Sunday, 16 February 2025

I haven't written in a while, but not because I didn't have anything to say. 

Maybe I wanted to finish the studies first, before talking about it. But my time is so limited, I am not getting to my studies. And I am not happy about that. It is something that I will have to work on. 

Sometime last year, my morning devotional talked about that the mind should be like a hard stone, like a diamond. And your heart should be soft. The verse about the mind like a stone is from Ezekiel 3:8-10:

8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.

Taken back to the Hebrew, adamant is a stone that was, or was very much like, a diamond. 

I did a whole study on diamonds and so many things started to change in my mind. A diamond is made of only 1 substance: carbon. Your mind, my mind, should be singular - fixed on God. James 1:8 talks about a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. And in ch 4:8 he says: Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

When your thoughts are split, you fall. Jesus said in Matt 12:25 - And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

When your thoughts are divided, your loyalties are divided, your faith cannot stand. We all know that our mind is the battleground, Rom 12:2 admonishing us to renew our minds: And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 

Fix your thoughts, fix your life. 

But what do you change your thoughts to? What should you be thinking, if what you have been thinking was wrong? Or were you on the right path? 

Soon after this, I started exploring various ideas I was previously averse to. I was scared for wrong, but I decided that I will need to broaden my perspective and I will ask God to protect me and help me to see right from wrong. 

I listened to youtube videos, read books on youtube (I don't have time to physically sit and read a book, so I listen to books on my way to work). An acquintance of mine offered one of her mind-changing courses for free, and I accepted. So many things started to open up and happen - it came to me, once I started searching.

I started my affirmations again. 

And, I decided what I want. 

It's been a hard road of discipline, and I get tired. Then I stop, and have to just start up again. I've worked on my habits, and the studies of the mind have not stopped. And new ideas and revelations are coming to light. 

There are 2 that stands out: 1. What is God's name? and 2. The power of creation. I will do full studies on these and put it up on the blog in due time. But just a quick thought about it...

When God called Moses, Moses asked Him who should he say sent him. And God answered... I AM. 

Please tell me, in your daily life, what words follow those two when it leaves your mouth? Is it positive or negative? You are ... what? And if it is the same name that God called Himself by, and you were made in His image, don't you think that perhaps using the words "I AM" in vain, is also sin?

Yes, I know how it sounds and that it is an extreme viewpoint. But just think about it for a minute. There's a lot more to it, too. But that will be part of the study. 

As for the power of creation... We are creators. God made us in His image and He is the OG Creator. We are because He created us. And we want to make stuff, because we are creators, like Him. But how are we creating? Do you know how to create? Gen 1 was God's imagination and Gen 2 the physical manifestation of that imagining. Sound too wild? Read it again. God spoke... and stuff happened. 

We are created in His image, and therefor we have the power of creation. Yes, it is painting, or building, or cooking or singing... but mostly, it is our thoughts and our words. Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. 

It's always fascinated me that death is mentioned first. Usually quoted, people put life first, but the Bible put death first. Maybe so we can hear it first and therefor here the warning better. 

Your imagination has the power to create, and your words will speak it into life. 

Again, maybe an extreme concept, but we will explore it more in the study. 

Extreme or not, I believe it to be true. And all the perverted uses of it around me, tells me I'm right. The devil can only imitate, he cannot create. So whatever is out there that is perverse, must have a pure origin. And there are thousands of theories and concepts out there about the mind that must focus, meditation, empty your mind, visualize your future... so if there is a perverse version of this, that focuses on your own power, and gives power to a universe, there must be a pure version. And in that version you also meditate... on God, and His word, like David says over and over in psalms... 9 times to be exact. In the pure version, we know that the power comes from God, that the concept of what you do will come back to you (world = karma), is a biblical concept. You don't empty your mind, because Jesus said in Matt 12:44-45 that a clean house will be filled with unholy spirits. You should be filled with the Holy Spirit - Eph 5:18.

My life has started to change. I changed. 

But it is hard, and I am tired. To get up and continue is a choice and to see your dream, but not reaching it, is demoralizing. But, I can see it. It is not out there somewhere anymore. I made a choice as to what I want, and I am working towards it. I believe it is a dream that God gave me, and why He can't just give it, I don't know. Guess I have to learn stuff on the way. Some days it is easier to accept than others, though. 

Some days, it feels like even my faith is failing me. And all that is left, is my mind. And I have to stand strong and make that choice to keep believing. To keep my thoughts like a diamond, pure and singularly focused on my dream and my goals. It is constant housekeeping, but that is how it is. Everything in life required maintenance. Nothing is made once-off and left alone. It has to be cleaned, and maintained in order to remain. When neglected and not used, it simply disintegrates. 

Whether it is your mind, your thoughts, your house, your clothes, your car, your hair, your relationships, your garden, your heart, your soul, your work... keep it clean. 

Keep your diamond clean. 

Dreams & Battles

 

I dream every night. 

