Participants: Ron Woolsey (Host), Mike Carducci
Series Code: PC
Program Code: PC000034
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00:41 Welcome to "Pure Choices."
00:43 I am Pastor Ron Woolsey and with me today 00:46 is my colleague in Coming out Ministries, 00:49 Mike Carducci. Welcome, Mike. 00:51 Hey, Ron. 00:52 We're going to talk about a subject that to me 00:54 is fascinating today and that is about dreams. 00:58 Actually this specific subject will be about sexual dreams. 01:03 But, you know, in the Bible, we see many instances 01:05 where God has spoken to His people through dreams. 01:08 And I'm sure we all have many experiences of dreams 01:13 and nightmares, inspiring dreams, 01:16 troubling dreams and so forth. 01:18 I know in my family... 01:21 If my wife and children watch this program 01:23 and I'm sure that they will be watching this program. 01:26 They are going to really have a laugh 01:28 that I'm the one hosting this program on dreams 01:31 because I'm known in my family for having wild bizarre dreams. 01:37 Before I came to the Lord, I believe the Lord visited me 01:42 repeatedly with recurring nightmare of living through 01:44 the coming of Jesus as a lost person. 01:47 And, and He used that to help me come to Him. 01:50 In fact, since I've become a Christian, 01:52 Mike, in 21 years I have never had that dream 01:54 or anything like it. 01:56 But I do continue to have some pretty wild bizarre, 01:59 just crazy dreams that leave me laughing in the morning 02:02 or I tell my family about them and they get real tickle. 02:05 In fact, they remember them better than I do. 02:08 But, the question we're going to look at today is... 02:12 I mean, we know that the Lord visits His people 02:14 and works through dreams in all kinds of ways. 02:17 He will do anything to reach His people 02:19 or to reach someone He is seeking to save. 02:22 But is it possible that there are other spiritual forces 02:26 that can use that same medium, what do you think, Mike? 02:30 I definitely have had experiences, 02:34 you know, where I believed that I've had to question, 02:37 you know, what the, what the force was 02:40 behind some of the dreams that I've had. 02:42 You know, like you, Ron, I have incredible dreams. 02:44 And I don't know if it's because I'm a hairdresser 02:47 and I tend to be, you know, 02:48 very far outside the box a lot of times. 02:50 But what I've noticed is I had dreams like, 02:54 like you've had before where the Lord is coming 02:57 and I wake up with this panic, you know, is my heart ready? 03:00 And I can see that those definitely 03:02 have a spiritual emphasis to them 03:05 and they are designed to, 03:06 you know, bring me to conviction, 03:08 bring me to conversion and repentance. 03:11 However, a few years ago as I was gaining the victory 03:16 over pornography and masturbation... 03:20 Well, let me go back just a little bit more. 03:22 What was incredible is when, again, when I got baptized, 03:26 I was still in sexual addiction 03:28 and in a relationship with the boyfriend. 03:30 And as God was bringing me on that journey, 03:33 the cycle of masturbation had begun when I was 13 years old. 03:37 And so it was so strong in my life 03:39 and I've definitely read some shocking quotes 03:43 in testimonies on sexual behavior and divorce. 03:48 They talk about how, you know, this vile habit 03:51 and how it not only destroys the mind 03:53 but also destroys the body and destroys the spirit. 03:56 And so I was struggling 03:57 with some of those quotes that I have read 04:00 and as I was learning the process 04:02 that it wasn't a work that I could do 04:04 because I could never gain 04:06 the victory over that, that habit. 04:07 That I recognized that what I had to do is start 04:09 to submit that to Jesus Christ. 04:12 And, and I think the good thing out of that is I had to learn, 04:17 that I had to breathe in the Holy Spirit 04:19 like I breath air. 04:21 I didn't have the luxury of just praying in the morning 04:23 and asking God to give me strength 04:25 and that I would make it through the day 04:27 and at night I would be, you know, okay. 04:29 I had to recognize that sometimes 04:31 even then in the midst of while I was praying that, 04:33 that habit would actually come into my mind, 04:35 the thought of it and sometimes I would actually stop praying 04:38 to indulge that behavior. 