This dream:
A group of Hispanic children were playing on the playground, I think they were all standing together on one of those merry-go-round platforms.
The parents were off to the side eating and talking.
All of a sudden, a giant lion quickly approaches the children and starts to attack them. The taller children are putting up their arms to block this lion and all of the children are huddled together screaming.
I look to the parents to see what they are going to do, and they are stunned and just standing there not willing to attempt to help. In my dream, I wondered why no one would go to try to scare the lion away and in my dream I somehow knew it was because they were afraid that they too would be attacked and it was better to minimize the attack (to only the children).
After a moment, I noticed someone had put food on their plate (it was 2 opened biscuit looking things with a queso type sauce) and they were in the process of setting it up closer to the children to INVITE this lion to feel welcome, calm down, and stay and eat.
When I questioned why they would do this, the response was so that they wanted to trick the lion into thinking he was welcome and a part of their group so that he would be nice. I am thinking there was something about them having to sneak away and leave once he was tricked that he could stay - but I woke up and did not get to see the conclusion.
As I was thinking about this strange dream, it did not take me long to draw an analogy to real life in the church (the body of Christ).
Oftentimes, we are in the middle of surprise attacks from Satan and we don't know what to do - so we end up inviting him to stay. He often attacks our children while we parents observe helplessly.
Out of curiosity, I just googled "How to Scare Away A Lion". It's not common knowledge to me how to do this - though I am sure there are probably strategies that would work with the correct knowledge and training before the need would arise.
I find this snippet interesting and applicable to my point here (the emphasis is mine):
"No matter how scared you are, do not run, and do not turn your back to the lion. If it helps, Discover Wildlife says that “most charges are mock charges, so you will usually be fine.” In many animal attacks the advice is to make yourself look bigger. You see this a lot in lion attack advice, too.Jul 3, 2013"
Another:
"While most lions flee from people, even while you’re on foot, an attack is always a possibility. Knowing how to react ahead of time could save your life."
(source)
This source gives some clear advice, put into these categories, that we as Christians can use against the attacks that come our way in life:
1. STAND YOUR GROUND
2. FIGHTING THE ATTACK
3. AVOIDING AN ATTACK
Back to my earlier dream:
I was wondering why I would have this dream. I think it is speaking directly to what happened last night at church. Recently, we have been visiting a church. Right away we felt welcomed and encouraged to attend this church on a regular basis. So we have been going for about a month.
However, our spiritual journey had taken us away from this particular denomination and taught us more about how to operate in the kingdom of God. So, as we re-entered this denominational church, I was able to quickly discern some ignorance to these truths and principles we had learned. My temptation has been to not be around this "stinkin thinkin" group (though they clearly are so friendly, loving, and devoted to following Jesus) just as a way of protecting my mind and our children's mind from falling back into a way of thinking we came out of after many years of study and testing the Scriptures. However, the draw of the community this church offers is strong and it was clear the Lord is moving people to dig deeper for more... so we have kept going.
Two weeks ago, I sat in the woman's Bible Study class on Wednesday night to see if that was where I should participate. It happened to be a night where they were looking for their next study to start. There was only one idea that was not a certainty and though I wanted to be only an observer, I felt the Lord was asking me to speak up. So I did. I offered to bring free resources we have in bulk for a study. Quickly many people were excited about the option. I warned twice, "this will stretch you" to which the Bible Study leader said, "Oh we like being stretched. We need to stretched."
Just like that, the door had seemed to open easily for me to have an opportunity to show these devoted sisters in Christ a glimpse of the amazing things God has done in our lives and guide them on practical ways they too can see these types of things in their own lives.
On Sunday, I brought the 25 copies of books, workbooks, and audio recordings (about $1500 worth of free materials that had been donated to our ministry months prior that I could now find a great purpose for). I gave one copy to the instructor to help her get a head start on looking through the materials before the next class.
I also took some time and began looking through the materials to be ready in the event she asked for my help in presenting this information to the class.
