The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
"You may say I'm a dreamer.
But I'm not the only one..."
John Lennon
Last night I had a dream. It was so vivid and I woke up remembering the entire thing. Several times in my life the Lord has spoken to me through a dream. Perhaps I shouldn't brag on this as the Bible says the old people will have dreams and the young people will see visions. (Acts 2:17) Most of the time when we dream, it's simply like breathing - another function God created us for. According to medical science, everyone dreams about 100 minutes per night; we just have difficulty remembering our dreams. One hundred minutes is over an hour and a half per night of dreams—longer than most movies or TV programs we see.
Also according to doctors and scientists, dreams are representations of thoughts, feelings, and awarenesses that have been occupying our mind—usually for the day or two prior to the dream. Sometimes nightmares or negative dreams occur because our focus has been on the negative for several days or weeks, instead of focusing on the good things God wants us to focus on. (I always tell people who have been having nightmares to make sure they are reading God's Word, in prayer or listening to worship music just prior to bedtime.)
But many times in addition to our "good dreams" that are just the stuff of life, or our nightmares which are a result of wrong focus, other dreams are from the Lord - to give us a message. Maybe we were too busy to receive it during the day when we were awake and out and about. Or perhaps it's just the way he wants to tell us something for whatever reason. A dream from God is simply a message from him to us, being delivered in a different form. God is not limited in the ways that He speaks to His people. Those of you who know me well know that I am not given to Christian fads, or every wind or wave of doctrine that comes down the pike. I do not believe every dream is from God and some people think they've had a dream from God when they've just had too much pizza before they went to sleep. . But the fact is, God does speak through dreams at times. The Bible tells us this. You might wonder why the Lord would ever come to someone in a dream that is full of symbolism and not just tell them something directly while they are awake. My response to this would be that Jesus often used parables too. Matt. 13:10-11 tells us, "And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”
Last night I had a dream that I believe was from the Lord. I was in a large place filled with people sitting high up on bleachers. The people began to sing a song - the old hymn, “Higher Ground.” After three or four words everyone in the place faltered and stopped because they didn't know the words. This was where I came in. My husband teasingly calls me the "name that tune" of the church. I was raised on old songs and hymns and rarely can anyone stump me and believe me, they've tried. Perhaps this is not something to boast about - again, it makes me seem older by the minute.
Anyway, someone cried out in this big place, "is there anyone here who can lead us in this song? We don't know the words." And I came down out of the bleachers, looked up at the people up top and sang every word:
I'm pressing on the upward way
New heights I'm gaining every day
Still praying as I'm onward bound
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground."
Lord, lift me up and let me stand
By faith, on Heaven's table land
A higher plane than I have found
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay
Though some may dwell where those abound
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.
I want to live above the world
Though Satan's darts at me are hurled
For faith has caught the joyful sound
The song of saints on higher ground.
I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright
But still I'll pray till Heav'n I've found
"Lord, plant my feet on higher ground."
Here I was in this big place leading all these people in this song, and in this dream it was like my very own amazing, "Gaither Homecoming". At the end of the song, I walked to the back of the room and someone raced up to me and said, "that’s it! That was awesome...you have found your niche!"
I really believe this was a word from God for me. For what? Does this mean someone is going to call me and invite me to be part of the next Gaither Homecoing tour? Um no. That WOULD be not only a dream but a miracle and I'd absolutely faint with shock and awe. But that's not what the dream meant.
I believe God was giving me a message to to endeavor to live the words of this song more in my life than I have been. My "niche" is in the Psalm 91 "secret place" that He has for me. He wants me to live there and lead other people to live there. God wants me to live at a higher place despite the doubts and fears the enemy tries to throw at me. He has different realm of living for me, a protected place from Satan's "darts" that are hurled. The Lord has a higher place for you and I to live at, if we will just head up to that higher ground and determine to not just visit there but live there - to have our feet planted there. There are times others around us will not understand. The will not have the same realization - (they won't 'know the song') and will be looking to us to lead them to a higher place that they themselves have not realized yet. We must be ready, to head to higher ground ourselves, and to lead others there to that place that God has for us.
Perhaps my dream is not just a word for me, but also for you. Are you pressing on to higher ground no matter what the enemy has tried to throw your way? Are you determined to not only get there yourself, but to lead others there? Join in with me as together we sing and live…”Lord Lord, lift me up and let me stand, by faith, on Heaven's table land; A higher plane than I have found; Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Note: This was my weekly "cup of coffee" ezine that I sent to my Northside ladies this week. I thought my blog readers might enjoy it too. Little did I realize the other night when I had the dream and wrote this ezine this how much I would need this "dream from God" when things happened on Wednesday...God prepared me. He's so good.
~ Deanna
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