Dream: Can You Be Entrusted with the Confidential? Will You Take the Open Road?
December 30, 2023 10:20 PM
Lloyd Acree
"In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, "Master, eat." But he said unto them, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." Therefore said the disciples one to another, "Hath any man brought him ought to eat?" Jesus saith unto them, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours." John 4:31-38
Dec 30 2023 Dream:
I saw a man conducting ministry via teleconference and it was being recorded as for a vlog or website such as YouTube. On the other end of the line was a famous actor. The minister was a man with dreadlocks, and appeared to be a full redhead.
The conversation was barely revealed to me and this is all that I heard: He began complimenting this actor. But they responded with a deep regret; the actor said please don’t mention that. I can’t relate the exact words they said but it was something about how it had produced so much pain in some way, or had come at a severe cost, and this person was as if dying to have, as it were, some kind of total anonymity and confidentiality. In other words, I felt that this actor wanted to be treated like the least important person on the planet for the purpose of tackling spiritual questions and prayer solutions, and the attention of fame was hurting the process.
To their dismay I would assume, this redhead minister missed the request: he continued to broadcast and was even vainly adjusting his dreads as if looking in a mirror while live. It became obvious to me that he was loving the idea of showbusiness and using the actor’s involvement as a boost for platform visibility. This ends part 1.
Next I saw a different scene with entirely different people:
There were disciples of Christ attempting to find solutions to their financial concerns, housing, rent, etc. by jointly discussing (once again online I think) how they had found a building that was Christian-owned where they could pool resources. I barely heard what they were saying and this is where the dream cut.
Interpretation
The first half of the dream is clear:
This is a warning to us all that God’s Holy Spirit is searching for non- flashy non- self-promoting ministries. He obviously desires ministers who will accept no credit nor recognition nor acknowledgment for their work: those who will be sensitive to the fact that everyone must be showed the same courtesy and respect, and some will need more confidential treatment than others: No temptation for pay, or human recognition, or promotion, or inclusion, should make that difficult for His dear children that are in need. Let’s sorrow in advance, then, to think that we would put ourselves or our own promotion before the sensitivity or service toward anyone. Let us grieve now, not later, to acknowledge that we are prone to rob God of His glory and think of ourselves as something great in His kingdom of bondslaves. Let us forsake every thought of making any name for ourselves. Let us do only what God requires and abandon the other lures of glorying in our own selves. It is perverse to do what the redhead man did and we must repent ahead of time and continuously of our vanity.
The second half of the dream is much less easy to handle. All I could see was that there was lack among the disciples who were completely devoted to ministry and had become impoverished. When there is a “shortened” dream situation like this, I tend to err on the side of asking my local church fellowship to pray with me on it. However in this instance it comes joined to the first dream so I will use that as context. After all, it did feel “off”, like the redhead minister. So here we have another gutcheck from the Holy Spirit: are we prepared to face poverty to get the job done? Are we aware that the church in Acts 2 (which is often held up as the ideal revival scenario) was selling everything they had to make room for everyone else in the church? That they made no protest over owning anything, but counted all things common and surrendered the idea of personal property: if only just to see the gospel spread to everyone without hindrance?
There is nothing wrong with disciples trying to work something out financially to share a building, to cut their costs, to sell and adjust all kinds of assets, for their gospel to become more free and available to the Lord: so are we able to empathize with and identify with this group from my dream? Are we facing the challenges of funding the gospel, or simply comforting ourselves and letting others take on the bills? And also, will we pray for these disciples to find a place to stay, so they can keep moving the gospel forward? Will we suffer their troubles as our own?
And for those hazarding this situation, are you open enough to the Spirit who will lead you onto the waters, to walk on water like Peter? Are you ready to surrender your plans of convenience? Do you challenge your own assumptions about where God might lead you, out of that brick church community building perhaps, so that you can truly follow His Spirit as Christ also followed the Spirit?
Scriptures
“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”
James 2:1-4
“Be of the same mind one toward another. Set not your mind on high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.”
Romans 12:16
“So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all the believers were together and had all things in common; and they would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:41-47
Lloyd Acree
Photos courtesy Depositphotos
