Dreams and visions...

[Barb]

Today I was blessed to be in a class taught by Sis. Marietta Fuentes. Her husband is the bishop of Chili, and her lesson was about impacting our own little world.

It was a very good lesson, but not the point of this post. What I want to speak to are her opening remarks.

Sis. Fuentes told of an incident many years ago involving Bishop L.A. Parent.

One must first understand that the Apostolic Church of Auburn Hill, MI, (Pontiac) has always been a mission minded church and it stems from the visionary leadership through the years, beginning with Bishop L.A. Parent to the present.

It was with this heart for missions that Bishop found himself in Brazil. While there, he had a dream about Chili, a place he had never been before. In the dream, he was baptizing many Chileans in Jesus Name.

He asked the elder in Brazil if he knew any ministers in Chili, and he said he knew three non-Apostolic.

Bishop and the elder made the journey to Chili where they came in contact with a man who would later be the FIL of Sis. Fuentes. He was AoG, however, not fully comprehending what it was all about.

Bishop Parent preached to him through the interpreter, and the elder Funetes wanted to be baptized In Jesus Name.

When they took him to the pool for baptism, Bishop Parent began to weep, and said that this was the exact pool he had been shown in the dream.

Today there are an estimated 280 churches in Chili under the unbrella of the Apostolic Church of Pontiac.

As I sat there this morning, I began to ponder this...what if Bishop had brushed it aside as "just a dream" and not responded?! Surely God would have spoken to another, but how can we know that for sure?!

How does one know what is just a good and edifying dream about baptism and when it is God directing our steps?!

What happens to unfulfilled dreams and visions and to those to whom they are given?!

Gives me pause as I wonder how many have ended up ship wreck because they did not, could not, or would not heed the call or because they allowed self will to get in the way.

Is this too heavy for a Sunday afternoon?!

Here is where prayer and trying of the spirits are important.

The enemy may give us a dream too. In fact, it may be as real as any dream that we may receive of God. But prayer and trying the spirits make the difference.

In prayer, you take the dream before the Lord and lay it out before the Lord as did Hezekiah too Schenekerib's (sp?) letter up to the temple and laid it out before him...just as though God knows nothing about it. Lay the dream out before the Lord in prayer, explaining every detail of it to Him.

Then ask the Lord for its meaning. Sometimes he will give you the meaning on the request. Sometimes you have to seek the Lord with additional prayer and searching of the Word. There are more than one way for God to speak to you.

You might take three options before the Lord, with the dream being one of them. Place your hand on each option and pray earnestly over each of those options. Listen to the Spirit. If option one is not God's will, there will not be a sense about it. It will feel dead. The same with option two. Finally, when you pray over what is the will of God among the options, you will feel differently.

But, even then, you must try the spirits even further. As brother Parent did, he put out feelers. Those feelers indicated that he was walking in the will of God. You will never have the whole plan opened up to you in one grand display. It will always be a walk of faith, taking one step at a time. But, when you are walking in the will of God, you will sense that you are flowing down stream without any effort. When you are not, it will always be a battle. The will of God will take you along effortlessly as a mighty river that cannot be stopped when you are surrendered to it.