dreams of heavenly battles......

Over the years I have had some pretty interesting dreams.  It seems that when Jesus really wants to get my attention, he will use a dream.  I guess I have fewer "filters" when I am sleeping so the message gets through to me quicker!  However sometimes it takes a bit of time to actually understand what the message is!  In the last couple of weeks I have had some of the usual back to school dreams - you know, the showing up to school in pajama dreams, or forgetting your locker combination.  My most vivid back to school dream last week was what I call a "nanny-dream" - my current version of back to school.  I had a dream that I forgot the way to drive the kids to school.  And then when I got to the school, I couldn't figure out the car line for drop off!  I was seeing the scene from the movie "Mr. Mom" in my head, when the main character is trying to drop off his son for the first time.  Over and over his son says, "Dad, your doing it wrong!".  And of course, he WAS doing it wrong.  You see, for anyone who has never done a school drop off/pick up line, there is a right way and and a wrong way to do it!  Fortunately for me, I have actually been doing the car line for 5 years now, so it is old hat.  But thanks to this dream, my heart went out to all of those "first timers" who were "doing it wrong!" 

My dream last night was far bigger than the car line.  I had a dream about a battle that is raging in the heavens.  There was a dark cloud hanging in the atmosphere.  It looked BIG and enormous.  There were words written on the cloud - words like pain, sickness, agony.  Things like hopelessness, depression and anxiety.  There were words of doubt and fear and anger.  I saw selfishness, pride, control, ego.  And together all these things made up one very big enemy.  The amazing thing was that the source of this darkness was coming from the earth.  It was coming from dark spirits that had wrapped themselves around people.  Some of the people did not know this darkness was even around them.  But there was a strand of darkness connecting the people to the big darkness in the heavens.   Then I saw the arrival of an amazing host of heavenly warriors.  These magnificent angels had golden armour and huge swords.  They surrounded the big cloud of darkness, and as if on cue, they began to swing their swords.  Each time that the swords made a mark in the cloud, I saw the darkness around the people on earth, lessen.  It was as if the evil was losing its grip on the person.  Over and over the warriors cut through the darkness and the clouds around the people began to lift.  I saw the cords from the darkness just snap as the angels worked on and on to dissipate the cloud.  There was a moment when the darkness was gone and the warriors swords stopped and then there was singing and rejoicing as the Son came out in full force!   There was golden light just streaming down.  Simply amazing.

Today, as I have been reflecting on this dream, I realized that the war was going on for ALL people on the earth.  It was not just for a select few - those that know that they are under some kind of oppression.  The battle was raging for everyone - even those that had welcomed the evil around them.  Isn't that a great comfort?  Many of us have loved ones who are walking in scary places and dabbling in dangerous stuff.  Some of us may know people who really don't understand how very real this spiritual battle is.  Yet, we can know that the Father has sent out his heavenly hosts to do battle.

If you have been sensing a dark cloud over your family or your home, enter into this wonderful vision.  See that Jesus is sending the troops to fight this battle.  It is not yours to fight. Keep pressing in to Jesus, and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal this truth to you.  Keep looking up at Jesus, until you see the victory that is his.  Enter into the rejoicing and bask in the amazing light. 

Yahweh, thank you for using dreams to remind us of your work in the heavenlies.  Thank you Jesus for sending forth the warriors to do battle, even when we aren't aware of the war and don't know that we need your help.  Holy Spirit, draw those who are suffering under these dark clouds, closer to Jesus.  Turn their eyes to the heavens, where their help comes from!  Thank you for the celebration that is ours to enter.  Hallelujah!   Amen