Quatre rêves

Let me say from the outset of this post that I stand very firmly on the authority of the Word of God.

Spending time with John son of Zebedee has only strengthened that.

I know, both from looking again at John's writings, as well as from all the Scriptures God has enabled me to retain in my head, that I know God because He's made Himself known to me. He's the most active One in the relationship (10 times this idea has surfaced in chapters 1-5 of John's gospel).

So far in this gospel, it also seems crystal clear that knowing God (on our part) is about believing in Jesus, the One whom He sent. Thirteen (13) times that idea has turned up so far.

13 times across only FIVE chapters.

The next most frequently occurring idea is the importance of the WORDS - whether spoken by God the Father, or by God the Son.

I have counted 9 times in the 5 chapters studied where emphasis is placed on listening to God's Word.
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If I didn't already hold the view that the most important things in the Christian walk are knowing God through His initiative & subsequently listening to & believing in His Word, I should be bashing myself over the head right now.

Having firmly established that I rely more than anything on what God's Word says, it's time to talk about 4 dreams. 1 when I was only seven; 3 others in quick succession over this last weekend.

1 rêve
(à l'âge de 7 ans)
At the tender age of seven I was a proud Sunday-School know-it-all. Had you seen me at church, you would have noticed that the level of Bible knowledge I had was probably not so distant from where it is now.

But as a seven-year-old, I had one of those dreams where you wake up quite scared. It was a Judgment Day kind of dream. I won't go through all the details of how I knew what I was seeing - though I could, & if you ask me then I will in some subsequent post.

I, my family, and unknown others appeared to be standing before God in His glory. Waiting for Him to call us. One by one I watched my family members welcomed into eternal life. And I stood there, waiting my turn, having seen them all go ahead of me.

And then I woke up, thinking, "What about ME??!?".
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Quite chilling at the time - though I think now, it was God's way of shaking me up. So what if I knew the Scriptures rather well at age 7? By knowing them alone it wouldn't have been enough to possess eternal life.

As such I suspect this whole dream was intended to say, "So you think you are a Christian, little Sunday-School genius girl? You think you can be sure of salvation and eternal life? Just because you know so much about Me and My Words?..
"..Well, THINK AGAIN."


3 rêves
(récemment)
For 3 consecutive nights (up 'til Sunday) I've had dreams about mission in France. Dreams about being back there on team with international & local fellow-workers, getting ready to go out & do outreach via Bible-stands.

..Why?
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It does make me wonder.

Once again, I reinforce that knowing God is - more than anything else - about Him & His Word. He is enough for me - & His Word as already recorded in the Bible we have is more than enough for me. It has been exciting finding new treasures in John, a book I've read through for myself - on & off - since I was 19.

And yet for me, personally, it may not be wise to let the odd dream just go. Or three of them in quick succession.

La chose la plus importante
Still I emphasise:
FIRST and foremost
- above all other apparent revelations and experiences -
hear the Word of the LORD God.

Not by might, nor by power, but only by His Spirit.

Because the Spirit of God already lives in you - if Jesus is your Saviour and Lord; if you belong to Him.

If Jesus is your Saviour and Lord, you do not have to ask God for the Spirit to be given you. He is already there!
(See a bit of Romans 8 - God says it!)

The issue is to be living by the Spirit that is already in us. Not begging Him to be there because some crack theology has implied He isn't there.

I know I'm now off on a major tangent (my first on this blog, I think!), but I am growing so tired of prayers that I hear, esp. by well-meaning praying believers at CCC Milson's Point, that God should send His Spirit to us, or fill us with His Spirit, or other phrases that imply we don't yet have the Spirit.

How silly, and how totally unBiblical.

God's Spirit says that we who belong to Christ are God's children. It's a matter of choosing to live by the Spirit (not by the sinful nature/flesh, the old way of thinking).

A choice that we fight to make every day - by depending on the already present Spirit.

Rant over.

Sorry if you fell off the train of thought on the way.


L/T.

P.S. Beloved friends - test EVERYTHING that you see and hear and read against the Scriptures!

Please!

Do not just blindly swallow the ideas of a speaker or writer!

"For this reason, since the day [I] heard about you, [I] have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

"And [I] pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:
bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation."
COLOSSIANS 1:9-15