I talk about my dreams a lot but I rarely mention the bad ones. Growing up most of them were bad. It wasn’t until I was baptized in the Holy Spirit at age 30 that my dreams changed. I did have God dreams before that but they scared me just as much as the nightmares. I didn’t understand any of it and no one seemed to think a person’s dreams mattered at all. But the Bible says differently and I thank God that He has led me to understand some of what is happening when I sleep.
Last night I had a dream in which I sinned. I’ll spare the details, but it was clear wrong doing. What do you do with that when you believe that God speaks in dreams? Do you decide that the sin is just going to happen and set your mind on it? Of course not. When you have God dreams, some of them are warnings, some of them are prayer requests, none of them are instruction to sin. Zero times is God showing you sin so that you will do it. the Bible tells us that the Lord does not temp us to sin. He doesn’t harm us in any way, but He does take our harm and turn it to His purposes.
It’s also important to know that not all dreams are from God. Everyone can dream, and dreaming is a way to connect with the spiritual world. There are many ways that we touch the spiritual world. But that doesn’t mean that all spiritual things are good or from God. There are 2 spiritual kingdoms and they are at war. If you get some information from the spiritual world, you don’t just accept it or you will lose battle after battle. I like what Dan Moehler teaches about this. When you wake up from a dream that shows you sinning, thank God for His righteousness! For making you the righteousness of Christ! For making you a new creation that doesn’t struggle with that temptation. Use that dream to draw closer to God and pray and become love. It can’t hurt you if you don’t agree with it.
After I got up I started reading and the very beginning of the 90 day reading was about uncleanness in the camp and keeping ourselves from every evil thing! Seems like God is saying something. So let’s look at Deuteronomy 23: 9-14 and find Jesus in that. “When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.” This was the requirement during war because in the war between the two kingdoms this is how Jesus instructed us to fight. Not by power or might but by His Spirit. And walking in the spirit requires that we not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So when we see the enemy trying to get us into sin, it is to make us lose in the coming encounter. We must not listen to that lie.
The next line is kind of telling. “If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission…” He can’t help that can he? He’s asleep and yet that uncleanness of even in sleep, requires a man to step back, stop battling and get cleaned up. What was I saying earlier, begin thanking God for His righteousness? Seems like a good way to get cleaned up to pray and remember what God has made you into, a new creation.
Then the verse talks about where to poop. You gotta laugh at this stuff sometimes but there’s a serious message in it. Don’t crap in the camp, go out of the camp and dig a hole. Why? “Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you” If God is going to walk among you closely, it’s important not to bring uncleanness in. The old bumper sticker comes to mind here, sh….tuff happens. People have some uncleanness come up in our lives from time to time. But that doesn’t mean that we poop it out right in the middle of everyone, sit in it, walk in it, accept is because it happens. No get rid of that, put it in a hole somewhere and bury it. Don’t live in it because it limits closeness with God.
A few verses down it also talks about not being a ‘cult prostitute’ aka sex magic. Nobody reads much about sex magic, especially in the Bible, but it’s in there several times. There’s a lot of that in various branches of the occult, so while we are right there I just want to make sure and mention avoiding all types of magic including sex magic. Meaning sex that in some way connects us to the wrong kingdom in the spiritual world. This is so woven into our culture that it can be hard to notice, it sounds crazy when you call it sex magic, but it’s advertised in our culture regularly.
Now the real question, how does this prophesy of Jesus? That’s always where we find understanding in the Bible after all. Well first of all, it’s the sermon on the mount. Jesus describes in Matthew 5 and other places how to keep yourself form every evil thing. Blessed are the meek…Blessed are the peacemakers… and then the rewards that come with each thing on this list. But the rewards are not the reasons. The reason to do be a peacemaker, meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness and so on, is because these keep you from every evil thing.
You can’t do evil if you are walking in the teachings of Jesus. Jesus called this being one with the Father. But what about the nocturnal emission? Things happen don’t they? Yes they do, and when they happen it’s important to respond correctly. Don’t bring that into the church and say it’s ok, don’t bring that into your own life and pretend it’s ok. Do something about it, get it out of the camp, get cleaned up, take a bath, ask forgiveness, thank God that the sin isn’t living in you anymore. Now that His Spirit lives in you, because Jesus went to the Father, you don’t have to keep walking in the flesh. The flesh was your mistake, not your promise.
God’s purpose in the long run is to created a camp that He can walk in without crap everywhere. He is making all things new for the sake of closeness with us. Jesus showed us what to do, and provided for our ability to do it. But the Holy Spirit is at odds with the flesh and we have to feel our way around to figure out what’s what. The Bible gives us all we need to sort out what is flesh and what is Spirit but doing increases learning and practice makes perfect. And the goal is to be perfected to the fulness and stature of Christ. So we need to be doing and practicing and that dream about sinning is an opportunity to shine like Jesus, who was tempted in all things yet without sin.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you. I pray that you would walk in His Spirit. Today’s reading was from Deuteronomy 23- 34 and I hope that you will join in that, there’s a lot of other good places to find Jesus in there that I didn’t get to. Have a great day you favored of the Lord and may God bless all y’all.
Practice Outlaw 