A devil a snake and a fallen angel share a picnic

[hope_faith_and_love]

Because we know that Satan looks for those wounded to devour, this is something God taught me about how medication such as an anti-depressant can help Christians who have suffered abuse. I told you about a woman I know who took this kind of medication. The doctor she saw was a Christian and he explained that this medication helped prevent further "scarring" of brain tissues, because she had suffered abuse it had actually left scars. Further scarring happens due to stress, worry, guilt, bitterness, confusion. These medications do not give someone a sense of right and wrong or cause them to choose to do right. The desire to do what is right comes from the heart of the person, even though at times they cannot always control their emotions or thoughts. The inability to control their emotions or thoughts causes not only more scarring but feelings of hopelessness. They are ashamed by the chaos inside their minds. It is sometimes medication that can help these people to do what is in their heart, which for a believer hopefully is to do good. How does this medication fit in with a believers relationship with God? Maybe because God has Satan in check. Satan wants people to put their trust in medication and not God, but God uses this medication to stop Satan's turmoil so that the heart of a person can be revealed. God judges our hearts...therefore the victory is God's when we choose Him and His ways.


As for the author, I really don't know anything about his teaching. If he helped you to understand more about grace this is great. It was just as God was having me to write the post, God used the title of one of his books to teach me about why there is so much chaos among Christians, not just one group, but all of us.

[zebra]

Grace2u:

Grace2u posted the following in her post # 766. I have reposted it below. I believe we should all graze on this post for awhile. It gives us a glimpse into the mind of the author.
__________________________________________________ ________________________________________________
"Then during this time when I had all this stuff bubbling up - I had this dream where an individual in my family who I would describe as willfull and stubborn wanted to check a child's book out of a library.

The funny thing is that when I had the dream I would not have necessarily called the person willful or stubborn - in fact the person was someone that married into the family and I thought it was strange that they wound up in my dream . . . until . . . a few months after the
dream the person called me up and wanted some legal advice in an area that I know about and I kept thinking boy, she sure is being willful about this.

Anyway in this dream, this person (who of course is me) had to check this child's book out of the library. A cousin (the librarian) did not want the book to be checked out but I (the real willful me) intervened and let the person check the book out. But the librarian was in charge so I tried to go around the librarian and ultimately waited until that librarian had left and checked it out through another librarian. But during this time - I felt guilty (whether I should or not I don't know because did we not have the right to check the book out?) so I kept hiding the book and then there was this strange bathroom attached to the library and I even went in there to try to hide the book and while doing this I ended up taking a shower (to get rid of my guilt about checking out the book that I had every right to check out).

Anyway, as I was hiding the book I believe the librarian that I was hiding it from (I could be wrong - I would have to check my notes) had this huge table set up in the library with my favorite strawberry shortcake in the shape of a wedding cake but it was odd because on top of it was meat.

The librarian kept pointing to the interesting dessert but I was bound and determined to get this book out of the library. (Now I think the cake was what I really desire in life lined up with the meat that I see as God's will.)

Anyway I get the book out of the library - walk by an small fair with this crazy looking double ferris wheel roller coaster that I want to ride but don't have time to so I pass it. When I pass an angel flies off of it like to say you were supposed to ride this. (I will also note that I had a dream once where I read a roller coaster and then went to heaven at least I saw it as heaven.)

But I went off to find my relative that wanted to read the book - found her and gave her the book.

Do you think it is significant that my cake is in a library? I never thought about that until this month."
_________________________________________________

I truly enjoyed the part about you reading a roller coaster.
The part about the angel flying off the roller coaster was also very entertaining.
The crazy looking double ferris wheel roller coaster was very unique.
I believe that your cake being in a library is very significant.

Please continue to tell us your dreams, they are very (different).

I believe the girls from the paid chat site have dreams as well.



Zebra

[zebra]

Grace2u:

Grace2u posted the following in her post # 766. I have reposted it below. I believe we should all graze on this post for awhile. It gives us a glimpse into the mind of the author.
__________________________________________________ ________________________________________________
"Then during this time when I had all this stuff bubbling up - I had this dream where an individual in my family who I would describe as willfull and stubborn wanted to check a child's book out of a library.

The funny thing is that when I had the dream I would not have necessarily called the person willful or stubborn - in fact the person was someone that married into the family and I thought it was strange that they wound up in my dream . . . until . . . a few months after the
dream the person called me up and wanted some legal advice in an area that I know about and I kept thinking boy, she sure is being willful about this.

Anyway in this dream, this person (who of course is me) had to check this child's book out of the library. A cousin (the librarian) did not want the book to be checked out but I (the real willful me) intervened and let the person check the book out. But the librarian was in charge so I tried to go around the librarian and ultimately waited until that librarian had left and checked it out through another librarian. But during this time - I felt guilty (whether I should or not I don't know because did we not have the right to check the book out?) so I kept hiding the book and then there was this strange bathroom attached to the library and I even went in there to try to hide the book and while doing this I ended up taking a shower (to get rid of my guilt about checking out the book that I had every right to check out).

