Dream of the Dragon

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." - 1 Peter 5:8 NASB

Last night I had a very vivid dream. I was on an airplane, well I was there but the person I was wasn't me. There was a man in the lavatory. The man transformed into a green dragon and began devouring people. The dragon managed to scratch my right hand but I was able to keep getting away from him. Somehow the plane had landed on top of a large shopping complex. The dragon continued to chase me along with several other people I was trying to get away with. No matter we went or hid the dragon was able to find us. This continued for sometime and every time he found us he would devour someone. At last there were three people left, myself, who I perceived as my half brother, I don't  have a half brother in real life, and a pregnant woman. My half brother and I were able to climb up some gigantic shelving in this messy room but the pregnant woman was not and she was devoured. My half brother and I spotted a window, and it was very narrow. We were able to get out and then we piled anything we could on window from the outside. Finally, we had found something even the dragon could not get through. We met with some people outside, someone I perceived as my half sister, in real life I don't have a half sister. Then I awoke in a sweat. The initial thought I had upon awaking, other than fear, was that the dragon was able to keep finding me due to the scratch it had left in my hand.

That was the second being chased by a dragon dream I had last night. I did not write the first one down and forgot it later in the day. 

At this point I'm somewhat at a loss on how to interpret the dream. I had a sin manifest the other day, it was will full and I waited until today to repent. As I mentioned in my last post, since starting this blog, which I felt a very immediate leading by the spirit to do, I've had some nightmares. It's possible that the dream is a continuation of this spiritual assault. If it's no that then it could be a sharp message of warning from God. The sense that I have is that now is not the time to be giving into temptation.

The mark on the right hand could be the spiritual mark of the beast, will full sin. Interestingly, I found that the word used in the bible for mark can also be interpreted to mean scratch.  

This fellow has some youtube videos talking about the mark of the beast being spiritual, sin.

"Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”" -Rev 14:9-11 NASB

I've repented and am putting on the spiritual armor of god. Which also happens to be the verses that inspired Lutheran Hymn #444 Rise! To Arms! With Prayer I Employ You!

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints," - Ephesians 6:10 - 18

If anyone reading this has had a similar dream or ideas on what this dream could mean, please post in the comments.

Praise the Lord!

"I will sing a new song to You, O God;
Upon a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You," - Psalm 144:9


I recently  realized that the Dream of the Crown and Scepter on the Scroll occurred around the same time that the 444 sightings began. This came as I was again looking into the meaning of the dream. When I described the dream on the message board I'd described it as a Glorious Crown. I did not know at the time that there is a Crown of Glory. Maybe subconsciously I did? This research into my dream led me to google "Crown of glory 444". The first hit astounded me. It's a Lutheran Hymn about spiritual warfare and winning the Crown of Glory.  This is exactly what my dream was about! The Lord solidified it for me. The hymn and my dream are conveying the same message. It even speaks of the last day which I am linking to the blue halos of light in the sky. 

Once these connections were made the Lord impressed upon me an urgent need to write about these things so that they may speak to others that may be struggling with spiritual warfare, conquering sin and/or the meaning of the 444. 

So I set up the blog this week and the night the first few posts were made was the first night in a long time that I've had horrible nightmares. I have a feeling I know where they came from. The thing is, the source of those nightmares and I both know that Jesus has already won!!!

"For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time." - Rev. 12:12 NASB

"Rise! To Arms! With Prayer Employ You"
Hymn #444
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Eph. 6:10-18
Author: Wilhelm E. Arends, 1714

1. Rise! To arms! With prayer employ you,
O Christians, lest the Foe destroy you,
For Satan has designed your fall.
Wield God's Word, a weapon glorious!
Against each foe you'll be victorious;
Our God will set you o'er them all.
Is Satan strong and fell?
Here is Immanuel.
Sing hosanna!
The strong ones yield,
With Christ our Shield,
And we as conqueror's hold the field.
2. Cast afar this world's vain pleasures,
Aye, boldly fight for heavenly treasures,
And steadfast be in Jesus' might.
He will help, whate'er betide you,
And naught will harm with Christ beside you;
By faith you'll conquer in the fight.
Then shame, thou weary soul!
Look forward to the goal:
There joy waits thee.
The race, then, run;
The combat done,
Thy crown of glory will be won.
3. Wisely fight, for time is fleeting,
The hours of grace are fast retreating;
Short, short, is this our earthly way.
Then the trump the dead is waking
And sinners all with fear are quaking,
With joy the saints will greet that Day.
Bless God, our triumph's sure,
Tho' long we did endure
Scorn and trial.
Thou, Son of God,
To Thine abode
Wilt lead the way Thyself hast trod.
4. Jesus, all Thy children cherish
And keep them that they never perish
Whom Thou hast purchased with Thy blood.
Let new life to us be given
That we may look to Thee in heaven
Whenever fearful is our mood.
Thy spirit on us pour
That we may love Thee more--
Hearts o'erflowing;
And then will we
Be true to Thee
In death and life eternally. Amen

