Dreams & Sleep

In this final episode of season 1, Derek and Jill explore the spiritual and physical aspects of dreams and sleep, emphasizing their significance in spiritual warfare, healing, and personal growth. They discuss how dreams can be messages from God or demonic influences, and share practical prayers and tips for better sleep and spiritual protection. 

KEY TOPICS 

• Spiritual significance of dreams 
• Demonic influences and spiritual warfare 
• Practical prayers for protection during sleep 

SOUND BITES 

• "Dreams can be a powerful way God speaks to us" 
• "Recurring nightmares often indicate a spiritual issue" 
• "Trusting in God's kingdom brings true peace and rest" 

Youtube video link: 

Landing Page: 

Ministry Website:

Facebook Group: 

Embracing Our Full Victory In Christ (book): 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Welcome to Dominion Over Dart. Just where breakthrough is real with freedom spierless. Theatrix just probably undeniable power. If you're ready to break chains, step into your identity in Christ and fuck in victory, you're in the right place.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Welcome back to another episode of Dominion Over Darkness. We're so glad that you're with us again here today. Jill, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:50

I'm good. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Good. Before we get into our topic here today, we have a couple of announcements. One, very briefly, again, we want to promote a book. It's called Embracing Our Full Victory in Christ. And this is a book, I mean, we've talked about this before, and it really is a book that can benefit all Christians. We were just talking about this before we get started on this episode, but I would say the people that are going to benefit the most by this book are people that have had God's Spirit working in them, meaning, and it's it's a good thing when God's Spirit is working in us, but often we won't give him our attention until we are in a place of some sort of pain, discomfort, suffering, something that is, even if it is a conviction that's stirring in our heart that something's not right, something's not right with our world, maybe with the church, maybe with myself, something's off. And so we're seeking answers. We realize that maybe the church isn't able to or doesn't know how to help us in our place of struggle. And um maybe we've even experienced abandonment from the church, like we've gone through a divorce and the church did wasn't there to support, but rather alienated and condemned, or at least made us feel like we were something, so like a like a plague had infiltrated us. There's looking for answers, looking for more, looking for deeper meaning, looking for purpose, looking for healing and restoration. Those are the people that are going to benefit the most by this book. Because if you think that the ways that the church and religion and everything is working today is good and that it is right, this book will seem crazy to you. But if you already feel that, you know that something's not right, then this book is going to be incredibly valuable to you. It could change your life. And so one of the things that we start off with is that in order for a person to really truly be able to come into the healing of God, you have to find somebody that can actually help you walk through that journey. Because a person can't give you something that they don't have, that they haven't experienced themselves. And you need to have a person that has gone through that journey with God of cleansing, of purging, of refining. And it usually is around suffering. And so those people can guide you through it because they know the different stages of what's happening, why you're going through what you're going through, or at least the pattern that God uses. The why is something that can be different with each person depending on their background, their culture, their context, even generationally. And there's a lot of things that can contribute to that. But either way, this book is designated to help people to come into a faith that has power behind it, a faith that heals, a faith that comes into the relationship that we were always that we were intended to have with God. So God has always revealed himself throughout the entire Bible, even Old Testament, right from the beginning, Genesis 1, that he created us for a purpose, and it is in his image and likeness, and it is to have a relationship with him. That's what we were created for. And sin came in and messed that up, brought brokenness in, which death, suffering, pain, all very self-centered, all of those things is where the problem is. The rest of the Bible is revealing to us what God is doing to bring us back to our original purpose. And the key of all of that is Jesus, of course. What he does is that he gives us access to the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the power that he has given to us to bring us into the end of the age, which is the time where Jesus comes back again and judges all evil. And then there is no more brokenness anymore. And so we enter into a new era, a new age. This book is for us to come into what we were always meant to be, to find our identity in Christ, to come into that relationship in power. And if we have not been, or at least it's not been made aware to us through the power of the Holy Spirit that something's off, then we're not going to see the value. Just like we won't see the value in Christ if we're comfortable in this world. Because why do I need Jesus? Why do I need to surrender to a king when I'm doing pretty good myself? When I've got my own castle, when I've got all kinds of things that are happening in a good way for me. And so it's the same thing here. So many people are in that place, in my opinion, today. And so you don't have to be a mature Christian or somebody that's been a Christian for a long period of time. You can be brand new to the faith. You can be somebody that doesn't have any faith, but you're searching. This would be a great book for you. It does go into talking about deliverance, goes into counseling, goes into foundation of our faith, how we establish that foundation to be able to build on into that relationship with God. So you can get any of the platforms that it's available on through Amazon. So Amazon will offer all the different formats that you can get any book on. So whether it be Audible or Kindle or a printed paperback, hardcover, any of those things. You can get those all on Amazon. So that's the first thing. Second thing is that we have we've been talking about a certification program, and we are still working on that. And in fact, we are going to do an announcement, the second part of an announcement. We're going to weave into that certification program. This is going to be our last episode for the season. So episode 39 is going to be our final episode for season one. We're going to take a little break, might be two or three months. That's the plan. And that will help us to be able to really focus in on this certification program, the videos that we're making for that, which that I will explain in just a second, to conclude my thought on or my point on this podcast. Once we're done with the certification program, or once we at least start getting to a place where we can come back to the podcast, then the podcast is