"Storm Shelter"
by Lorraine Ezell
Some people seldom ever have dreams, but I have had dreams for as long as I can remember. As a matter of fact, I only remember not having a dream at night only about twice in my entire life. When I say that I dream, I mean that I dream! Most nights I have multiple dreams. I often wake up several times during the night, but I have dreamed before I wake up and when I go back to sleep I start dreaming all over again. Some of my dreams have been sad, others have been happy. Some of the dreams I have had made absolutely no sense while others made me wonder if it was actually a dream or reality. Sometimes I remember the dreams vividly after I wake up. Some dreams I only remember bits and pieces of while others I can’t remember at all- I just remember dreaming. I said all that not to bore you with just personal information about myself but because I want to share with you this month a dream that I had just recently.
I want to share this dream because I believe that it is a dream that came from the Lord. Before I start let me say that God does use dreams to speak to people. He used dreams in the past and since He does not change He still uses dreams as a form of communication in the present. We can see this very evident in the Bible. Joseph had a dream. “And Joseph dreamed a dream. For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.” (Genesis 37:5a,7) Pharaoh had a dream. “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” (Genesis 41:15,16) The baker and butler had dreams. “And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.” (Genesis 40:5) The Lord spoke to Joseph twice in dreams- concerning his marriage to Mary and the safety of baby Jesus. (Matthew 1:20; 2:20) The Bible also tells us that in the last days God would pour His Spirit out upon all flesh and our sons and daughters would prophesy, the young men would see visions and the old men would dream dreams. (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28) I also want to say that just because you have a dream does not mean that the dream is from the Lord and something that you need to heed as a “word” from Him. Sometimes dreams are the result of our subconscience thoughts. Sometimes they are a result of too much rich or spicy food that we have consumed to close to bed time. Sometimes the enemy will try to come in through our dreams to attack us when we are not awake and on guard.
When I have a dream that I know is from the Lord, sometimes I understand it and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I don’t realize that it is from the Lord until I start to tell it to someone then the Spirit quickens my understanding as I talk about it. Sometimes the Lord doesn’t give us the meaning of the dream right away because it is for a later time. For example, the dream that Joseph had concerning the wheat and stars all bowing down to him. He did not have the full interpretation of the dream until it came to pass. The dream that I am going to share with you is sort of like that. I understand the meaning, but not the timing. I understand what the Lord is saying through it but am not always sure about all the minuet details and what exactly they mean. The dream I had Friday night was about a storm. I am not going to share all the “small” details but only the ones that are significant.
The dream: I was at my home, my daughter was there and some other man that I did not recognize. The three of us were sitting outside under my husband’s carport. When the dream started, we had already received information that a severe storm was coming. The weather did not look threatening at that time. Then all of a sudden the air got very still and very quiet. I remember telling my daughter and this man that it was time to go in the house because of the stillness and I was having a hard time breathing- I felt a lot of pressure in my chest as if the barometric pressure had dropped. As we were moving toward the house, which was only a few feet away, we stopped to look for a tornado on the horizon. My husband always does this when we have bad weather so in my dream we were doing the same thing. He always looks toward the south west because that’s where our bad weather usually comes from. So in the dream we were looking to see if we could spot a funnel cloud. The trees were blocking the view but in a moment I was able to see through a little clearing and sure enough there was a funnel cloud. It was gray and very tall. Let me explain what it looked like for a moment because this is very note worthy. It was tall and straight. On each side it looked like little smaller tornadoes branching off of it. I am not sure how many there were- at least six. It almost reminded you of how a spinal cord looks. We then went in the house. After we were in the house I began to see several of my cousins walking up the carport and coming into the house- some of these cousins live near, others live far away. From the moment we started toward the house I began to “plead the blood” over the storm situation. When I say I was “pleading the blood”, I am referring to the blood of Jesus. There is power in the blood of Jesus. It is more powerful than anything else and I was calling for its protection to keep us safe. After the cousins were in the house I went into the living room. They were all sitting around in a semicircle on the couches. I went to the middle of the room and fell on my knees praying to the Lord for protection and pleading the blood. I was the only one who was praying. I opened my eyes and saw my cousins all sitting there with their hands joined. It dawned on me that that was a good idea. We needed to hold hands to help “hold on to” each other- we could each help anchor the other one if the winds tried to carry any of us away. In just a minute my parents, who live in front of me, called and said that they were all right and were cleaning up the debris, they also said that it was coming my way. I am on my knees in the middle of the room pleading the blood of Jesus for protection and could see out the living room windows the winds encircling the house at high speeds. It kept swirling around and around the house very fast. Then the storm was over. Everything calmed down and no one was hurt and the house was still intact. My dream ended.
I need to tell you that even though I was getting in the house out of the storm, even though I was falling on my knees in prayer, even though I was trying to get others in the house, even though I was pleading the blood of Jesus, even though we were holding on to each other for added support, I had no fear in the dream. I wasn’t afraid for my life, I wasn’t worried about my home. I was moving with wisdom and concern but not with fear.
