Prophetic Dreams

[Marathoner]

I might have shared at least one of these dreams elsewhere on the forum but seeing as how this new subforum pertains to dreams such as these, I felt it would be good to share them here.

These dreams were prophetic, which is to say they were about events that had not occurred when I experienced them. These are not dreams about scriptural subjects but rather, dreams given by the Lord about events in my life. I will begin with a dream that the Lord sent not long after I was added to His Body. 

I found myself in a strange place, a house I had never visited before. The room I occupied was dark; thick drapes covered both windows but I could I see hints of the sunlight they dampened. That sunlight was strong, and it hurt my eyes to look at it for long.

I left the room and walked down a hallway. Just like the room I had left, thick drapes were drawn on the windows. I saw a wall mirror mounted on one of the doors in that hallway, so I made my way toward it. When I stopped and stood in front of the mirror, I was not prepared for what I saw reflected on the surface:

An emaciated man gazed back at me. His eyes were like holes in his face, and his hair was wispy and thin. He looked exhausted and much older than I was; who was this man? Where did he come from? I watched transfixed while he opened his mouth... I was horrified at the teeth in his mouth. They were bleeding. Some were missing entirely.

Two at a time, four teeth fell out of his mouth and into the palm of his right hand. I looked down at the palm of my hand and saw that I held the same four teeth. I am this man! I woke up.

Decades later, the events of this dream unfolded. I was very ill and was in the process of dying; I had fungal pneumonia and suffered from bacterial infections, a number of which had infected my teeth. I was indeed that man. 

I'll share another dream in the next post.

[Marathoner]

Chronologically, this dream came two years after the one above unfolded. The Lord had healed me and reversed the tide of death in this flesh; He also poured His Spirit upon me by this time. My adopted mother was battling cancer and also liver disease, the latter of which was caused by Hepatitis C that was diagnosed during her middle age. 30 years later, cirrhosis was serious enough that her doctors told her that she didn't have enough healthy liver left to live much longer. 

Not long before this dream, I tried my best to persuade her into accepting me as a living liver donor so she wouldn't have to face a donor waiting list. I only had to donate a portion of my own healthy liver so it wouldn't impact my life (apart from recovering from the donation procedure, of course). In spite of my best efforts, my adopted mother was steadfast in her refusal. 

The following afternoon when she returned from an appointment with her team of doctors, she came to me bearing news:

The cancer was gone --- in remission! --- and an MRI of her liver revealed that she had more than enough healthy liver left to live for many years. Her doctors had revised their prior terminal prognosis.

We were overjoyed! I thanked the Lord for giving us more time, as there was a great deal more we wished to do on her land. Now, we would be able to accomplish it.

That night after I had fallen asleep, the Lord sent a vision in a dream. In this vision, I saw the entirety of all of those things on her ranch we had accomplished since He had sent me to care for her. In front of all, my adopted mother stood looking at me with grief on her face. She was worried for my sake. 

I looked on while each thing we had built collapsed into ruin, claimed by weeds. The teams of dogs whom I loved and had trained disappeared... and so did the livestock. They were gone.

When I returned my eyes to where my adopted mother had stood, she was also gone. I looked around her ranch and started weeping, for it was overgrown with weeds and the fences I had raised had fallen. The Lord spoke, saying that my time by her side was finished and that, after discharging my duty to her heir according to His will, I would leave and never return. This was why my adopted mother lost the amended will she wrote a few months earlier. She designated me as her only heir, and I would inherit her land and everything on it. 

The Lord declared that I was not to remain in those mountains for longer than two days after He took her. To this end, He would send an army of helpers to make this possible. 

One month later, my adopted mother suddenly passed away from septic shock. The Lord had indeed taken her.

Early the following morning, people started showing up at the front gate of the ranch. They said that they were there to help me. So, I gave everything away to people from the little village down the slope; they took the livestock off of my hands. A farm animal rescue pulled up, promising to find the dogs another farm where they would be free to do their jobs guarding livestock. All that was left?

I contacted her eldest child in California and informed her of her mother's passing. I arranged for her to receive her belongings and also her land. This pleased the Lord.

