Dream House

Last week we talk about how God deals with his Sons and Daughters differently than he deals with those who aren’t a part of this family.

While God is Just and Fair to all mankind, He deals with his kids.... those who are in a covenant relationship with Him... in ways that are designed to see to it that his kids become mature in the Spirit and in alignment with his Character of Love and how that love is shown to all.

A few days ago Ivy and I were having a conversation about a dream that she had.

Ivy has vivid dreams and remembers them in detail when she wakes.

She often says that when she gets ready for bed she wonders what the movie for the evening will be.

I’m sure I dream but usually I have very little recall of what I dreamt the night before.

During the conversation, I heard that little voice inside if me that I have learned is the Holy Spirit and He brought my to attention the only dream I can vividly remember.

I can remember the dream because I had some iteration of this particular dream many times over and for many years.

In thinking about how God uses different ways to communicate with, teach and train his kids, it’s not outside of his nature to use dreams to do this sometimes.

Did you know that in the Bible there are 21 instances of God communicating with humans by way of dreams.

10 are recorded in the book of Genesis

1 in the book of Judges

1 in the book of 1 Kings

3 in Daniel

6 recorded in the book of Matthew

In Matthew we are told that Joseph, the man God chose to be a father to Jesus and a husband to Mary; had angels visit him 4 different times in a dream.

Once to tell him not to divorce Mary

Once to tell him to flee to Egypt

Once to tell him is was OK to go back to Nazareth

and Once to tell him to steer clear of Judea and to instead go into the regions of Galilee.

In the film Divergent, the female lead- Tris gets placed into a dream like state that is part of her training to become Dauntless.

In this dream state, you must face your deepest most prevalent fears.

The “normal” people don’t recognize that they are in a dream state, fear grips them and they must fight... to free themselves from those fears: but she isn’t normal.

She has the ability to quickly overcome her fears in this dream like state because she first tells herself, “this isn’t real” and because it isn’t real... the fears pose no real danger and the laws of physics don’t apply.

In my recurring dream I can remember being in a similar state of mind, understanding that I had been in this place many times before, that I was in a dream state and yet still feeling all the fear and anxiety that this place invoked for me.

Unlike Tris’s experience, I knew there was something very real about this place.

In my dream, I am in a great house, a house that I have inherited or somehow come to own.

When looking on the house from the outside, the house looks great.

It’s looks well constructed and well designed. Everything about the exterior of the house seems to be in perfect order.

There are places in the house that are beautiful and comforting. There are some rooms that feel inviting and familiar.

When I begin walking through the house however, I come into rooms that I was not aware existed. Secret rooms.

In some of these rooms there were Old Things, things from a past time.

These rooms were clutter and disorganized. Some of the items in these rooms were broken and good for nothing, just garbage hoarded and shoved into corners of the room.

Other items seemed to hold some value but were in disrepair.

And, other items seemed mysterious and yet something inside of me knew that these items were of great value, which for the moment was hidden to me.

As I continued walking through the secret rooms, I found other rooms that were in horrible shape,. Floors that were filled with holes and rottenness.

If I were to step in the wrong place I would surely fall through.

The Walls were dirty and there was very little if any light in the room, just enough that you could see how bad the rooms were.

Fear would grip me once I enter into these rooms. I remember thinking oh my God, my house has major damage that I wasn’t aware of and the cost of repairs will be way more that I can possible afford.

I can’t even sell this place once this damage is found out. I’m stuck with a house that is falling apart.

In the dream, I end up in the basement of the house near the foundation and find that while thankfully the foundation was intact, the timbers that lay upon that foundation were rotting away.

Again, dread would grip my thoughts.

That sort of dread that says, oh crap!!!! What am I going to do.

I can’t hide this forever.

I can’t ignore this or the whole house will collapse and when it does, all is lost, even the parts that are beautiful.

Then I would wake up, still having that sense of dread but knowing, whew it was only a dream.

There were days that I wondered why I had such a dream over and over again, but I wrote it off as a personal distaste for Home Improvement Projects and the DIY channel that my wife often watches.

When Ivy and I were talking, I realized that I hadn’t had that dream in years.

A certain gratitude filled me but I wasn’t sure why I was so grateful.... until Holy Spirit took the opportunity in that moment to speak.