Anyway, as I was hiding the book I believe the librarian that I was hiding it from (I could be wrong - I would have to check my notes) had this huge table set up in the library with my favorite strawberry shortcake in the shape of a wedding cake but it was odd because on top of it was meat.

The librarian kept pointing to the interesting dessert but I was bound and determined to get this book out of the library. (Now I think the cake was what I really desire in life lined up with the meat that I see as God's will.)

Anyway I get the book out of the library - walk by an small fair with this crazy looking double ferris wheel roller coaster that I want to ride but don't have time to so I pass it. When I pass an angel flies off of it like to say you were supposed to ride this. (I will also note that I had a dream once where I read a roller coaster and then went to heaven at least I saw it as heaven.)

But I went off to find my relative that wanted to read the book - found her and gave her the book.

Do you think it is significant that my cake is in a library? I never thought about that until this month."
_________________________________________________

I truly enjoyed the part about you reading a roller coaster.
The part about the angel flying off the roller coaster was also very entertaining.
The crazy looking double ferris wheel roller coaster was very unique.
I believe that your cake being in a library is very significant.

Please continue to tell us your dreams, they are very (different).

I believe the girls from the paid chat site have dreams as well.



Zebra

[grace2u]

Well I don't remember saying I read a roller coaster but you are free to point that out to me.

I would hope my dreams are different than yours.

I'm glad you liked your place to graze.

I am also glad you could feel the love. I don't hate you by any means.

I think you like going back and forth with me.

Since I'm not God and since I don't specifically know the details about what C or V or going through, once again, I'm not in a position to answer the question you continue to repeat. How come I have to answer your questions but you don't have to answer mine?

EVEN IF they were being chastised I do believe God what want us to love them.

[grace2u]

HFL,

I do think God is slowly revealing what the dream means. I think the child's book was dealing with the unfinished business in my past that I kept willfully going over and over and feeling guilt about. But I also think there was a good part here because eventually I would have to look at the book from the perspective of how God takes everything and turns it to good for His honor and glory.

Zebra,

My mistakes, C's mistakes, V's mistakes are all things that God can use and turn around for His honor and glory if we allow Him to do so.

Is there chastisement? Sure - but who's to say what is chastisement and what is something that God is allowing (like Joseph in the pit or in prison) working out His plans for His honor in glory?

The funny thing is Zebra is that I am not one that generally passes by a rollercoaster, etc. (although I have to admit that I'm not that fond of ferris wheels so maybe you have helped me discover something here that I haven't thought of before).

I wanted to ride the roller coaster ferris wheel but had to go on. "Maybe" I had to go one to face my fears or something like that. When I was under 10 I got stuck on the top of a double ferris wheel that was broken. In my mind - I probably made it much bigger of an incident than it was.

Maybe once I face my fears I can go back and ride the ride and then go back into the library and have my cake and eat it too.

(Message edited by Grace2u on March 01, 2007)

[hope_faith_and_love]

grace,

God told me some things about your dream, but I'm not certain if I should post it here because basically God is just pulling back the layers and revealing things about you, things you are probably aware of... For instance the library represents your education, but yet you feel guilty, like you don't deserve what you have accomplished...

The strawberry cake represents the part of you that you keep hidden within your education. It represents softness and femininity that you are not comfortable with for different reasons, but yet this is part of your hearts desire.... The other part of your hearts desire is to attain a deeper relationship with God. These desires are connected together and God is saying that He is able to give you both. God said to forget what you think makes other women "feminine", this is about setting your soul free so you can feel whole.

The amusement park rides represents life and its insecurities so far removed from the safety of pursuing education. The rides represent feelings of having no control and it is only being in control that you can feel safe...

[hope_faith_and_love]

Grace,

This is the meaning of your dream as it applies to the full body of Christ and what God sees and warns regarding....

The library represents all the knowledge of the Bible, but there are believers who only want to steal or take only a part of it and use it the way they desire. The wedding cake represents these who deny all the knowledge and meaning of the Bible, denying the Holy Spirit and are trying to "marry" themselves to Jesus Christ and they are making it a grusome sight to behold. The amusement rides is how these Christians on factnet and on the internet view those preaching the Gospel, it is because of their own scorn for the Word of God they spend all their time purposely misrepresenting those making the Gospel known as not being sincere because they use whatever means and gifts God provides and this is why they hate them. The truth is, it is because of their own cowardness that they remain on the sidelines and watch-- judging and slandering and twisting the importance and sincerity of these ministries to anyone who will listen or read. They work at maligning the dangers and the sacrifices ministers face as not being real. They spend all their time and energy convincing others that these ministers are not sincere-- that they are counterfeit because God would never allow His word to be preached through "music, videos, movies, television, dancers, satelites...." Philippians 2:14-16 "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."

