Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 8:36 a.m. – This song is in my head:
Our God Saves / by Paul Baloche | from the album Our God Saves
In the name of the Father
In the name of the Son
In the name of the Spirit
Lord we've come
We're gathered together
to lift up Your name
to call on our Savior
to fall on Your grace
Hear the joyful sound of our offering
As your saints bow down, as Your people sing
We will rise with You, lifted on Your wings
And the world will see that
Our God Saves, Our God Saves
There is hope in Your name
Mourning turns to songs of praise
Our God Saves, Our God Saves, Yeah
The Lord woke me from A DREAM: The first thing I remembered is that someone was taking something out of a toilet that looked like a human epiglottis -
Epiglottis: “a flap of cartilage situated at the base of the tongue that covers the opening to the air passages when swallowing, preventing food or liquids from entering the windpipe trachea; flap protecting air passages” (Encarta).
This toilet part that looked like an epiglottis was situated in the toilet at the base where everything gets flushed down the toilet, so, in a way, the base of the tongue and the base of the toilet shared similar functions. In the dream, someone had taken this toilet part (the epiglottis) and had put it in his mouth. It was disgusting!
In another part of the dream, I was at a house somewhere and I decided to do some laundry. The washer was down the basement and the laundry tub had standing cold water in it and I couldn’t get it to drain out. I knew I had used this washer before, but I didn’t recognize it. It appeared I had just forgotten how to use it.
I was carrying a full grown person and a baby (the baby was in the form of a caterpillar). I handed the baby (caterpillar) over to my husband and asked him to watch him so that I could carry this full grown person down to the basement to show me how to operate the washing machine so that I could drain the water out. The baby had evidently crawled down the stairs to the basement before, and I was concerned and didn’t want the baby to get hurt.
When we got down to the basement, the person I had carried down there to show me how to operate the washing machine reached underneath an industrial sink that was covered with some type of curtain and he did something with a switch, but I didn’t see what he did, so I had someone else show me. There were many switches under the sink, so it was difficult to know which one worked.
There was another scene in the house where I needed to go through the dining room, but my husband was sitting in an easy chair with his feet propped up on the table so that I could not pass through. [I think he may have put his feet down so that I could pass through a narrow opening between him and the table.]
Then, someone was operating a baby stroller by remote control that I sensed was harmful and it was blocking me from getting to the door of my house and getting inside. I could see my kids inside through a large window, so I motioned to my kids through the window to open the door and to let me inside. END
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Zechariah 11:
1 Open your doors, O Lebanon,
so that fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen;
the stately trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan;
the dense forest has been cut down!
3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds;
their rich pastures are destroyed!
Listen to the roar of the lions;
the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
Two Shepherds
4 This is what the LORD my God says: "Pasture the flock marked for slaughter. 5 Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Praise the LORD, I am rich!' Their own shepherds do not spare them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land," declares the LORD. "I will hand everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will oppress the land, and I will not rescue them from their hands."
7 So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock. 8 In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them 9 and said, "I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another's flesh."
10 Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the LORD.
12 I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"-the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.
14 Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 Then the LORD said to me, "Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs.
17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!"
My Understanding: In the previous vision, the Lord had showed me a picture on my wall of the servant Mary kissing Jesus’ feet and he said “cow,” which means “idol,” so I took it down. I identified with Mary in many ways, but the Lord said that the focus of my room should be on him, not on my service to him.
On my way back to pray, I saw another picture on my wall. This was a cartoon drawing of myself that an artist had rendered where I was sitting at my desk with my Bible open and I was typing on my computer. The caption read “Grandma.” This artist drew people with oversized heads and little bodies. I sensed that should go, too, so I removed it, as well. Next to it stood the globe of the world.
We had just rearranged my office to where my desk now sat in front of a mirror. This made me uncomfortable so I was already contemplating the removal of the mirror, so I asked the Lord about that and he said “Drink to me only with thine eyes…” So, the mirror came down, as well. And, I even removed notes from my granddaughters that were giving me praises, so that anything giving glory to me was removed.
