I have just struck out a few hundred words of what was really just me ranting to begin today’s blog here; I should say that for years I had to do the same with my sermons each week,  so that what  was eventually delivered was the bits that I believe God had given  after my rants were scored out! Most sermons could be shortened considerably if the rants were taken out, I think…

Anyway, that could have been another rant of a few hundred words. I could feel it approaching like a non-Pentecostal  fiery hurricane! The door is now shut against it! On with the blog!

In the bible and in  my experience, Jesus has different ways of speaking to us about Himself and about His Father. Remember He spoke to people in Old Testament times as well as New. One of the ways He did that is through dreams. He speaks to you through your dreams. They are not always just a lot of nonsense as we tend to think. I believe I have a message that  came in the form of a dream.  I will keep to the central imagery. It was a dream about a  big strong looking man who in the dream was called  Will, who thought he would cut grass even though it was not his remit to do it and meant he was in a place where he should not have been. There was a place for him, it seemed to me in the dream, but it was not there.  He was out of place there and about to do what he should not have been doing. It was  a very definite  and clear dream. Like some dreams recorded in the New Testament it was a warning dream.

I have said before that I am not very good at dream interpretation. Some are and  a while ago I suggested a couple of sites to visit if you were interested in pursuing some more understanding of this way in which God speaks to his people. However I sometimes know what my own dreams mean. God is very kind to someone like me who is not very good at these things. There are certain symbols that come into my dreams again and again; so for example, grass in my dreams when it makes an appearance, is a symbol of peace; long grass means great peace. So what does a strong man called Will cutting grass when  and where he shouldn’t have been  all mean? It means  “Strong Will” can destroy peace. “Strong Will”  can be a wonderful guy to have around when allied to doing God’s Will, but when allied to doing my will, it can cause great loss, even total destruction of God’s peace, in ourselves, in others around us, in friendships and relationships, in churches, in the work place and so on. I believe that what the dream was particularly about is that “Strong Will”  can disturb even a long established peace and unity of a congregation given space. It could be the strong will of an individual, a group or even a leader.

So, I am guessing that some of us who read these blogs maybe need to look at that? Is my strong will allied to what I want to such an extent that it disregards the effect I am having on the peace of others? One of the most terrible verses of Scripture is this: “God gave them what they asked for, but also sent leanness of soul!” (See Psalm 106.)

I think I would rather be strong willed rather than weak willed if I had a choice. But strong will is neutral, neither good nor bad.  As I said before, it depends on what it is allied to: getting my way or going God’s way. If there is something here in this blog that Jesus means you to hear, then I pray for the sake of your peace, the peace of others, the peace of the congregation you are part of, that you may hear what you need to hear. It may be there is something not good that is happening around you, in your church that the strong will of someone else is causing, and you are to see it and at the very least pray about it. “Strong Will” was pretty big in the dream and to be honest surly with it, not amenable to listening. I pray that where this may touch you or your congregation will become very obvious to you. Often indeed this  is the elephant in the room of a congregation’s life, but no one speaks about it. “Big Strong Will” is there, not particularly caring that peace is being cut down. My own denomination shows in its recent history that when strong will is allied to an agenda other than listening to Jesus,  the peace of thousands can be destroyed. Maybe its time for you speak about it; begin by speaking about it to God in prayer and then see if He leads you to speak to anyone else; but please speak to Him, to God, first and foremost rather than to “Surly Big Strong Will!” You could do no better than holding yourself or a church situation before God and saying The Lord’s Prayer, pausing and repeating the line, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Thy will be done, Father.

I hope this helps someone, or a congregation or two, somewhere.

Kenny

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