Saturday, December 24, 2016

Week 51 Bible Reading Review

Week 51  Hebrews 1:1 to 1 John 1:1

Heb 2:19  Believers should not fear death.

Heb 4:10  Entering His rest is resting from our own works / agenda.

Heb 10:2  Once we are purified (sins are forgiven) we should no longer have a consciousness of sin (guilt / shame / condemnation), and no further offering is needed (v18)  There is no sacrifice for deliberate sin, only judgement (v26-27+).

Heb 11:6  Without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. (2:17   Faith without works is dead)

Heb 12:3+  Anyone who thinks discipline is bad should read this passage.

Jam 1:5  We can all ask for more wisdom!

Jam 1:20  Man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.  This sounds like it is not possible for man to have “righteous anger”.

1 Pet 3:17  It is better to suffer for doing good than doing evil.

1 Pe 5:7  A good verse to remember:  Cast your cares on God, because He cares for you.

2 Pe 1:5-7  Faith->Goodness->Knowledge->Self-Control->Endurance->Godliness->Brotherly Affection->Love.  I find it interesting that love is at the end of the long list, or goal of the divine nature.  Skipping to love might make it impure.

2 Pe 2:4+  God’s judgement is just!

2 Pe 3:16-17  Warning:  Be wary of those twisting scripture and don’t be led away by the error of lawless people.



Next Reading:  Week 52  1 John 1:1 to Revelation 22:21



Wisdom for the week


I have learned a lot about the value of dreams going through an online event while it was offered for free by Christian Leadership University’s School of the Spirit website.  Below are my notes from the 10 sessions.  Hopefully you will find it of interest.

https://www.cluschoolofthespirit.com/

Session 1: Bridges to the Supernatural
With dreams you can hear from God every single night.
Dream interpretation is a skill that can be learned.
Dreams are God’s contingency ensuring He always has a way to connect with us.
God lives in our hearts, not our heads.  We want to live out of our hearts.
Observation causes transformation.  Spiritual into physical.
Be His witnesses.  Baptism of the Holy Spirit empowers us to be visual witnesses.
See and agree with spiritual visions.

Session 2:  ABCs of Dream Work
Dreams are:  Symbolic and metaphorical, rarely literal
Dreams don't typically come true the way it is played out. (95%)
Example: Joseph:  Sheaves of wheat, sun and moon bowing.  Brothers understood it referred to them.
Other cultures honor and understand dreams.
Things and people in dreams often represent something else.

Dream Decoder:
1. Setting - what is the setting, what is going on in my waking life right before this dream.
    a. Setting is a decoder for the dream.
    b. What are you praying about, thinking about, in waking life?
2. Action - key action in dream, how does that match with an action in waking life?  This is the area the dream is speaking to.
3. Emotion - How are you feeling in the dream, match with the same emotion in waking life.  This is the area the dream is speaking to.

Dream symbols are personal to the dreamer.  Symbols from waking world of dreamer.

Always up to the dreamer to determine if interpretation is right, it will bear witness with their heart.

Session 3:  Scriptural Precedents
1/3 of the Bible is about dream and vision.
Do we say:  "That was a cool dream, too bad it isn't real or didn't actually happen..."
Things that happen in dreams God says count.  Solomon blessed, Abrahamic covenant…
Act on your dreams.  Jacob dreamed of striped and speckled flocks which he acted upon.

Dreams are the way God connects to our hearts.

God uses dreams to keep us on track.  See:  Job 33:14-30

Dreams help us see things from God's perspective.

Session 4 Snapshots of the Spirit and pictures and parables
“DAESI” Dream Work Method (pronounced daisy)

Dream – Start with a summary of your dream
Action - In the dream, what was I doing?
Emotion - In the dream, how was I feeling?
Setting - In waking life, what is my heart processing
Interpretation - Match up the dream action & emotion with waking life, and journal.

Why can't dreams be clearer? Why does God speak in pictures?

Pictures bypass our mind and cut to the heart.  God wants to engage our hearts, he wants to engage our emotions and feelings, pictures move our emotions which move us to Godly actions.

Example:  2 Sam 12  Nathan painted a picture that engaged David’s heart and emotions, then when he made it literal, David was already convicted as it bypassed his mind to his emotions and he then took the proper action.

God gives us dreams to give His point of view and to line up our hearts to His feelings, then we are moved to Godly action.

Pictures are better than a literal language because they engage our heart which drives our actions.
Pictures engage our emotions to align us to His way of thinking and to take the right action.

God want's our heart engaged in our obedience.  He uses our dreams to do that.  Being simply told what to do, you may obey on the surface but your heart is not in it.

Session 5:  Fun Form of Dreams
Dreams contain idioms, colloquialisms.
Multiple levels of meaning and understanding can come from the same dream.
God doesn't hide things from us, he hides things for us to discover.
Dreams are the treasures we receive in the darkness.

