Have you been daydreaming lately?
Do you imagine yourself a hero?
Are you being romanced by a strong man?
Could it be that you’re picturing yourself on stage or in an exotic land or receiving the highest prize in your field?
Have you ever considered taking a day to ask God what He may be saying to you through your own fantasies?
Even the ones you know are twisted or wrong or clearly steeped in sin, have you ever asked yourself what seed it is within you from which this winding vine grew?
Most of us condemn ourselves for daydreams. They’re sources of guilt, craven escapes, secrets we hope remain hidden forever.
But nothing will remain hidden forever
and evil is often a distortion of what began as something good
so rather than pretend they don’t exist – why not bring your secret fantasies into the light and examine them with God, to learn – I don’t know – maybe even His original idea of you.
At some point, Christians got the idea that dreaming is wrong.
I bet Satan, knowing the power of dreams, established a strong propaganda campaign against them within the Body of Christ.
Made it seem as though fantasies and visions are dangerous lies indulged in only by the lazy, undisciplined soul
Engulfed them in so much guilt and shame that we don’t even bother to pull out the sword of God’s word to hack our way through to the treasure beneath the loathsome outer vines,
so as to kiss the Sleeping Beauty of our true selves who fell asleep when we bit the apple and awaken our souls to take up our rightful place in the kingdom.
I wonder if Nathanael was daydreaming when Christ saw Him beneath the fig tree –
imagining himself on a great adventure, some calling beyond the humdrum of the daily life stretching before him, hiding from all others the fantasy world he thinks will only garner him correction or rebuke-
but Jesus doesn’t condemn him, He calls him, and answers his dream with the greatest story ever told.
Knowing the power of stories in the hand of the Master, Satan also set about to discredit fictional tales as escapist nonsense, something to be avoided by a serious disciple.
Why did we buy this lie?
How could we imagine that the Creator of imagination, the Cosmic Story-teller, the Prince of Parables would be anything but thrilled with our flights of fantasy?
How could we allow ourselves to be duped into thinking that God is opposed to dreams?
There are truths in this life that are best communicated through numerical equations and scientific formulas – this is true.
But there are deeper truths that defy orderly columns and parenthetical lines that can only be communicated through dreams, stories, sounds, smells, colors, animation, fabric, clay, and other artful means.
We are multi-dimensional beings and if we’ve only explored three of those dimensions, we’re missing out.
I challenge you to consider your dreams.
List your favorite movies, books, television shows, fantasies, and songs. Ask yourself what visual art appeals to you or craft or dance or handiwork.
Write your daydreams – even the ones you believe are wrong – and then look at it all together. Write also what sections of the Bible draw you most often – the Psalms? the Gospels? the prophets? With whom do you identify in the Bible?
Now, ask God to show you the themes in your dreams. If there is sin there, don’t turn away, don’t be afraid of it – it’s forgiven anyway. Confess it, receive the forgiveness, and then set it aside.
What else is there to see?
There’s something.
Perhaps, in every fantasy, you are a man of courage. You’re brave, heroic, admired, and strong. You’re drawn to the books of history, to Joshua and Gideon, your favorite movie is Braveheart, and there’s not a Tom Clancy novel you haven’t read.
Ask God if this is His dream of you, too? And perhaps, is there a ministry or a calling out there looking for a hero? Looking for you?
Or perhaps you consume romance novels by the bag full. In your fantasies, you’re beautiful, desirable, confident, and alluring. You’re drawn to the Psalms and to wisdom literature but you’re also drawn to Revelation because Jesus rides in on a white horse and saves the day. You identify with Mary in the garden after Jesus rose from the grave.
Ask God if this is His dream of you, too? Do you have eyes that see the romance of God for His people? Are you called to use your gift of song or art to draw others into the romance of the ages?
Is your movie-making ability or playwriting dramatic flare or teaching skill the seed He’s trying to nurture into a lush tree, laden with the fruit of the spirit.
From the deep well of living water rising up within me comes the sense that we are entering the age of dreams and that God is calling His dreamers
through the arts, through nature, through our own fantasies and imaginings – He wants us to rise from the ashes of sin and become what He dreamt us to be before time began.
Don’t be afraid.
Jesus died to free us.
Satan has worked overtime to keep us bound
but “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” I John 4:4
Have you been daydreaming lately?
Ask God to show you why. What is He telling you and what is your deepest heart crying out to say through your imagination?
Isn’t it time you started listening?
“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” -Edgar Allen Poe
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Thank you for this post, Lori. It’s a shame we let our daydreams die. When they die, imagination and creativity suffer. As authors, we should never stop dreaming.
I agree, Sherry.
I’m a major daydreamer, and I’ve been trying to learn from them recently. But it is hard, isn’t it, teasing out the good from the sinful? And it’s hard to set limits on the time we spend daydreaming, but if we don’t, we’ll miss what’s happening in the real world. Balance…
Sometimes, we spend so much time on daydreams because we don’t look at them and learn from them. The more we do this prayerfully, I believe the more the Lord will weave our dreams into our reality.
Sounds lovely, I hope you’re right!
We talked about the Old Testament dreamers in small group. Only one of us – the guy with ADHD – was brave enough to share his dream. Our comfort zones are too comfortable and dreaming takes too much courage.
I really love this post and also your Island because one of my friend lives there and amazing post and I love my Lord Jesus very much.
Praise The Lord.