going to have a little bit different of a feel. And so we are going to, the plan is at this point, is to also be in the meantime developing our community on Facebook. We have a Facebook group page. You can actually get that on our website, find the same place that you have the podcast information. Also below that has our Facebook group information and a click that you can go to and it will take you right to our page, or you can search for it. It's Dominion Over Darkness on Facebook. And that is a group that the intention is to be able to have a community that we can ask questions, that we can support one another in this particular ministry. So if you have questions about spiritual warfare, if you have questions about how to start your own ministry in that, or if you have questions about how to deal with a certain situation that you are dealing with, I would say first, get our book and at least be familiar with that because how we answer those questions are also going to be based off of the format and the foundation that we establish in this book. But either way, we encourage you to plug into that Facebook group and we'll be looking for questions from that that we feel would be good to be also addressing on a podcast. And so to share with people more as a whole. So it will be more on that discussion, topics that have come up and questions for people in this particular ministry. But also we'll have some guests that we're going to be interviewing and it'll be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to it. But like I said, we're going to be taking a break. So don't panic. Just stay. In fact, what I would say is that if you go to our YouTube page and you subscribe to it, which I think it's Pastor Derek Mason, is the YouTube page in Identity in Christ. If you search for that, then you can also find the link to our YouTube page on our website as well. And if you subscribe to it, then you will be notified when we have a new podcast that comes out as well. So you'll be able to stay in tune that way. Anyways, with the certification program, what we'll be working on is to teach people how to do what we do. Part of the problem with the church today that you have already heard us talking about on this podcast is that many churches either don't believe in spiritual warfare, or if they do believe in it, they don't know how to do it very well. And so this podcast and this ministry is to not only help people in that department, and we also do counseling, deliverance, and all kinds of things to be able to help people to come into a better place, embracing the Holy Spirit of God, coming into the freedom and the identity that they have in Christ. But we're going to be teaching people how to do that as well so that they can develop their own ministries and that they can help people. We can only do so much as two people. I mean, I do have other people that are part of the team, and they are amazing. But even so, even if we had 10 people that were part of this team, we're still going to be very limited on the amount of impact that we can have on the entire world. The certification program is to help other people learn how to do this stuff and to help other people in much greater numbers. And so again, we'll keep you posted on. You'll find if you want to stay up to date on all this stuff, go to our website and you can subscribe, become part of the email list that we have that go out on a regular basis, and you will be notified as these things become available to you. We're excited about them, but also, like I said, we're going to be focusing in on that. That is going to be taking a big priority in our ministry right now. So, on that note, getting into our topic here today for our last episode of the first season. What is the subject matter for today, Jill?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Today we are going to be talking about dreams and sleep.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Okay. So, a fascinating topic, something that a lot of times people will come to us. Demonic elements are pretty wise in the fact that if they can destroy our sleep, that's just going to be a domino effect for a lot of other things. I think anybody can relate to the fact that if you don't get the rest that you need, you're going to be more emotional, you're going to be more irritable, you're going to not feel good. And uh and if you can't keep getting sleep over and over and over and over again, all those things are going to amplify. And all that does is also then fuel those demonic elements, if they are there, to grow stronger and stronger. And it traps us in a place of hopelessness and more anxiety and fear and alienation. And it's just compounding. So yeah, we want to talk about two different things. So dreams themselves, um let's let's start there, and then we'll get into how sleep can be impacted by demonic elements. So the dreams is kind of more, I think, the fun part of it for the most part. So dreams, here's something that's important for us to understand. So when we sleep, our mind is going to be processing the day, and it's going to be going through the stresses, the strains. That's why a lot of times when you watch a movie, that you can even have the movie, you can get yourself pulled in, your dreams can have that incorporated into the way that it's processing things. So you can find yourself in that movie somehow weaved in with those thoughts, those strains, those different things that are in our mind in your dream. And so it can be something that is somewhat fun, it can be things that are disturbing, it can be something that is really terrifying, like one of those dreams that you're so moved by it that it actually disturbs you for a day or two or three or whatever the case is. I would say if that's happening, those are the elements that have the potential of being a spiritual issue behind it. When people are dreaming a lot, you're processing things a lot, grinding your teeth, anxieties, fears, things that are overwhelming us. And it does indicate that we are trying to control our life and that it is something that we need to learn how to live in God's peace more, relax more. It can be also impacted by diet. So there are things that we are eating that can also trigger us to be clenching and having more anxiety, also. So need to learn about those things as well. Other things that can contribute. Now I'm going into the sleep side of it, but let's not let's not go down the sleep side, but we'll come back to that. So dreams again. Dreams, then, keeping that in mind, one part of it, yes, can be your brain just processing the day. When it starts getting into a place that, whether it be really dark or disturbing, then it can be something that is more being impacted by the spiritual realm. So can God speak to people in dreams? Of course he can. It shouldn't be something that's terrifying, but it should be something, it is going to be something that's probably pretty, pretty powerful. So it doesn't have to be convicting, but it is something that most likely is pretty powerful. Um, we don't forget it. We don't, it it does, it's something that we can't get out of our mind. It is something that kind of whether it be haunts or disturbs or is just really a deep thing that that we feel like a need to go deeper and understanding that, that can be God. If it's something that is terrifying, horrifying, preying