04:40 I felt absolutely out of control, 04:42 but as I learned to start surrendering 04:45 and learned that when temptation comes, 04:47 if I submit it and surrender it up to the Lord, 04:49 He would take it. 04:50 And what I would get is the strength 04:52 that would give me the victory. 04:53 And so, when I had started really realizing 04:58 how that process was working. 05:00 For the first time in my life, in my 40s, 05:03 I started to gain the victory 05:04 over masturbation and pornography. 05:05 Oh, praise the Lord for that. 05:07 Amazing, Ron. I didn't think it was possible. 05:11 And then when I did experience it, 05:13 all of a sudden it was like, it was like, 05:16 you know, the fantasy and the attraction to man 05:19 and to women was completely gone, 05:21 nine months of sobriety in that area. 05:24 And one day, Ron, I just tested faith. 05:27 And I wondered if history and memory were still intact. 05:31 And as I went down that road, it opened up a Pandora's box 05:35 if you would of this flood that was worse than the first. 05:39 It was, it wasn't the frequency so much as it was. 05:42 It would just overtake me in a moment 05:44 and I might go a couple of weeks or maybe even a month 05:47 and then all of a sudden, it would hit again and... 05:49 So are you... Excuse me. 05:50 But are you suggesting or saying 05:52 that then you relapsed or you're talking about 05:54 relapsing back after all of that time of sobriety 05:58 that you relapsed back into it? 06:00 You say you were just testing to see... 06:03 Well, I didn't have thoughts that were sexual. 06:06 It was like God had completely closed the valve 06:09 to all of that temptation that was coming to me. 06:12 And after nine months of not having any temptation at all, 06:16 I, I made the foolish decision 06:19 to see if my memory was still intact. 06:22 Even the memories of what I lived for 20 years 06:24 in the gay lifestyle seemed to be completely shutout. 06:27 So that's interesting after that period of time of victory, 06:32 that even without temptation, 06:34 you chose to dabble or chose to experiment 06:38 and so you brought it back upon yourself. 06:40 Is that what you're saying? 06:41 Am I understanding it correctly? 06:43 Wasn't that a temptation, Ron? 06:44 You know, if the thought in my mind came. 06:46 Hey, why am I not sexual at all? 06:48 So that definitely was a temptation, 06:50 but that brought in the flood of. 06:52 Right, you opened the door that had been closed. 06:54 Yes. You made a purposeful choice. 06:58 Yes, that would be a temptation, 07:00 but it probably was not recognized as a temptation. 07:03 It was not something you were battling all the time anymore. 07:06 You just decided, I wonder... Ron, I wasn't battling at all. 07:10 I want to make that distinction 07:11 because I wasn't battling at all. 07:13 And that's when, you know, 07:15 again still to have that kind of victory, 07:17 you know, how sad that I wasn't relishing in the victory, 07:20 you know, that the old flesh was still coming up 07:22 and saying "Well, does that mean you're not sexual at all?" 07:25 And those thoughts again create the self interest 07:28 which I believe started the, the disconnect. 07:31 That brings to my mind the text about Paul saying, 07:33 talking about how he must die. 07:36 He must die daily, lest he himself become a castaway. 07:39 While he's turning the world upside down with the gospel, 07:42 he himself could still be a castaway. 07:44 So he goes back to that daily dying, doesn't he? 07:47 Right. Right. 07:48 So then what happened? 07:50 After that, you said it opened the flood gates. 07:53 Let's elaborate on that. Yes. And so even being, 07:56 you know, a member of my church 07:58 and being in good standing in the church, 08:00 you know, the conviction and the guilt of what I was, 08:04 what was overtaking me... 08:06 Again I was in a position 08:07 that I felt like I was in as a young teen, 08:10 like struggling with this thing inside. 08:12 And, and while I wasn't involving 08:15 other people in this activity, 08:17 I still knew how vile it was by some of the quotes 08:20 that I read, you know, from Ministry of Healing 08:23 and even from the Bible. 