A friend of us had recently a dream which happened in the Church environment. There were piles of shoes in a Church and some members of the Church were very hectic trying to find fitting shoes to their feet. The dream was more specific but I asked the permission to write about this amount of subject in this blog as the dream started to talk to me.
As soon as I heard this dream I understood that this is the era when it is of utmost importance to find the fit shoes for our feet. Shoes are often a picture of spiritual ministry and service. We have to understand that spiritual ministry and service is spiritual whether it is big or small in people’s eyes. The most important thing is that we do everything faithfully as to the Lord (Kol 3:23). The faithful ones are rewarded!
I have heard that in ancient Israel if shoes were given to you by somebody it was really a big thing. It was actually an invitation to accompany someone in a journey ahead. We as believers are called to take a journey with God and each one of us has been reserved to have fit shoes for the purpose and these spiritual shoes are not meant to be taken off.
Why was there in the dream so much shoes to search among in a Church? Why had people gone and left their shoes in a Church? Did they not notice they were barefoot and had no shoes on?Why are shoes so important and what they mean in a spiritual sense?
Someone may have no shoes at all, someone may have shoes too small or someone even shoes too big. I hope there are also many of those who already have found and received their fit shoes.
a) Barefoot christians. To be barefoot in a Church and leave the Church without shoes reminds me of the fact that we may have forgotten to put to our feet the preparedness for the gospel of peace (Ef 6:15). We only mind our own businesses and do not live for Christ in our everyday lives. If you have not these kind of shoes at all, repent and ask the Lord to give you proper and fit shoes for your feet so that you are able to fulfill your God given purposes. It gives both you and God great delight if you do so. (Neh 8:10)
b) Christian with small shoes. A few weeks ago there was an article in the news that Finns have a tendency to have small shoes on their feet. Why Finns use too small shoes? I believe that it can be an even bigger problem and true in a Church environment. Not big problem in a natural sense but in a spiritual sense. In the natural, if someone frequently uses small shoes in his/her feet, he/she is unable to walk properly without having blisters and pain and in the long run even foot structure suffers as it does not like shoes too small. Those shoes in fact may cripple you in a long run.
In a spiritual sense the fact that you are not able to walk and even step properly into your calling if you are content with too small shoes. You may think that it is better to be humble and withdraw yourself from serving the Lord, but that is not the right way to be humble. Remember Matthew 25 where there is this parable of talents given by the Master to His servants. The Master was not pleased to find out that the servant hid his/her talents in to the ground in order to safeguard that the talent could be preserved as it is back to the Master whenever He would come back home. It is also made very clear that this servant did not even know His Master properly. We are to put our talents in practice, trade with those talents, in order to increase their value and amount. The Master is pleased if you do this.
c) Christian with big shoes. But there is also another kind of common problem with shoes in a Church. Sometimes we try to put too big shoes into our feet. With this I mean situations were we think that the only way to serve the Lord is only behind the pulpet. Those shoes perhaps look cool but if we put them into our feet we may stumble and fall if we try to walk with those shoes. Get rid of those too big shoes and ask the Lord to give you your own fit shoes. You really need them and you will find how glad you are when your shoes fit and you can actually walk and run with them. And who knows, there might come a day, that those shoes currently too big shoes for your feet turn out to be perfectly fit and those smaller shoes which you now changed on, prove to be too small for you. You just had the big shoes too early.
I hope also you understand from this above how crucial it is to find fit shoes to your feet, not too small, not too big but fit ones as they are the best to walk with.
It is of the uttermost importance that you have the shoes of preparedness to the Gospel of peace and do not go around without those shoes. Those shoes make you fit for service within the Church and outside the Church and you can trade with you talents so that the amount of your gifts may steadily increase and you are able to achieve even greater things for the Lord. The vision requires you may run with it.
Hab 2:2 (NKJV): Then the LORD answered me and said: ”Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.”
Pastor Leena