on something that is really addressing a fear of ours and taking us to a place of incredible darkness and terror, that's most likely demonic. Most likely. And so those can be indications that there's something spiritual that's there. If those things are happening, then that can be something, especially if they're happening over and over and over again. So I know somebody that's, well, I'll say it was my wife who I who, when we were dating, she was telling me she said I that she would have dreams that were like nightmares every night. Like gory. She I said, Well, how how gory are you talking about? She's like, they're like battle scenes like you would see in Braveheart. And I'm like, wow. So like blood and flesh and just guts and all of that. That's how often do you have that? She says, Every night. I said, How long has that been happening for? And she said, as far back as I can remember, honestly. And I said, That's that's that's not normal. That's that's not good. There's something that's there, and there was. There was. So yeah, it's one thing if it's something that's occasional, it could be something that's influenced again. And the reason why I started with this is it can be influenced by a movie, it can be something that's influenced by what you've read. So keep that in mind. What you're putting in, if you're putting junk in, that's what you're also gonna get that's going on. Your mind's processing that stuff. But if none of that stuff was even happening, you're still having those kind of dreams and the torment of that, it's a reoccurring thing, a pattern, very good indication that it's probably a spiritual issue that's in there and that should be explored. So, number one, a bit of advice would be there's a prayer that it is on our website that you can go to and printed material and you can print out the different prayers that we have access to. But the idea of that prayer is that when you go to bed is that you would ultimately ask for God for the Holy Spirit to protect your dream realm when you go to bed. I mean, there's a pattern in prayer I think that is important. I think that definitely to thank God and to praise him for who he is. This is not a magic thing, but I think this is an honorable, mature way of praying. If you don't do it this way, it's not that it's not gonna work. It's just I think that this is a good habit to get into. Whenever you go to bed, pray every night before you go to bed for thanking God for his blessings for the day. Also ask him for needs, for holding up. So you have a grateful heart, is basically what it starts with having a grateful heart for God and who he is and what he provides for. I can ask for you the needs that you have then, whatever it is, your requests, prayers for protection, for blessings, for healing, whatever the case is, people that are on your heart. And then third is where I get into the dream realm. So I ask for the Holy Spirit to please protect me and my wife, our dream realm as we go to sleep. Um, and that's important from any kind of demonic elements that are in there, wanting to, or in it doesn't have to, they don't have to be in us. So I mean it can be that they're around, but they are influencing somehow. And I don't know exactly how all of that works, but if there are moments where they can absolutely influence. So um protecting your dream realm, ask for God to protect your dream realm and to allow you to have a good night's sleep and wake well rested in the morning. I'm telling you, this is so powerful that I've had times where I have forgotten that or been just tired and we just kind of fell asleep, kind of passed out, just fell on the bed and was out like in seconds. And we didn't pray. And I wake up the next day and I'm not well rested. And I did have some sort of, you could tell that something just wasn't right, it's not a good feeling of rest, and that something off. It's powerful, it's very powerful, especially if you were doing this type of ministry. If you are in the spiritual warfare ministry, you definitely should be praying that every night, all the time. Um, especially if sleep is an issue. And so, again, my wife doesn't struggle with those things anymore. And so those things are completely gone. It was done with deliverance and also this prayer, and a continued prayer like this is something that brought her to a place of peace and myself as well. So, anyways, dreams can on a side note also are very similar to even when we do deliverance. You're looking for imagery, is is very powerful. There are some books that are out there about biblical imagery, I think that they're helpful. I know that some really extreme conservative sides will say that stuff is all liberal or or whatever, and that's just a lie. Biblical imagery is very real, and it is it is very, very much used by God. That's how Joseph and Daniel both they recognize the patterns in the dreams that are that people have. There are imagery in the Bible that very much is part of that ancient Near East culture that is used that God speaks through and He uses and He will, everything from colors and numbers and imagery. And so to be familiar with that is very helpful, especially in this ministry. I think it's fun, but gosh, there's so many different things that the more that you read the Bible and that you're familiar with that imagery, the more that you also understand poetically what the Bible is saying in certain parts of Scripture. If it's a poem, then you need to read it like a poem, and you need to understand what that means when it's talking about a serpent that's red and that lives in the sea, and that is uh Leviathan, and all of those things are imagery from writing in the ancient Near East that have meaning behind it, and it's deeper meaning, it's not literal. So it really is important to understand that, and that's not we're not going to go into that, but dreams can use imagery such as that. But God is so awesome that He can use imagery also, something that means something to you if you don't know those kind of things, or have access to a person that knows those things. If it is of God, then he will use that stuff to speak to you. But just make sure that you're praying about it, because if you're not filtering it through the Bible, really that's where with uh it gets a little dangerous because it could be anything you want it to be. So just be really, really careful with that. I think that's the safest place to be, is if you stay within the imagery that the Bible uses, then you have validation that at least that it is something that is, if God is the author of his word, which I believe that he is, that he uses humans to write his word and the message that he has for us, then then it is authoritative. And we can use that as help in being able to understand some of these images that we're seeing and and hearing. But, anyways, the more that you do this, also the more patterns that you recognize and that you see that this is what God does, this is what he's doing, this is what's happening. Or this dream has nothing to do with any of the patterns of God. It has everything to do with the demonic side of things, lies and deception. And this is definitely either demonic or it's something that is heavily influenced by what you've been watching or seeing or scrolling or whatever through your phone before you go to bed.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