I left before the end of the next day. I will never return to those mountains... it's been many years now. 

[WilliamL]

Both of these dreams show how the Lord will prepare us beforehand for troublesome times to come in our lives, if we are receptive enough to receive the message.

I've had a number of similar fulfilled dreams in my past, generally during periods of emotional turmoil.

Time is not linear: the past, present, and future all coexist simultaneously. At times, therefore, our souls are able to bridge the gaps between events from different eras of our lives.

[Walkingshrimp]

 

Your faith in Jesus Christ and also in your gift of prophecy was edified by the event in your first post.

 

 

[Marathoner]

I stood in the midst of a great host of men arrayed in white, whose garments were shining like stars. In a clearing located at the center of this shining host, I watched a small group of people gathered together; I recognized these people and where they gathered as the tiny church I had visited the week before. I had seen that church in a vision beforehand, just as I now witnessed another vision centered upon this little church.

I looked on while thirteen people (including myself, as I was among them) prayed, led by a certain brother who had welcomed me warmly when I visited with them last. Indeed, all of these people in the tiny church had welcomed me the same way, as if I were long-lost brother who came home. 

The Lord spoke, speaking of what I was seeing and what was unfolding in this vision. The brother leading the prayer cried out, "The Lord is here! God is here!", whereupon he ran up to the stage facing the assembly. "Come up here!", he yelled, but the Lord told me that I was not to move nor respond. "Come up here! Come up here!" he cried out again, but still the Lord bid me to remain in place and do nothing in response. The third time he cried out, "Come up here! Come up here! Come up here now!", I was to respond by leaving my place and making my way to meet him on the stage. 

What happened next was obscured and I could not see because of the brilliance of the host; the Lord declared that was not for me to know at this time. I would return to this church in three days, the Lord declared, and what I witnessed in the vision would come to pass. When I said to Him that I would forget my place the Lord assured me that I would not, for He would tell me what to do when the time came. 

Three days later, I found myself in the events of the vision and, true to His word, the Lord brought the vision and His words to mind. I watched while it unfolded exactly as I had witnessed and, after the brother leading prayer cried out for the third time, I made my way to him on the stage in front of the assembly. As I stood there I looked above and saw a door opened, from which a pair of hands reached down; I raised my arms upward, so these hands firmly but gently grasped my wrists. While the brother prayed these hands lifted me gently upward and as this happened, I felt the most astonishing warmth envelop my spine. When the hands released me, I felt taller. My back felt straight for the first time in my life. I had developed malformed vertebrae in my spinal column during adolescent growth spurts, and this was a source of constant pain after I reached middle age...

And for the second time in my life, the Lord displayed His power in me. I was stunned speechless. This was what the Lord had obscured from me in the vision. 

After I left that day, I returned to my adopted mother's ranch and measured myself against a wall. I was two inches taller than I had been before. 

[Marathoner]

A long time ago ---4 years after the Lord had called me from this world and claimed me as His own --- I was greatly troubled by the fellowship that I had come to love. I was grieved beyond words on account of being brought to them by the Spirit; this was when He opened a vision of the Body of Christ, and I had witnessed the temple raised without human hands. I was added to the Body shortly hereafter. They were in the process of change and I knew that the Lord no longer blessed them... that was the source of my grief. 

I struggled with the darkest depression during those days, finding solace in the forest beyond their gaze and knowledge. On one such occasion the Lord stirred me from my brooding during the early evening hours, saying that I was to make my way to a particular hill that was significant to us all (a sister was buried there). While I walked, the Lord told me that I would meet His messenger on that hill. 

When I arrived at the crest of the hill, the sun had set so it was dark. I heard a familiar voice cry out, "Who's there?" I answered my brother, for I knew him well; he approached and said, "The Lord told me to come here with a message for His beloved and to anoint him with oil. You are His beloved, then." I knelt down and invited him to proceed, which he did. He emptied the contents of his anointing horn upon my head and said, "I shall always love you and, when the day comes, I shall pour My Spirit upon you like this oil. Never forget this day." I stood and we embraced, and I cried for a good long while. I had felt so broken and alone among so many who were swiftly becoming strangers to me, but my brother worked as a nurse at a hospital, so I rarely had the chance to share his company. It was always a blessing when I had the opportunity, and so we spoke for a while. 

