Dreams, Dreams, Dreams
Today’s Verse:
John 6:29 ESV
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
How have your dreams been lately? Mine have been quite peculiar. I believe my chemotherapy treatments cause me to have dreams that are best described as “out there.” Even last night, I had a dream where I was part of some kind of crime scene in lower Manhattan. However, the person they called in to provide help needed to get to work afterward. On the train, we got off at Grand Central Station, and my mind was pulled to walking out of the building only to find myself in the old neighborhood in Yonkers, New York, near my elementary school. Oh, and it suddenly got cold, with unmelted ice on the sidewalk.
Does this dream make any sense? No. During a REM sleep cycle, our brains use dreams to help us process and consolidate memories, process emotions that impact us, and even solve problems. Do they make sense if you remember them? Of course not. For me, when I remember vivid dreams, I spend a lot of time after waking up trying to figure out why I would dream about something so strange.
In the past, I remember listening to a podcast or watching a video where a professor claimed that all those fantastical stories we find in the Bible are simply dreams written down. Regardless of the story—Jonah being swallowed by a big fish, Jesus healing the sick woman when she touched His clothes, Noah building an ark and God killing everything on earth—this professor asserted that they were all dreams written down to convey a message about living a good and decent life. Of course, this is a ridiculous suggestion that everything recorded in the Bible was “a dream.”
God gifted us His Word to guide our sinful hearts towards trusting in Him. Through His Holy Spirit, we believe and trust in what God communicates to us through His Word, His Son, Jesus Christ. We believe in the historical events recounted in Holy Scripture because they truly occurred. The message from the very first page of the Bible to the very last page revolves around God’s plan of salvation for His people. Noah’s construction of an ark after God instructs him to do so is not a figment of imagination; it happened. How can I believe this? Because God reveals it to us in Scripture. God has never deceived me. While I have made mistakes and lied to Him, He has consistently been honest and loving to me, just as He has been to you! Trust and believe.
Prayers
A Prayer for Today:
Loving Father, thank You for truthful and caring Word found in Holy Scripture. May it instruct my faith and keep me on the path that leads to eternal life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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