dreams

When I was in my twenties I had dreams in which I saw myself an old man.  My looks and stature were strangely familiar, appearing to be as I would actually look in my twilight years, and I knew it was me as an old man.   Things that I remember in my dreams have either given me peace because they are as I always thought they would be, or they been very unsettling.  At 51 years old, I see those dreams were hauntingly accurate.  

On my Mother's side of the family dreams have always been a source of foretelling. My grandmother (Enice Bare Burke) had a dream of my father (Douglas Gene Crawford) knocking on her door.  When she answered the door he was standing there in a white suit and gave her a bouquet of roses, then hugged and kissed her, said good bye, and walked away.  This was two days before the explosion on the the offshore oil rig that killed him and 7 other men.  I tell you this so you will not dismiss the dreams that you remember.  God gives us dreams so that we will be prepared for what is going to happen in our lives.  The physical needs in our lives we must always be prepared for-food, clothing, shelter, transportation, etc.  But the spiritual needs should always take precedence.  Psalms 139.23-24.  Have the fortitude to always tell yourself the truth.  BE BRUTAL!!  God is gracious and kind, but He is also a warrior and He is brutal when assessing SIN in us!  We must be, also.  Psalm 92.15, Isa 6.3, Deut 32.4  KEEP YOURSELVES FROM SIN!!

"The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known."  Luke 12.2  Granny Bea used to tell us that times were getting so bad that we should not have children.  As a child I could hear the rumblings of the current political situation, and it seemed such a long, long way away.  When I was studying for my ministerial license, I read Jeremiah and something pricked my heart, that we were living in like times-"Tell them the truth, but they will not believe you!"  Before we moved to Alabama I felt so distressed in my spirit-the oppression of evil strapping us-that I felt I had to do something, but I didn't know what to do.  Then Dad bought this land in Alabama and gave me the opportunity to live in this house.  So we moved, even though I loved living in Wisconsin and did not want to move.  I just felt in my heart it was what we had to do.  I could not shake the feeling.  Now God is speaking to me every night as I drive my truck in a job I do not want.  I had fallen away from His voice, But now I pray every night and listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit!

I am steeped in sin, but God is speaking to me!  I am now in a place where I am willing to LISTEN!  He brought me here!  My children, are you listening to God?  Forsake your evil ways, turn to God.  Quiet yourself.  Hear.  Listen.  Obey.  When you have a dream that you remember, do not take it lightly Acts 2.17, John 14.26.  Get in tune with the Holy Spirit.  Pray in the Spirit and with understanding.  Pour yourself out before the Lord.  DO RIGHT!!