Thank you for allowing me to share this with you because I believe that it is a warning and a word of encouragement from the Lord. The Lord says that He won’t do anything unless He first reveals it to the prophets. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) I don’t profess to be a prophet but He can speak to anyone that will listen to Him (“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Matthew 11:15), and He desires to speak to us all and show us great and mighty things that we don’t know. (Jeremiah 3:33)
Let me tell you what I believe the meaning of the dream is and why it is so important that I share it with you. I believe that it is a warning from the Lord that a “storm” is coming to America- although it very well may also indicate a storm that is coming upon the whole world. I believe that the storm is representative of judgment that is going to come to America. In the dream the weather did not look threatening although we had heard reports that a storm was on its way. The Lord has been sending His true prophets to warn America of what is to come. He has been showing us through the Bible the fulfillment of the scriptures that indicate what will happen in the final days. He has also been using voices in the secular world to warn us. We may not be seeing the storm as of yet, but the warnings are going forth.
Let’s move on to the dream and what I believe some of the things that were in it represent. I have seen dozens of pictures of tornadoes and none of them have ever looked like the one I saw. As I already said it had “spurs” branching off of each side. My husband told me that often small tornadoes will spawn off of a larger one. This was not the case in my dream. Instead, these small tornadoes were going into the big one, not coming from it. They were actually joining themselves to the big one and giving it their strength. If the tornado represents a judgment that is coming to our land, could it be that these small ones perhaps represent the many grave sins that this nation has committed? Could they be the sins of abortion, acceptance of homosexuality, partial birth abortion, stem cell research, materialism, violence, rejection of God? These things definitely help “feed” any judgment that the Lord will bring upon the unrepentant.
All the cousins that I saw are Christians, yet no one was praying, crying out to God for mercy, for protection, for His intervention. They were in the house safe, but just “waiting” it out. These cousins represent the family of God, the body of Christ, the church. Is that where the church is today? Is this what the family of God is doing? Have we stopped crying out to God to heal and save our land? Are we content to just “wait it out” until the Lord takes us home? Have we forgotten what our responsibility is? Where was the rest of our families? Why weren’t they in the house too? Did we warn anyone else? Are we content with the fact that we are “safe” and nothing else?
Let me summarize this dream with three main points. Point one: God always sends a warning. God is a merciful God, who loves mercy more than He loves judgment. But when He is left with no other recourse but to bring judgment, He is still a merciful God who always warns His children first. “Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.” (Jeremiah 44:4) God sent Moses to warn the children of Israel who were in Egypt when the last plague (death) was poured out. “And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.” (Exodus 11:4,5) He sent a warning in the day of Noah that the flood was coming. “And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” (Genesis 6:7,8) He sent a warning before Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed. “And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.” (Genesis 19:1,13) He is sending warnings today, are we heeding the warnings?
Point two: We must warn others and get our families into the place of safety. In each of the cases we have talked about above, we see them warning their families of what was coming. Moses told each family head to get their family in their house and keep them there until death had passed over them. “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.“ (Exodus 12:21,22) Noah brought his family into the ark. “And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.” (Genesis 7:1,5) Lot warned his family of the destruction that was to come. “And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” (Genesis 19:14,15) Lot’s sons in law thought he was crazy. They might think the same of you. You may think that of me after reading this. But when we have heard what the Lord is saying we have a responsibility to tell others so that they might be saved.
Point three: God always has a place of safety for those who put their trust and faith in Him. Did you notice in all the examples that we have been using that God not only warned them but provided a place of safety for them when destruction or judgment was falling? Again, He has not changed. He has a place of safety and refuge for us as well. In my dream as long as I and those who were with me were in the house, we were safe. We saw the storm, we saw the winds, we saw its powerful force, but we were safe as long as we stayed in the house. As long as those who were in the houses that had the blood applied to the door posts that night in Egypt stayed in the house they were safe. Death was all around them but they were safe. “For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.” (Ex. 12:23) As long as Noah and his family were in the ark they were safe. The flood rains were falling all around them but they were floating safely over them. “And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” (Gen. 7:23) As long as Lot followed the angels out of the city and followed the commands that were given them they were safe. “And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” (Gen. 19:16,17) We neglected to mention the harlot Rahab. “Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee. And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.” (Joshua 2:18,19) All who were in her house were saved.
Only the Lord knows what type of storm is coming upon this nation, and the whole earth, and only He knows when. The point is that we must heed His warnings, prepare ourselves, warn others, encourage our brothers and sisters by grabbing a hold of their hands and make sure we are “in the house”. Christ is that “house”. He is that safe dwelling place. “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:15) Those who are “in Him” will find peace, hope and safety regardless of how terrible the storms may be. Thank God for providing a safe place in Him. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10) “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1) “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.” (Psalm 32:7) “Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.” (Psalm 119:114) “Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.” (Psalm 71:3)
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