During this I was in a spiritual battle with Satan. I felt like he was fighting against what God was doing. I was in spiritual warfare. I was weeping before Jesus and asking him to show me what he wanted me to do. I had a sense that he wanted me to also remove a mirror that hung in our foyer but that one didn’t make sense. So, I wondered if this was Satan trying to confuse me. My office I saw as my personal place where I meet God each day, but the foyer was more public/family, so I struggled with this one. I finally removed it more symbolically by damming it to hell.
What I realized the next morning was that this was all symbolic. The Lord was having me “act out” what he had Zechariah “act out” in this passage of scripture. There were 3 types of shepherds he had to remove, possibly representing king, priest and prophet. The picture of me with the big head and little body was symbolic of globalism (king), which is appropriate that it sat next to the globe. The picture of Mary kissing Jesus’ feet was representative of priest, and the mirror over my desk was symbolic of prophet. Jesus is all 3 – prophet, priest and king, so this also symbolized the total rejection of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, our Messiah.
Then, the Lord is going to raise up a worthless shepherd for a time and then the Lord will strike him with a sword. I realized the mirror in the foyer represented this worthless shepherd. Also, this mirror reflected my husband’s office, so he was symbolizing the worthless shepherd. He deserted the flock, he tried to block the way for the servant of the Lord, and he allowed the baby to crawl down to the basement.
In this dream it appears I am representing the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who cares for the lost (laundry room scene), seeks out the young (the baby), heals (carries) the injured and feeds the healthy (dining room scene). The washing machine is the gospel. I don’t recognize it because the preaching of it has changed, its operating mechanisms are hidden, secretive, etc. This is not the gospel that Jesus preached any longer. That is why the Holy Spirit (water) is not moving and why judgment is coming and danger is lurking at our door, but Jesus is still motioning to let him in.
Our God Saves / by Paul Baloche | from the album Our God Saves
In the name of the Father
In the name of the Son
In the name of the Spirit
Lord we've come
We're gathered together
to lift up Your name
to call on our Savior
to fall on Your grace
Hear the joyful sound of our offering
As your saints bow down, as Your people sing
We will rise with You, lifted on Your wings
And the world will see that
Our God Saves, Our God Saves
There is hope in Your name
Mourning turns to songs of praise
Our God Saves, Our God Saves, Yeah
The Lord woke me from A DREAM: The first thing I remembered is that someone was taking something out of a toilet that looked like a human epiglottis -
Epiglottis: “a flap of cartilage situated at the base of the tongue that covers the opening to the air passages when swallowing, preventing food or liquids from entering the windpipe trachea; flap protecting air passages” (Encarta).
This toilet part that looked like an epiglottis was situated in the toilet at the base where everything gets flushed down the toilet, so, in a way, the base of the tongue and the base of the toilet shared similar functions. In the dream, someone had taken this toilet part (the epiglottis) and had put it in his mouth. It was disgusting!
In another part of the dream, I was at a house somewhere and I decided to do some laundry. The washer was down the basement and the laundry tub had standing cold water in it and I couldn’t get it to drain out. I knew I had used this washer before, but I didn’t recognize it. It appeared I had just forgotten how to use it.
I was carrying a full grown person and a baby (the baby was in the form of a caterpillar). I handed the baby (caterpillar) over to my husband and asked him to watch him so that I could carry this full grown person down to the basement to show me how to operate the washing machine so that I could drain the water out. The baby had evidently crawled down the stairs to the basement before, and I was concerned and didn’t want the baby to get hurt.
When we got down to the basement, the person I had carried down there to show me how to operate the washing machine reached underneath an industrial sink that was covered with some type of curtain and he did something with a switch, but I didn’t see what he did, so I had someone else show me. There were many switches under the sink, so it was difficult to know which one worked.
