HELPING THE NEEDY DREAM
October 30, 2022 5:13 AM
Handmaid of the Most High
Matthew 24:40-47 KJV Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. [41] Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. [42] Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. [43] But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. [44] Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. [45] Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? [46] Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. [47] Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
Posting Date, October 30, 2022 3:00 AM
I had this dream approximately 18 months ago. I am sharing this at the Holy Spirit’s request.
I was at a large community church where I live. It was not a specific church although it had some similarities to a church I’ve visited. I believe that it is “nameless” because this is a Spiritual matter and denomination is irrelevant. The church body is today to overly concerned with titles and not focused enough on pleasing the Lord.
I was volunteering to assist with a large tag sale being held at this church, which was a fundraiser for needy people in the community. Though the information said to arrive at a certain time, I was the only one, who was there at the appointed time. I waited fifteen, twenty minutes then a half hour and no one showed up. I saw through a window huge numbers of garbage bags that contained clothes, toys, shoes and household goods, even larger items like lawn mowers and bicycles that were scattered throughout the church’s gymnasium awaiting pricing and organization.
I decided rather than wait any longer for direction, I would try to enter the church and get to work. The doors were open, so I began bringing order to the great disarray. At first, I opened bags of clothing, shoes, purses and tried to arrange them by size but that proved to be a slow and non-productive task.
So, I went to place appliances with appliances and other like items in various places so that “shoppers” could find specific items grouped together in the same place. After more than an hour and half, people started milling into the auditorium, but most were so focused on their conversations with friends, they actually did very little work and since I wasn’t a member, few even acknowledged me or said hello.
Eventually, the organizer showed up and she saw what I had done, and she was displeased with my efforts. She had a chart with her with the locations of items to be placed. Since she wasn’t there at the appointed time, I had not had access to her chart, this didn’t seem relevant to her. She wanted things a certain way and I hadn’t organized things according to what she planned. I explained no one was there at the appointed time, so I thought I would sort things by item in an effort to bring structure, I wasn’t trying to upstage her (which I got the distinct impression that she conveyed, it was obvious she wanted complete and total control). So, despite the fact that there were so many bags littering the floor and entry way, that it was a fire hazard. She didn’t care that people couldn’t even get to the auditorium without moving huge bags to make a path. She was very unhappy that I took it upon myself to do something outside of her authority (mind you I was totally alone and not organizing a coup) and she made it clear she would need to undo most of my work.
I continued to observe people staying in small groups. Each hanging around with the people, they had arrived with and each doing what suited them. Little real work was getting accomplished and as time passed, I realized that most of the items would never be sorted. I even heard the organizer tell people to take many of the bags and pile them up in a seldom used room because the sale was for the next day and there wasn’t time to sort them.
I went off to an area everyone seemed to ignore and attempted to bring order but periodically the organizer would come by to criticize my work. After a couple hours, most of the helpers left. Much more remained to be done and once all the others had gone even the organizer left giving a vague reason as to why she couldn’t work. I stayed and it became very late, well past midnight, one older woman had joined me but even she left shortly after the organizer departed.
END of DREAM
INTERPRETATION:
While I think the message is pretty obvious, the Holy Spirit wants me to point out a few things.
1. Much of life is showing up. Do you show up to do God’s work? He has called each of us to fulfill appointed tasks but many act as though doing anything for the kingdom is optional. Even the leader didn’t bother to keep to the schedule she had set.
2. Do you serve others as unto the Lord? Even the leader didn’t take her service seriously. She was late and then left before the work was completed. Though she didn’t like the way I was doing things, she was content to let me work because it meant less for her to do.
3. The leader was unfaithful with the gifts. Instead of making an effort to sort all the donations, she dispensed with some of it because she couldn’t be bothered. We are all given gifts and talents but many are too lazy to develop their gift. An example might be having a beautiful singing voice but perhaps you don’t want to bother making the effort to join the choir and go to rehearsals even though the Holy Spirit and others might be blessed with your singing.
4. Many, who show up, do so to be seen or to even feel good about themselves. They want to say that they did this great work for God, but in the dream, everyone was doing their own thing and not committed to preparing for the sale.
5. The church had great wealth, there was a huge number of filled garbage bags, so many in fact that it was dangerous to those who may have been walking in the area. Yet, instead of making an effort to share the bounty, they were storing up what they had. They didn’t want to bother with sorting things but kept it where bugs or mold may decay it. And why did they need to sell these items to raise money for the needy? Why not instead organize these items to give to the needy? It would have been far more efficient and wasn’t the entire point to serve the community?
6. Most of the helpers were unwilling to stay to finish the task. They were willing to leave the work undone or let someone else do it. What is your excuse to the Lord with unfinished tasks? Do you leave the work He called you to do half complete? Are you committed to the work at hand or do you just want “credit” for showing up?
7. In the dream, I remember feeling so terribly disheartened. I saw how few really cared about serving the Lord by serving others. I even saw some people leaving having openly taking something that had been donated. They didn’t ask the leader if they could pay for it. In their mind, the Holy Spirit stated, they “worked” and so they “earned” the item they took. Do we rationalize taking from the body? The Word says stealing is very wrong. The items donated were donated with the intention of helping others but instead someone coveted it and stole it.
8. Though I wasn’t a member of this church, people didn’t bother with being cordial or pleasant with me. Instead, the only interaction I had was the organizer, who criticized my efforts. Later, a woman came over to help after everyone else had left but even she didn’t show an interest to engage, and I remember trying to talk with her and encourage her in the Lord.
9. The organizer’s chart symbolizes the rigidity in the way some churches serve the Lord, this includes worship. The service is less than an hour long, there are three hymns sung before the sermon which shouldn’t go over 20 minutes in length. There is no effort or thought in allowing the Holy Spirit to flow in the midst of the people, heaven forbid people don’t get out before the Baptist’s and there is a line at Cheesecake Factory or wherever your church family goes to eat after service ends.
10. So many times, people volunteer for the wrong reasons. The organizer didn’t care about helping the needy. She wanted to exert control over others and probably volunteered to organize things because she liked power. She didn’t care that I had put effort in helping, she felt threatened by my actions despite the fact that others were ignoring me. That Jezebel spirit is so powerful in some churches that it completely quenches the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it is apparent because the person’s behavior isn’t even rational. As soon as the other volunteers left, the organizer left. She was just “doing time”. She was even willing to hoard/waste donations by sticking them out of sight because she didn’t want to put forth effort in sorting the bags.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
Luke 19:8
Mark 10:19
Mark 13:35
Romans 13:7
Malachi 3:8
1 Thessalonians 5:19
Proverbs 19:17
Photos courtesy Depositphotos
