I had a dream but went for a different approach from normal before writing it down. I prayed about his kingdom coming, various aspects of my life from family to church, to the world with all that’s been happening to and for us recently, especially financially regarding having our benefits stopped suddenly (long story) and had two different pictures to follow.
The first dream.
I’m in a stately home with a big family and lost in it. Then the dream turns to me and others on a big coach on a trip. I look at the bus driver who looks sleepy so I try to interact with him to keep him awake. He does become more alert but is momentarily distracted by seeing something important too late, whilst driving and we end up coming off the road.
I wonder if it’s a warning, or it’s just saying about what we’re in as church and as family. So I pray before writing the dream down.
I then see a yellow van go by in my dozy sleepy state in my mind. I wonder if I imagined it until I have another picture-dream, I then realise that the yellow van was an Automobile Association (AA) van which has come to rescue me/us.
The third vision which I refer to is where I go out of the front of our house and see an emergency/rescue vehicle go by but I forget what type of vehicle it is because as I look at the sky I see a rainbow with not one reflection but 6 graded in faded colour! I’m amazed in wonder (I had to be careful counting as it looked a lot). I’m so excited I run into our house (suddenly aware that I’m wearing wellies!!) to tell Debbie to come and see – aware also that I shouldn’t go all the way in the house because I have my wellies on! (I.e. stay on the doormat and tell through)!!
This is when I see that everything is going to be alright. I had a quick thought at the time of the vision that 6 reflections, meant something. As I wrote all that down It dawned on me at the end of it that the total of rainbows including reflections was 7! The first full colour rainbow followed by 6 reflections.
This also made me realise when I get an ‘uncertain’ dream I need to do what I’ve done this morning instead of writing it down, go to prayer first. Pray about God’s purposes being achieved.
Wow!
I still can’t remember which rescue/emergency vehicle it was I saw before the rainbow. The fact that it’s a rainbow demonstrated to me the sign of His promises to us. The fact that it was a rescue vehicle doesn’t matter what kind, the point is I’m being rescued.
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.”
Genesis 9:12–17, CSB
I wondered about scripture to back up my dream and it came as I was writing ‘promises to us’. He is able to do so much more than we can ever ask of or think of (my paraphrase).
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
There are three extra things to note that I haven’t expressed:
- The significance of wearing wellies
- A rainbow that has 6 reflections
- Context of the scripture particularly the bit about his power at work in is
Wearing wellies is a personal encouragement. When you think you’re not doing anything much or specific in His kingdom it’s not how He sees you! Wellies are work-wear for getting down and dirty (yes, they are also worn recreationally, but they’re also for getting down and dirty) that’s the point.
Six reflections are to remind of the reflections of Him that you are. Six the number of mankind and the seventh, divine full colour. Seven often noted from scripture being representative of the divine.
And yes, his power is at work in you is what it says in the verse written above This scripture follows on from Paul’s prayer:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now that may in bold is what caught my eye as it is repeated four times. These ‘may’s’ are all verbs.
- Didōmi (Give/grant) aorist active subjunctive (AAS)
- Katoikēsai (Dwell/live) aorist active infinitive (AAI)
- Exischysēte (Strength/enough) aorist active subjunctive (AAS)
- Plerōthēte (Fulfill/fill/complete) aorist passive subjunctive (APS)
*The above are in order of the text
(AAS) Giving a sense of potential or purpose rather than a definitive time.
(AAI) Action viewed as a single completed event
(APS) Describes an action that is received and viewed as a completed event.
Furthermore the naming earlier in the passage selected, is a present passive indicative verb which means the subject receives the action rather than by doing it. So You ARE (the subject) named by the Father.
Also to know the love of Christ is an aorist active infinitive verb. An aorist active infinitive in Greek describes an action as a single, completed whole (perfective aspect), like a snapshot, rather than ongoing (like a video) or past time (which the indicative does). It’s a non-finite verb form (no tense/person/number), so its meaning depends on context, often indicating a completed action prior to the main verb or simply presenting the action as a unit.
His love is his nature as we see in scripture elsewhere (1John). To know this love, to understand this love is beyond understanding or knowing. Yet Paul is praying that the Ephesians (and here we can extrapolate to all) would know and in so knowing would be filled with God.
(By the way I checked out the grammar, all that’s written above about verbs as it helps me to understand context and what’s written. I did it with the help of Google. I’m not an expert but I do like to try and understand these things).
Reflecting on the rainbow (no pun intended) I was reminded of a few years back (I may have written about this on the website before). My family and I were on our way down to Cornwall the usual route, both for holiday and to see one of my sister’s. We were on the A303, also known as the Okehampton bypass and it was around the border between Devon and Cornwall. We were quite high up. There was a rainbow right over the road. We actually drove into it and through it. It was the left ‘leg’ of the rainbow. It was intense! It sparkled and glistened and was kind of foggy as well with all the colours. The other thing that was striking was it was rounded, tubular, cylindrical in effect. We were truly blessed to experience it. An amazing memorable moment. Rainbows can have this effect on us.
…and if it’s not obvious to you from this article, if you’re in a difficult situation and you’ve called on the Lord he’s working on your case. He’s got you. Help is with you and it’s on its way.