Earlier in the year I was reminded of a faint dream from the early hours of the morning.
I see someone seeing words before them and they are highlighted in an unusual way, to stand out in relief – in black and white!
As I consider what I can recall from the dream I think it is about prophecy, that is hearing what God says. Words that are black and white are ones that are written down. That means they are in print.
In writing this here I am understanding the meaning of the dream more than remembering the dream itself. It’s like this is my next step in my thinking. I have been going through a process to get to this point.
Maybe it feels like I’ve had this dream before to make it stand out – to capture my attention! Yes I had this before but I didn’t write it down. I think it was one of those faint ones in the early hours which I thought I’d imagined!
I then went back to dozing and reminding myself I was in God’s presence. I thought to myself what is being in his presence? Presence is who He is, His nature and Spirit.
I was sitting in our lounge. There were no pictures on the wall. There were just seats. I was with family we were looking out of the French windows (floor to ceiling glass) towards a large bird feeder and it had started snowing outside. A wintry view unfolded before my eyes.
There were four or five kinds of birds on the large feeder. Two feeders altogether on one pole. One bird in particular which I was drawn to was a great spotted woodpecker which was a thrill in itself. I called out with delight.
The others seemed indifferent to the scene outside, like it was an everyday occurence.
The woodpecker seemed a lot bigger than usual. I saw different views of it, starting with its back. It eventually flew off but we had watched it for some time. I had been thrilled the whole time. Ecstacy!
There was something about the dream in regards to the wonder of seeing. Drawing out what I see and making something of it.
The next dream:
I was outside in an open area in a town. The focus was on a young woman who was sitting at a café table just getting on with chilling out in the middle of a big paved plaza. There were a number of guys who kept coming over to her as I think they were attracted to her. It was a little bit cartoon like as the characters looked like something out of the movie Flushed Away.
I had a number of small pink paper rectangles and they all had something written on them. I was releasing them into the air for other people to receive. They blew away apart from one that didn’t blow away very well. I was fascinated by the movement of this fluttering paper in the wind, wondering how the animators in this movie I was part of got the wind effect!
This first paper that I released was caught by the wind and blew back right into my face. I went over to the girl after a few other guys had been around her and asked her would she read to me what it said on the pink piece of paper as I didn’t want to read it. She was quite taken aback. As she read, all the other guys came back and looked over her shoulder curiously. She read with surprise and with trepidation. The words were: May the God of comfort, comfort you in all your troubles… Ahh, I thought. I know what and where that is! And woke up!
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/2co.1.3-4.NET
I will deal with the second dream I shared:
As I began to think about the woodpecker dream it occurred to me there are three main colours on a great spotted woodpecker. These colours are red white and black. Of course that made me think of the old joke. ‘What is black white and red all over? A newspaper!’ This made me think of words. Prophecies can be words written down and read as well as spoken out.
The fact that the family were indifferent made me think of the wider family, the church who may at times be indifferent to prophecy, to hearing what God is saying to them. All who look through a window (have the opportunity to see) but not all are seeing, (having their eyes opened to what is there).
The fact that there were five birds on the bird feeder made me think of the five-fold ministry and prophecy being one of the five-fold ministry mentioned in Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:11–15 (LEB): And he himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all reach the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to a measure of the maturity of the fullness of Christ,
The fact that it had started snowing was that winter, or the sign of snow, is of refreshing. Or it could be that even in the midst of something as harsh as winter are the wonders that God wants to reveal even in everyday mundane life.
There is an element here of resting together, as we are sitting on chairs. There are no other distractions in the room. All eyes are focused on the window view. Yet not all eyes are seeing what is before them in the same way. They just see birds. I see a specific bird that brings all the others into sharp relief. That’s what captures my attention.
The third dream deals with pink which is a combination of white and red. The Spirit of the Lord can be identified as having feminine attributes; the Spirit who brings us comfort encouragement and exhortation.
This woman was sitting at a table which is the place of fellowship the place of preparation. She was sitting there alone and needed companionship but she was content resting as well.
Further significance of a woodpecker is that a woodpecker seeks out grubs and insects from the wood by boring into it with its powerful bill and then extracting the food with a long extendable tongue. Yet in this picture it was feeding at a feeding station. The feeding station is the supply of God. The woodpecker was getting extra energy from eating from the feeder.
Where we get our food from is in connection with God whether that’s spiritual food or natural food. We then go out from that connection with His Presence to be able to bring something good to the world.
Being in his presence brings out our true identity. We become like the dream picture of the black and white bird which symbolises words or print, and we are read (red) by others.
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 2 Corinthians 3:2 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/2co.3.2.NET
I see this feeder like an upside-down pyramid. The feeder represents the One true God. He is the one who provides for all our needs. There were two feeders on the one pole. Two represents a witness in the spirit. His supply is available to all who call on him in every day life.
I was asking who the young woman was and it struck me she is Beauty. All the men fall at her including myself.
I didn’t want to look at the pink papers as they were for others. Pink the delicate touch. Pink is to me the colour of love. The colour of the heart.
There was one word or message that was for me. It was in my face! There’s a message there! A pun! The message had to come from someone else. I didn’t bring it! The message came to me, read by Beauty and witnessed by all men. Hence the other scripture I wrote down. (2Cor 3.2)
I am sending messages or words out. They are words of life and comfort, demonstrated by pink and being animated. To animate is to bring to life. And there it is again – LIFE. Who is life? Like Pilate said What is truth?
John 18:37–38 (LEB): Then Pilate said to him, “So then you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I have come into the world: in order that I can testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
Truth is a person, life is a person and the way is a person.
These word’s have life! These word’s being pink pieces of paper being sent out into the wider world. Those words are caught up and sent where the Spirit wills as they are caught up by the wind.
As I thought about the woodpecker dream, I realised that all the birds to me were larger than life. That goes with the next dream in saying that they were larger than life.
Larger than life:
(of a person) attracting special attention because of unusual and flamboyant appearance or behaviour.”he was a larger-than-life character on and off the pitch”
(of a thing) seeming disproportionately important.”your problems seem larger than life at that time of night”
I am drawn back to the plain room where all there were was the family, me and the seats we were sitting on. The room was a light colour.
To me the fact that we were sitting as we were just looking out was an act of worship. We were taking in the sights. This puts me in mind of the Hebrew letter hhey which appears twice in the name for God, YHWH! This letter in itself according to Jeff Benner’s study on pictographs means arms raised – to look at a great sight! It also means behold! (Breath or sigh)
Jacob Oleson from a Google search on the colour pink said this:
The pink colour stands for unconditional love and understanding, and is associated with giving and receiving care.
These pink papers reminded me of my Granny’s promise box. This was a box containing rolls of paper, like miniature scrolls, that were Bible verses on pink pieces of paper. The papers in the dream were promises.
Like apples of gold in settings of silver, so is a word skillfully spoken. Proverbs 25:11 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/pro.25.11.NET
To sum up:
- The words that we hear from the Lord stand out.
- The words of the lord can be known and understood.
- The words that we hear from the Lord are words of comfort
- The words of the Lord are promises that we can hold on to.
- The words of the Lord bring life and hope.
- The words of the Lord get our attention.