08:24 And so as I struggle to really gain control of this again 08:28 and I had to recognize that again 08:32 I was in a worst place than I was to begin with, 08:35 like God had shut that off. 08:37 And so now, I was going through the process again. 08:39 What I had to recognize is, 08:40 I had to absolutely come to Jesus as I was 08:44 even without the opportunity to clean myself up. 08:47 I had to come to Jesus 08:48 and absolutely say, Lord, look at me. 08:51 Look at what a mess I am. 08:52 I'm filthy, I'm disgusting. How can you even take me? 08:56 And even Satan would put these thoughts in my head 08:59 that I had gone passed the limits of God's mercy. 09:02 And when I would open up the word 09:04 and especially like in Steps of Christ, 09:07 page 37, it says, "Do not wait to feel 09:10 that you are made whole, but say I believe it. 09:13 It is so not because I feel it, but because God has promised." 09:17 And simple promises like that, I was able to claim 09:20 and it would reconnect me to the Lord. 09:22 And so again, I had to go through 09:23 the process all over again, 09:25 only this time with the guilt and remorse that I had, 09:28 had that freedom 09:29 and now this door had opened up again. 09:33 And so what was beautiful is, 09:34 in my church I had made two comments 09:37 at different times that I come from sexual addiction. 09:41 The sad part was is, in my church 09:43 there were no resources for anyone 09:46 to find a safe place to admit 09:48 that they were struggling with sexual sin. 09:50 Two men that are in my church, 09:54 they had come forward to me privately 09:57 and they had said, Mike, you know I'm struggling 09:58 with pornography addiction and my wife found out 10:01 and she wants to get a divorce. 10:02 Can you help me? 10:04 And the desperation of seeing, you know, this man come to me 10:08 with this problem 10:09 and here he was a leader in the community. 10:12 He wasn't just, you know, somebody who was, 10:14 you know, a derelict of society if you would. 10:17 And then another man came to me who was a deacon in the church 10:20 that had struggled with it for 35 years 10:22 and it hurt me say that same comment. 10:25 And the exact same scenario, 10:27 you know, same restaurant, the same table 10:28 and sadly enough the same issue. 10:31 And when he told me that he also struggled with it, 10:33 we began a support group in my home. 10:37 And we used Ministry of Healing as the textbook. 10:39 And as we used Ministry of Healing, 10:41 each page talked about the goodness of the Savior. 10:44 It talked about how Jesus came 10:46 to heal men in mind, body and spirit. 10:50 And that the same Jesus that came 2,000 years ago 10:52 that never healed anyone halfway, 10:54 it's the same Jesus today that wants to heal us completely. 10:58 So as I started to read this, this textbook if you would. 11:02 I started to gain the victory and authenticity by being open 11:06 and having accountability partners with these two men 11:09 as I was their accountability partner. 11:11 So what began then is, once I got the victory 11:14 again over the pornography and masturbation, 11:17 what happened is I started to have these homoerotic dreams 11:21 and I was out of control. 11:23 I would have as many as, as three in an evening. 11:26 So now Satan is taking advantage of a door 11:30 that you had opened and He is being persistent. 11:34 I'm saying Satan because it sounds like 11:36 something that was coming from him. 11:38 And so now he is attacking you through dreams, 11:41 is that what I'm hearing? 11:43 And can you explain what you mean by homoerotic dreams? 11:46 Right. 11:47 When they started, again you know, 11:50 being an adult male in my 40s 11:52 to have those kind of dreams again 11:54 and I would have to get up and change my pajamas. 11:57 And sometimes I would have as many as three in an evening, 12:00 but homoerotic meaning that, 12:02 that the dreams were homosexual in nature. 12:04 And they were as so bizarre that sometimes 12:07 it was just body parts in a dream or it was ideas, 12:10 and sometimes it was actual demons that were in the dreams. 