Do you ever remember your dreams? This story is about a vivid dream someone had. Don’t worry it isn’t the ‘Footprints’ poem we’ve probably all heard before.
The ‘dreamer’ was a guy I used to know, and one dream he had went on to impact his whole life. It blows most of my dreams out of the water!
He dreamt that he died and went to glory, and was excited to learn that he could meet people from the Bible, if he joined the right queue! Some of the more obscure Old Testament prophets had no queue at all. He could walk right up to someone like Obadiah if he wanted. However he decided that to start with he really wanted to meet Moses, so he joined a huge queue and waited his turn. Finally he got to the front, and found he had a tonne of questions for his hero.
“What was it like?” He asked Moses. “When you parted the Red Sea? Led the Israelites through the desert?” And so on. “What was it like?”
Eventually when he paused for breath, Moses looked at him and answered each question. But what struck him most was a question Moses asked him back:
“But what was it like for you, when the Holy Spirit was freely poured out on all who believed? What was that like?”
The dream ended with the words of this challenge ringing in my friend’s ears. It’s a really good question. And one we should ask of ourselves: What is it like in your life, knowing that the Holy Spirit is freely available?
One way to think about that is through the lenses of the Inspire Way of Life:
- Are you seeking growth in God’s love, asking the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh?
- Are you using disciplines as a means of grace with the help of the Holy Spirit?
- Are you sharing fellowship with other believers, asking the Holy Spirit to bless them through you?
- Are you engaging mission in word and deed, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit
In Acts 2:17, when the Holy Spirit is poured out, Peter quotes the Old Testament prophet Joel, saying: “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams…” (ESV)
We don’t have to wait until we die to meet Jesus and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus promised that He is with us always and He sends His Spirit to us NOW. So, perhaps the biggest question is, ‘Are we receiving the Holy Spirit and what difference is it making TODAY’?
Matt is an Inspire Missioner and Baptist Minister
