For the last sixteen years I’ve had a recurring dream. I call it my hockey dream and while the specifics change every time, the overall dream is the same:
I’m getting ready to play hockey, and something always prevents me from getting on the ice – I can’t find my stick, I have to drive home to get my skates; something always gets in the way and I never get on the ice. I wake up frustrated and annoyed because I love to play hockey and rarely ever get to anymore.
That recurring dream played out prominently in something God did recently, though.
You may remember from an article I wrote six months ago that I failed my first range qualification for our church’s security team. To qualify, you need to shoot at a level slightly higher than the Alaska State Troopers and I wasn’t even close. For six months after that the demon of Fear taunted me, and his buddy Anxiety piled on whenever I thought about my next range qualification. That day came a few weeks ago, and the night before I asked our home group to pray for me about it. They did and I went to sleep that night with my alarm set for an ungodly hour the next morning.
That night I had my hockey dream again.
“WHAT THE HECK, God? Tonight of all nights I get the hockey dream?”
This time in my dream, I was looking high and low for my blue #67 jersey. It made no sense since we were playing against a team with white jerseys and I could have worn any of the several dark ones in my bag, but for some reason in the dream I had to have my blue #67 jersey. It has been in my hockey bag since I played on a church team many years ago.
I woke up annoyed and began getting ready for my dreaded,
long-awaited long-anticipated qualification. I checked off the items on
my good-to-go list: Coffee, gun, my good holster, extra magazines, layered
clothing, a packed lunch, and I headed out the door. I got in my car and picked
up my phone, wondering what I should listen to on the 45-minute drive north to
the shooting range.
Should I listen to worship music? Should I listen to an NFL podcast to get my mind off things? Should I listen to some high-octane music to get in an aggressive posture – Rush, Creed, maybe Metallica? Should I listen to a political podcast to get in the mindset of confronting evil and the times ahead? In the end God said “No” to all of those, and instead I decided to simply pray. I pulled onto the highway.
“Okay, God. You and me, forty-five minutes. What do you want to talk about?” I asked.
Get in my Word.
“Okay,” I answered. “Which scripture?”
What were you looking for last night?
It then dawned on me that in my dream I was looking for my #67 jersey. I chose that number for my church hockey team jersey in reference to Psalm 67:
May God be merciful and bless us.
May his face smile with favor on us.
May your ways be known throughout the earth,
your saving power among people everywhere.
Psalm 67 New Living Translation
I got to a stoplight and put my bible app on my phone, setting it to an audio version of Psalm 67 which I already knew from memory. As it played, I felt a deep peace and thanked God for leading me there…but God wasn’t done yet. Since I was driving, I couldn’t easily pause the app and the audio continued to Psalm 68:
Rise up, O God, and scatter your enemies.
Let those who hate God run for their lives.
Blow them away like smoke.
Melt them like wax in a fire.
Let the wicked perish in the presence of God.
But let the godly rejoice.
Let them be glad in God’s presence.
Let them be filled with joy.
Psalm 68 New Living Translation
For months the enemies of Fear and Anxiety had been tormenting me over this qualification and yet here, as the critical moment loomed, God was speaking through His word about my enemies melting like wax in the fire. He used my dream to take me to Psalm 67 as a springboard to Psalm 68. I knew in that moment I was going to survive the day. But it was better than that even, I crushed it. I qualified with points to spare and had fun doing it.
God Is Speaking Through Dreams
Is God speaking to you through dreams? He might be but too often we forget them or write them off, or let the cares and notifications of the morning dissolve them. We need to tune into those dreams because our subconscious may be one of the only places where God has our undivided attention. I recently heard a missionary from Pakistan give examples of men and women having face-to-face encounters with Jesus in their dreams. Christianity may be banned in Iran, but nobody can stop Jesus encounters that happen to people in their own beds. That’s always been the case but from conversations with other Christians it seems to me that He’s doing it with increasing frequency and intensity these days. And no wonder, considering the media gatekeepers and the ungodly tripe coming from many pulpits of late. God is using dreams for divine downloads and we need to pay attention.
He may also be trying to warn us.
Some History And Two Warnings
In the fall of 2019 I had a warning from God in the form of a dream. In this dream I was a Union general standing atop Big Round Top during the Civil War. I knew the location and that this must be the early morning of day two of the Battle of Gettysburg (I’m a history nerd). In the dream I noticed my men were lackadaisical, drinking coffee and lounging, oblivious to the battle I knew was looming and derelict in standard preparations for it. A fight was about to breakout, and they weren’t ready. Far from it.
I woke up and texted my prayer buddies that I knew something big was about to happen, something our church was unprepared for. Around that time our congregation had recently survived two major scandals but I knew this was going to be something much worse. I imagined perhaps a death or a natural disaster would strike.
But 2020 started and everything looked great. The Chiefs won the SuperBowl, the economy was humming, and Trump was signing peace deals across the globe. But of course, the stuff hit the fan in March. Tyranny and evil were unleashed and the unprepared church largely rolled over and played dead, because much of it was.
Well, folks. Last week I had another warning from God in the form of a dream.
In this latest dream I was hiking with my wife and two of my older children. As with that 2019 dream we again stood on a high ridge, this time overlooking a gully where many other hikers casually lounged below. I noticed a row of stacked logs on the edge of the cliff, leaning out and ready to fall onto the people below. I tried to warn them but most of them ignored me. I told my wife and kids we were going to have to get down there to physically move them because they were not listening or understanding, but before we could do so the logs tipped and the entire stack rolled over the edge like a waterfall. I tried to brace the logs with my arm but it was impossible and as they piled up I clearly saw one of the logs crush a woman below. We raced down to the wreckage, and I tried to help the woman who had gotten struck from above. I spoke to her and I called EMS but the person who answered 911 was incompetent and unhelpful and merely transferred me around a bureaucratic phone system.
Here’s what I take from that dream:
There is a crash about to happen, something that will harm many people who are either clueless or unwilling to heed the warnings. It is imperative in this hour that those in the church who see the danger voice it. We need to be loud, adamant, and effective in sounding the alarm because if we don’t, people are going to get crushed.
Like before, I have no idea what form or in what timeframe these events will occur. But I know it will, and like last time, I’ll know it when it does. Last time it took five months. Get ready.
Have you been holding back in telling others about the warnings God has been placing on your heart? Are you keeping close to your chest information that could help others in the days ahead? It’s time to speak up, even if they won’t listen. The last time Christians kept silent or went along with foolish things against their better judgement, the beast devoured freedom and the resulting isolation bred destruction. That beast’s appetite has only increased. It’s time to fight and get loud about it.
In discussing dreams and interpretations recently, a friend expressed that he firmly believes God will give the individual who dreams the ability to interpret it. While I don’t disagree with that, the Bible has clear examples of others interpreting dreams that befuddled the dreamers, like Joseph, and Daniel, for example. Share those dreams with others, especially if you’re having trouble understanding them. The counsel of trusted allies is often a faith building endeavor, but be mindful of always listening to the Holy Spirit above all.
He may be giving you divine instructions while you sleep. He may be revealing things to you that your conscious mind has long forgotten. When you open your eyes tomorrow morning, try to avoid reaching for your phone and consider reaching for a pad of paper instead. Imagine what the day would look like if we didn’t start each morning by downloading a few dozen texts and emails. Imagine if all of God’s people started the day by uploading and acting on the content our Creator placed in our minds overnight.
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