I am back!

As promised, this week I will share my gleanings from the second part of what I am calling “the discernment dream.”

You may not have read it, or perhaps you want to refresh your memory. If not, just scroll past it!

The Dream

I was with a group of people at a training retreat. At this retreat, I became accused of two things. A woman watched as her fiancé took me aside to speak to me. She got up, yelled at me, and accused me of wanting to steal him. Then a man stood up, pointed at me, and said, “You don’t really love us.” I calmly replied, “Yes, I do, I love you.”

The man whose affections I was accused of trying to steal then gave me a gift. Because of the accusations against me, I threw it to the floor, smashing it to bits while saying, “Let me make this clear, I don’t want this!” Once shattered, among shards of colored glass, there lay a scroll. The people all said, “Aha, it is a love letter to you. READ IT out loud! We want to know what it says!”

I looked at Him, my eyes sought His permission, and He nodded yes. So, I opened the scroll and it was a series of pictures with rhyming captions like a cartoon. I asked if He had engineered this whole thing to bring out this message to His girlfriend, and He nodded yes. The scroll was a moving song, tender and funny, a poetic admiration of each of her attributes, similar to “How do I love thee, let me count the ways.” With each phrase of praise, the people became quieter until there was a special hush. The love of God was palpable in the room.

Then the speaker of the retreat took everyone outside to show them what the jealous woman had been hiding in the woods. Outside there were two litters of different animals. They were so tiny it was hard to distinguish what kind they were.

I picked one of the sleeping newborns from the little black bundle and someone said they were goats and I said no, they are sheep. I then went to the other bundle of baby animals which were white, and they were especially dear to the woman who said, “They are kittens.”

The speaker picked one up and brushed back its fur. In doing so, he exposed a disguise and its true nature was revealed. When he set it down, the animal went directly over to the bundle of lambs and began to drag one away and eat it. The woman still wanted to keep the “kittens” because they were so cute, even though they were dangerous to the sheep.

We went back inside, and another man and I, who had been praying on the sidelines during this scenario, got together and prayed and prophesied over this woman to help her make the decision to get rid of the “kittens.”

I discussed the first half of the dream in part one. Read it here

The Danger of Pet Sins

That was the dream in its entirety. This second section highlights discernment and our need to be able to receive correction.

We can see in Scripture that the Lord’s motivations in His judgments are not the opposite of love but its fulfillment.

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer.

This scripture reminds us that nothing is hidden from His sight.

The creatures in the dream were so little it was difficult to discern their nature.

Were they sheep or goats?

Kittens or wolves?

It was not known whether they were harmless or dangerous.

It is easy to hold our “pet sins” like kittens, harmless little fluffy things that give us joy.

We tell ourselves when we indulge, we may be hurting ourselves but deny any impact on others.

It is also an indication of how things we consider little habits affect others in a ministry setting.

We absolutely need to weed out the things that make us jealous and cause us to compete with others. There is no way to work like a team if we don’t.

It’s impossible to keep these hidden things in a separate little cubby of our lives. Like yeast, cannot be contained, it affects everything. Compromise gets multiplied.

There is a woman talked about in Proverbs.

Proverbs 9:13-18 The woman of folly is boisterous; She is naive and knows nothing. She sits at the doorway of her house, On a seat by the high places of the city, Calling to those who pass by, Who are making their paths straight: “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here, And to him who lacks understanding she says,

“Stolen water is sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

 But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Now for some brutal honesty.

I have been eating at the table of the woman of folly in Proverbs 9.

The Lord used this dream to speak to me about a certain sin.

He revealed that overindulging in “comfort foods” was like drinking a sweet tasting poison.

It was not merely self‑soothing, like feeding a harmless kitten.

I could see myself giving a kitten food, but could now clearly see it was a wolf.

A dangerous one, that in turn could turn and consume me.

I understood then, that I was not just feeding my flesh, which is bad enough, but actually feeding something demonic.

I recoiled in horror at the realization. Feeding a wolf was the last thing I wanted to do.

I have worked on this area of my life many times. I have learned secret eating was something I did to insulate myself in a chaotic and abusive childhood. Isn’t that the way? We struggle with “besetting sins” because there is a root to the behavior.

We indulge in something because it has a payoff.

But the Lord does not let us off the hook. He keeps coming back to the same question.

Will you give up that thing you love but is destroying you.

