20 January, 2009

Help Me With This Dream

I have never shared any of my dreams in this manner on my blog before, but I am looking for help interpreting this one. I'd really like some input folks. If you don't want to respond publicly, feel free to email me at dawgar8@gmail.com. I had a dream Saturday night that was rather strange but I know it was from God. Some of the symbolism is obvious, some of it I'm not clear on at all. Here's the gist of it.

It started with me preaching a funeral. As I finished this funeral some men in suits came in and dragged me off like a prisoner. They took me to what was like a concentration camp. It looked like what we've all seen in the movies. I knew many of the people in the camp. I saw most of my church members there, but not all of them, and others Christians that I know, and many other people. As I walked among the people there, I kept pulling hot loaves of bread from under my coat and handing them to people. There were some people there who appeared to be in charge, although no one was in uniform. They kept glaring at me and I'd see them talking about me as I handed out this bread. Then, they grabbed me and beat me severely. This scene repeated itself 4 times and then some doors were opened to a building inside of this place and I walked inside. It was obvious that I was still in this "camp" but suddenly I was inside a very large, room with hundreds of people in it. This room was very bright and clean and it appeared like a very large cafeteria like I have seen in some hospitals, where there were several different lines with various types of foods. People were sitting at tables and eating all over the room. It was really weird here, because they were eating, they had plates full of food, yet they kept calling out to me to give them some bread, and I just kept pulling the loaves of bread out from under my coat and handing them out. Those that had beaten me before kept coming in threatening me to stop feeding them and they beat me over and over. After the beatings, I would come back into this room and people would call out, "Preacher, don't let them stop you. Give us some of that bread." So I would go around and give them more bread. Over and over I was beaten and I was battered, bleeding and my face was swollen. In the middle of this dream, a group of reporters showed up and those beating me cleaned me up and they put make up on me to try to hide the wounds and bruises I had. This same routine happened several times as well, and each time I emerged from the place where they beat me, there was even more people there calling out for bread. There was one elderly couple that called me by name and asked me to come over to their table and they begged me not to stop. They told me that they had been in this place for more than 50 years waiting for this day to come and that I must continue no matter what they did to me. This is when I woke up.

So, what do you folks see in this?

1 comment:

Darrell said...

Although no one has responded here, I've received some good responses on other sites where I posted this. I wanted to share one of those here. Several responses are similar to this one. Some entirely different.

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I think the funeral represents the end of something or perhaps the final part of a certain direction of ministry that leads to the other somehow (as PJackson said.) Concentration camps are where people were imprisoned because of their faith or because of acting out their faith. While there are many Christians there, no one seems to be handing out the hot loaves of bread. It's important that they are hot - that means it is FRESH bread. Your ministry is providing fresh bread (Word) to those who are hungry for it, and if you recall the people in the concentration camps were not just hungry, they were starving. I think this represents the fact that the church is full of starving people (not yours, necessarily) but even those who are people of faith are sometimes starving if they can't get what truly nourishes them spiritually. You have been sent as a messenger to those who are starving spiritually, and you have been given fresh Word to encourage and feed the truly hungry. Your coat is your covering/mantle/anointing, and the fresh bread comes from the anointing God has placed on you. Even though you are severely beaten several times, none of them attempt to remove your coat!

The beatings mean that obeying the call of God and the cries of the people will come at great personal sacrifice to you, and it will cause you great pain. Yet, you are still compelled to continue to obey the call of God and the cry of mankind to provide the fresh bread to the hungry.

The cafeteria is very similar to the concentration camps, really...although in this place, people are free to eat whatever they want. This would represent the people who are filling themselves up with things other than the fresh bread (Word). The other things do not satisfy them, and still they are hungry for the fresh word you are bringing. This could even represen people in the church who are eating regularly and can choose what they eat spiritually, but it is not satisfying them, and they are hungry for what you have to give through your ministry.

It would seem as though the reporters that come would be trying to get the truth or the "real" story, and it sounds like those in charge of the prison camp are trying to cover up the beatings. The thought comes to me that the "cover up" could come from the inside - the Church...those who don't want the truth to be exposed...those who may be trying to keep you from giving the true Word to those who are starving. Or it could mean that the enemy will try to cover up the attacks coming against you so that those who are "reporting" on what's happening to you will be perceived as having the wrong information. Maybe the reporters are trying to expose those who are beating you or they are trying to get the "news" on what you have that's so important and would cause you personal harm.

I think the important thing about the elderly couple that knew you by name is that they had been waiting in THAT PLACE for 50 years, waiting for what you had - fresh Word that satisfies. So many stay in a place where it's comfortable instead of going to a place where they can be truly fed. I think this dream is to show you that you have something important to share that can satisfy the longings of many people's hearts, and you must not allow anything to deter you from sharing it. It might be hard, painful, and difficult, but God is giving you encouragement to persevere to share the fresh Word He has provided through the anointing to you. As long as you stay "covered", He will provide the fresh bread/Word to you to share with others.