The Dream
Two nights ago, I had a dream. In the dream, a storm was coming. I was trying to batten down the hatches. The wind was blowing. The storm was dark. I could see a tornado forming when I looked out of the front of the house. I knew that my husband and two teenage boys were outside in the office.
There is a black iron dinner bell that hangs beside my front door in lieu of a doorbell. I ring it when I want the boys to come inside. In my dream, I grabbed the chain attached to the clapper of the bell beside the house. I pulled the chain and the bell moved back and forth, but I couldn’t get it to make any sounds. The bell wouldn’t ring out, so there was no warning my husband and the boys of the storm.
I started screaming for them. The effects of the wind was intense against my frame. I could see how dark it was. The tornado was just beyond our property line and we didn’t have much time to get to safety. In my dream, I could see the trees being pulled up by the massive storm in front of me. I could see the tops of them rising out of the ground from the roots like they were carrots being pulled from a row.
Surrounded
I could see two other twisters swirling on the right side of our property. There was danger from every side. I stood in front of the deck on the walkway, screaming at my husband and children to come inside the house to safety. I could see my husband through the office window. He seemed unperturbed by the storm, though he was aware of it. It was like the three boys weren’t going to come out into the storm so that they could go to the safest place (inside the house) to hunker down.
At my persistence, my youngest son came out of the office. He came toward me and the front deck. The wind was howling around me and my clothes were flailing around me. I was screaming for my son to quickly get inside.
Next, my oldest son came out of the office building beside the house. He could see his little dog JJ out in the storm, and he grabbed him on the way inside. Finally, my husband left the office and headed toward me. We went inside the house and were all together as a family – my husband and me, both our boys, and both of our dogs.
Hunkering Down in the Storm
The storm was intense outside. I didn’t have time to text my friends to get them to pray. Not everything in the house was closed tightly like I’d have wanted it, but there was no time to fix any of that. I just wanted to stay low and remain safe – hunkering down and waiting out the storm, praying for our safety.
As I heard the storm wailing around our property, however, something inside me stirred. It was like that storm was going to stay right there if I didn’t do something about it. But what could I do against a tornadic storm? Then I thought about what Jesus did in a storm. I knew I had to speak to that storm. I ran to the kitchen, which faces the rear of our property.
Speaking to the Storm
Standing at the window, I started screaming at the storm as it seemed to be circling the property. I was telling the storm to go away in the name of Jesus. I spoke that it had no right to be on my property and commanded the winds to cease.
The storm diminished slightly, and the confidence in my authority seemed to grow as the danger lessened. Instead of just hunkering down, something inside surged. I began to get angry that the storm had dared even threaten my family. Before my eyes, the black, purple, and green storm clouds formed the shape of an angry, cloudy witch. It felt demonic. It was terrifying to see. I continued commanding it to get off my property. I spoke that it had no authority here, and it began to dissipate instantly.
After the Storm
As soon as the storm left, I heard a knock at my front door. I went to the front of the house and opened the door. It was the devil. (Keep in mind that this was a dream. I have no idea what the devil looks like, but in the dream, I knew exactly who it was.)
The devil looked like a dark, eerie mist. Almost like the storm that had just left, only intense and thick right in front of me – like it could be touched. I was trying to claw at him and fight him. I kept closing the front door but he kept coming back. Using my fists, I would swing at him, but it was like my arms got tangled in my shirt somehow and my punches were not swinging fully. He then turned into flesh. It was like he thought it was hilarious, my feeble attempts to hit him. I bit at his chin and tore off chunks of flesh. I scratched his arms. But nothing I did hurt him, and it was like he was laughing at me.
Then I realized I was fighting him the wrong way. I didn’t have time to get out my Bible, but I had to recall Scripture to fight with. I began to use Scripture, but had a hard time thinking of any. He continued to laugh. My mind was coming up blank, and I was terrified.
I woke up at 1:43 a.m.
Making Sense of the Dream
God doesn’t waste anything, especially not something as precious as our time. We spend a lot of time sleeping, and I know that Father God always wants to commune with us. Prayer, after all, was His idea. Because I know this, I try to always write my dreams down, in case the Lord is trying to show me something, warn me about something, or just communicate with me.
This is not an original idea. All through Scripture you find story after story of God speaking to people. In Acts 18, after Paul is opposed by the Jews, he goes to share the message of Jesus to the Gentiles in Corinth. God speaks to Paul in a dream, telling him to remain there to preach as he would be safe (Acts 18:9).
Though I don’t always know what my dreams mean or what He might be trying to communicate, if anything, I look at them to see what He might be speaking. This dream was very different, however. As soon as I woke up, I realized that God was speaking to me through the dream and I knew exactly what He was telling me.
The Lord immediately spoke to me of the importance of being in His Word every day. How can we expect to victoriously defeat the enemy when we aren’t hiding the Word in our heart? We will have no sword to wield if we aren’t in the Word. The devil has to flee at our resistance, but we have to be equipped.
God Speaks because He Loves Us
When I woke, I did not feel condemned, but convicted. Like most people, I get busy – teaching, taking care of the house and the children, researching and creating things, writing, cooking – all noble callings. I also spend time on Facebook and watching TV when I’ve wanted to decompress. Those are not necessarily bad things, either. But how much time am I spending in the Word? How many times have I disregarded the notices that come on my phone to take 10 minutes to read Scripture and meditate on the Word?
He wants us, His children, to be equipped. It is not because He wants us to be afraid of the enemy or of the storms of life, but so that we will have a way to FIGHT them! We fight them with the Word of God. And there isn’t always time to text or call a friend to ask them to pray – to battle for you. Sometimes you must act fast and take on the battle for yourself, to defend yourself, your family, your home.
His Love for Us is Personal
God was even specific about the time He woke me up from the dream. 143 might not mean anything to anyone else, but it means a lot to my family. My husband often sends me the message 143. For us, it means “I love you.” God knew that I would recognize the time. He wasn’t waking me up at 1:43 to scare me, but to tell me that He loves me and wants to spend time with me.
God wants to speak to me. There are probably other nuances of things in the dream that He is saying if I took the time to really pray it through and ask Him. I am only writing about the big picture – the very first thing He spoke to me upon my waking.
But God wants to equip me for the storms of life. He wants to equip me to be a warrior who will victoriously overcome the enemy no matter what form he comes in. God doesn’t always want me to hunker down and just endure the storms of life. He wants me to stand up against the storms and speak to them with the authority Christ died to give me.
He wants that for you, too!
Connect and Learn More!
Connect with Holly on Twitter or Facebook. How is God speaking to you? You can also receive more encouragement when you read her new book, Believing for a Miracle – available on Kindle and in paperback. Stay up to date with the book release by clicking here.
Read about using the gifts God gave you in the post, What’s in Your Hand?