The Bride

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” -Rev. 19:7-10 NASB

My wife and I had been planning a trip to San Francisco for awhile. As we got closer to our departure date for the trip God began impressing upon me the need to watch out for a 444 message. I failed to watch out for the message and before I knew it we were on our last day there. Right before heading for the airport I had to take a detour in the city to look for an item that was lost. As I was headed back to our hotel I came upon it, Galary 444. As soon as I saw the sign on the building I knew that I had to go in.

After walking through the downstairs area of the gallary I took the stairs and lo and behold at the top of the stairs was the painting, "Here Comes the Bride" by Graciela Rodo Boulanger.

This painting is amazing in person. Look at the symbolism, a bride to be revealed surrounded by 7 trumpets. I don't know if the artist intended to put any symbolic meaning in this painting. I just know that at that moment God had given me a message as to what I need to be doing. GETTING READY FOR THE WEDDING!

"The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost." - Rev. 22:17 NASB

444

Shortly before or after the dream of the Crown and Scepter on the Scroll, I began seeing the number sequences 44 and 444 everywhere. Receipts, license plates, the clock and anywhere else numbers were. At first I thought this was just confirmation bias. I dismissed this as a possibility as I began to notice that the sightings of the 44 or 444 were coinciding with something I was listening to, thinking or doing most of the time that had to do with a spiritual or religious nature. I began to see these numbers as saying "Hey! Pay Attention!!!"

Online you can find a number of folks having the same experience with 444 or other numbers 111,222,333,555,777,888,999. I believe it's a personal experience and the numbers don't necessarily  mean the same thing for everyone. It might not even be numbers, maybe it's words or pictures for other folks, whatever God can use to catch our attention. I look at the last year and spiritually it has been one of the best of my life. God is leading my path more and more each day. I can attribute the cause of these experiences to either God or coincidences of the mind. The outcome of the experiences has been overwhelmingly good and they've led me to a closer walk with the Lord. So that leads me to believe that they are in fact from the Lord.

"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." - James 1:17 NASB

The Lord has given me two additional clues using these numbers. They didn't come until I embraced my walk with the Lord with open arms and began engaging in regular confession and repentance. I'll cover these in my next post.

The Dream

“Indeed God speaks once, Or twice, yet no one notices it. “In a dream, a vision of the night, When sound sleep falls on men, While they slumber in their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction, That He may turn man aside from his conduct, And keep man from pride; He keeps back his soul from the pit, And his life from passing over into Sheol." - Job 33:15-18 NASB

I posted the dream below on a christian dream website a few weeks back but haven't had too many responses. I think I've had it at least partly figured out for awhile but wanted to get some unbiased opinions.

"In February of 2013 I had a very vivid dream. In the dream I was in a house and it was dark. In the house I was chasing a demon. The demon was blue and ogre like. He had a large quiver on his back. When I caught him we wrestled for some time. Finally I grabbed a small dagger that was in a sheath on his side. I plunged the dagger into the demons side and grabbed the quiver. The demon ran away. In the quiver were several large scrolls. One scroll was a brighter white than the rest. I pulled it out and unrolled the scroll. On it was a large crown and scepter. They were the brightest and most glorious things I have ever seen in dreaming or in waking life. They were so radiant with color and brightness, I can't really describe it and do it justice. After that I was outside the house on a cul de sac at the end of the driveway in the street. The sky was filled with gray clouds all around. I looked up and large bright blue halos of light were starting to shine through the clouds everywhere. I woke up."

I believe the dream is a message about my personnel need to conquer sin. I didn't know this before but after some research it appears the bible has many things to say about believers crowns. More to come on this later.

My  thoughts about the blue halo's of light coming out of the clouds are around the immediacy of the Lord's return.

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers ofthe heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other." - Mathew 24:29-31 NASB