12:13 And what was happening is, 12:15 I realized that once I've gotten the physical victory 12:19 over the masturbation, that still, 12:21 that sin originates in the mind, Ron, 12:23 is the best that I can explain it. 12:25 And so the last frontier for the masturbation 12:30 and the pornography was going to be in my mind. 12:32 Well, but it sounds like you're suggesting here that 12:37 you have no control over dreams or is that true that... 12:42 It seems like when we go to bed and we start dreaming, 12:45 there are things that come in and you just wonder, 12:48 "Where in the world did that come from?" 12:50 I haven't seen this picture or this incident 12:54 since I was a child or I don't even know 12:57 where that came from. 12:59 I don't even know who that person 13:00 is that is in that dream. 13:02 So it seems to me like 13:04 that we don't have control over dreams. 13:06 I'm being the advocate here. 13:09 Do we have control over our dreams? 13:11 What do you think? 13:13 Well, Ron, I totally agreed with what you said. 13:16 For several months during that time 13:18 thinking I can't control this. 13:21 And it started to really ache on my heart that, 13:23 that can't be from God. 13:24 I knew that it couldn't be from God. 13:26 And as I started to explore with God, 13:28 why I was having these dreams 13:30 and why I was having them so frequently 13:31 when I gotten the victory over the physical act, 13:34 then what happened is, 13:36 I believe that God started to reveal to me 13:38 that I could actually have access 13:40 and some control in my dreams. 13:42 But at first, I totally felt absolutely out of control. 13:45 As I enlisted these men 13:46 that I was having this support group with, 13:49 as I enlisted their help, 13:50 you know, what was incredible is, 13:52 not only were they affirming me and supporting me 13:56 and they weren't judging me or ridiculing me. 14:00 What they were doing is like, Mike, we're struggling, 14:02 you're struggling, we're lifting you up. 14:05 So what was so fantastic about that, Ron, for me is, 14:08 is number one, I was getting affirmation from men 14:10 which was healing in itself. 14:11 And then number two is, I was getting two men 14:14 that were willing to pray for me 14:15 that was actually sending what I think is an arsenal of, 14:19 of angels to assist me in this process of overcoming. 14:21 So you needed divine intervention 14:24 in relation to these dreams because you were recognizing 14:28 that this is not just a fluke, right? 14:31 This is not just dreams that are brought about 14:35 by incidents in the day or thoughts 14:37 that I have had during the day. 14:39 It sounds to me like what you're saying is, 14:41 there was a definite spiritual attack going on here. 14:44 Is that correct? Yes. Yes. Right. 14:46 And because of the nature of the dream 14:48 being homoerotic or sexual at all, 14:51 I realized quickly that, that can't be from God. 14:54 And then I wondered, well, how is that a Satan 14:56 has access to my dreams? 14:58 And then of course I realize, again that the last frontier 15:00 is the mind or sin originates in the mind 15:03 because the Bible talks about that when sin is conceived, 15:06 you know, that means before it's actually actual, 15:09 you know, activated. 15:10 So I realize then that I was actually 15:13 fighting demonic forces in my dreams. 15:16 Oh, this is amazing how Satan can invade the privacy 15:21 of our bed in our night sleep and can work. 15:27 That guy never takes a break, does he? 15:29 I mean he never takes a nap. 15:32 While we're napping, he's saying, 15:34 I'm going to get in here. 15:35 I can work on this man even while he's sleeping, 15:38 isn't that amazing that he does that, so... 15:43 And we might question, 15:44 what right does he have to do that? 15:46 I'm a Christian. 15:47 I have professed to and I have accepted 15:49 Jesus Christ as my savior. 15:52 I have renounced my old life. 15:55 I have victory in my life in these areas. 15:58 What right does Satan have to invade my home, 16:02 my mind, my bed while I'm sleeping? 16:06 Does he have that right and if he does, 16:08 how does he get that right? 16:10 Right. 16:12 As I was enlisting the help of God in response to, 16:17 you know, my questions about how I was having these dreams. 16:20 What I was led to was that, 16:22 now that I gotten the physical victory over that 16:24 and recognized that process of taking temptation 16:27 and surrendering up to the Lord. 16:30 What I started to realize is the Holy Spirit was, 16:33 was encouraging me if you would to surrender 16:37 everything at night before I went to sleep. 