Ministry Dream

A man came to ask for help with a couple of issues he had.

The night before he came, I had a dream that I was dressed in a beautiful wedding dress for the Lord, but my feet were without any shoes. As I inquired of the Lord as to the meaning of this dream, He told me that I must be ready to share the gospel with the man I was to minister to the next day.

In the Bible, shoes are part of the armour of God. Shoes represent the "readiness of the gospel of peace". Thus, any dream involving shoes usually means there will be a need to "share the gospel". Being part of the global church (the bride of Christ), my wearing a wedding dress meant that I was dressed ready to work for the Lord, but I would also need to be ready to share the gospel; I needed to wear shoes.

The majority of the people that I have ministered to in the past were Christians, so there was usually no need to share the gospel as they would already know it. Still, through the dream, the Lord showed me that I must wear shoes - it seemed that I must share the gospel with the man.

Ministry Session

The next day, I met with the man via Zoom. It was an introductory call to get to know him. It appeared that he had been brought up in the Catholic faith. When I asked if he believed in Jesus Christ, he affirmed without the slightest hesitation that he did. When I asked what Jesus did for him. He correctly replied, "Jesus died for my sins".

So, I had an internal conversation with the Lord in my heart that went as follows:

"Lord, he already believes in You, and he knows You died for his sins"

Then the Lord replied,

"Share the gospel with him".

"But Lord, He already knows the gospel", I insisted.

"Share the gospel with him", the Lord repeated.

"But Lord...", I moaned.

"Share the gospel with him!" the Lord said once more; His voice ringing loudly in my ears.

Sharing the Gospel

Who was I to disobey the Lord?

And so, I began to ask the man the question:

"Do you know why Jesus died for your sins?"

He looked hesitant, and so I asked another question:

"Are you a good person?"

To which he replied, "I am not bad"

I then asked if I could check that, and upon his agreement I proceeded to ask the following questions:

• • Have you ever lied?

  • Have you ever stolen anything?

  • Have you ever used the Lord's Name in vain (called blasphemy)?

  • Have you ever looked at a woman with lust?

As he answered these questions, he realised that he was not the good person he thought he was. And since the wages of sin is death, when I asked where he would end up - heaven or hell - he had to say, "hell" - much to his horror!

I explained that the death penalty has actually been issued to him. This is because being a JUST God, God requires the death penalty (the consequence of sin) to be paid. However, since God is also a God of LOVE - He made provision for the death penalty to be paid: God sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ to die in the man's place. Jesus shed his blood for him. And if the man would accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, forgiveness can then be given to the man upon repentance of his sins. The man would cross over from death to life.

John 3:16-18

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Encountering Jesus

The man looked astounded as he received divine understanding. His eyes widened as he began to say,

"Wow, Jesus is wonderful, He is a wonderful guy!"

Then, much to my astonishment, I saw tears flowing from his eyes non-stop. He looked up repeating, "Jesus is wonderful, He's a wonderful guy.

Oh, I am feeling something powerful coming over me".

As he gasped in amazement, I knew at that moment, he was having an encounter with Jesus. Jesus had become real to Him, so much so that the presence of Jesus compelled him to cry.

I urged him to respond to Jesus. So, he spoke to Jesus in his own humble words that he would accept Him as his personal Lord and Saviour. His words came straight from his heart.

A few minutes later, still in the presence of Jesus, the man started to recall so many sins and sinful thoughts he had had over the years. The unpleasant thoughts he had when someone cut him up on the road, the unpleasant thoughts of a homeless person begging in the street, and so many others. I urged him to confess these sinful thoughts and ask Jesus for forgiveness, and he did so. He asked Jesus to help him and to make his life right with God.

I then prayed over him and asked the Lord to baptise him in His Holy Spirit, which I believe the Lord was already doing anyway.

As we ended the session, I felt so privileged to have witnessed the power of the gospel; the power that manifested the presence of Jesus - the power that caused a man to be "born again". As evidence would show, not all professing Christians are born again. It was clear to me now how important my dream was - how it contained crucial instruction from the Lord to direct me for a powerful ministry: the sharing of the gospel. It was also, for me, a valuable lesson and opportunity for obedience to the Lord. Praise be the Lord!

Now that the man is born again, he is ready to receive ministry - and to that end, ministry would be effective. The man then made another appointment for five days' time to start working on his issues.

Encountering the Holy Spirit

Five days passed, and we met again for a second session on Zoom. But before I could say anything, the man started to share all the miracles he had been experiencing during those five days. He told me that God was already changing his mind and attitude towards all the sinful things in his life. Not only that, but a strange thing has also happened -he had seen a white dove at his window every day for the last five days.

On one of the days, he went out to see the dove. It stood there staring at him, and did not fly away. The man stared at the dove, but the dove stared back at him even more, looking intently into the man's eyes.

The man was rather lost as to what this meant. He thought that perhaps the white dove was his grandmother who had passed away (since his grandmother liked birds and used to keep white birds).

I had to jump out of my seat, almost shouting, "No, it's not grandma! It's the Holy Spirit!"

I pointed him to a few Bible verses which described the Holy Spirit as a white dove. The man was surprised and pleased to hear this, enlightened once more by God's Word.

Matthew 3:16-17

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

I asked him if he could take a picture of the dove for me if he saw it again. He agreed to do so (see picture below).

As for the "grandma" idea - I told him that such an idea came from an evil spirit - called the "familiar spirit" who follows the family down the generational line; one that also encourages ancestral worship (Necromancy - worshipping/praying to dead people - which is common in Catholicism).

Deliverance

The session continued during which Father God, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit were all present. As the man confessed and repented of the many sins he had, evil spirits manifested and left. The man was freed from his issues. Hallelujah! Praise be to God.

Due to all that God had done for him, the man asked me if I could minister to his fiancée also. I agreed to do so, for which appointments have yet to be made.

Double Dose of Holy Spirit

But even before an appointment was made for his fiancée, God was already on her case. Now there are two white doves that come to their house and garden, instead of just the one (see picture below). Exciting times are ahead for both of them. Hallelujah, praise be to God and the Lord Jesus ...

... And Holy Spirit - You are most welcome in their lives! Please help them...

© Elma Larsen. All rights reserved.