Heaven Bound

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strong holds.” 2 Corinthians 10:4

Day before yesterday just before waking I had a most unusual dream. It was sort of comical in a way. Certainly, one of those dreams that has you scratching your head for at least the first ten minutes you’re awake – and while some dreams momentarily get our attention more often then not they disappear like a vapor in the brightness of the new day and are all but forgotten before we even have our morning coffee. But I have learned over the years that detailed dreams (the ones that we remember) may in fact be something to pay attention to and could be sent by God or at least used by God to speak to our subconscious minds. That being said, after relaying the details of the dream to my daughter decided it might be interesting enough to blog on. So, here it is.

The Dream

In the dream, I could see a washing machine. The lid was up and a little child – a girl- was perched precariously on its side peering down in to it. I knew who she was … dark brown eyes with thick black eye lashes … her skin a nutty brown …. black hair the color of a crows feather pulled back in to two short braids. Her name was “Trinity” and she was about three years old. Suddenly, without warning Trinity fell forward in to the machine. I raced over to look for her but was shocked to learn that this was no ordinary washing machine – it in fact, covered a very deep and narrow well – with no possibility of reaching the child myself I decided I would call the fire department which I did. Confident that the fire department would soon be on its way I decided to go ahead and go to lunch. And so I left. On finishing lunch I was dismayed to learn that the Fire Department had never arrived and little Trinity was still at the bottom of the well.

The next thing I knew a young man by the name of “Caden” was peering into the machine. And just like Trinity ended up falling in to the well. Caden, I knew also – slightly built, you might think he was just a boy but he was in fact a young man in his late teens or early twenties. Nutty brown in color he (like Trinity) he had a shock of black hair that fell just above his ernest and deep brown eyes. And just as before I was determined that the fire department should come to rescue both of them.

But before the Fire Department could arrive my husband (apparently unaware of the situation) went to the machine where he proceeded to throw in laundry, pour in bleach and turn on the water. When I saw this I was appalled as I knew that Trinity and Caden were at the bottom of the well and I was concerned how this would affect them. Suddenly, from deep below we heard the voice of Caden in no apparent distress saying “You hit me on the top of my head with bleach” and can you please turn the water back on as it is “warm”.

End of Dream

Interpretation

For those of you who have made it this far, I commend you. To tell you the truth I’m not much on reading about other people’s dreams although there have been some noted exceptions.

Let me recap by stressing once again that dreams are (as we know) highly symbolic. More often than not, the dream is not about specific people but rather about some kind of symbolism associated with them either by name, number or description. The dream itself may not even have anything to do with the dreamer, although it could.

So, to start I will begin with the two names Trinity and Caden.

Trinity – The name Trinity is derived from the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Caden – The name Caden means battle or spirit of battle.

After relaying the dream to my daughter she felt certain the theme of this dream is spiritual battle which the names of the two individuals seem to confirm. The appearance of Caden and Trinity have little to do with dream (in my opinion) beyond aiding in identification.

The washing machine is a cleaning agent indicative of the spiritual battle going on below. The battle is long and deep and the way is narrow. There are those of us (like myself in the dream) who are aware of the battle but think the thing to do is to call in the professionals – they will handle it while we are free to go on about our business. And then there are others (who in the dream was portrayed by my husband) who for the most part are somewhat aware of the battle but think a good dose of “clorox” should fix the whole thing; there, we’ve done our part. Problem solved.

So there are two types of people portrayed by myself and my husband … one, who sees the battle but think it’s a job for the professionals i.e. the clergy or maybe even politicians perhaps and those who think a one time fix (hey, I voted) like a splash of clorox ought a do it. But what in reality is needed?

I came across this quote today by Charles Spurgeon and it really seemed to fit.

Prayer. Yes, prayer. Ok, so I think we all know that …but do we?

Prayer and What it Does

First of all, prayer recognizes that God is the source of all and by his grace we have the privilege and blessing of petitioning him to act. And secondly, placing our needs and requests before him glorifies him in a way that recognizes our utter dependency on him. But there is something else. Prayer engages us in the spiritual battle in a way nothing else can. When one does not pray it is easy to be disengaged and disconnected from the battle. Praying not only petitions God to act but is effective in getting us to act as well. Pray for the right to life and you are more likely to take a personal interest in your local pregnancy center. Pray that evil will not prevail against our children and you will be more likely to seek out a role in mentoring young children. Pray for the homeless and needy and you may find yourself volunteering at a food bank. Pray for your marriage and you will be more likely to honor your vows. For prayer causes us to act as much as it does God. I think the prevalence of evil in our day is a direct result of Christians who do not pray.

Remember in the dream where Caden (who represents spiritual battle) was unfazed by the clorox – but what did he request? Warm water! Hmmmm….I wonder why? Think about what Jesus said –

Our fleshly tendency is to be lukewarm- to take the route that that demands the least from us. Prayer is a propelling and motivating force that moves us toward the heart of God. I dare say that the overwhelming evidence is that the church today is not a people of prayer. Our culture is at an all time low with every sort of evil and depravity imaginable becoming the norm. The church is weak and will remain so until we recognize that our strength is in prayer. A lesson I myself am in need of as much as anyone else.

*A special thank you to my daughter whose spiritual insight has helped me countless times and whose gift when it comes to dream interpretation is unmatched.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper who love thee” Psalm 122:6

Watching and waiting with YOU for the soon return of Jesus! Cindy