Truth or Intuition?

I've just woken up from a rather fitful night's sleep.

There were so many images in my mind, many of them flashbacks from things that I had experienced the day before, but these were interspersed with all sorts of new things. Feelings, images.

• Extrapolations on a theme?
• My mind just wandering?
• Or genuine intuition?

I can't say at the moment. I certainly can't tell you what was in those dreams...

But what was revealed was certainly enlightening. And disturbing.

:(

Choices

I don't know about you, but my brain is filled with hundreds and hundreds of possibilities.
Maybes and What Ifs, Could Bes and a whole load of Must Dos. All conflicting, all jostling for position.

The problem is - I don't want to do just one thing. I want to do them all. I want the new experiences, a whole load of the challenges, and all the regular stuff that I love to do as well. I want to live life to the full.

And that means I struggle between doing new things and carrying on with my existing commitments.
As I have already established in a previous post, I only have enough time to do some of what I can do. Or enough energy. So I need to choose, and choose wisely.

Let's say, there is something important in the list of things that you have to do. Wouldn't you want to do it? But you can't do everything. So, you'd need to drop something. In extreme cases, if the thing was very, very important, you'd need to drop everything else.

Attempting to pull yourself in too many directions is the single quickest way to failure. And putting your all into a single direction is the quickest way to success.

If you want to follow your dreams, you have to say no to all the alternatives. It’s not easy, but that's the price of success.

Matthew 13:45-46 (NIV)
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."

You Gotta Have A Dream...

This week I have been encouraged to step out and claim that tremendous promise mentioned in Mark 9:23 (NIV) — "Everything is possible for one who believes."

However, in order for me to step out in faith, I need to have a clear vision of where I need to be. And, let's face it, it has got to be God's vision of the future, not anyone else's. There's plenty of political commentators campaigning about next week's General Election who are keen to make promises about the way things are going to be over the next few years. What better guidance - what surer guide can I have than the Creator of the universe?

My vision - my dream of the future - has got to be right.

• It shouldn't be some rose-tinted view of the years ahead
• It shouldn't be a utopian fairy-tale where 'we'll all live happily ever after';
• It shouldn't be an idealistic 'pipe dream'...

It's got to be realistic, it's got to be from God, it's got to be true.

In the words of the song from 'South Pacific' - "You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?"

I believe that I'm here on Earth for a purpose. If I don’t have a dream to work toward, it's just 'existing'. And that's not living.

Taking Flight

"Somewhere over the rainbow, Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?"

I've been having a recurring theme in my prayer times lately... and some pretty interesting dreams in my sleep.

Thoughts and dreams about taking flight. Flying, and soaring really high!

I've started to see references to flying everywhere. There was an advert that leapt out at me an hour or two ago - spurring me on to blog about this.

I have an idea or two what this might mean - I'm also adding the words from Don Moen's song which mean so much to me. And it's something that I intend to pray into further this week.

"Hold me close, Let Your love surround me
Bring me near, Draw me to Your side
And as I wait, I will rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You, Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love"

Visions Of The Night

Acts 2:17 (NIV)
"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."

What actually are dreams? According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, dreams are 'a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep. . . . having ideas or images in the mind while asleep'.

Scripture goes a little further and calls them "visions of the night" (Job 33:15, also Isaiah 29:7-8).

The fundamental question for today has to be "where do these dreams come from?". Sigmund Freud believed that dreams were a window into our subconscious mind. Scientific minds will tell you that dreams are most abundant and best remembered during the R.E.M. stage of sleep. One theory has it that dreams are our brain's attempt to organise the previous day's thoughts and experiences. The truth is - the human brain is so complex, we may never truly know how it operates, waking or sleeping.

However, I've been reading up about methods of testing whether a particular dream is coming directly from God. A "Vision Of The Night". Is it possible? Well, if God is truly God, of course He can communicate in this way! It needs to be considered.

Now, I don't believe all dreams are inspired by God. Dreams are used by our subconscious to order our thoughts. For instance, after a good night's sleep, you find you can think clearer about a particular topic. However, I believe that our Heavenly Father can prompt us in the right direction from time to time... Of course, it's then up to us to decide whether to act on such a 'prompting' from a dream. Or to discard it as just your imagination. If this is truly from the Almighty then I would strongly suggest you should take note.

I understand that if this is from God then the dream should be:

• In line with scripture: God never does anything which is contrary to His word.
• Convincing: your emotions are strongly affected, you are certain that there is a message here that needs further study.
• Lasting: the memory of the dream keeps coming back to you. The images linger...

Bad Dreams

Ever had one of those nights?

Last night seemed to drag on forever. Throughout the night hours I was presented with reoccurring sequences from my own life. The cast was made up of former colleagues and acquaintances of mine, people I remember fondly - but this time these people were discouraging, disrespectful, even downright rude about my personal life, about where I am today.

And then I woke up. Realising the entire thing was only a dream helped somewhat, but the experience did unease me for a while. Is that what these people really think about me? Was any of what was being said to me in my dreams really true?

I've made this a matter of prayer today. And, in the midst of the dialogue with my Lord, He reminded me that He loves me. He reminded me that we battle against a foe who deals in lies and half-truths. He reminded me of all of the victories that had been won in my life recently. And He reminded me that a retreating force often tries to regroup and attack again on another front.

The Doug Horley song we've used so often to end Sunday School in recent years is on top of my mind tonight:

WONDERFUL LORD, wonderful God,
You are my shield, my protector.
I can lie down, go off to sleep,
Knowing You’re watching over me.
Wonderful Lord, wonderful God,
Help me to trust You forever.
I need not fear, ’cause You are near,
I can lie down and sleep in peace.

Copyright © 2003 Thankyou Music

Sweet dreams, tonight...