Weird Dream, Right Thoughts

 I had the strangest dream last night. I sent a message to my cousin telling her about it.

I had the weirdest dream last night. Basically, elements of everything I have seen, done or thought about in the last few weeks. Details are fuzzy now that I'm awake, but you were there. We were staying in a hotel suite with other people at some sort of book event. Kerry (who you probably don't know) told me that one lady was selling everything on her table for $350. I thought you might want to look at them for the library, so I went to look for you in your room, where I noticed wasps swarming in a hole in the ceiling. I grabbed what I thought was my phone to call the manager and left the room. I called him then went looking for you about the books. I tried to call you on the phone but realized that I had your phone and had left mine in the room with the wasps. The place was so big, and I was disoriented as to where I was and how to get back to the rooms. It must have been two L-shaped towers that were mirror images. Elevators on one side of the tower did not give access to rooms on the other side. Not sure what happened in-between, but then I was with a group of people looking for you. We walked through muscadine vineyards, and peach orchards that were all dormant. I thought how pretty it would have been in the summer. Then I came to a mesh fence, and someone shot a warning shot telling me not to come any farther. Then on the way back to the hotel, I found something that I thought was valuable (now I don't remember what it was or what I did with it). Then I found you back in the suite, and the manager had sprayed the wrong room for wasps so there were still wasps. I asked you about the table of books, and you said we had been buying from Christian Book Distributors so we should just stick with that.

The dream contained references to several things I have seen, thought about or done in the past few weeks. I’m on the library committee at church with my cousin. I like to watch crime shows on TV and saw one recently about a land dispute and another where a guy shot an arrow at a detective he thought was in his area of the forest. I’m afraid of wasps. I have attended an author event. My friend Kerry posted about her daughter’s engagement and reacted to my recent social media post. I need to prune my muscadine vines. I am directionally challenged and can get lost in a small town, so traveling to big cities and large buildings is not in my comfort zone. Of course I have seen, thought about and done lots of other things too, but all these things appearing in the dream last night made me think about what we put into our brains affects us. What does scripture say about this?

Philippians 4:8 (HCSB) 8 Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things.

Quite simply, we should think about good things. When we think about things that are untrue, gossip, misinformation, we let things like jealousy, fear, bitterness, anger creep into our hearts. We stop thinking about God and dwell on these negative emotions: let’s be honest. We harbor these sins in our hearts. When we think about immoral things, we harbor sins of immorality. When we think about wanting our own form of justice, we harbor the sin of wanting revenge instead of God’s true justice. See the pattern here? 

Psalm 63:1-6 (HCSB) God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. 2 So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory. 3 My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life. 4 So I will praise You as long as I live; at Your name, I will lift up my hands. 5 You satisfy me as with rich food; my mouth will praise You with joyful lips. 6 When I think of You as I lie on my bed, I meditate on You during the night watches

Our thoughts should focus on God. We seek Him. We desperately want Him. We need Him like we need water in the desert. We need to remember that He is Strength, our Strength. Our thoughts should be on praising Him with joyful hearts, on His unfailing love that is better than any human love. We should trust Him to satisfy every need we have. When we lose that focus, we allow sins of pride, idolatry, to come into our hearts. 

Psalm 7:8-10 (HCSB) 8 The Lord judges the peoples; vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity. 9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous. The One who examines the thoughts and emotions is a righteous God. 10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.

God examines our thoughts and emotions. Let that sink in. He doesn’t just see the things we do; He knows our thoughts and emotions and views them through the lens of His righteousness. If our thoughts are focused on the wrong things, this should be a scary thing, but if our thoughts are focused on Him, He provides us with the protection of His shield around us, His salvation, His righteousness. 

Romans 8:5-6 (HCSB) For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.

The focus of our thoughts is a clear indicator of our relationship with God and our spiritual growth. A mind-set toward God gives us life and peace. 

Romans 12:2 (HCSB) 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Transformed minds, transformed thoughts, are necessary for spiritual growth. It is God’s Spirit who transforms our minds when we yield to Him. The result is discernment that allows us to see what is good, pleasing and the perfect will of God.

I don’t know what I was thinking about as I went to sleep last night, but I know it wasn’t the things in my dream. It could have been simply the thought that I was tired and welcomed sleep, or thoughts about the chores I need to accomplish today. I wasn’t consciously thinking about wasps, or muscadines, or books, mesh fences, or being shot in a field. Everything we think about has an effect on our minds, and thus on our relationship with God. Think about that.