When I don't dream, it's weird. And I always thought that everyone dreams every night. Only when I grew up and started talking about my dreams, did I learn that most people do not dream every night. That dreaming every night was quite unusual.

Psychologists and others in the medical field believe that everyone dreams every night, but that most people just don't know it, or rather, can't recall their dreams upon waking (1).

In the Bible, dreams plays quite a huge part. 

From the scriptures, it is clear that God uses dreams to talk to people. There's the famous ones we all know: Joseph, Jacob, Samuel, the wise men, Joseph (Jesus's earthly father). There's also some we forget, like Abimelech, Laban, Pilate's wife - see the link to a complete scripture reference below.

And it is also clear that the devil doesn't know what we dream. Nebuchadnezzar's wise men and advisors could not tell him what he dreamt, nor the meaning of it, because the devil didn't know and couldn't tell them. However, God knew and he told Daniel who then was able to tell him not only the meaning of his dreams, but what he dreamt in the first place. (Daniel 2)

The same with the wise men who came to visit Jesus after his birth. God told them not to return the same way as Herod wanted to kill them (Matthew 2). If the devil knew what they dreamt, he would've informed Herod and attacked them. But as the devil can't see what we dream, he didn't know, and the wise men escaped.

I believe the devil can interfere with our dreams, though, just like with our thoughts. But he doesn't know what you are dreaming, like he doesn't know your thoughts. 

That is why you can't rebuke the devil in your thoughts, you have to say it out loud. 

Which is why God can talk to us through dreams. However, knowing when it is a message from God, or just another silly dream, or the devil interfering - that is the difficult part. 

I know that God talks to me in dreams, or at least shows me stuff. Sometimes it is just to say that something is going to happen, but it will be ok. Other times, it is to tell me to shift my focus, to pay attention to something. 

My cell leaders from my old town taught me to pay more attention to the feelings that goes with the dream, than the dream itself. You can dream about dying, and feel quite excited. That may be more of an indication of a positive change that is coming, than actual death. However, dreaming about someone dying, and feeling quite distraught, might be a warning. 

I've had one of those second ones recently. 

And it was really, really bad. I don't even want to put it into words - I do not want to give power to the dream. I woke up and the sorrow overwhelmed me. I cried, and my husband woke up. He doesn't wake up, btw, so this must've been quite bad. Eventually I got up and went to the bathroom to pray. 

There's been prior spiritual attacks along the same lines about the same people, and this seemed like a clear warning of another one happening, or going to happen. So I prayed. 

But nothing seemed to convey what I was saying, as if my prayers were moot, useless. Which is strange, since what I was praying was historically and biblically correct. Giving everything to Jesus, sacrificing all for Him, choosing God above all else, is the best choice when you don't know what to do. But this time, it wasn't enough. 

Then I remembered a dream I had years before. Jesus was my advocate - although portrayed as a small, very nervous little man - and I was told to keep out of the courtroom, and to go play with my kids. He was my advocate and He will fight my battles for me. 

And I remembered the verse that says that the Holy Spirit will talk on my behalf when i don't have the words to say (Rom 8:26-27)

So I asked the Holy Spirit to pray what I don't know how to, and I asked Jesus to step in for me with the Father, to be my advocate and to plead my case in the heavenly courtroom, in front of the Father. 

I was still crying, my heart was physically in pain during this whole ordeal. If there was anything in my stomach, I would've thrown up, but I just retched a couple of times from grief. It was really intense, and although a spiritual battle, the grief and sorrow was very real, and very physical.

I don't know how long it was, but it wasn't very long. Maybe a minute or two? When I felt a break in the tense atmosphere, a calming deep in my heart, and like a hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner, and a soft voice saying, "They're ok".

For quite some time afterwards, I was still struggling. Getting out of that severe emotional and spiritual attack, took a while and I wasn't sure that what I heard and felt, was real. What if the devil was trying to throw me off course, telling me it is ok, when it wasn't? What if it is something I just want to believe, given the alternative?

Eventually I had to accept what I was told, and believe that Jesus told me they're ok, and that it was done. This battle was fought, and won, in the courtroom, by the Holy Spirit and my advocate, Jesus, in front of the Father. 

I have never heard of this, rather, I haven't heard of this being applied in this manner. We have boldness to enter before the throne, exactly because of Jesus (Heb 4:16). But that not working, or my petition not being granted, and actually asking Jesus to step in on my behalf? No, I did not. 

It's been a couple of days, and I am still baffled. Not quite sure what to make of this. Not even quite sure if I should publicize it. It is most certainly scriptural, as Jesus is our mediator between God and us (1 Tim 2:5) and advocate (1 John 2:1), and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. But it seems a little forward to ask Jesus to fight on our behalf, to ask the Father for things on our behalf. 

Yet, my dream of years earlier told me exactly that. 

And this experience was exactly that. 

So what do I do with this?

References:

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Dream scriptures: https://jesusalive.cc/dreams-visions-in-bible/