I believe the Lord woke me up this morning and reminded me of a truth that I had known but had ignored. The Lord reminded me that we are at war. I do not mean that we are at war physically, even though I believe that this year we will see more conflict, however we are at war spiritually and that it is time for the church to wake up.
Have you ever woken up from a bad dream? When you wake up you feel the freshness of it and a haziness that you are still in the dream but not out of it. There’s a realness to it and almost a hangover like effect. Well I had a bad dream and normally I don’t like to ascribe meanings to dreams, as for the most part they don’t mean anything but are simply a creative replaying of concepts, images, and thoughts that have been stored in our subconscious. Dreams can show us and display our fears, hopes, and worries. They can also show us the things we have been occupied with. So it would not be strange if I binge watched Lord of the Rings for a night and later had a hobbit or a goblin show up in my dream. That’s because I filled my brain with primary material to use for my sleep. Sometimes our dreams are reflections of things we have stored in our mind and this is where God spoke to me. So part of what I’m sharing is what I believe God gave me, but there are things that would be applicable to all of us.
So I woke from this portion of a dream. In the dream I was returning home from a trip, and while I was returning home all the lights were off. As I was going from room to room I had a sensation that their was an intruder in the home, awaiting in the shadows. And as I walked from another room he sprung out to attack, but I had armed myself and began fighting back. I woke up from the dream due to the adrenaline rush from fighting and although I knew it was a dream, I realized the Lord was showing me something.
In the dream the thief was dressed like a character from the show I was binge watching, except he was dressed in all black, He was a shadowy figure. In fact the show that I was watching was filled with fighting, violence, and death. However, it was this point that struck me. I was binge watching a show that I had previously stopped watching because I was concerned with the tone, the violence, and the elements of witchcraft that were involved. I began watching it again because there were aspects of the show and story that captured me and I got hooked. I began to gloss over the areas of concern that I had in order to be entertained. I realized that my binge watching had occupied my mind and prevented me from engaging more fully in activities that I was supposed to do, to the point that it was the primary source material for my dream. The irony is that even though the source material was not the most healthy, it caused me to wake up, pray and connect back to God. It was a wake up call, literally. I was reminded of how easily it is for us to put our guards down and accept things that we shouldn’t because of the allure or pleasure that those activities or people bring. It also reminded me of the principal of self-control. When we have certain liberties, it is important that we don’t abuse them because our souls and minds can only process so much without being negatively affected. One double bacon hamburger is okay. But if I go on a double bacon hamburger diet even for a few days its going to cause me some health problems. So here I was reflecting on the darkness and fear that I felt in the dream. There was something that wanted to attack me and my family. It felt real and though I knew that there was no physical threat to myself, I knew there was a spiritual one. I was growing comfortable not connecting to God like I should. I know I’m not the only one, I have many a believer have their senses dulled by watching too much or listening too much to the wrong voices. Those voices for many are the news, our Facebook feeds, IG pages, political talk, video games, and or shows. With Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, there are tons of interesting and well written shows. Tons of content but it can consume us. It has consumed us. The Lord was showing me that we need to open our eyes and to prevent darkness from taking root in our minds, our homes, our country. We have to battle against it and the first way to start is by waking up.
When I woke up the Lord put these verses on my heart.
13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
The Lord spoke to my heart and showed me how my blind attention to a show had clouded my mind and allowed the enemy to creep in and attack. I was reminded of the darkness in the house. The darkness wasn’t just a darkness for the lack of the lights being off, but there was a spiritual darkness an evil that I sensed that had entered in. I was convicted because I had wasted useful time and the words spoke to me, “make the best use of the time” because the days are evil. To not be foolish but understand the will of the Lord. ” Our foolishness is connected to giving ourselves too much to things that are permissible. In this passage it had to do with wine drinking. The scripture does not say do not drink. It say do not get drunk. The command is against excess and giving ourselves over to things that are not profitable or beneficial. He redirects us to focus our energies and efforts on connecting with God.
The Lord then spoke another scripture to me:
41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 24:41
The Lord had been speaking with me for the past two weeks partly because I wasn’t as connected and was allowing myself to get attached to other things; the opening week of basketball, a couple of shows, work, and then family time. I was more interested in listening to podcasts about sports or politics then listening to his word. He reminded me that I needed to guard my heart and mind so that I don’t fall into temptation. The darkness isn’t just external, but it can begin inside of me if I am not careful. He was showing me that if I am not vigilant, I will allow an opening for the enemy to sneak in. Jesus says this in Matthew,
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
Matthew 24:43
No one wants their homes to be broken into. The Lord showed me that I needed to wake up and pray, because the thief and our adversary is at work. We need to expect that he will come and be prepare and guard our hearts and minds.
He gave me another scripture as well,
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5:8-9
The devil is at work and is picking off people one by one. He has made it difficult to attend church and when we attend online, it is very easy to get distracted. Its easy to get caught up have our attention diverted and then move on to something else. Its easy to miss a sermon and say we will catch up to it later. Its easy to get comfortable. There are many believers who have been floating farther and farther away and are living on islands. Disconnected from God and disconnected from the body, not by choice but by the slow drip of convenience. The devil is not some figure with horns, a red pitch fork and a long tail. He is a spirt, and intelligent creature, a manipulator, an illusionist and a prince of other fallen spirits whose goal is to blind man and separate them from the calling and knowledge of God. He manipulates us through our lusts, and desires. We are called to resist him. Resist his calls to give in to our fleshly desires, to our addictions and vices. Resist his lures to do whatever feels good and to give up hope and faith in God. His lures to hate and demonize others. To accept and be tolerant of evil.
There are things happening in the United States that I never thought would happen. Our democracy is barely hanging together. Their is so much mistrust so much angst on top of that we have fears over the COVID-19 and then fears over the vaccine. We have politicians calling for people of their own party to be arrested and tried for treason. We have leaders calling for violence and stoking violence, anger and fear. We are on the verge of destruction because we have failed to call out the excess and the outrageous. Many have gotten used to the chaos. Many are relaxing now that the president is changing, but this is no time to relax. We have to be just as vigilant because the forces that spawn the evil we see are still in operation.
The Lord is calling his church to wake up and Pray.
2 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
We need to pray for our elected officials, our health care professionals, our neighbors and our sick and homeless. We need to pray for our children, our soldiers, our missionaries, and our pastors. We need to pray for our churches. We need to pray that God wakes us up. We need to pray for discernment because we have been blinded by our own lusts and misconceptions of God.
We need to pray that God would give us compassion for the lost, for the gospel to be preached, and for the name of Jesus to be exalted, and for his kingdom to come. We need to wake up and pray.
A voice in the wilderness 