Session 6:  Out of our heads, into our hearts
Yeshua lives in our hearts.
Dethrone the intellect and crown the Spirit so we can live in the supernatural without effort.
Dreams can move scriptural truths from our heads to our hearts.
Knowing in our heart is superior to knowing only in our head and we are more steadfast when our heart is engaged.
We want heart revelation because then we own it.
The Holy Spirit writes words upon our hearts through visions of the night.

What a symbol represents can vary between people.  We must always use the symbol according to the dreamer because symbols are personal to the dreamer.
The dreamer is the best person to interpret their dream.  They know important details and connections.

God can guide us through dreams to where we need to be.

Session 7  Creativity and Personalized Dream Symbols
Dreams give creativity to our jobs worked on during the day.
Symbols are personal to the dreamer.
1. Symbols come from the dreamers waking world
2. Symbols can mean different things depending who is dreaming it and what their experience is from the symbol, definition must come from dreamer.

God customizes our dreams with the symbols we know.

Yeast in Bible = sin, except verse when equated with Kingdom of Heaven
Lion in Bible = Yeshua (tribe of Judah), except verse when equated with satan

Interpretations belong to God.
Trust His Spirit within you to teach you.

Don’t ask: what does this symbol mean?
Do ask: what does this symbol mean to the dreamer?

Session 8 Why all bad dreams aren't
Dreams can warn so we can repent and change our course of action.
God gets our attention so we can know where we are headed if we don't change.
Nightmares might be used by God to get our attention when we don't listen otherwise.
Nightmares might be used to expose negative emotions we have so they can be dealt with.

Dreams amplify and exaggerate things to get our attention of what in our waking life needs to be dealt with.

We should process our emotions before we go to sleep so we won’t be dreaming about it.
Go through our day before we go to bed, go to sleep in gratitude and peace, repent and surrender if needed.

Live in holy emotions.

One possible cause of nightmares is demonization - cast out demon of fear to stop nightmares.

Sexual dreams:  often symbolic and used by God to get our attention.
To a holy God, any sin is sin and he may use a more offensive sin in our mind to highlight an issue we aren’t dealing with.

Dreams can reveal God’s heart and should not condemn us.

Session 9:  Dreams Children Dream
Dreams reveal their hearts true feelings.
Dreams are messages of encouragement, prophetic, if we feel condemned and not encouraged then we don't have the right interpretation.
Dreams are a way to bring to your attention things that aren't dealt with during the day.
Provide a positive setting before bedtime.
Teach them to take authority in bad dreams.

Session 10: Practical Tips for Dream Work
    1.  Not remembering dreams.
Honor dreams (repent for dishonoring / dismissing dreams)
Ask God for dreams
Expect in faith  (God wants us to remember our dreams more than we do)
Set out pen and paper by the bed
Get 8 hours of sleep
See sleep time as Spiritual time
Awaken naturally.  Alarm clocks shatter dream recall.
Go to bed at a consistent time, use dream friendly alarm clock. (light, nature)
Pray in the Spirit as you wake up.
    2.   Remembering too much.
Keep summaries of dream (1-2 paragraph max)
All dreams in one night usually speak to the same heart issue
Record most impactful or last dream / last segment of night
    3.   Stuck on interpretation?
Keep pondering / praying until it resonates with your heart.
Journal about it.
Describe it a different way to get a fresh perspective.

You are the best person to work with your dreams.  You know the symbols and setting.
God is excited to connect with us during our sleep.

Healing in layers.  God doesn't condemn, just exposes the root.

2 comments:

  1. Timothy, Thank you for your faithfulness & diligence in making this blog of reading through the Bible in one year, and sharing your insights week after week. Your words, as as well as God's Words have spoken to my heart. Currently I'm finishing up the Old Testament, and even though I didn't make it through the whole Bible, I have been listening as I read and learning, which is the primary goal.

    The verses that stand out the most to me in this posting is the Spiritual Progression listed in II Peter 1, I really like your insight about not "skipping to the end" in regards to exhibiting pure love. That is definitely one to meditate on & put into proper action. Thank you.

    Lastly, once again thank you for sharing your notes from the Dream Series, as I do believe God has been speaking to me through my dreams, and now I know how better to process that communication. I know I have been waking up praying about the situations being played out in my dreams, at least the parts I remember. I've even woke up singing the worship song I was singing in my dream, which was really cool. But I have noticed a theme in some of my dreams, even though different scenarios, yet the same emotions remembered. I read my Bible & spend time in devotions immediately upon waking, and have in fact brought these repeated emotional dreams before the Lord, asking Him to purge, cleanse, & illuminate darkened areas so that the Light of His Love will replace anything that is not pleasing to Him, which have made for some very powerful times. A great way to start my day, and now I have learned it would make for a great way to end my day as well. Thank you.

    I am blessed to have you as a part of my life Timothy and I appreciate your passion, hunger & desire to live your life as a reflection of our Savior & Lord. Sometimes it is easier for me to write this than to say it in person, but I truly do mean every word I've typed. Thank you!

    Love & Hugs from Mom Slawson

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    1. Thanks for the kind comments, it is encouraging... Only one more week to go!

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