Wednesday night class started and the instructor quickly said something like, "Rachelle, I don't think that study is going to work. I looked at it and it is really homework intense and we are not big on doing a lot of homework in here. I discussed it with a few other people in here and they agree. We kinda have a homework-phobia in here... I mean it's pages and pages."
And then she moved on that she would bring a four week audio type study the next week on "Watching our Mouth".
I felt so many reactions in that moment. After a few minutes had passed and we were moving on - I took my copy of the workbook out to see the homework she was talking about. I did not remember it being that much. I looked back through it - and there were only two to three questions a week that were open ended questions prompting the reader to do some reflective applications of what they had learned that week (setting goals, journaling results, etc). It was not a lot of homework by any stretch.
By the end of class, I had an idea that rather than discounting the whole program, I could suggest we just read the book and don't do the workbooks at all. So, after class I left to meet up with my family and told my husband what happened. We were both confused about it and he agreed that I should suggest to just do the book. So, I found the teacher and made this suggestion to which she replied, "You know I am just not where that author is theologically. I looked her up and watched one of her videos and I'm just not where she is theologically."
I did my best to kindly encourage her to consider doing the study and that I could help with any real life testimonies that validate what it is laying out for people - but she really was not interested.
I took the big box of supplies back to our car and we left and discussed what had happened in the car on the way home. Our entire family (even our children) have witnessed this higher kingdom level living that is available, but we are not sure how we bridge these gaps and even "debates" from within the church without appearing to be prideful, divisive, or unloving in any way.
Back to the point I think my dream was offering:
Right before the close of the Wednesday night ladies class, the teacher had reminded us to walk as we had learned in the book of Romans with this type of statement, "it's easy to do it when you are in here but harder when you are out there because Satan's more likely to try to keep you from looking like Christ when you are out there."
I could not have disagreed more at that moment. From my perspective, Satan had already worked from WITHIN the church walls to deceive these women to not look like Christ (walking in His power) by scaring the leader off from walking through this new Bible Study that would "stretch her" and by having her prevent anyone else in the class from seeing it or trying it (she did not let them know the books were in the room). They had no idea what potential blessings they were being kept from.
It was a sobering and humbling realization that we all are not usually aware of the deception that is going on around us. Satan is working to keep us in the dark. To keep as much truth away from us so that we remain in some sort of bondage.
And here is my interpretation of that dream.
Our children are being attacked by this evil (lion), and we as parents are not sure what to do. We did not expect a lion to attack them at the local playground. We are helplessly watching afraid we are powerless to fight and win - and so we creatively invite him to stay and become a part of our environment. We just accept it as the way it is.
As Christians, we must learn how to recognize the lion and learn how to stand our ground, how to fight the attacks, and for sure how to avoid the attacks in the first place.
As students of the Word of God, we should not be afraid to look at other perspectives given by people who love Jesus as much as you do. They may have things they have found to be true that you are not aware of. As I told the instructor after class, whether one believes in gravity or not, or even understands how it works, we are all affected by it. Such are the principles of the Kingdom of God. There is so much more that possibly your church hasn't taught you yet - but that doesn't mean you should be scared of it or stay away from looking into it.
One of the best ways the Lord helped me look outside my own denomination and seek new knowledge and understanding to gain victories in my own life was this verse:
Hebrews 6:12 "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised." NIV
I found people who were walking in love, not in debt, not wallowing in sickness and disease but who were overcoming all these things and winning. They pointed me back to the Word and I saw it in a whole new way. My hope is for anyone who reads this to understand the power that lives within us is Christ... the same power that raised Him from the dead. He has called us to more. He has called us to be overcomers through what HE has already done. We are called to have the tools and weapons to fight - not be complacent and allow our enemies (poverty, sickness, disease, strife, sinful ways of life, etc) to dwell with us.
It's all in His Word and there are great teachers helping you find it in various ways. Don't be afraid to hear what they have to say.
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