I remembered a dream that the Lord had given me years ago. In this dream, there was a huge room, similar to a gymnasium. The room was filled with all kinds of people, of various ages and races. Each person was lying on the floor in his or her sleeping bag. Everyone fell asleep except me. Soon the entrance door opened and a hideous creature emerged. The creature surveyed the room as if he was checking to see if everyone was asleep, then he quietly entered. He looked right at me as he approached the center of the room. I knew he knew I was awake and watching his every move, but he wasn’t detoured by one unsure witness.
He walked over to each person and took something of value from each sleeping bag. I knew the valuables’ he was stealing from each person was not natural but spiritual. He took their peace, joy, health, blessings, love ones, etc. He was grinning from ear to ear as he quickly went from one sleeping bag to another. Finally, he took one last look at me, before he left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.
Immediately every person arose from his or her slumber. They were very upset that something of value was missing. Amid the commotion I yelled, I saw who did it. One agitated person after another asked me,” If you saw who did it, why didn’t you warn us or do something? ”I calmly told them to follow me. I led them to the entrance door that the creature had entered and left by. Look, I said as I counted each lock on the door, one, two, three, four, five locks. Each lock was different from one another. One was a slide bolt, there was a change lock. Another one was a deadbolt, and one was a padlock. Not one lock was the same. I counted out loud, one, two, three, four, and five. Five locks at your disposal, the number five for grace, and yet not one lock on this door had been used to secure the entrance. “Why didn’t you use what you had at your disposal to protect yourselves and your valuables, I asked?”
As I was waking up, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Tell my people that the enemy has stolen from them.” Unfortunately, we blame others, ourselves, and even God for our misfortunes. We never seem to blame the devil. It is as if he doesn’t exist or has little if any interference in our lives. Worse yet, we failed to use all that our Heavenly Father has given every child of God to defeat the works of the enemy and to be more than conquers.
Ephesians 6:12 tell us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places. Whether we believe it or not, we are in a spiritual battle of good and evil.
What do we have at our disposal? We have the word of God or a two-edged sword, perfect for battle. We have a shield of faith to stop the fiery darts of the enemy. We have armor or breastplate of righteousness to protect our heart, soul, and spirit. This armor of God enables us to stand against the wiles of the devil. We have everything we need to defeat the works of darkness in our lives and the lives of others (Ephesians 6:13-18).
The gymnasium in the dream, I believe represents staying spiritually alert and exercising what our Heavenly Father has given us. The Lord’s grace is sufficient. His people have all they need to be victorious, but they must utilize the provisions and authority God has given them.