So well, I absolutely love the topic of dreams, especially when it comes to God. And I'm very passionate about that. I have several books that help me because God does speak to me prophetically through dreams and has for really as long as I can remember. And anyway, they're typically warning dreams for me at least, and they are very what helps to have a book that and I meant to bring it in here with me, I think it's called the Divinity Code, and it's written by two Christian authors, and it's a biblical, it's like a dictionary, also with a whole half of the book is how to interpret dreams, which I have honestly not gone through that whole thing, which I I always mean to and I forget, but it's uh there's a lot of information anyway, and I do that, like I will write my dreams down when I feel like and here's the way that I can tell when it's from God. If it's a very vivid dream, like the colors are vivid, the scene is vivid, and I wake up the next day and I'm I remember it, and then it's like it keeps coming back to me. Then I know that it's from God, and He's trying to give me something. And so I will write down the dream and I will. Go back to I have probably three, three or four different references that I'll go to, and I will look up what each of the words, like the things that were significant, if there's numbers, if there's colors, if there's I'm making this up, but if I was at an airport, finding out what airport meant, and then I'll write all of those down and see if there's anything as I'm praying about it, see if God's highlighting anything, see if he puts things together. And sometimes I don't get an answer, and I just like okay, well, then I guess I didn't need to know anything in particular. Other times he will make it obvious to me. And a really fascinating thing that I have discovered from working with you in my own counseling is remember that time that was like maybe a two or three month span, I was having dreams, and I would not call them nightmares, but snakes would be in them. And I know from my books that snakes always represent something demonic or sin or something like that. And it was fascinating to me. It I think it happened about three different times. I would have these dreams, and then that Friday we would do a deliverance on me. And it was like God was exposing whatever was coming up in that in the deliverance. So I thought that that was really interesting. So I personally love dreams. I wish I was better at interpreting them. And I love it when people come to us and they're like, I had a dream last night, and I'm like, oh, how exciting! I get my book out, and as they're describing it, I'm looking up things and seeing if I can, if God gives me any wisdom to share with them. And sometimes he has. And anyway, I think it's really neat and I think it's fascinating that God communicates with us in our dream realm. And we were just talking with somebody that brought up a good point. That's when we're not in control. Like he has the reins, and so he can really speak to us in our dreams, or when he wakes us up in the middle of the night, and some people he wakes him up and he's like, get up and go read the Bible and tells him to go do something or whatever. So I think that it's really fascinating how God operates in so many different ways. And I love the dream realm. I think it's fascinating. And like I said, I wish I knew more or maybe had more of a gifting in that area because I just think it's so interesting and helpful. Like so helpful. There have been times where God has spoken to me through a dream specifically as a warning, and I pray for somebody else. It happened with my son a handful of times, and I knew after the fact that God did something and protected him from something unseen. So I just think it's fascinating and I love it.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Yeah, thank you for that. That's uh yeah, the dream realm is uh it is fascinating, and some people have that gift more than others. Some people very clearly often have God speak to them through dreams, or sometimes even it can be on the other side a lot of times. If you do have if you so if you have God speaking to you in the dreams, then you probably and you are struggling with some sort of spiritual issues, you're probably gonna also have the demonic that are gonna speak to you also in that, because that's they're utilizing a gift that you have that is in you, and it can be somewhat tormenting. It's not incommon for demonic elements to take the gift that God has given you and try to defile it by making it a miserable thing that you don't see it as a blessing, you see it as a curse. But when we clean it up and help it to come to a better place, then you can see that it actually is something that is a blessing, somewhat of a form of communication that God can have with us to, yeah, to guide and to direct. And he doesn't do it with everybody. I mean, there are some definitely have that gift more than others, but I have had people before where they say, I never dream, but I had one last night, or I had one recently, and it scared the heck out of me. And it, or if I do, I don't remember them, but I remembered that one. And uh yeah, you're right. It's it's a place where we we really don't control it much. Now you can have dreams about fear of not being in control, and that can be exposing a lot of things like that. There's all kinds of the imagery that's that's that's in there is very telling about, and and it's fascinating how much that imagery really does stick to the patterns of what some psychologists they do have like dream analysis and stuff, and some of that stuff is fairly fascinating to at least be familiar with. But um, like when you said airport, I was like, well, airport isn't probably gonna be something you're gonna find in the Bible, but but there might be, you know, um an image that that people have seen through more of recent psychological analysis, dream analysis, that there can be a meaning behind that. And I would agree with that. I don't think I think it's wise to at least be aware of some of that stuff and know what if it is biblical and what if it's not. And so what would be an equivalent of something for that and what would that maybe look like? But yeah, and I know you just use it as an example as well, but um well, and that's what I like about that book.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

