Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Watchmen

Saturday, October 11, 2008, 8:49 a.m. – I woke from A DREAM:

In the dream, I was pregnant again at the age of 58. It felt like I had just had a baby a year or two ago, as well. My daughter and at least one of my DILs (she is pregnant in real life) was also pregnant - all at the same time.

Someone was searching for a woman (me?) in a hospital room. He walked into the room and saw a man in a bed and so he began to walk out, but then he saw that the woman was also in the room in a bed. I think the man in the room was the woman’s husband and that he was staying with her but she was the patient, i.e. the one having the baby.

Then, the dream ended with a young man (the choir director from our present church) having had a dream in the morning and needing to record it, but struggling with the thought that his wife and children might need him to be with them. His wife told him to go ahead and write. Then someone suggested that this young wife might find consolation in talking with my husband, because he was used to me having to write down dreams in the morning before I did anything else. END

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Ezekiel 3:16-27:

At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me: 17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.

20 "Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 21 But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself."

22 The hand of the LORD was upon me there, and he said to me, "Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you." 23 So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the LORD was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.

24 Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: "Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25 And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people. 26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says.' Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.


Harper’s Bible Dictionary: watchman, a sentry stationed on a wall (2 Sam. 18:24; Song of Sol. 5:7) or in a watchtower (2 Chron. 20:24) whose task it was to warn of approaching danger (Ezek. 33:2-6; cf. Ps. 127:1). Watchmen also guarded the fields and vineyards, especially during harvest season (Isa. 5:2; cf. Job 27:18). The term is often used in a figurative or symbolic sense (Isa. 62:6; Ezek. 3:17; 33:7-9; Mic. 7:4).


My Understanding: The pregnancies in this dream have to do with getting ready to give birth to either a new ministry and/or to revival. My daughter is often a symbol of the church; the people of God. My DIL is a co-laborer in ministry with me.

The person searching for me (or another woman) in this dream is the LORD, and when he stood at my bedside, it was the glory of the LORD standing there. My pregnancy was the hand of the Lord upon me in preparing me to give birth to a ministry to which he has called me and others in the church (my daughter), including my co-laborer in ministry, my DIL.

The Lord (the man who walked into my hospital room) first saw my husband (a man, obviously), but that isn’t who he chose for this specific ministry. My husband has other gifts. Yet, since we are married, my husband shares in this ministry with me via our marriage relationship. I’m still under his authority; his protective umbrella.

A couple of things the Lord is showing me here with this is first of all that in the OT times, typically a messenger for the Lord was a man, but the Bible says that in the last days that his sons and daughters will dream dreams, have visions and will prophesy (speak God’s truths found in his Holy Word in a way that is both practical and applicable to the church and the world today). So, the Lord is calling both men and women to speak his truths to today’s world and church.

The other thing I noted is how the Lord bypassed the man but chose the woman. Now, this does not necessarily mean that the woman was somehow superior, but that the Lord gives different gifts to different people regardless of age, race or sex; slave or free. And, sometimes it is because he first went to the man, but the man did not respond, so he chose the woman because she would do what God wanted (See: Luke 7:36-50: Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman).

The calling in this passage of scripture and obviously is to be translated over into the dream is that of a “watchman,” one who warns of approaching danger. “Ezekiel was to warn Israel that God’s inescapable discipline was coming... He was to warn the wicked that if they did not turn from their wickedness, they would die in unrighteousness” (NIV Bible Commentary: Zondervan).

I find it particularly interesting that the Lord told Ezekiel to “shut yourself inside your house.” He would be bound by the rebellious house so that he could not go out among the people. That’s exactly what has happened to me and has happened to many of us. The church of today has rejected us. We are the “upright pianos” pushed up against the back wall and neglected by today’s church. They don’t want us. So, they push us out the door. And, we end up at home, but that is what God wanted.

If we are at one church, we can only speak to those people, but by being stuck at home “shut up inside our houses” we can speak via the internet and websites and blogs and can speak God’s messages to far more people than we could ever speak to from our local congregations. This was God’s design, I believe. But, the key is to be silent when God says to be silent and to speak when God says to speak.

Lastly, in this dream, there was a young man (a choir director in a church) who was also given a dream or dreams. This is obviously a new ministry for him and his wife, so they need to find encouragement from my husband who can help them to cope with the changes in their lives via his perspective. I am not certain if the Lord is saying that this specific young man is going to be given this gift/ministry, but that the Lord is going to give it to the young and to men and it will be new to them and for those of us who have been down this path awhile, we can bring encouragement to them on how to cope; how to adjust to the changes it will naturally bring about.

This young man is a choir director in a church, so he has great influence. He loves the Lord and he has been such an encouragement to me and to my husband these past few weeks. We are thankful for him. So, I pray the Lord’s will to be done in this young man’s life and in the lives of all of God’s servants, both men and women, old and young, slave and free, of any race. I pray that we will all hear God’s voice and that we will respond to the Lord’s calling on each one of our lives, no matter what the calling may be; no matter how difficult; no matter how much rejection we will face because God is all powerful and HE can handle anything we will come against.

JESUS MESSIAH / CHRIS TOMLIN

He became sin, who knew no sin
That we might become His righteousness
He humbled himself and carried the cross

Love so amazing, love so amazing

Jesus Messiah, name above all names
Blessed redeemer, Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners, the ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah, Lord of all

His body the bread, his blood the wine
Broken and poured out all for love
The whole earth trembled, and the veil was torn

Love so amazing, love so amazing, yeah

Jesus Messiah, name above all names
Blessed redeemer, Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners, the ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah, Lord of all

All I hope is in You, all I hope is in You
All the glory to You, God, the light of the world

Jesus Messiah, name above all names
Blessed redeemer, Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners, the ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah, Lord of all

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