Over the next three days, I was visited by brothers and a sister with whom I remained very close in spite of the gulf which widened with every passing day that I remained there. Each of them brought words from the Lord which spoke of things to come, but I could not understand why such things were to happen to me: I would wander aimlessly, and the Lord would remain silent; I would suffer greatly, and my brothers worried that it would prove too much for me to bear, and they wept on account of the visions. Because of all of this, I failed to grasp what the Lord was saying to me. Indeed, the last one to come --- my sister --- said as much, that the Lord knew I would not grasp what was to come. It was better that way, she told me. 

A few days after the last visit, the Lord spoke and said that the elders had decided to cast me out on account of my exile and reticence (I remained silent, saying nothing to anyone). The following morning, the one who was chief among their number would come to my door. When he did, I was to agree with him swiftly and decline his offer of assistance. I would depart from them and return to the city where he had sent me from when I came to them. The Lord bid me to pack my belongings that night so that I would leave in the morning. 

I was ready and waiting when the chief elder came to my door the next morning. He stood there, and I spared him by agreeing that it was good for me to leave, which shocked the fellow to hear. When he offered to help, I declined the offer and made my way to the old van I had acquired and used to reach them. I left the fellowship, and this was the beginning of trials and tribulation for 20 years. I had no home... no place to rest my head... and no one knew my name. The Lord was silent for all of those years, and I never heard Him speak. I cried out to Him, but He said nothing. 

Edited March 29 by Marathoner

[Marathoner]

When the day arrived:

I'm certain that I contracted fungal pneumonia when I mucked my adopted mother's livestock barns after my first winter in those mountains. This was when the sickness began: it started with nausea and waves of weakness; I would rise every morning with the dry heaves. After these spasms passed, I commenced with my labor for the day. That was how I pressed on while symptoms worsened... I focused upon work with single-minded fury. I would skip some meals on account of how food would only make the nausea worse, and so I rapidly lost weight (and muscle mass). During the first year, I lost 60 pounds. 

I would burn with fever, shivering when it was 100 degrees F outdoors; I had to wear winter clothing during the summer. I struggled to carry buckets of water, my tools, concrete blocks, split firewood, or deal with sick livestock that I had to return to the safety of the barn. It was so hard, but I pushed myself relentlessly because my adopted mother's health was on the decline. She needed me, and I refused to fail her during her time of need. 

My mouth became a source of agonizing pain. Teeth would bleed for no apparent reason, and I struggled to breathe. This was when I became so weak that I could no longer push myself to manage the heavy labor on the ranch and I would collapse in exhaustion, fighting against the spots in my eyes and the sensation that I was going to pass out. I wasn't always successful in that regard. I would pass out during the heat of the day and come to when the stars were in the sky above. 

I was confined to bed, and my adopted mother suffered greatly. I was slipping away before her eyes, and nothing was able to stop the inevitability of my demise... medicine was powerless to reverse the process. I had to fight to eat anything, and it was equally excruciating to force myself to drink water. When I lost the sensation of hunger and thirst, I also stopped speaking, becoming effectively mute. I noticed that teeth in my mouth were loose and bled frequently. 

One day, I forced myself to leave that room which became my prison and made my way down the hallway. I wanted to reach the mirror so I could see what I had become. We had thick drapes covering all of the windows because sunlight would make me faint and pass out. It had to be dark.

When I reached the mirror, I was shocked senseless. I didn't recognize the man in the reflection: my ordinarily thick hair was thin and wispy... my eyes were sunken like holes in my face which was skeletal in appearance. I opened my mouth to look at those loose teeth, whereupon four of them fell out of my mouth; I caught them in the palm of my hand. 

After all of those years of forgetting everything... I forgot about the Lord, I forgot His words, and where I had come from... I suddenly remembered that dream from what seemed like a hundred years ago. I cried out in despair, for I was that man reflected in the mirror. 