I think it's called the Divinity Code. They not every single thing is in this dictionary that they've compiled, but everything that they have put in there has a handful of scriptures that they believe correlate with whatever the image is. And so I think that that, like what you're saying, is helpful for referencing that.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Yeah, absolutely. Anyway. Yeah, no, for sure. Very true. And um yeah, it can it can be very, very helpful. And we have had people that have come in for counseling and they've shared like a dream, and it is something that's very clearly either something that exposes what a demonic element is doing to a person, how they're being tormented or impacted by them, influenced by them, or even something that God is highlighting that we can't get through a deliverance for whatever reason, or that is a person is blinded to to certain things, but yet a dream reveals something more deeply. So, yeah, that's it's pretty cool. It's pretty, pretty fascinating. And I know some people will write that off and be like, this is all really crazy and too mystical for me. Well, mystical simply means it doesn't mean a cult, it means relationship with the spiritual realm. And so Christianity does have a mystical side to it, and it's relationship with the Holy Spirit, and that is not a bad thing. In fact, I would say that is a requirement that Christ actually tells us that we are to have. And if you don't believe that, then there are so many places. But just go to just go to John, his farewell address, John 14 through 17, those chapters, huge about the Holy Spirit. Even Romans 8, as you go through 6, 7, and 8, the Holy Spirit is an extremely important part of the sanctification process. It is the element of the sanctification process. It is the finality of what God's salvation is. Jesus, what he did at the cross, gives us the Holy Spirit to sanctify us, transform us more and more and more into the image and likeness of Christ. It's where the freedom, the power, the relationship, all of it comes from. And so that's mystical. That is the mystical side. It's the spiritual relationship with God. And so, yeah, people, a lot of times they get freaked out by this stuff. But if you don't have the courage to go forward in it, you show exactly where your faith is. Your faith is in fear. Your faith is in just strictly an intellectual understanding of the Bible without any relationship. So don't complain if you're not getting the healing and the peace and everything that you want, because you have not allowed for the Holy Spirit and for the gospel to come in and have an internal relationship, intimate relationship with you. You've not internalized it. You've internalized it only in your brain, but that means that it's still distant. It's out here for other people to experience. And if those are the people that you're letting teach you, then that's as far as they can take you. Remember, a guide can only take you as far as they've gone themselves, at least safely. Um, and if you're gonna let somebody lead you into that place that's never been down that path before, what do you expect? They have no idea how to be able to take you through that path. And many of them will just in fear tell you to stay away from it. Well, then you stay away from the relationship with God, the freedom with God. And again, the whole Bible is about relationship, about his presence, about that he lives. And if and the point is that he wants to live in us. And if we're not willing to allow that to happen, we do have a choice, and we're the gatekeeper of that. We decide. I don't want to have anything to do with that because that's scary, then you have no relationship. That's your choice. He gives you that choice. Yeah, dreams are dreams are they are fascinating and can be helpful, especially if there is a block, if there's a wall that for whatever reason that we're not able to find out this information in other ways, then God can use that in some powerful ways, or just simply a person as being kind of a prophet or visionary, they they can get some of this stuff in dreams as well. And so it's very good. All right, the other side of it then is the sleep side of things. So sleep is something often that people like I was talking about, they'll come to us because they are not able to get sleep. And some people have said to me, I haven't been able to get good night's sleep in most of my life, which is really horrifying. Again, how can you operate really well and feel really well if you're not able to get good sleep? So many things that can contribute to not being able to get good sleep. And what I would say is before, so you have one side that people would say there's no spiritual stuff at all. And then you have the other side that everything is spiritual. And that's not healthy either. There's a spirit behind everything. If they're not getting good sleep, then it's always a spiritual issue. Sometimes it's not. I've I've had people that come to us that are suffering in different ways and pain and stuff like that, and then they're blaming God after we go through a deliverance and long counseling, and it ends up being something that's either based off of medication that they didn't reveal to us up front that that they're taking that has a side effect of that, or sometimes it's not even a common side effect. It's a it's a it's a big side effect for a small number of people, but they're one of those small numbers of people that it actually impacts in that way. And yet didn't consider that. And so therefore we're we're assuming that everything is spiritual, but it's not. And so we expect God to just overcome that when we continue to pop that pill into our mouth or take that medication. We're doing that to ourselves. I mean, can he overcome it? He can, but I haven't seen him to do that. It's like somebody that continues to be an alcoholic, and yet you want God to what, just heal you so you can continue to drink alcohol, to continue to be an alcoholic. Um, there are effects, there are consequences for the actions that we take. I had a woman one time that uh that she wasn't feeling, she had many layers of things that were happening, but she wasn't feeling good. And at one point then she was praying, we were praying heavily about it, and she had an implant, a breast implant, and she had heard that um she had, I should say, breast implants. You usually get two when you get that, but um she she ended up uh hearing something about that. Some people, some women were having that they would leak or that they would somehow be poisoning their body. So uh she prayed about that and she got confirmation that they needed to be removed. And so she did, and it did help her significantly. But she was one of those people that was saying, you know, why is God not helping me? You put an implant in your body that is now poisoning your body, and you're gonna blame God for not healing you from that. But yet we can pray and we can be asking him. These are things sometimes that help us to bring attention to something that he will show us if we really seek him truly with all of our heart, he will find him and he will guide us into a place of healing. I mean, he's committed to that, he has a purpose for it as us, and it's not just to get us into heaven, it's to heal us and to get us to a place where then we can reflect him to other people. And if we're not, if we're miserable and we're not in a place to even be able to operate well at all, then we're not gonna be able to do that. And he wants to heal us deeply.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

So listening to him, have faith in him and be patient, and he'll illuminate those things. But what I'm getting at is this is that it's wise to just like when I say that sometimes mental health and stuff like that, addressing it with seeing if there is something there in a deliverance is wise because it's one of the easier ways to deal with that. Why assume that you have schizophrenia when it might be a spiritual issue? Might a person still have it after we do a deliverance? Maybe. In my case, I haven't seen that a whole lot. I've seen some people that, well, there's always going to be some people that have a lot more layers and issues that are going on. Generally speaking, as a whole, the majority of the people that I've worked with that have come with schizophrenia, that's that stuff significantly goes down, if not even goes completely away over time as long uh once the deliverance and spiritual attention and as long as they stick with it is uh addressed. So it would be wiser to deal with that first and then see what's left after. It's the opposite with like the sleep side of things. So address things like medication, like your diet, like what are you watching before you go to bed, things also such as exercise, do things to take care of your body and to figure out what are you putting into your body and what are you what are your eyes seeing before you go to bed. Address those things, I would say, and then because it's good for you to go through that and do a checklist of that stuff, anyways. Then we do a deliverance to see if that helps. Even after that, now I've had people that the medication stuff was the issue. I've had it where, you know, implants or something like that, or something that they're putting into their body has been an issue. I've had it where it's been spiritual issues that have been an issue, and they have gotten great sleep. It's amazing when any of this stuff happens. When you hit it, it's a significant change. And the person says, I haven't had sleep in like all my life. And there some people I've had that are 60, 70, 80 years old, and they're saying this kind of stuff, and then they say, I got the first good night's sleep in so many years, as far back as I can remember, after a deliverance. Well, we know that we addressed the issue then, at least a big issue. And that that was contributing to it significantly. But here's the final thing, and this is kind of the final layer, and I think that this is probably one of the bigger contributors out of all these things. But you don't want to start with this. Again, the physical stuff, start with that andor the spiritual. I mean, it doesn't hurt to do the spiritual deliverance and stuff, just if it doesn't work, just know that it could be all these other physical things also that are contributing to it. There might be many layers of things that are working against you in this area. So be willing to explore all of these things. But the last thing is that in counseling, that if we have this, we've been conditioned by whether it be spiritual influence or if it's just our world in general, the worldliness of things. And our desire, our nature is to control. We want to control stuff. We want to be in control. We don't like to be out of control. Nobody likes to be out of control. And so the counseling part of it that we do helps us to helps people to embrace their identity in Christ, to know who they are as a child of God. And it's one thing, again, many people that come in and they say, I know, I know, I'm a child of God, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they just write it off like it's no big deal. I've heard it all this time. Yeah, but you're still suffering. You're living like none of that stuff is true. So again, it's all up here and it's not in here. And if it's not here, it's not in our core, then it's not lived. It's not experienced. And so that's a problem. So we have to get it from here to here. And one big wall can be a saying, I know, I know, I know, I know, I've heard it all before, or I've done all that. That's the other thing as a person, I do all that stuff. No, you don't. You might think you do up here, but if you are, if you're plagued with with nightmares and dreams of being out of control, things of of, I mean, I keep getting in my head, and I'm like, I don't want to put that word out there on this podcast, not like podcast is filtered, but like one of the images in dreams is nakedness. So if you find yourself as being naked, it is something of exposure, it is being exposed or revealed, or shame, or any of those things. That's important to know that, that that's a that's a very powerful image that is in your, that's in a dream that's telling you, whether it be of control or fear or anxieties being revealed, or something that you don't want other people to know about, or a hidden sin, or something like that that you're protecting. Those kinds of things are really, really, really important. And um so what I'm getting at is that we have to, even if it is the fear and that tension and that controlling, and if we feel like our life is out of control, then that's where we can find that we're not able to get much good sleep because we're in this fear of being out of control. If we say, God, I know I trust you, but there's the but word, every time you put that in there, you just can erase everything that was said before the but. Got to take the butts out of the conversations and the words that we say because it does, it sabotages everything. So it is important for us to, it's important for us to explore not only and understand what our identity is, but learn how to live in it. And so we were talking with somebody today of different, and we talked on former prop podcasts also, about meditation and contemplation. And you are in that meditation, again, meditation is totally biblical. As long as your meditation, your focus is on Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or God the Father. Keep it on those three beings, which is God as one, then you're fine. And coming as one into that, because it's in that place that you'll find the exposure of what it is that you're holding on to, what's your fears? So when you're trying to focus in on God, what's coming in? Oh, well, I still need to do this. Oh, I forgot about this. Oh, I still need to have this happen. What is that sound that's happening out there? Is something broken? Did somebody just come into my house? All of these things that are coming in and distractions that we can't let go. We just can't let go. We have to hold on to everything. But but we could argue, don't you believe that God is your heavenly father, that you're his child, that he's got you. Can't you just sit for 10 minutes, 15, 10 to 15 minutes and just let go of everything? If you can't, and most of the people that I talk to, they say, yeah, that was a miserable experience doing that meditation. It was just so hard. I couldn't stay focused. I couldn't, I'm like, it's 10 minutes. It's all it is. I'm not telling you do it for like an hour or two or anything like that. It's just 10 minutes. Set your timer and block everything out. The fact that a person can't do it shows that they are so obsessed about control that they cannot let it go. And that's an issue. It's not to say that to condemn a person, it's to highlight a truth. And we have to come to terms with that. It's showing us this needs attention. So how can I do that? If I don't understand that I have a problem with that, then I'm not gonna go to any kind of degree to try and remedy it. But if if I can't get sleep, I can't calm my again. If you're calm and you don't have any stress and stuff and you're like, I still can't sleep, then it's probably something to do with your, whether it be a chemical imbalance within you, something eating, a lack of something, maybe, look to different vitamins, nutrients, whatever it is that you might need that might help with that, see if that helps with it. If you really are at a place of peace, you're not grinding your teeth at night, you're able to relax, but yet your mind keeps going. Stay away from your cell phones, though, definitely if that's the case, still take all of these things into into um into account and then implement them. But what I find is a lot of times that it is something that that last part, and I say it's the last thing because if you have a spiritual issue, you need to deal with that first. You're not going to be able to get to a place of being able to release control if you're still dealing with a spiritual issue up here. That has to be dealt with first. If the other issues, like I said, the the medications and stuff like that, then that also is something that you need to deal with. And if those are there, then even the releasing and the meditation stuff is not going to give you everything that you need. This is this really has to be something that you consider holistically, because there are a lot of different factors that we we need to consider. We are, like we started very early on the podcast. You have to consider that we are minimally, at least as far as we know so far, spiritual, psychological, and emotional, or I should say spiritual, physical, and emotional, or psychological, same thing. Beings, three dimensions minimally. And so you have to address all three of those areas there. You have to consider the psychological part of it, again, reconditioning of control. You also have to address the physical element and the spiritual element of all of it. And if you don't, then you could still find yourself struggling with the ability to get good sleep. So those are the things to at least start with that I would say. And the one that can take the longest time, I mean, it can take a long time trying to figure out if there's a deficiency somewhere or something or medications, but really in reality, look at the side effects that are there. And if there is a possible insomnia or something like that, look, talk to your doctor about possibly going to a different medication. Don't just, especially if it's a psychological medication, don't just cut it off like cold turkey. Don't be dumb. I mean, those are things that you need to be weaned off of very gently. Definitely don't say, Pastor Derek told me to do this, that's why he did it. Do not do that. Those kind of medications are very, very delicate. You need to be very guided through it by somebody who knows how to how to do that well. But the part that takes the longest often is that understanding your identity. But that can be a way of us not getting rest, not getting sleep. Think about it. You can't get rest because you're never allowing yourself to rest trying to play God. Your mind is constantly worried about what about this? And you're living in the land of what ifs. So let's go back then. So we're pulling this is such appropriately like the last episode of this season here, because it's pulling in like all the different things that we've talked about. So we talked about ways back, uh, empire mentality and kingdom mentality. If you you can only come into a place of really true peace and rest in a kingdom mentality. And again, if you haven't heard that yet, then I'm not going to go through the whole thing again. Empire mentality is more of this world and it operates out of fear and control. And so with that, you're not going to get rest. And scripture even talks about this, that any kind of whether it be work or a watchtower, it says that that a person, their work is in vain unless God is at the heart of it, is in the midst of it. But he gives he gives rest to his servant. So it's so true. And so a person that truly can trust in God as being God, Lord and Savior, He's got things. And we can rest knowing, no matter how turbulent things are, that I can rest, knowing when I wake up, the situation is gonna probably still be there, probably, in many cases. But even if it is, I know that God is with me. I know that I can walk in a place of peace with him. I can deal with life one step at a time, like give us this day or daily bread, the manna in the wilderness in the Exodus. I can trust him that he's with me, he's doing life with me. We have this relationship, and he's guiding me into where he's taken me. And so I can rest, I can have peace, and I can wake in the morning while rested. That's important, but it can take time because we've been conditioned our whole life. And if you really explore how much you've been conditioned into that, I mean, I'm talking about infant stages, children, whether it be just playing with each other, playground stuff of control and how you look and how you're being judged, and whatever, pain, suffering, and either being an outcast or fitting in or money or lack of and the fear of going back into that kind of a place again. All of these things, just our whole life, are things that that are very real that continue to give us experiences that solidify this empire mentality that I'm all by myself. I if it is if it is to be, it's up to me. I'm not enough. We know we're not enough. It's pretty, I think all of us know that. That there are some people that are so arrogant to think that they really are capable of godlike kind of qualities. That's very dangerous, and probably the best thing for them is to be knocked off of their horse. But but most of us know we're not enough. And so that should help us to move, hopefully, over into recognizing the kingdom mentality is God saying, you know, I want to walk with you, and you can trust and exist in me as your provider, your protector, your salvation, and and all of that. And he he knows everything, he is everywhere, he's all-knowing, he's all powerful, he's love. These are all things that we can trust him in. He was willing to die for us so that we could live. So we can find peace in him knowing, even if I don't know the answer. One of the person we were talking to today said that when she was imagining giving God things for her to take that stress and that control and give it to him, that she would ask Jesus sometimes, what are you gonna do with that? And that's such a such a great way of showing us how much we want to control, even though we're like, okay, God, I trust you with this. And as he takes it, we're like, What are you gonna do with that? Where are you where are you taking that? Where are you putting that? Can I see it? Can you give me updates on that every hour? I'd appreciate if you just gave me updates on how things are going. My wife and I had a uh we had a dog at one point that was older that was a rescue dog, and so we had to ask it when we went on vacation, we were afraid to leave this dog in a kennel, afraid that it just wouldn't make it through a kennel. So we hired somebody to stay with our dog with our dog in our house and so watch the house watch the dog, and it's nice, you know. That's a that's definitely a a nice convenience to have. But a lot of times those people they'll give you updates. So they'll send you, you know, texts with a picture of your dog and give you a little update on how they're doing and stuff like that. And I think that's what we want. We feel like God, we hired God to be God, and so God, I want some updates. I want you to text me some of the things of where things are at with what I just gave you. And um, that's not him being God, that's us staying as God and and not really truly trusting and relinquishing those things to him. Uh, it's a cute way and funny way of us showing that, but that's very, very destructive also. That's where we're gonna, we're not gonna be able to sleep. How can you rest? How can you really truly get good sleep and just let go of everything when that's constantly in there? Fear that drives us. And so our counseling that we do help people to explore these fears, traumas, where they come from. The knowledge of them is extremely important. In order you have to know about who God is, but also who you are. Who am I? And how did I become what I am today? Good and also things that are unhealthy as well. There's a reason for it. You were born into a broken world, but the things that have brought you into the place of where you're at and how you see things all have reasons behind it. Things happened that influenced that, even if it was generational. And so that's what we explore. We explore where is this coming from and what is this saying, what parts of it are lies and what parts of it are truth, and to help us to recondition that, bring it into a place that's healthy, unified with God, where we can live in a place of peace, plug into his power, and he works through us in a way that it reflects him in his image and likeness, and really truly can become healing agents to this world. Nothing better than being a part of that. It's the greatest ministry that there is, the purpose of humanity as a whole. And all of us have a unique calling, really, which is based on two different things. One is how God wired us, but number two, the things that have happened to us also in this broken world have given us a perspective to be able to see things a certain way. And God knows all of those things of how they're gonna, how, what kind of an impact that they're gonna have on us, and how they can also help to influence us when he heals us from that, to go back and heal other people that are struggling with those same exact things. But we have to have eyes to see the way he sees, ears to hear the way he hears. And we got to let him heal us from that. And so it is a journey, it is a process. And like I said from the very beginning, the book that we have, the people that will recognize the value of it are the ones that are being detached from that, that are realizing that this empire worldview that they live in is not, it's not working, and it is deceptive. And so they're looking for another answer. And when they see the kingdom option, then they're they're like, I see it. Now I need to learn how to live in it. Teach me how to how to embrace it. And that's what the book's all about teaching people how to live in the kingdom with the power, with the life, with hope and peace, and join God in what he's doing here on this earth. What Jesus started.

