Question: How do we know when some random thought that comes into our heads is from the Lord or not? The answer is not as simple as one might think. There might be some thoughts that are clearly not in line with Scripture and are easily dismissed. Equally, there are others that speak to the very depths of our souls which convict us of our shortcomings, which makes us fairly sure that it is the Lord. But in between there are many others which can leave us puzzled, at least initially. A week or so ago whilst dreaming one morning I found myself saying “The world is looking for Christians with two eyes in them.” I immediately thought that was stupid and woke up. As I went over that statement again in my mind I realised that it might make more sense if it was referring to the letter i, which in English is also the personal pronoun. And that the word Christian contains two ‘i’s. If we take the first ‘i’ as being our natural selves with all our idiosyncrasies and characteristics. Then as Christians we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through which people can hopefully see God working in them as the second ‘i’. So the statement means that people are neither looking for carnal Christians who have no evidence of the outworking of God in their lives or Christians living as automata under the control of the Holy Spirit, but people who are clearly human in their behaviour but also something of the divine in them. Even if we are unaware of what they see of God in us.

But a cynic or critic could easily say that I am just trying to make sense of a nonsensical statement by spiritualising it and deluding myself into thinking that God was trying to speak to me. So while on the whole I think that God was trying to speak to me I have to admit that I am not 100% certain.

David Rose, 2017.