God said that the dream reveals the truth about Him.... He is gentle and understanding and wants to draw close and heal the individual, but there are those who refuse Him and deny this is who He is, because they demand that He punish and come down hard on these they have singled out to be crushed...but it is these who do this who are facing the judgement of His wrath.

God asks how will they like this interpretation??? Will they listen? Will they turn and hate the interpretor and deny this is true about what they do??? Some will not like the harshness any better than those who hate the gentleness and compassion of God this dream reveals....

[grace2u]

The feminity stuff is a defense mechanism I am sure. It represents softness and femininity that you are not comfortable with for different reasons, but yet this is part of your hearts desire....

Ya think maybe I know if I am soft that the zebras in the world are going to walk right over me? You would be surprised at how high I score on nurturing on a personality test but still that doesn't mean that I'm going to put a sign on me that says "here is someone that is so soft that you can take advantage of them."

I'll have to think about the more general interpretation. I've never looked at it from that point of view though. Funny you mentioned education because of my dream last night. It went a bit like this:

My dream included a theme that I have dreamed many times before; however, it is a dream that I have not had for a while. In this two-part dream, I am enrolled into two classes one class is a political science class and one class is a speech class. (This is unique – generally when I have this dream I am in a math class – another time I was in a music theory class. The last time I had this type of dream I was in a class that I already had completed but was being told to give my final presentation. In this dream I just left the class after I tried for a while to quickly reproduce the final presentation that I had not been prepared to bring with me since I had completed the class.)

Anyway, in the first part of the dream I was in a political science class which I had apparently not been attending the classes because of my impossible schedule (this relates to my current situation of scheduling more than I can handle I think). It was too late to withdraw from the class and I think everyone else had taken the final exam (maybe – maybe not.) I simply talked to the instructor at the last moment and he was willing to work with me and I think encouraged me to just take the exam that he was sure I would pass. I think I did this. I also think that I must have aced the exam because the instructor said something like “regardless of how well you do on the test, you do realize that I cannot give you an A since you didn’t attend class”. I was just thankful that I was going to pass the class.

Then I found myself having to deal with a speech class. I don’t know why I was in this class but again – I found myself in a position where it was too late to withdraw. This time I ran into a group of students that were in the class and they kinda chided me for not attending and asked if I had withdrew. I said I had not and that I was trying to figure out what to do. They said all I needed to do was to complete a final presentation and I would pass. Then a funny thing happen – instead of being concerned that I might pass the class even though I had not attended like they had done, they said that they were going to help me pass the test and they all gathered around a lunch table to help me prepare for my presentation.

[zebra]

Grace2u:

In your above post # 768, you stated the following.
"My mistakes, C's mistakes, V's mistakes are all things that God can use and turn around for His honor and glory if we allow Him to do so."

A mistake is one thing, choosing to do the same wrong thing over and over again is not a mistake.

I believe that Joseph in the pit or in prison was both chastisement and God working out His plans for His honor and glory.

Grace2u, I would also hope that my dreams are different from yours.

Love can be shown in many ways. Pointing out a wrong can be one of those ways.

Zebra

[grace2u]

OK, what wrong are you pointing out?

"Is V going to be given a "going-away party"? "

What wrong are you pointing out above?

"Please continue to tell us your dreams, they are very (different). "

Everyone's dreams are different because people are different and their life experience determines what the symbols mean to them. For instance I enjoy roller coasters but I do not particularly enjoy ferris wheels. Oh, I'll ride them for the same reason I may come across as strong and not quite feminine as I am a bit on the bold side and one not to be called a coward.

To a "small" degree I agree with you - thus out of love I said to you:

Do you serve God in an advisory capacity or are you just a critic? after you stated:

<u>It appears that God spends a lot of time having you to do things. Perhaps, God should spend some of that time helping Grace2u. </u>

Yet, you and I are in a conversation Zebra. I&#39;m not trying to &#34;mask&#34; <u>everything</u> I say in sarcasm.

Get to the point Zebra:

What&#39;s your problem with V and why do you want to show that she may be being disciplined? It&#39;s funny that earlier in the year when I was willing to submit and even looking for God to refine me that you made fun of me for this.

Is V keeping you away from C? That would remind me of at least one other poster from the past.

What&#39;s your problem with C?

Are you &#34;afraid&#34; to state it so you use sarcasm instead?

Explain to me how what you are doing is love. Why mask your love in directly pointed shots at C and V?

[grace2u]

You know what it &#34;appears&#34; to me?

Your love &#34;appears&#34; to me to look like &#34;revenge&#34;.

Explain to me why it is not?

[grace2u]

Are you sure you don&#39;t want to use the nice &#34;quickly loadable&#34; thread that I created?