I was awakened from a dream this morning, odd as it was.
I was minding my own business, walking through an older part of my neighborhood, when a man, dirty and mishelved, jumped out of the tall weeds at the side of the road. Right behind him were others, a woman with a baby, another man.
They were desperate, but I could tell accosting people was not what they wanted to do. I was calm, and said I would go and get them food from my house.
As dreams go, I was instantly in my house, but I became sidetracked by people milling about. At one point I was looking down from a balcony onto a careful arrangement of artifacts. They were fascinating, but there was something dark about them. A friend stood next to me. I thought out loud, saying, "I need to get rid of these things." My friend quite bluntly replied, "Yes, you do." Then I woke up.
I don't share every dream. I know which ones are my brain doing its thing. But this one was meant for someone, not just me.
I am big on benevolence, so helping the needy around me "in my neighborhood" was no big deal.
And, I've also purged my house many times over the years of things that were no longer a blessing and just taking up space. The message was, there are things or activities that in themselves are not inherently evil, but my fascination with them was taking up space and time.... and distracting me from the Lord's purpose.
Sometimes those of us with big hearts for Jesus lose focus on the main things. When we stay close to Him and His purposes for us, we will run and not grow weary (Isaiah 40:31). But when we are distracted, mischief makers enter our lives. And we grow tired and vulnerable to attack.
I will continue to contemplate and identify the mischief makers in my life, but some came to mind immediately. Resetting boundaries on my time, and restating my priorities. And, well, cutting my sugar intake.
I would just say one other thing. Helping others is not an "add-on" activity we do when everything else is perfect. It requires sacrifice. It means NOT doing something else. A mischief maker can be something that you are doing that you already know has no eternal value, but you are comfortable in it and your flesh wants it and you make excuses for why you deserve to have it. It can be something that when you do it, impairs you from doing something else.
What was clear in my dream is, there is very often NOT a direct line from the mischief maker to the inability to do what you are called to do. (They are tricky like that). Ask Him to show you the connection if you don't see it right away. It will make the burden easy and light, just like He means it to be.
I was minding my own business, walking through an older part of my neighborhood, when a man, dirty and mishelved, jumped out of the tall weeds at the side of the road. Right behind him were others, a woman with a baby, another man.
They were desperate, but I could tell accosting people was not what they wanted to do. I was calm, and said I would go and get them food from my house.
As dreams go, I was instantly in my house, but I became sidetracked by people milling about. At one point I was looking down from a balcony onto a careful arrangement of artifacts. They were fascinating, but there was something dark about them. A friend stood next to me. I thought out loud, saying, "I need to get rid of these things." My friend quite bluntly replied, "Yes, you do." Then I woke up.
I don't share every dream. I know which ones are my brain doing its thing. But this one was meant for someone, not just me.
I am big on benevolence, so helping the needy around me "in my neighborhood" was no big deal.
And, I've also purged my house many times over the years of things that were no longer a blessing and just taking up space. The message was, there are things or activities that in themselves are not inherently evil, but my fascination with them was taking up space and time.... and distracting me from the Lord's purpose.
Sometimes those of us with big hearts for Jesus lose focus on the main things. When we stay close to Him and His purposes for us, we will run and not grow weary (Isaiah 40:31). But when we are distracted, mischief makers enter our lives. And we grow tired and vulnerable to attack.
I will continue to contemplate and identify the mischief makers in my life, but some came to mind immediately. Resetting boundaries on my time, and restating my priorities. And, well, cutting my sugar intake.
I would just say one other thing. Helping others is not an "add-on" activity we do when everything else is perfect. It requires sacrifice. It means NOT doing something else. A mischief maker can be something that you are doing that you already know has no eternal value, but you are comfortable in it and your flesh wants it and you make excuses for why you deserve to have it. It can be something that when you do it, impairs you from doing something else.
What was clear in my dream is, there is very often NOT a direct line from the mischief maker to the inability to do what you are called to do. (They are tricky like that). Ask Him to show you the connection if you don't see it right away. It will make the burden easy and light, just like He means it to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment