FACE TO FACE with THE DRAGON at ‘Treasures for Less’
July 25, 2022 11:02 PM
Averine Pennington
received 1-11-21
The publication of this dream has been a long time coming. I’m sorry I held on to it for so long. I thought it was just for me. As I have been called to intense spiritual warfare of late, battling Satan and his forces using my prayer language for hours on end, I keep being reminded of this dream. It is one of the most terrifying things that has ever happened to me . . . meeting the DRAGON face to face. But I know that I know that I know it was necessary to prepare me for what was about to happen in January of 2021 and pretty much every day since. I fight a constant battle against the forces of darkness coming against the kingdom of God and the flock I have been assigned to protect
This dream was so real, I could smell the stench of sulfur as he came near me! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning.
[Note: There are multiple parts to this dream that do not seem to make any sense whatsoever to me. I thought to leave a portion out, but I am instructed to type it up just as I wrote it down. Sometimes dreams are quirky, and the interpretation may come at a later time. Only God knows. Pray about it as you read and let the Holy Spirit impart any revelations meant for you. Otherwise, toss it out.]
The dream begins with my husband and I preparing to leave home for a day of shopping. I hate driving on the freeways in Houston, so he was going to drive me to this bargain hunter’s paradise north of Houston, called “Treasures for Less.” On the way, we planned to stop at the furniture store I use to work at, as he had promised my old boss to help him with a chore. When we finally got on the road, I looked at my feet and realized in my rush to get out the door, I had accidentally put on two different types of shoes. On my left foot I had on a white sneaker, and on my right foot I wore a very comfortable white flat shoe, soft and flexible, almost like a ballerina slipper.
[Note: I have yet to know the significance of this detail, but many of my dreams include something about shoes, or being without them.]
Our first stop was the furniture store. I greeted my old boss & co-workers, and found a chair in the corner to relax while of all things, my husband starts using a long-handled squeegee to clean the front display windows. This could take a while, I thought, so I took my shoes off to sort of hide the fact that they did not match. After what seemed like an hour, my husband came to fetch me and said he was ready to leave. As I was putting my shoes back on, my husband went to the car without me. When I reached the front door, I saw a knife left lying out that my husband had used to scrape something off the display window. I took the time to find the store manager and hand him the knife for safe-keeping. I did not want a customer or possibly a child finding it. Someone could get hurt.
[Again, I have no idea what this little part of the dream means.}
So, I get in the car, and we head out to ‘Treasures for Less,’ well over another hour’s drive away. But hey, for the bargains we usually found there, it was well worth the trip. They usually had a huge inventory of just about anything you could think of: appliances, electronics, bikes & toys, home décor, barbeque grills, shoes, clothes, gardening & outdoor stuff . . . you name it, they had it! It was located in a warehouse/business park area with lots of other neighboring businesses. It was a huge two-story building, encompassing several thousand square feet of floor space. In the back of the building was an enormous loading dock with the big overhead door, usually left open to the breeze. Upon arriving at our destination, the parking lot was practically empty, making me wonder if they might be closed. Hubby decided to stay in the car while I checked it out. I took off my mismatched shoes so as not to be embarrassed and went towards the store BAREFOOT. As I walked past the front windows, I noticed that the store looked practically empty . . . no window displays, no artwork or items for sale all over the walls, no ‘specials of the day’ to greet you on the sidewalk by the front door. It looked so empty that when I saw a vendor step out of his storefront, I asked if “Treasures for Less’ had moved to a different location. He said, ‘No, they’re still there, just pared down a lot.’
When I entered the building, I found his comment to be an understatement. The store had almost no merchandise at all. What little inventory they had was spread out very thin throughout with lots of open floor space. Most of the items looked hand-made . . . more like a crafter’s mall than the ‘bargain paradise’ it had been on past visits. A sales lady greeted me and asked if she could help me find anything. I commented that I was just browsing, but she insisted on following me around to explain the uses of the different crafts. Most in my opinion were useless and of very little value. One item did catch my attention. It was a gardener’s apron with lots of pockets to hold your seed packets, gloves, and small gardening tools. I momentarily thought that might be useful. I was considering purchasing it when the dozen or so other shoppers in the store started screaming in fear. The sales lady ran around trying to close some of the window blinds. Everyone was screaming hysterically, “He’s here . . . the Devil is here!”
I looked up to see what all the ruckus was about. An absolutely giant figure was bending down peering into the front windows. He then began shaking the entire building. He was so huge it was like we were dolls inside a doll house (think Gulliver’s Travels). Then, he disappeared from the windows and the shaking stopped.
Suddenly, the screaming began again, only worse! Everyone was pointing for me to look behind me. I turned to see this hideous creature staring at me. He had entered the building by stooping and coming through the open rear bay doors into the back of the warehouse area. He now stood, taking up the full height of the two stories and glared ominously at the entire group of people. His body was sort of a charcoal gray with very thick, heavily wrinkled skin (similar to an elephant, yet different) and his eyes were flaming red with hints of yellow. His head was huge and looked like a horned bull, but his body was like that of a dragon. His hands were slender with very long ominous claws and he stepped forward somewhat clumsily on his clawed feet. He spread his wings and they looked like skin and bones unfolding into ugly, humongous bat-like wings.
As he took another step forward, it was obvious his intent was only evil. He meant to destroy everyone and everything. He was angry and it seemed as if steam was coming out of his nostrils. He was in a rage and shaking his head back and forth like a mad bull before making a charge. I don’t know where the courage came from, but to my surprise, I stepped forward to meet him, placing myself strategically between him and the people. In fact, I didn’t just step . . . I ran toward him, rebuking him in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I told him he had no power and authority in this place. He looked at me as if in shock at my boldness. He squinted his blazing red eyes at me as if sizing me up to see who I was.
Then he spoke to me in English. It was a deep guttural voice . . . hard to describe, almost sounded like when a record album is being played backward, or garbled like underwater. He made a sound like ‘Hmmm’, then said, “Priest of The Most High God. I am come to wreck havoc on your earth. My time is come.”
I responded, “Well, you’ll just have to go somewhere else. You are not allowed anywhere near me.”
He only hesitated momentarily before storming out the same way he came. I could only stand in amazement as he took flight. I was given the understanding that God had given The Dragon (Satan) a restraining order that he was not allowed to come near me and must flee at my command.
End of Dream.
As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, I would soon need this information. At that point in time, I was praying to be worthy to escape the things that were to come on this earth. I hoped to be ‘counted in that number’ but I knew that many are called, and few chosen. I believed God had a purpose for my life in His end-time ministry, but much was yet to be revealed. With this dream, it was confirmed. In January 2021, I was not yet confident that I had been found worthy. Yet The Dragon, Smutty Face himself, recognized who I was. He knew before I did!
In just seven days from this dream, my world was turned upside down. I will not list all that has happened in my life since this dream, but I promise, I could probably write a book on spiritual warfare. My family and I have literally been through the fire. On many occasions I have found myself running to stand in the gap . . . running to the darkness . . . storming the very gates of hell.
Satan not only knows who we are (Priests of The Most High God), but he knows all our loved ones by name. Demonic attacks, like those you read about in the Bible, are not just in the past. They happen today! I praise God that when they happened in my family, I was somewhat prepared. I had only recently memorized many of the scriptures that I used to fight the enemy. When one particular attack happened in the middle of the night, I drove like a maniac to my loved one’s home, praying all the way for God to help me say the right words . . . for the Holy Spirit to bring to my remembrance the scriptures I would need as My Sword . . . knowing that God would show Himself greater in me, than he that is in the world. After much prayer and rebuking of the enemy, deliverance finally came sometime after midnight. Not through me, but through the power of the Living God who showed Himself strong through me. I may not have been prepared for that fight, had it not been for my dream encounter FACE TO FACE with the Dragon.
The battle continues to rage, my fellow warriors. STAY THE COURSE. Know the power and authority that has been given to you in the name of Jesus and through His shed blood on the cross of Calvary. Verses like Luke 10:19 and Matthew 18:18 are NOT just pleasant metaphors to give you confidence, they are TRUTHS to gird up your loins with (Eph. 6 14). They are part of your armor as you fight on the battlefield. I am convinced that we are NOT NOW WAITING for the battle to begin, but we are already in the midst of the fray . . . on the front lines . . . part of the Light Brigade storming the gates of hell. We fight for the glory and honor of our King.
I would like to briefly share something personal with you. It is a partial entry from my journal dated February 26, 2021 when in the midst of epic personal calamities:
“Lord, help me to be bold and courageous like you have commanded. I have been so distracted from your kingdom work since losing my son. Forgive me for being slack in my prayer-time, my fasting, my just finding time to draw closer to You. I miss our quiet time together. I know you are walking beside me every step of the way. You will sit with me in my sorrow as I weep and morn. I know you will soon lift me back up to even greater heights till my soul soars with you again. You will give me ‘beauty for ashes.’ Thank you for reminding me today, by leading me to Acts 4, of who I am in You, of what is coming, of what You have called me to for Your end-time purposes. These relentless attacks on me and my family, coming seemingly from every direction, only serve to convince me more that You are coming soon. I must be ready to accomplish the task You have called me to. Your field is ripe and ready to harvest. I must be ready to lay aside the cares of this life and keep my eyes on You and Your kingdom work! I don’t know exactly how You will use me, but I know many souls hang in the balance. It’s not about me and my happiness and comfort anymore. It’s about being ‘about My Father’s business’ and redeeming the time we have left to bring in Your harvest. Yes, we live in perilous times, but we as Your children are not to run and hide, but to STAND AND FIGHT the enemy. His time is short, so he is coming at Your saints with guns-a-blazing! Your word says he will even overcome the saints for a while. But it is also written that Satan’s eternal destiny will be in the lake of fire. We must overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony, and love not our lives unto the death. Help me, Lord, to be a good soldier of the cross. The verses that stood out to me this morning in my Bible study were Acts 4:28-33. I know these verses were talking about your church in the beginning, just after Pentecost. Lord, I pray they will also apply to us . . . your church at the end of this age of grace.
Yours for the Harvest,
Averine
Photos courtesy Depositphotos
