The subjects of coincidence, dreams, and divine guidance are interesting to me, and I know that there are many who have had things happen to them, which had no logical explanation. I honestly believe in divine guidance, in our personal lives, and I believe that can come through dreams at times. I certainly have a deep, and abiding faith in God, but there are certain things which are way beyond my understanding of them.
I've seen the programs on television about psychics, and how some of them help solve difficult cases for the police, and yet, I've always been taught that such things are of the devil. For as long as I can remember, I have had dreams that came true, and I've just "known" things that were about to happen, and I refuse to contribute that to the devil, because I know that I want no part of that sort of thing in my life.
One nice neighbor suggested that I should pray that I stop having the dreams, but I believe that many of my dreams are spiritual in nature. If the dreams cause no one harm, or bring about no evil, then who has the right to say that they are from the devil, and not from God? I think that God, sometimes, will use dreams as a "warning" of some impending danger.
For instance, I had a dream that someone had died, and was buried. I knew that it was one of my two sons. In my dream, I was underground, right next to the coffin. I could see through the side of it, and I knew that I was trying to see the feet of the one lying there.
There is a slight difference in the shapes of my sons' feet, and I knew that if I saw which one it was, that I would know how to pray. I saw that it was my younger son. I woke up, suddenly, with great apprehension, which is what happens when I have that kind of dream. I began to pray immediately against anything happening to him.
The next couple of days he wasn't feeling well, and he came home from work sick, which he never did. I kept asking him if he needed to go to the emergency room, because I had a gut feeling that it was serious. He finally consented, and as it turned out, he was having a major heart attack...in his twenties. He now has two stents in his heart, but he is alive.
I firmly believe that it was the fervent prayer, as a result of the dream, that kept it from being the tragedy that it could have been. I could go on and on, but I won't. If others find the subject interesting, I will write more about it in another post.
I guess I said all of that to say this: In this world there is good and evil, and we need God's guidance in every aspect of our lives to help us to realize which is which, because it is not always obvious.
In a small mid-western conservative town, a new bar/tavern started a building to open up their business. The local Baptist church started a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers. Work progressed, however right up until the week before opening, when a lightning strike hit the bar and it burned to the ground. The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means. The church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the buildings demise in its reply to the court. As the case made it's way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented, "I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that doesn't."
