Dreams

Isaiah 55:8-9

"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"

The night before last, I had a dream I was trapped in a cult.  This was not, as you can imagine, a pleasant dream. This cult used drugs to help keep its members compliant, and there was also a fair amount of demonic activity. My greatest fear was that I would be “turned,” or brainwashed or something. So, in order to keep my faith and my sanity, I utilized my ability to manipulate people - and I must say, I did it in top form. Members of the cult came to me for “wisdom,” because they respected my opinion, despite my very unstable position, and the fact they didn’t trust me to stay. I always had my own dedicated guard.  

Manipulation, however, breeds a great deal of anxiety, and the effect didn’t wear off when I woke. My Husband helped me take it slow that morning in order to counteract the effects. I started to think about how well I had manipulated the members of the cult, and how in every moment I was relying upon the Lord to help make my plan work.  

Did you catch that? It took me awhile, but I finally did. I was taking control into my own hands first and then “relying” on the Lord. I was not relying on the Lord. I was just freaking out about whether or not the plan would come off and hoping/praying God would make it come through.

That got me thinking... it is wrong to manipulate. Even people like that, and even when I can’t see how else I would be taken care of. Manipulation is born of wanting to control a situation, and no matter what, I don’t have that type of control anyway. Only God does. It is a sin against Him to try to wrest His control away from Him (which I can’t). And here I had almost been congratulating myself, even if it was rigged in my own dream.

So if manipulation is taking control away from God, then what is my part in following His will?  What should I have done? I cannot fully answer that, yet, but I am thankful God pointed out to me that it needed to be addressed. I am thankful God used my dream to help alert me, and that He didn’t feel the need to actually put me in such a situation to teach me. I am thankful the dream produced anxiety in me so I would stop and analyze it. I am thankful that sometimes, God uses dreams.

Are you trying to control something He hasn't really given you to control?