I have written about the different ways God talks to us. Some people call them signs, some people call them miracles, I use the term signs. One of these signs is dreams. Dreams can be tricky because you need to be able to discern between this that are from God, Satan or bad chili.

Since I began my journey I have been giving signs a lot of thought. I believe the ones I need to pay attention to are the recurring and ones I will remember for a long time afterward.

I have written about what I call the “Door” story and what that dream and the resulting actions meant. I am now going to share an excerpt from the book I am writing, about another dream I was having and the message it sent me.

I had this dream many times, it was always the same, although once or twice it had some minor differences. This dream involved me walking through a business district in a small city or a large town. I couldn’t identify the town, as far as I know it wasn’t anywhere I have ever been or even one that exists. It is like many other towns and cities throughout New England (and I am sure other places as well). With brick buildings, none over four stories tall, most with a storefront on the ground floor. There are people walking around, nothing out of the ordinary. I walk along the street, sometimes on one side of the street, sometimes on the opposite side. Sometimes I am alone, sometimes someone is with me, although always ahead of me.

As I walk I come upon a certain side street. I know if I take it it will be a shorter way to where I am going. The side street, more of a wide alley, leads to an area of abandoned buildings. There are no people, no cars, just all these abandoned buildings. Now one thing you should know about me is that I love old buildings. I love the history and I love the architecture. I love to picture what they were like back in the “boom times” of the town, around  1880’s to 1920’s. While there are no people I can hear voices and I can also hear music playing.

One of the buildings I see is an old vaudeville theater. Now vaudeville is another of those things I love. I approach the theater and I come to what I assume must be the stage door. It isn’t the main entrance with the ticket window, although I can see that as well. His door is open and I look into a short hall with stairs leading up to the next floor. There are some old theater bills there, some sheet music on the hall floor, and a few other artifacts from the era. I can also hear music coming from the top of the stairs, it sounds like there is a show going on. On two or three occasions someone I know is at the top of the stairs. They are telling me I need to come up and see what is happening in the building. This is usually the same person I was following.

There is one light, a bare bulb at the top of the stairs, and I head up. At the top of the stairs, there is a long, dark hallway that I start to walk down. There are doors on both sides, I assume they are rooms, hotel rooms. I go along the hall and when I get to the fourth door on the left it is open. This is where the voice and the music is coming from. I enter the room and I am grabbed from behind and attacked. This is when I begin to have difficulty breathing, feeling like I am either suffocating or choked. This is also where I wake up. Each time I had the dream it was always 99% the same. There were some minor differences, but  it was the same dream; the same town, the same buildings, the same ending. Except for the last time. The last time it was different.

The last time the dream was different. I had spent the day reflecting on it and trying to figure out what it meant. I asked God to help me figure it out. I realized what the dream was telling me was that the voice I heard was Satan. He was luring me into his world. He was tempting me to sin and then once he had me, this is when the life would leave me. That night I had the dream again. This time I heard the voice that was drawing me to the alley.  But, it was like another voice was there telling me, “You know what will happen if you go down that alley. Don’t go, go straight instead.” That is what I did and I haven’t had the dream again.

This convinced me that I was right about recurring dreams come from God. I was right that they contained some kind of message. And it confirmed to me just one other way God helps me when I ask him to.

The lesson from this dream is that you can resist evil, you can resist temptation. You can escape the snares of the devil, and God will help you do it.

Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory, through Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you after you have suffered a little. – 1 Peter 5: 8 – 10