Happy New Year 2025!
New Year 2025 | Happy New Year | Random Thoughts | Jesus Christ | Christianity
God: You Need to Obey Me
A Weird Dream
The morning of the fourth Sunday in Advent (read my post: Love Sunday), I slowly woke up out of a deep sleep. I rarely dream. When I do dream I don’t remember what I dreamed about. But that Sunday morning, a dream caught me and held my thoughts captive.
In the dream, I was holding my iPhone in landscape mode. On the phone’s screen, I saw myself in a video watching something. The me in the “video” in the phone was pointing at something, and was deciding whether to press the something or not. The something seemed to be a link.
In my dream, God spoke to me, “Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it.”
I pressed the link anyway.
Sleep paralysis froze my body and the strong sense of an evil presence rushed toward me and stopped right by my bedside. If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you know about my experiences with the unseen spiritual realm, specifically with the evil ones.
I immediately tried to cry out to Jesus, as I’ve done with past encounters, but both my vocal chords and my mouth felt paralyzed. In my thoughts, I kept repeating, “Jesus!! Jesus!! Jesus!!”
The evil presence’s influence said, “He’s not going to help you. Give up calling out to Him.”
Liar.
That response increased my intensity even more, knowing how God has rescued me in the past. In my thoughts I cried out again.
“Lord Jesus! Lord Jesus!”
The evil presence vanished in nanoseconds, and my vocal chords and mouth were free again.
The Dream’s Message
Father God then impressed upon me, in a loving but very serious and fatherly way, that I must obey Him. When He says not to do something, don’t question Him. Obey Him.
I felt like a reprimanded teenager who was caught in the act. I felt remorseful that I had done something stupid. I repented.
Then, I woke up.
When I told my husband about my dream, I mentioned that he’s the one who has dreams and remembers them. My dreams, and anything spiritual coming from my dreams, are an extremely rare occurrence.
So, why did I have the dream, remembered it, and what does it mean?
I concluded, while hubby listened, that God gave me a firm reminder not only for me but to share with other Jesus followers. I’m sharing it with you right now.
What’s Needed for 2025?
Pray about what you’ll read next, ask for God’s wisdom, and then take whatever the Lord leads for you to do, and obey Him.
Father God called to my attention one thing: Obedience.
Obey Your Father and Armor Up
This new year 2025 may be a tough one for Jesus followers worldwide. We must ground ourselves in the fundamentals of God’s word and take obedience seriously. No playing around, no slacking, we must obey God despite what others around us may demand that we do. And, it’s evident that the culture around us grows ever louder with its demands.
What do we do?
Obey Abba Papa and put on His armor, the full armor of God.
You’ve read these verses in Ephesians 6 before. Please don’t skim through them. Please read them with intention and pray through each verse. Ask Holy Spirit to give you specific and wise counsel for your life. Ask Him to encourage you.
Ephesians 6:10-20 (BSB)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly, as I should.
We must be ready—and able—to fight the spiritual battles that the apostle Paul wrote about in Ephesians 6:10-20.
Are you ready?
Do you know who you are in Christ?
Do you know your spiritual standing in this realm and in the unseen realm because of all Jesus did for you and has given to you as spiritual blessings?
Do you know how to hold up His authority when your unseen enemies attack you?
If you hesitated in your answers, even just a little bit, there are chinks in your armor, weak areas that need to be repaired and strengthened.
I have good news for you plus a challenge.
The Good News
All the answers are found in your Lord Jesus.
The Challenge
Know the answers to the three questions above and hide them in your heart so you can recall them quickly. Why? Spiritually, the times are growing more and more perilous. Many who say they are Christians continue to fall into grave sin, preach error, or walk away from their faith.
Your challenge is to use the 12 months in 2025 to read through the New Testament slowly and with a spiritual magnifying glass. Learn what the gospel writers and the writers of the letters to the churches say about you until you can answer the above questions with confidence.
If you accept this challenge, by the end of 2025 you’ll be sooo blessed!
Need help with finding Bible study tools? Read my post: “Bible Study Tools”.
Update: Here’s an idea for a reading plan by Sean McDowell:
”Don’t Read the Entire Bible in 2025”
You’ll not only be sooo blessed, you’ll eagerly obey Father God because of His great love for you.
Dear readers, Happy New Year 2025, and—again—thank you so much for being on this journey with me. I appreciate every one of you.
See you on Sunday.
Maranatha, come (again) Lord Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria!
If you’re a not-yet follower of Jesus Christ, please come along on this journey with us. You are welcome here.
And, I invite you to read my series on the book “What Does God Want?”.
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Good word We can expect to hear from our Heavenly Father. Jesus made the bridge We can approach His throne with confidence and expect to hear Him and understand His word. Not just listening to men, but learning for ourselves That’s why He gave us the scriptures. That’s why I write , too.!:)
Wow, what a unsettling dream. We must also remember to ask for the armor of God every day. I heard that from a spiritual warfare specialist.