Some of you who know me know that God works with me through dreams.  Not every night, and not every dream.  Sometimes it can be several months or more between dreams.  Sometimes it can be only a few weeks.  But it's infrequently enough that I stand up and pay attention anytime He sends one to me.  And they are rich and vivid, memorable and realistic to such a degree that anyone, who has never had a "God dream" before couldn't comprehend.  Until you've had one yourself, you have no real context to understand what these are like.  Anyhow, speaking of dreams, God gave me another one tonight.  It wasn't long, but it was sharp, clear and highly memorable.  Allow me to explain by first giving you the dream.

    Earlier today I crawled in bed with the intention of going to sleep for the night.  Not long into that sleep I had this short dream where I was in my house and my cat was there with me, as was this tiger called "Simba".  I remember treating him like a pet, but also handling him with great care knowing that, if I did the wrong thing, he'd turn on me and eat me.  So I stroked and coddled him, and tried to keep him happy.  However, the first moment I stepped away and turned by back on him, he attacked my cat, wounding him severely.  I scolded the tiger and took him aside, even looking him straight in the eye trying to convince him that what he did was wrong.  But I could tell that I was having no effect.  Nothing I said would change who he was or his nature.  So I went over to check on my cat and found him alive, but badly injured, with blood everywhere, his coat matted heavily with the stuff.  He looked kinda like he'd been dipped in a bucket of blood.

    I was happy he was alive, but felt sad that he'd been hurt.  At that point I made the decision, Simba had to go.  When I turned back to him, I could see he was pacing back and forth and was looking for another chance to attack my cat, with the intention of killing it.  So I opened the sliding door to the porch and told Simba, politely, to go outside.  He hesitated initially, but then went out the door.  I slammed it behind him, got my shotgun, and called 911.  I didn't want to hurt Simba, and preferred to let animal control deal with him, but if he came back through that sliding door and tried to attack either myself or my cat, I would shoot and kill him without hesitation.

    That's where the dream ended.  Now, here's the interesting part.  I looked up what those two symbols meant, the cat and the tiger, and realized immediately what God was telling me.  Even though I was participating directly in the dream, I was also a represented participant as well in the dream in two ways.  So I was directly taking part in the dream, and I was also being represented by the cat.  As I looked up the definitions on this, I realized that God was telling me that I'd let Satan into my house (ie, my life) and, like any wild beast (a tiger in this case), when the opportunity was right, and I wasn't looking, he attacked and severely wounded me.  Not unto death, but he sure did a lot of damage.  And yet, despite this, I continued to coddle him, not wanting to cast him out like I should.  I eventually did, but it took the pain of that severe wounding before I did.  IE, I took damage before I wised up.  Now, what makes this all the more interesting is this is the third God dream I've had with a tiger in it.  The first was me in the rope factory with a tiger that wanted to kill me.  I managed to restrain him and keep him from harming me.  But it was a fierce battle, and not one I could win.  Even so I fought on, not wanting to let go, knowing that, if I did, I was dead.

    Then there's the strange, confusing dream about Rinka.  For those of you who don't know, Rinka was the pet tiger of a friend of mine.  Sweetest big cat you'd ever meet.  She was so sweet, gentle and kind that she wouldn't harm a fly if it bit her.  She was that nice.  Very smart too, and super lovable.  Yes, that's rare among tigers, but that's who she was.  Anyhow, in that dream I remember being in sorta this mill like building, and I heard and knew that a tiger was coming up the stairs from below with the intention of killing me.  So I barred myself in a room to escape it.  However, as I did, I realized that there was no way to secure the room.  So I decided to make a break for it.  However, as I emerged from the room, Rinka appeared on the steps.  At first I didn't recognize her.  But then God's voice said to me, "remember the scarf".  It was at this moment I realized that it was Rinka.  We then happily embrace and all my fears go away.  However, upon later examination, I realized that wasn't Rinka.  Obviously I didn't realize that while I was in the dream.  I figured that out later, and it took a second dream to wake me up to that fact.  Allow me to explain by putting these in order.

    1.  Part one of the three dream series starts out with the rope factor and the tiger (satan) trying to kill/destroy me.  I battle hard/struggle fiercely to defeat him, but find myself unable to win the battle, or prevail.  I can't even put together enough strength to bind him.  All I can do is delay the inevitable by holding on as long as I can.  I don't see the ultimate end of this fight, but I know that, if someone doesn't step in soon, I'm tiger treats.

    2.  Part two then moves on to Rinka and the mill house.  I think that one hints that Satan decided to switch up his tactics from violence to one of subtlety, as brute force clearly wasn't working like he wanted it to, as his battle with me was all just one long, drawn out stalemate.  So he tricked me into thinking that he wasn't an actual threat to me, just tricking me into lowering my guard and accepting him by pretending to be someone I'm familiar with.  And, like a fool, I let him, after which he was able to put himself in a position to harm me without the same struggle as before.  God even warned me who it really was, but I wouldn't listen.  The red scarf should've been a massive red flag.  But, alas, it wasn't.  I let him (the devil) in with open arms and a bear hug like he was a friend.

    3.  Part three then was the tiger and my cat in the dream earlier tonight.  This is what helped me solve the riddle of the second dream.  In that dream God was picking up from part two and showing me that I had let Satan into my midst and coddled him like a pet, only to have him turn on me the moment I turned my back on him, and wound me severely.  I then tried to coddle him again, and convince him to behave, figuring I could control him, which was totally to my folly.  The only good part about this is I wisely put him outside eventually.  But, by that time, the damage had already been done. :(

    At first I didn't want to believe that's what God was trying to tell me.  But the more I thought about it and examined my own life, the more I realized that He was right.  So I immediately repented of that and have begun once again to seek out and purge from my life all the "tigers" that Satan snuck in there with my permission, not realizing what I was allowing.  Anyhow, just wanted to share this with you as it was very, very eye opening to me, and a strong lesson also.  It also makes me feel good knowing that I now understand what Satan has been doing to me, and why I have been unable to gain victory over him of late.  I mean, you can't exactly defeat Satan when you give him intimate access to your life so that he can easily attack you from point blank range and take you apart like a Gazelle. :(

    One thing's for certain about all this.  Lesson learned.