correct and guide (as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 as well as Titus 2:15 say). That starch is our authority. And our authority comes from the Spirit of God living inside us and the power of the resurrected Jesus Christ.
Friends, let us choose again to course correct and walk forward in the authority God gives us.
Blessings,
~Lynne
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