16:39 As a matter of fact even while I was working 16:41 with the other guys in our support group, 16:43 you know, it became clear to me 16:45 that at night before I went to bed, 16:46 I started to get panic attacks about going to sleep for fear 16:49 that again that I would have these dreams. 16:52 And also to have to confess to my friends 16:54 that yes, I had, you know, 16:56 one, two, three of them the night before. 16:58 So at night when I would go to bed, 17:00 I would start praying and I would ask the Lord 17:02 to show me anything that would have 17:06 any influence to give Satan a foothold 17:08 if you would in my subconscious. 17:10 So in essence you were understanding 17:14 that perhaps you were giving Satan permission 17:18 by something you had done 17:19 during the day or viewed during the day 17:22 or thought about or talked about 17:23 during the day, is that correct? 17:25 Right. So... 17:26 And you wanted the Lord to show you 17:27 so you could, could make a mends 17:32 or you could put a stop to that? 17:34 Well, as I started praying and asking the Holy Spirit 17:37 to show me or to reveal to me 17:39 anything that I may have indulged in that day 17:41 that would give Satan a foothold 17:42 in my dreams, in my sleep. 17:45 What happened is the Holy Spirit 17:47 would start to reveal to me things that I may have 17:49 lingered at or watched during the day, things, 17:53 not pornography on the internet 17:54 but you know, just anything that 17:57 I would have indulged in or remembered an old thought 18:00 or a memory that wasn't surrendered up. 18:02 And so as I did that, I was able to, 18:06 you know, ask for forgiveness for that 18:08 and repent of what I had seen or what I've thought of her, 18:10 when I was lingering in. 18:12 And so as I was able to do that, 18:13 I started to gain victory over the homoerotic dreams 18:18 and I started to, you know, have a full night sleep 18:21 without any invasion of homoerotic dreams. 18:24 So you have prayed before going to bed 18:26 that the Lord would protect you from that 18:28 and hold back the forces of evil, 18:30 perhaps maybe give you 18:32 inspiring uplifting dreams instead, 18:34 this type of thing or what? 18:36 Ron, I'm so glad that you, that you went down that angle 18:40 because one other things that I really enjoy, 18:43 you know, I was used to having 18:45 one or more illicit situations in a week. 18:49 And you know, the thought of going 18:51 without sex or whatever, for me that was like monumental 18:54 when I got the victory over that. 18:56 And so for the last 12 years, you know, I've lived alone, 18:59 I've slept alone and the beautiful part is that 19:02 God is so real to me in the evening. 19:05 The last thing I talk to 19:06 or the last person I talk to is Jesus. 19:08 And the first person in the morning 19:10 I speak to is Jesus. 19:12 And what's so beautiful 19:13 is several times through the night, 19:14 you know, I'll wake up for some reason or whatever 19:17 and I still find myself talking with Jesus 19:19 and I've even told Him. 19:20 I say, Lord, if I never have 19:22 another relationship again I'm okay. 19:25 If I don't have someone to hold me, 19:27 if I don't have someone special in my life again 19:29 I'll be all right as long as I have You. 19:32 And that's been a sustaining strength for me. 19:36 But what's even more awesome 19:38 is that there are times in my sleep... 19:41 There was one night that I had woken up 19:43 and it was about 3 o'clock in the morning 19:45 and there was an image of a woman in my mind 19:48 and her name came to me. 19:49 And I'm laying there and I'm thinking 19:51 why am I awake at 2:30 in the morning? 19:53 Why is this woman's face, 19:55 you know, why can't I see her exact face and her name? 19:59 And I started dialoguing with God. 20:00 I said, Lord, do you need me to pray for her? 20:02 Does she need someone to pray for her? 20:04 It wasn't anyone I knew. 20:06 It wasn't anyone that I had ever met before. 20:09 And as I laid there I just thought, 20:10 well, it wouldn't hurt to pray for her anyway. 20:12 And for 20 minutes I just prayed. 20:14 Lord, you know what the issue is, You know what she needs. 20:16 And then of course after about 20 minutes of praying 20:19 for this woman, I fell asleep. 