I think this is the way sin works. We get tripped up by the fast fix, a rescue from our impatience.

This dream was for me. I had to receive it and apply it to myself. That does not negate that it has broader applications. If a prophetic dream is intended for the church, we must first allow it to diagnose our own heart. Do all you can to prevent an attitude of superiority or self righteousness tainting the lens through which you view those who the message is intended for.

Let the word judge you and scan you like an MRI!

By letting the word sit with you, to percolate, living water can be turned to wine.

You may not have a struggle with food, but human nature tells me that difficulty with self control rises up  in another area in your life.

What do you turn to instead of Him when in need?

The setting of the dream was a training school, and in one way or another, we are all in that school of discernment, learning to distinguish the holy and the profane.

Our lives are meant to align with righteous living, attending to the woman of wisdom not folly.

There is a story that has circulated for many years in Christian teaching about a man who owned two dogs, one small and one big, always fighting.

He was asked, “Which dog is winning?”

To which the man replied, “The one that I feed.” 

Scripture says much about this battle between our two natures, our flesh, and our spirit:

Romans 8:4-6″…those of us who walk NOT after the flesh but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh. They that are after the Spirit and mind the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Romans 8:13 “For if you live after the flesh, you will die. But, if you through the power of the Spirit put to death (neglect, put aside) the deeds of the body you will live.”

Again, it was difficult to discern the true nature of those ‘sweet’ little newborn creatures.

Sometimes a teacher can expose it even when it is small.

It is up to us to listen.

If you are a reader of my blog, you most likely have a desire to live for God.

But most of us, if we are honest, live on our own terms and then ask Him to bless our choices.

I want something different. I want to live for Him with a heart that is on fire. Do you?

Our particular struggles may vary, but the call is the same for all of us.

Submit to Him in the place it is the hardest.

The Process of Sanctification

When we become Christians, we agree that He is Lord.

We bow and say, “Be MY Lord.”

But that is only the beginning of a life‑long journey.

We did not just get a ticket to heaven or buy what some refer to as fire insurance.

Like a wedding is only the first day of a marriage, each day brings the opportunity to make our partner our priority. We can discover our secret habits are hindering our relationship. Our new spouse may bring out our faults and challenge us to live a better life!

All of us need to cooperate with Holy Spirit conviction and ask His help to change.

But prophetic people especially need to be willing and sensitive to Him in this.

We are called to be the eyes of the body, so it is urgent we rid ourselves of the log in our own eye before attempting to bring correction to another believer or leader or wherever the Lord has given us influence.

Matthew 6:22-23 The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

This is such an important topic in a season of exposure. It’s vital to have a posture of humility as we address a problem. 1 Corinthians 13:12

I see the Lord raising up a bride who has washed her robes.

We can wax poetic about what that means but in practical terms, this is a bride who is not carnal. She has yielded her secret sins.

Along with singing sweet songs of the love of the Bridegroom over His bride, the prophetic person will speak words of discernment and truth to those who are holding on to “pet things” they need to let go of.

And they will be able to do it with clarity and charity because they are intimately acquainted with conviction and repentance in their own lives.

They will have done their own homework.

Their words will not be a pointing finger of accusation but an invitation to walk in the true ways of the Lord together. Timing is important in this too. We may see things in others that the Lord is not currently addressing.

Psalm 141:3-5 Set a guard, Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness With people who do wrong;

And may I not taste their delicacies.

May the righteous strike me with mercy and discipline me;                                              

It is oil for the head; My head shall not refuse it,

for my prayers are still against their evil deeds.

It is right that we discern the wolves among us, helpful even, when we can discern them when they are young and attempt to bring correction.

But wolves very rarely change and the priority should be to keep the sheep safe!

None of us like correction, but if we are wise, we accept it.

When I mentioned keeping pet sins close, did a specific thing surface for you? Might the Lord be touching that area and asking you to yield it to Him?

Or maybe you feel like the woman in the dream and need someone to come alongside to help you discern the thing you are holding back from the Lord?

Perhaps you’re like me; I could not the see the wolf in my habit.

Ask Him for help; He longs for all of you to be His. 

Salvation is a one‑and‑done, but sanctification is a process.

Give it all, give it all, give it all to Jesus. One step, one day at a time, say yes.

All the love, my friends.

Here is an oldie but a goodie that reinforces only HE can satisfy our hearts.