The Dream

Friday night, the 20th of May, I had a dream, I don't normally remember my dreams, not that I don't dream or I don't remember all of my dreams, they just usually aren't something that I think about much after I wake up. I know I dream and some leave impressions on me, but I don't usually "dream" about significant things, not on a regular basis. That night was different, I was having a regular dream, nothing exciting or different, there was a person, a lady I believe, though it's not someone I know, this lady suddenly turned to me and said "Your spiritual gift is prophesy"... or she might have said "you are a prophet", I can't remember exactly which it was, but the meaning is the same. I woke up right after that, I began to pray to God, I said that if this was true and from Him, to please give me confirmation. Honestly, this was not something I ever reached for, not something I felt that I needed to do, in fact, it's a bit scary to be given such a "gift", I would rather do healing ministries, and I very well may be allowed to do that too. Anyhoo, I didn't say anything about this to anyone, I didn't want to  spoil the chance of anyone who might confirm this.

So today at church (Sunday), the pastor made a comment about spiritual gifts, he used me as an example saying that I play piano at church, but that might not be my only gift, there may be other things for me to do. After church was over, a lady I know, but not someone I talk to regularly, said she needed to talk to me. I thought she was going to talk about doing pottery or something like that (she's a wonderful artist), she asked me if I knew what my gift is? It was a rhetorical question, she was about to tell me, she said my gift is prophesy. I did not expect to hear that from her, the funny thing is she didn't expect to say it to me either, but she knew she was supposed to give me that info, so she did. Well, there is my confirmation. I had heard the word prophesy several times over the last couple of days, but didn't want to accept that as confirmation, that could have just been coincidence, but there was no way that this lady telling me about my gift was coincidence. So there it is.

I think I am taking this the same way I took being instructed by God to go into the music ministry, it scared the crap outta me to think I was going to play piano in front of the church, or sing or be the music leader for praise and worship... my response to God was, "who, me?"... well, if I must, then please give me the courage, and He did! Now I enjoy it, even if I do freeze up every now and again, I still play and sing to the best of my ability. So now, if this is the direction God wants me to go in, then I have to have faith that He will give me the tools I need to accomplish this, I just have to remember that this isn't coming FROM me, it's coming THROUGH me, I just have to be a willing vessel.

Oh yeah, I said there was 2 things. Last week, while at the Christian class, it was mentioned about people in the Bible "casting lots", I had heard this term before, but thought it meant a form of gambling. Turns out it CAN be used for gambling, but it also had deeper meaning. It turns out that the Levite priests used this to get answers from God, they had (apparently) a black rock and a white rock, one meant "yes", the other "no". I asked my pastor if this was sanctioned by God? Apparently it was, not only sanctioned and approved, but encouraged.

I asked if this could be considered "divining" or divination? I waited until after the class to discuss this further with pastor. My thoughts are, I have experimented with dowsing in the past, when I got baptized, I didn't want to do anything that might be against God's will, I wasn't sure about dowsing, even though I felt like it was OK, there was enough of a doubt that I set it aside and asked God for guidance on the matter. I feel like I am about to get my answer on this matter, I talked to pastor today to remind him that I set up an appointment with him on Monday before the class to discuss this subject. He told me that he had a lot of info on his computer and that he would give me the files for me to read. It turns out that my pastor has no problems with dowsing, he considers it an autonomic response, a physical response and not anything spiritual. I did tell him that I didn't look for water, but I had used it to get answers from God, he seemed OK with that, though a little concerned about being so close to that line that I tend to walk. I will be very interested to see what he got for me.

I also have access to a genuine Levite, I'll explain more about that later. I plan on asking this man about this as well, though this will be next month before I will see him.

Lot's O' Stuff Going On

I have been meaning to write more here, don't ya just hate it when a blogger keeps saying that? So here I am. My spiritual life has been growing and growing.  I am getting more and more comfortable with myself and my spirituality at the same time. I had a few adjustments to make after my baptism, there were some small things were taken from me, at the time I had no idea what those would be, I just hoped it wouldn't be everything about my spiritual life, but was willing to give up any and all of it if that was necessary, I can truly thank God that it was not all taken, just tweaked to be even better.

My walk and talk with God has gotten better and better, closer and closer. I am participating in a Christian class at church, it's by John MacArthur, it's called Fundamentals of the Faith, I have enjoyed learning more and more, even if I don't agree with everything MacArthur says, especially about the spiritual gifts, he says some of them were only meant for the Bible days and aren't meant for today, I disagree, when God gives gifts, He doesn't take them back. I also know that we humans aren't going to agree with each other 100% of the time...

To update some of my spiritual experiences I have had recently, a month ago (+/-) I was in my Bug on the way to church in the afternoon, I was by myself, I live in a very rural area with mountainous dirt roads that are curvy and have lots of hills and valleys. There are places where the road is not wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass, it's a good idea to drive slow out here, sometimes I will think I'm going too fast only to look down and see I am going 15 mph. Anyhoo, I was going to the church, doing my normal speed on this particular part of the road, I was "told" to slow down, I didn't question it or even think about it, I just did it, I dropped my speed by about 5 mph, I began looking ahead to see why I had been instructed to slow down. I expected to see animals in the road (a common occurrence out here), maybe deer or feral donkeys, I was coming to a curve in the road when I saw the UPS truck coming the opposite direction, he was in the middle of the road coming around that curve, there was not enough room for both of us to be on that spot at the same time, if I hadn't slowed down, I would have been there at the same time as the UPS truck, would there have been a crash? I don't know, possibly a crash, possibly one or both of us might have ended up sliding off the road, I do know that it would have been at least a close call, not something I relish thinking about, much less experiencing...

I am still seeing into the spirit world, little sparks of light, the glowing orbs, the shadows and such.  For the most part, I just look and go on, I don't try to interact or communicate with whatever these things are. My neighbor's house had been pretty quiet the last few months, but things have been ramping back up, I have been seeing different things there, things like sparks of light near the ceiling. Yesterday, I was down there with my Dad, he had fallen asleep in the recliner, I laid down on the couch to catch a nap too, when I saw a large, shaggy looking shadow flying across the cabinet doors in the dining room, I have been seeing more and more activity in that part of the house. This only lasted a few seconds, but was significantly different from the other things I have seen there, it left an impression on my mind. I didn't say anything to my Dad about this though. So today, after church, we ate lunch at my neighbor's house, then my Dad laid back in the recliner and wanted to take a nap, I told him I was going up to my house, if he needed me, he could call me.

I had gotten up to my house (it's a bit of a hike up a mountain side to get to my house), I had enough time to get on the internet and check my email when my Dad called, he said he needed me back down there asap. When I got there, he was a little shaken up, he said he had not been asleep yet, but his eyes were closed, then something grabbed his foot. He opened his eyes and saw nothing, then he saw what he described at a large, dark tubular thing near the ceiling going toward the dining room. He rebuked it and it left him alone. Shortly after I got back down there, he told me that he saw something else, it looked like a small bird going toward the dining room, his dog also responded to this. It's strange that the sightings in that house had changed so much, I hadn't said anything to my Dad about this, yet he is also seeing these things too.

I have another 2 things to write about, I'll only tease you with them and say they are VERY GOOD THINGS, exciting things, somewhat scary too, but not in the spooky sense, scary because of the great potential and the responsibility that go with it. I'll write about them in the next few days.