Following God’s wake-up call (LINK) He often gave me dreams. Some were for teaching, others for personal direction. I never felt a leading to share any of them with the body of Christ at large though I did sometimes share with a small group of friends to assist with interpretation. It was in receiving the many interpretations that the Father began to teach me discernment of the Spirit from flesh. Sometimes an interpretation is what I call “formula prophetic”, e.g., a car is symbolic of ministry, a woman represents the church, etc. Often such interpretations left me with a reservation in my spirit. There were also times when the Spirit’s interpretation was a long time in coming that I was tempted to accept the formula view in spite of my reservations. “Perhaps my friends see something in me that I can not see in myself”, I reasoned. Thankfully, whenever I was tempted to surrender to the many formula interpretations God rose up to shout His view of the matter.

There are many examples of competing dream interpretations in the old testament; a consensus view and God’s message through a genuine seer. Joseph and Daniel come to mind. What follows is a recurring dream for which I had no interpretation for many years. It’s been a progressive dream where each time I had it there were more details to advance the story just a little bit more.

Recurring Dream

Lined up to race a single lap around an oval track, with many runners dressed in track attire, I was hopeful of finishing strong, perhaps even winning the race. The gun sounded and everyone leapt from the starting line as did I only to discover I was harnessed to a skid piled high with duffel bags. I had noticed the pile from the corner of my eye before the race started and simply assumed the duffel bags held the street clothes of all the other runners. Looking down at the harness, I saw that I was dressed in work clothes which isn’t surprising since I detest skimpy track suits.