March 2004 The Pond.............. Breaking Strongholds

The scriptures consistently tell us that God speaks to his servants in dreams and visions. He often speaks to me in this manner.

When he does, it is usually to reveal something that I need to make a focus of prayer or to help me understand something better (sometimes both).

That was the case concerning a dream I had where the Holy Spirit revealed to me tactics the enemy uses to keep people bound up in addiction.

In the dream, it was a very dark night, and I was being chased by several vicious Doberman Pincers. As I was running from them, I saw a pond with a little diving/fishing platform built a short distance from the shore. If I coud swim to the platform I could climb up to safety away from the dogs.

But there was a problem. There was a strong current spanning the short distance between the shore and the platform. It makes no sense whatsoever, but the water was rough, like river rapids, with the current flowing towards the shore away from the safety of the platform.

I was certain I was not a strong enough swimmer to make it through the rapids to the platform, and as I hesitated, suddenly a person (whom I knew to be addicted to drugs) appeared over to my left (the dogs seemed to pose no danger whatsoever to her) and pointing to the pond,  she said, "get in the current, it will float you around to the platform. It's easier that way."

I looked out on the pond, and sure enough, around the circumference of the pond I could see a gentle undercurrent. It was glowing, and I could very easily see it now that it had been pointed out to me.

It was immediately obvious that floating the long way around would get me where I wanted to go with little or no effort on my part. The current would do all the work, and gently float me to the platform - to the place of relief.

On closer inspection however, I saw that where the short span of raging rapids led directly to the safety of the platform, the gentle current actually gave it a wide berth - never actually coming close to it. The appearance of floating me  gently to relief and safety was deceptive.

Its appearance of taking me to safety was a deceptive optical illusion.

If I took the gentle current, as advised, I would end up stranded in deep water far from the safety of the platform, and if at any point from the current I decided to leave it and swim for the platform, I would have a much greater distance to swim than if I just went ahead and braved the rapids for a very short distance.

At that point in the dream I woke up.

Interpretation: The dogs represented the demonic tormentors of stress/fears/anxieties.

The platform was God's place of peace and safety for us --only found in Jesus Christ.

The rapids represented doing things God's way (which is not always the easy way). Swimming the rapids would have required giving my fear to God, then deliberately stepping into rough water. A step of faith.

The person who was pointing out the easy way to relief was the Spirit of Escape (always a doorway to addiction). 

(rejecting the help God gives (which usually requires effort and faith) in favor of the quick fix which (which requires little effort, and no faith) always results in separating us from the safety and protection of Jesus Christ).

We end up in the deceptive current of rebellion and escape anytime we choose to do things our way instead of making the effort of going with God.

Anger can slip us into the current if we grab a cigarette in order to escape the stress. 

Fear can slip us into the current if we escape to any method of relief besides Jesus. (anxiety/depression)

The goal of the Spirit of Addiction (a very real non-benevolent being) is to lull us into complacence (through easy escapes) until we find ourselves stranded out in the deep with nothing to hold onto - the gentle current is suddenly gone and we are sinking...

Better to take the hand of Jesus, and become willing, by faith, to submit to the temporary unpleasantness of the pressure, and let him help us through the rapids.