[Marathoner]

During my years with the fellowship, I experienced a vision:

I found myself wandering in the darkness of a wilderness. Looking toward the horizon, I saw the ridgeline of mountains; everything was silent and terribly cold. I shivered and, losing the strength in my body, fell upon the unyielding ground. It was hard like stone. 

I couldn't go on... I was so very tired, and I had wandered for far too long. I tried to speak, but all I could manage was a roar; I roared at the Lord to have mercy and end my suffering, for I wasn't strong enough to even stand upon my feet again. I wept until the cold and darkness fled in an instant, and it was so bright that I couldn't see my hands upon the ground. I looked up toward the horizon and watched while a light brighter than the sun rose over those mountains; the rays washed over me and the strength of my body returned. I rose to my feet. 

I stood there in wonder and exclaimed, "How can this be?" I heard a voice behind me say that the day had come. 

Decades later, my adopted mother left on a two-hour trip through the mountain pass to the city on errands. She wouldn't be back until early evening. I knew that this was the day I would die; I waited until she was gone before I summoned up the strength to leave her house and emerge outside. I planned on leaving the ranch and venturing into the national forest land, opposite of the north face of her land. No one would find my body out there. The predators would make sure of that. 

I didn't make it far. Even though the sun blazed in the sky above, it was like twilight in my eyes. The strength of my body fled, and I collapsed upon the caliche facing the northernmost peaks of the mountains. I felt bones in my right hand snap after I fell, but it was so strange because I didn't feel any pain. My fall to the ground broke them. 

Agony welled up in my soul and so I cried out, but all I could manage was to roar like an animal; I cried out to the Lord who despised me that I had failed Him, and thus I had also failed my adopted mother. She would be left alone because all I managed to do was to destroy the life which He had given to me; foolishness was my beginning, and now it was also my end. I wept for what seemed like hours until the twilight of the day gave way to a brilliance that made it impossible to see my hands on the caliche underneath me. 

The Lord had come. After all of those years of wandering with no home, digging in dumpsters for a meal and shivering in the cold, the Lord was with me. I cried all the more and did my very best to speak to Him, but the words evaporated on my tongue. 

The Lord was silent while I wept, until He spoke at last saying, Speak. 

I found that I could speak again. I cried out to the Lord to destroy me, because I did not deserve the life He had given to me; after all I had witnessed, I had forgotten Him. All I had left was destruction and misery in my wake, so I pleaded with the Lord to be merciful and let me die so I could face the judgment to come. 

Once again, the Lord was silent while I lapsed into weeping. I looked up into the brilliance and said, "Lord, I return the life You gave to me; it is in Your hand. All I managed to do was destroy it with folly."

I lost the ability to speak another word. The Lord continued to be silent for what seemed like a lifetime. When He spoke again, He declared that He found my offering pleasing in His sight. What's more, He refused to grant my petition. Why would He destroy the work of His hand, whom He loved as His own? For truly, that is what I am and would always be, and I would not die by any means. Death was not my portion, the Lord said. Neither was the ground of this earth. The Lord commanded me to rise to my feet, and so that's what I did. The strength of my body had returned. 

The Lord unfurled space and time like a scroll, and everything I had witnessed in the beginning --- which I had mostly forgotten over those long years of trial and tribulation --- returned like a flood of water. The dream where I walked along the white sands of a blue sea, that dream where the Lord declared that He had chosen me, returned; the ridge line of the northernmost peaks in those mountains were shown to me in that vision of darkness and suffering not long after my baptism in water decades earlier. Everything I had experienced and suffered over the years had been foretold by the Almighty, though I couldn't comprehend it because it was too great for me to grasp. 

The Lord said that my body was ravaged by many infections, and that I had suffered damage to the brain, but nothing was too great for Him. He reversed the tide of death in this body of flesh and blood so that I would live and grow strong once more, but nothing would be the same again. His Spirit would be with me day and night, and it was His good pleasure to teach me how to speak and reason again. 

When I was restored to His satisfaction I would return to this same place where I had fallen, and we would speak again. Until then, I would do nothing but eat, sleep, and listen to His voice.