20:20 And the next morning I woke up, 20:22 I couldn't remember what she look like, 20:23 I couldn't remember her name or anything else, 20:25 but I felt very confident that God had enlisted me 20:28 to pray for this woman who needed help at that time. 20:30 And that's amazing. Yes. 20:31 And so God gives me these beautiful meditations 20:35 and you know, sometimes the meditations are simple as, 20:40 you know, Ellen White talks about, 20:42 you know, how we should spend a thoughtful hour every day 20:45 contemplating about the cross. 20:46 And so I'll ask, after my devotions 20:48 I'll say, Lord, I'm gonna open up my mind 20:50 to receive anything that, you know, 20:52 that You want to communicate to me 20:53 because most of the time I do all the talking. 20:55 You know, so I'll tell God what I need. 20:57 I'll tell Him what's going on and I'll tell Him 20:59 you know, that He has to help me in all this stuff. 21:01 And so I thought, well, a two way conversation, 21:04 you know, gives the other person an opportunity to speak. 21:06 You have to let God get a word 21:07 in X Y's once in a while, right? 21:09 That's right. That's right. 21:10 That's a private joke. Yeah. So anyway... 21:12 But we're serious. Yes. 21:14 So as I was, as I was asking for the Lord 21:18 to just kind of give me insights or whatever. 21:20 I was thinking about the cross, 21:21 my mind kept running to my nephew 21:23 who is about six years old 21:25 and he was just running through a field 21:26 and I could see the wind, you know, blowing his hair. 21:28 And I said, oh, I'm sorry, Lord, I got distracted. 21:30 Three times I went back to my nephew 21:33 just running up this hill and again I would apologize 21:36 and say, Lord, I'm coming back, you know, 21:38 and I would try to think about, 21:39 you know, the scenes of the cross. 21:41 And then finally I just let it roll, 21:43 I saw my nephew running through this field, 21:45 kind of like sound of music, 21:47 you know, up this beautiful hill 21:48 and the sky is blue and the grass is green. 21:51 And what he did is my nephew with his big smile on his face 21:54 ran into the arms of Jesus and I could see Jesus 21:57 just kind of pick him up and throwing around 21:58 and I realized that, that was 22:00 something that God was trying to give me. 22:02 And I get those all the time and again maybe it's, 22:05 you know, because I'm a hairdresser 22:07 and I'm just so far out of there, 22:08 but He really does affirm me in meditation and in dreams. 22:12 And so I recognize that this was demonic warfare going on. 22:16 Well, this leads me to another question. 22:18 I'm really curious about this 22:19 because you pray before you go to sleep 22:22 that the Lord will protect you, give you good thoughts 22:25 and hold back the forces of evil-- 22:27 You've been awaken during the night. 22:28 But, Ron, that wasn't enough. 22:30 I couldn't just ask Him to give me a good night sleep, 22:33 that wasn't enough. 22:34 I had to be specific and I had to ask him 22:37 to reveal to me anything that I might have, 22:40 have looked at or indulged in 22:43 that would allow Satan a foothold in my dreams. 22:45 So I really want to specify 22:47 that this was a specific prayer. 22:49 Right. Very specific. 22:50 But then also during the night sometimes you would be awakened 22:53 and inspired to pray for someone. 22:55 Yeah. But my question is this. 22:57 During the night when you're having some, 23:00 when you were having some of these dreams 23:02 brought on by Satan himself. 23:05 Did you ever... 23:06 In the dream itself reach out to the Lord 23:09 and pray for deliverance and for help? 23:11 I'm real curious about that? 23:12 Yes. 23:14 As a matter of fact, I came face to face 23:16 with Satan himself one night. 23:19 It was a dream that opened up and again I was so steeped in, 23:24 you know, sexual activity in my 20s and 30s. 23:27 And so in the dream, I'm in a illicit situation 23:30 and I had the wherewithal to turn it away. 23:34 And so as I'm coming through this room in this dream, 23:37 there's a man who is laying on this mattress 23:41 and all I want is out of the room. 23:42 And the man was not attractive to me, 23:44 but as he started engaging in a conversation I felt safe 23:47 because I wasn't attracted to him 23:49 that I started this conversation. 