There was another scene in the house where I needed to go through the dining room, but my husband was sitting in an easy chair with his feet propped up on the table so that I could not pass through. [I think he may have put his feet down so that I could pass through a narrow opening between him and the table.]
Then, someone was operating a baby stroller by remote control that I sensed was harmful and it was blocking me from getting to the door of my house and getting inside. I could see my kids inside through a large window, so I motioned to my kids through the window to open the door and to let me inside. END
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Zechariah 11:
1 Open your doors, O Lebanon,
so that fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen;
the stately trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan;
the dense forest has been cut down!
3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds;
their rich pastures are destroyed!
Listen to the roar of the lions;
the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
Two Shepherds
4 This is what the LORD my God says: "Pasture the flock marked for slaughter. 5 Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Praise the LORD, I am rich!' Their own shepherds do not spare them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land," declares the LORD. "I will hand everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will oppress the land, and I will not rescue them from their hands."
7 So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock. 8 In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them 9 and said, "I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another's flesh."
10 Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the LORD.
12 I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"-the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.
14 Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 Then the LORD said to me, "Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs.
17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!"
My Understanding: In the previous vision, the Lord had showed me a picture on my wall of the servant Mary kissing Jesus’ feet and he said “cow,” which means “idol,” so I took it down. I identified with Mary in many ways, but the Lord said that the focus of my room should be on him, not on my service to him.
On my way back to pray, I saw another picture on my wall. This was a cartoon drawing of myself that an artist had rendered where I was sitting at my desk with my Bible open and I was typing on my computer. The caption read “Grandma.” This artist drew people with oversized heads and little bodies. I sensed that should go, too, so I removed it, as well. Next to it stood the globe of the world.
We had just rearranged my office to where my desk now sat in front of a mirror. This made me uncomfortable so I was already contemplating the removal of the mirror, so I asked the Lord about that and he said “Drink to me only with thine eyes…” So, the mirror came down, as well. And, I even removed notes from my granddaughters that were giving me praises, so that anything giving glory to me was removed.
During this I was in a spiritual battle with Satan. I felt like he was fighting against what God was doing. I was in spiritual warfare. I was weeping before Jesus and asking him to show me what he wanted me to do. I had a sense that he wanted me to also remove a mirror that hung in our foyer but that one didn’t make sense. So, I wondered if this was Satan trying to confuse me. My office I saw as my personal place where I meet God each day, but the foyer was more public/family, so I struggled with this one. I finally removed it more symbolically by damming it to hell.
What I realized the next morning was that this was all symbolic. The Lord was having me “act out” what he had Zechariah “act out” in this passage of scripture. There were 3 types of shepherds he had to remove, possibly representing king, priest and prophet. The picture of me with the big head and little body was symbolic of globalism (king), which is appropriate that it sat next to the globe. The picture of Mary kissing Jesus’ feet was representative of priest, and the mirror over my desk was symbolic of prophet. Jesus is all 3 – prophet, priest and king, so this also symbolized the total rejection of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, our Messiah.
Then, the Lord is going to raise up a worthless shepherd for a time and then the Lord will strike him with a sword. I realized the mirror in the foyer represented this worthless shepherd. Also, this mirror reflected my husband’s office, so he was symbolizing the worthless shepherd. He deserted the flock, he tried to block the way for the servant of the Lord, and he allowed the baby to crawl down to the basement.
In this dream it appears I am representing the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who cares for the lost (laundry room scene), seeks out the young (the baby), heals (carries) the injured and feeds the healthy (dining room scene). The washing machine is the gospel. I don’t recognize it because the preaching of it has changed, its operating mechanisms are hidden, secretive, etc. This is not the gospel that Jesus preached any longer. That is why the Holy Spirit (water) is not moving and why judgment is coming and danger is lurking at our door, but Jesus is still motioning to let him in.