He said “ Joe, you are the house”

This house represents where your were and where you have come from.

For many years, the exterior of my life may have looked like it was well built, but once you got past the facades what you found was place that falling in on itself.

The rooms that were in complete disrepair and looked beyond help, were parts of my soul that I ignored and places in my heart that I kept closed off because I didn’t want to look at the damage.

The rotting timbers laying on the foundation were my own works that I had tried to build.

The foundation that was still solid, was my relationship with Jesus, which even in the midst of all the damage and much needed restoration was present and thankfully intact.

What I had building was poorly constructed at best and failing in on itself.

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3:12–13 NLT

12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.

My work up to this point was cheap wood, hay and straw and it was not going to stand any trials much less the judgement at God’s throne.

I had not surrendered my life completely to Jesus.

I was straddling the fence with half of my heart in the world and the other half in the idea of a relationship with Jesus.

Half-hearted! That’s how my relationship with Jesus was for decades. One foot in and one foot out.

Thank God that he is gracious and patient with us or I’d been in a world of hurt to this day.

The reason the Holy Spirit said, that I was no longer having the dream was because by His work in me and his commitment to my maturity in Christ, I had finally been brought me to a place of surrendering to Jesus.

Holy Spirit has been doing a complete renovation of my heart now for years.

All the damage and the clutter in the secret places of my heart were being repaired and restored.

That dread that I felt when I had that dream was well founded. The damage in my soul was great and I had no resources within myself to make such massive repairs.

I expended a lot of energy on building my kingdom from worthless, weak materials instead of partnering with my Father to build his.

True enough that the damage my life had taken was great but I found that when I made the decision to stop playing games and commit wholly to Jesus... the unimaginable cost that I knew it would take to repair my life....was already paid for.

That all that was required of me was to trust the Master builder and his desire to see this house stand as a tangible witness of His greatness and His power.

As soon as I abandon the desire to build something where others would praise and recognize me and conceded to allow Jesus to get all the credit for whatever came from this life; that’s when I stopped having the dream.

Psalm 127:1 “If the Lord does not build a house, then those who build it work in vain. If the Lord does not guard a city, then the watchman stands guard in vain.

My life was being lived in Vain.

Yes, I was saved, but I never progresses past that initial moment of salvation.

In first Peter 2, the Apostle Peter encourage the NEW BORN Christians.

1 Peter 2:1–3 NET

So get rid of all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation,if you have experienced the Lord’s kindness.

Hebrews 5:13–14 NET

For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.

In our lives as believers, there is a time for Milk. The trouble is most of us never get off of it and start eating solid spiritual food and because of this we fail to mature.

I can only say that it is by the grace or God and His commitment to me as a Son that today I can even say that I am more mature and capable of digesting the solid spiritual food he provides me.

And it’s that level of maturity that deeply desire to see my brothers in Christ. I long to see mature men of God standing strong and reclaiming their place in their marriages, their families, our churches and our communities.

There are some of you listening today, who have been experiencing God’s Holy Spirit, nudging and prodding you to take action.

To take that step to put both feet into your relationship with Jesus and stop straddling the fence.

You’re being asked to fish or cut bait and you know it.

God always gives his Sons a choice, just like the Prodigal Son was given a choice in the story we see in Luke 15:11-23

Luke 15:11–23 (NET)

11 Then Jesus said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will belong to me.’ So he divided his assets between them.13 After a few days, the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth with a wild lifestyle. 14 Then after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and worked for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.16 He was longing to eat the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him. 21 Then his son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Hurry! Bring the best robe, and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it! Let us eat and celebrate, 24 because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again—he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

God also allows his Son’s to experience the consequences of their choices.

And, just like the Father in that story, He waits patiently for us to come to our senses and decided that life with the Father is way better than living in the house we built with our hands that is rotting away from the inside out.

Here’s praying that some of you listening today will become aware of the internal damage of your life, your house and will find hope for the complete renovation of that life in Jesus.

That Holy Spirit would use my personal witness to the truth of the claims of Christ to stir you to hand over the keys of your house to Him and allow him to restore you to what you were originally meant to be.

It’s worth reading again

Psalm 127:1 (NET)

If the Lord does not build a house,

then those who build it work in vain.