23:50 So what happens is, as he's talking 23:52 he comes towards me 23:54 and he's kind of blocking my way 23:55 from getting out of the door. 23:57 And again, remember this is a dream 23:58 but as he came closer and closer it was like, 24:02 you know, I could see his face and I could see his, 24:04 you know, skin and he started 24:06 to wear down my defenses. 24:08 And as he got really close, 24:10 I knew that it was about to get, 24:11 you know, intimate and as he was about 24:14 two inches from my face, I came to my senses 24:16 and I said, no, I don't want this. 24:19 And instantly that beautiful face of that person 24:23 turned into Satan himself with absolute disgust for me. 24:27 And having that two inches from your face 24:29 and to see the face of Satan himself, 24:32 absolutely bent on my destruction. 24:35 I woke up of course in a sweat 24:37 and realized that I was actually coming face to face 24:40 with Satan himself in my dreams. 24:41 One other dream that I had is one night in my dream, 24:46 all of a sudden I couldn't breath 24:47 as I'm dreaming, you know, in my dream I couldn't inhale, 24:50 I couldn't exhale, there was a tightness around my chest 24:53 from the inside and the out. 24:55 And instantly of course, it woke me up. 24:57 And as I'm awake now I realized that, 24:59 that was my conscious, that was my reality 25:02 that I couldn't take a breath in or not. 25:04 And I instantly remembered to call on, on my Savior, 25:07 but his name wouldn't come into my mind. 25:10 Satan was even blocking his name from coming in my mind. 25:12 And as I'm laying there in panic thinking 25:15 if I can't remember Jesus' name, 25:16 how's He gonna help me? 25:17 And all I remember was the demoniac 25:20 who couldn't even speak Jesus name or his own words. 25:23 And all I did is in my subconscious I said, 25:24 Lord, you know who you are. 25:26 I can't remember your name, save me. 25:28 And instantly the pressure was off my chest, 25:31 I was able to breathe naturally 25:33 and the beautiful name of Jesus came right into my mind 25:36 and I laid there and sang every song 25:38 that I could think of that had Jesus name in it 25:41 until I fell asleep again. 25:42 Well, that's really powerful. 25:44 It's amazing that we can reach out to Jesus 25:47 even in our dreams. 25:48 He is not willing that any should perish. 25:50 But what I'm seeing from this is, 25:52 Satan is not willing that any should be saved. 25:55 Satan is hell-bent upon keeping the homo saps, 25:59 the homosexual in his grasp. 26:02 I know I was almost killed in the process 26:04 of coming out of that, that lifestyle myself. 26:07 So I know personally like you, 26:09 Satan will do anything to keep us in his grasp. 26:14 He doesn't, if he can't keep us there by allurement, 26:17 by enticement, by deception, 26:21 by winning us to him in these ways, 26:24 then he will turn to violence or invasive dreams, 26:28 you know, such as we're talking about here today. 26:33 In a nutshell because we just have a moment left. 26:36 Can you just give us two or three points 26:38 on how we can keep Satan out of our dreams? 26:42 It will be like a recap. Sure. Absolutely. 26:45 To take stock and take inventory 26:47 of the events that have happened during the day 26:49 and to ask the Holy Spirit to come in and convict you 26:53 and to show you literally the things 26:56 that need to be surrendered at the cross. 26:57 And as you do that, definitely learn the intimacy 27:02 that Jesus wants to have with each one of us. 27:04 Learn to tell Him about the nuances of your day. 27:06 He cares about the little things 27:08 and as well as the big in. 27:09 So as I learned to enjoy the intimacy of Jesus, 27:14 you know, the beauty is that 27:16 He can make hays more and more with us. 27:17 Amen. 27:19 We truly are involved daily in spiritual warfare. 27:23 The forces of evil working on us and in us, 27:27 the forces of God working in us and for us. 27:31 There is a battle for the soul. 27:33 There is, God out of love for us, 27:36 wanting us for all eternity 27:38 and Satan out of hatred for God. 27:41 He doesn't want us because he loves us. 27:43 He wants us because he hates God. 27:46 We want to thank you 27:47 for joining us today on Pure Choices. 27:51 And may God help you everyday make pure choices. |
Revised 2016-02-18