The Elevated Path

The Elevated Path:

• A dream of the night…March 2004′

The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; He who keeps his way preserves his soul. Proverbs 16:17 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/pro.16.17.NKJV

A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray. Isaiah 35:8 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/isa.35.8.NKJV

Dream:

I dreamt that I was on a raised path going through a dark forest. The path I was walking on was raised, as a set of railroad tracks is raised, above the native earth by a ribbon of mounded white gravel, about four feet high. The path was narrow. I would say this path would mostly require single file foot travel, unless two walked very closely together.

So, I’m walking through a forest alone, with some trepidation, but there is a mysterious presence walking about ten yards behind me, cloaked in a hooded garment; and his presence gives me comfort¹.

 (this cloak may be a mantle, as in a prophets mantle, as in a mantle like that of Elijah, that Elisha desired).

Then…what’s that!? Off to the right…there is a male figure making its way directly towards me. As it gets closer I’m repulsed,  by its deranged smile and diseased condition, with numerous oozing wounds on its exposed skin.²

 It drew closer and then made its way right up on the path with me, and its desire was to glom itself onto me³. Then it was upon me, so I grappled with it and threw it back off the path, the way it had come. And the thing of disgust sailed through the air about ten yards and fell to the forest floor. As it struck the earth, a small cloud of leaves billowed up from the ground where it landed, and fluttered back down upon the body…burying it shallowly. It was dead. But… unfortunately, it was soon getting back up, it was like a zombie, the walking dead.

 End of dream.

• Is this thing, the body of sin*, which I put to death? A thing that must be struggled with and thrown off the path? A besetting sin? I’m thinking so.
• Now what I do, when I see this thing coming (when I’m being tempted by sin) is, I see , both theologically, and as a visualization, the mysterious cloaked figure that was following me, as the Spirit of Christ.?  And I move closer to Him in the dream (in my mind) and I see Jesus; even reaching out with my hand, touching Him (I have also placed myself in the dream behind Jesus so, that He is between me and the body of sin, and Jesus raised his right arm and the the thing was gone). Or, going to my knees, worshiping Him…and Jesus placed his hand on my head, and the temptation fled. And when I’m near Jesus, I want what He wants, not sin, and I am not overtaken by it. So…I re-enter the dream (by meditating on it), and do what the word of God has taught me to do. And it is working…He is working. Praise God!
• P.S. If one might sin and feel reluctant to go to Jesus, thinking He doesn’t want me now, well, Jesus said Himself, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” John 6:37 NKJV
• http://bible.com/114/jhn.6.37.NKJV
• And…
• “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
• 1 John 1:9 NASB1995
• https://bible.com/bible/100/1jn.1.9.NASB1995

* O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?Romans 7:24 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/rom.7.24.NKJV

¹ And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; John 14:16 KJV
http://bible.com/1/jhn.14.16.KJV

² If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Genesis 4:7 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/gen.4.7.NKJV

³ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 KJV
http://bible.com/1/heb.12.1-2.KJV

⁴ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (Romans 8:9)

⁴ Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is  liberty. II Corinthians 3:17 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/2co.3.17.NKJV

C. S. Lewis:  “If you think of the Father as something ‘out there’, in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing at your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third person as something inside you, or behind you.” – – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (found today in, A Year With C.S. Lewis daily reading for Feb. 7).

“Besetting sin: definition: a fault to which a person or institution is especially prone; a characteristic weakness. The verb beset literally means ‘surround with hostile intent’, so the image is of a sin besieging or pressing in upon a person.”   

8-30-18 Th. 3:54pm:

Luke 1:75–79 (NASB95): 

75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;

77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation

By the forgiveness of their sins,

78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,

With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

79 To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,

To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

• I’m thinking every Christian (in the Spirit) (not only a prophet as Paul said, “you can all prophesy,”*) might go before the Lord in this way, as we prepare hearts and minds of those we might encounter, for the Lord.

* For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; 

1 CORINTHIANS 14:31 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/1co.14.31.NASB

3-24-19 Su. 4:43pm: came across this verse as I was perusing You Version bookmarks. This portion of the bookmark struck me as relevant to the One who walked behind me* in this dream…

*  “Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.  ISAIAH 58:8 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/isa.58.8.NASB

Jesus is said to be the radiance of the glory of Lord in…

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,  HEBREWS 1:3 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/heb.1.3.NASB