Dream about church
by Ivan Ho 24 Jan 23, HK
I was in a beautiful traditional looking church service with stained glass windows on the side walls, wooden seatings and grand organ behind the stage up front. I was standing at one end of the bench near the aisle. During the service I saw a couples whom I know walk pass me and stand at the end of the row near the windows. Then towards the end of the service, the couples walked pass me again and left while the church was playing the last hymn. The hymn was just music without people singing and it was beautiful and anointed.
I was thinking : The last hymn was spirit filled, we should stay till the end of the service before leaving.
In the next scene, I have left the church and was on the street. Then I find myself in a place like a hotel foyer to pick up my luggage to return home. I was wondering what transport to take but suddenly in a split second I was transported home, realising I was being transported by the Holy Spirit. At this point, I woke up from my dream briefly and saw in front of me the living room where I was sleeping. Then I went back to sleep and the dream continued.
In the second part of the dream I see myself with a girl in a home, kitchen like setting. We were both practicing our part together in a musical drama for the church.
In the next part of the dream I was walking on the street at night. Then I ran into the same girl again. While we were together, she showed me a video of her practicing the drama with other people but I was absent from the rehearsal. I was upset and asked her why she did not invite me to the drama rehearsal with other people. I realised she did not want to acknowledge about our relationship to other people in the church.
Then suddenly I saw the girl turn into a small baby and grow up in my arms to become an adult.
In the third part of the dream, I was sitting next to the same woman again and talking to her. However sitting on the other side of the girl there was a good looking young man. While I was talking to her, the young man would talk to her at the same time and distracted her from my words. I was jealous and tried to push the guy away but he did not leave and stayed to continue speaking to the girl while I was speaking.
Throughout the dream, the face of the girl was blurred so that I could not recognise who she was.
Interpretation
At first I don’t understand the dream and wonder whether it is from God or my own imagination. Then as I ponder, I realise this is what the Holy Spirit is revealing to me about some attitudes amongst God’s people in the church today that are displeasing to God:
1. Lack of honour and respect for God when people decide to come into the service whenever they want and leave early. Even at the end while they were playing the last hymn song, it was anointed by the Spirit of God.
2. We have personal relationships with God in private but in corporate settings we often do things without him and fail to acknowledge him in front of other people.
Although this behaviour is displeasing to God and a sign of immaturity, we will mature quickly as we grow up in his arms of love.
3. We often entertain another voice outside of God while he is speaking to us. When God speaks, another voice would speak at the same time to distract us from God’s voice over our lives. The enemy’s voice would try to compete with God’s voice and that’s why we can’t understand his words and stay focused when God is speaking to us. Our God is a jealous God who demands our undivided attention towards him.
Note 20 Feb 2023
4. Two days ago, I was brought to the attention via social media of what is known as the Asbury revival in a university campus in Wilmore, Kentucky. In looking at the photo images, it dawns on me the hall that I saw in the dream is exactly the same as the one in Asbury University where revival is taking place!
Throughout the dream, the face of the girl was blurred so that I could not recognise who she was. The revival that is taking place in Asbury is spearheaded by a faceless generation of young people rather than by any renowned ministers. They may be still growing up in Christ, but because of their simple devotion to God and longing to be in His presence, God is moving amongst them to touch the body of Christ in the nations of the world.
Note 24 Feb 2023
5. The setting in the second part of the dream when I was outside with the girl at night is very similar to the building images I see at the Asbury campus, probably just outside the hall where the revival meetings are taking place.
The girl suddenly turned into a baby growing up in my arms. I believe it signifies the birth of something new which God will make it grow into full adulthood. It won’t be something that will be aborted or diminish like other moves that came and went in the past.
6. I was with the girl at home but when she was with other people I wasn’t invited. I am not God but He uses the dream to show me how it feels when God’s presence is not in some of the things we do in the church because we fail to acknowledge Him and make room for His presence.
7. What is taking place at Asbury University is a sovereign move of God. The Holy Spirit revealed it to me in a prophetic dream in January before it actually began to happen on 8th February. The move of the Holy Spirit begins with God Himself rather than being some movement that was initiated by man.
“I have been asked if Asbury is ‘stopping’ this outpouring of God’s Spirit and the stirring of human hearts,” the university president said in a statement. “I have responded by pointing out that we cannot stop something we did not start.”
8. When God is speaking to God’s people, the enemy is speaking at the same time. It reminds me of the parable of the wheat and the tares. Matthew 13:24-30
When God sows good seed in the field, the enemy sows tares amongst the wheat while men are asleep. The difference between the parable and the dream I had is that while God is speaking, the enemy is speaking at the same time to try to supercede God’s voice. The devil can’t stop God from speaking but he is trying to stop us from listening by saying things to us while God is speaking.
When God is speaking to the church, we need to stay focused and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying and not be distracted by the words sown by the enemy. It is up to us to tune in to God’s voice and turn off distractive voices from the enemy.
Jesus said to Peter “Get behind me satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men!”. Matthew 16:21-23
When our minds are preoccupied with the things of men, our daily mundane activities, our jobs … and in Peter’s case, his humanistic response to Jesus’s prophetic word on His death and resurrection, we are open to demonic influences on our minds which would take our focus away from God. Even when God is speaking, satan is speaking at the same time so that the humanistic minded person would tend to listen to the enemy instead of God.
This is a real issue that God’s people are facing: Until the time of the Lord’s return, the devil will continue to speak. We must be able to discern the source of the words coming to us on a daily basis. If our minds are not set on the things of God, we can be easily influenced by demonic suggestions, often times from people close to us, in so doing being misled by the enemy to move away from God’s plans and purposes. Imagine if Jesus followed Peter’s counsel, Jesus would not have taken the path of the cross and we would all be doomed in our sins!
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:1-3 KJV
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