SPEAKER_00 53:11

Well, just two things I don't think you mentioned. Caffeine can also interrupt your sleep.

SPEAKER_01 53:17

Big time.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

And that can really some people are super sensitive to it, and other people, like my husband and my sister, they could literally drink a cup of coffee and go to bed. Like it does not affect them.

SPEAKER_02 53:31

That can change over time also as you get older. Yep. So you might say, I've never had it bother me before, but that doesn't mean that that might change where you just can't have it anymore. That happened to me recently. Me too.

SPEAKER_00 53:48

But me too. I can't drink it. Well, I've chosen not to. And not it wasn't an interfering necessarily with my sleep, but it was doing other things that it had never done before. But also, just for women that are in their 40s and 50s, your hormones can change pretty drastically, and that can affect your sleep as well. So, like you were saying, just in in there are a lot of things that can happen that can contribute that to not being able to sleep very well. And that's super frustrating. But there are things that are out there that can help, if it is age related or hormones, or like you said, just to pay attention to the things that you're putting in your body and how much stress you're under, if you're going through a big life change, all of those things can be if you're not exercising and you normally do, or if you're exercising maybe too late and you need to start exercising earlier. Sometimes it can be kind of a process to figure out what's going on. But if you take time and pray, then God will help you figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 55:02

Yeah, great points. Great points. And again, those are opportunities to learn how to seek Him and to evolve. We don't like change because it's uncomfortable, but yet those are things that force us where God is saying, Well, you're gonna have to change. I mean, age itself changes us. I think everybody realizes that you just can't. I remember when I was in my 30s, actually, I didn't think I would be in my 30s, but we used to play football every Thanksgiving, me and my brothers and dad, and and just we had fun with that. And pretty soon each of us are getting injured every year when we're playing, we're just not able to do it anymore. And youth ministry was the same thing, you know. You have to understand that you you have to come to the terms that you are getting older and you can't do the same things that you used to do before, and that's okay, but you have to be sensitive to that and you have to be smart enough to adjust. And sometimes, again, it's an opportunity for you to seek God to let Him illuminate something that you are not aware of. And yeah, caffeine can be some of it. Women, as far as just in their their bodies evolving, is that's another thing. And like you said, those are there are usually different things that you can though take to help with with some of that, even if it is natural supplements or other things like that. But again, so it's your body. No, you gotta be aware of your body. So yeah, that's very common though. And sleep is something that, and so you can have again, you can have multiple things that are happening and then also have demonic elements that are amplifying that stuff. Yep. That's very common. Mm-hmm. Where people come in and they just want an easy answer and they're like, I just need sleep. Can you just make wave the magic wand over me and be done so I can go back to sleeping well? And I like it. Sleep is something that yeah, sleep is something that you gotta you have to be willing to really look at yourself as a whole. And again, it's it can be miserable, but that often is what it takes for us to actually do that. Otherwise, we're just like, I don't have time for this. Well, then you guess you don't have time to go to sleep either. You got plenty of time at night. Why don't you go ahead and you can figure all this stuff out at night while you're just sitting there staring at the wall?

SPEAKER_00 57:26

And one other thing, this is kind of funny, but also if you have animals that sleep in your bed with you, they can interrupt your sleep. And I have that. We have three dogs and they all sleep on the bed with us. And I was telling my husband, well, they kind of like move around and they will rotate periodically. Sometimes they'll sleep in one area and then maybe two months later they're somewhere else. One of them is always consistently in between our pillows, which she doesn't really cause any issues. The other two move around a lot. Anyway, well, their their new spot here recently is they all want to sleep by me and like at my feet, right next to me. And I'm one of those people that I like my space, I don't want to be up against anything. I need my space, and I get hot if they're also right next to me. Well, I told I was telling you that, and I was not sleeping well several nights in a row, and I was telling my husband, and he was like, Why don't you just move them? And I'm like, But they're sleeping, I don't want to disturb their sleep. And he's like, I just move them out of the way, and eventually they move, and then I go back to sleep, and I'm like, all right, well, I'll do that. So I got a little bit more bold and did that, and um didn't feel so bad, but at the same time, I also was like, if we get another dog after these are gone, I would really like to consider training it where it doesn't sleep in the bed with us. And he was fine with that. But then I'm like, but then I wouldn't get to snuggle with them. So I think it's like I'm my own worst enemy with that. But that's another thing that but that's something that I'm willing to put up with. If they're gonna interrupt my sleep, I like to have them on the bed with me and I feel safe and they're part of the family. So anyway, that's just kind of a funny thing, but also something that could be adding to you not sleeping well is if you have animals sleeping in the bed with you.

SPEAKER_02 59:45

Yeah, and if you got allergies also, and that's adding to it. I mean, it can be different layer layers and levels. It doesn't mean that you're just sneezing and congested, but it can have an impact on you that you're just not able to sleep and get rest as well. So Yeah. I know. I got a wife like that as well, that like that she used to like having her dogs sleep in the bed, and I'm like, I got allergies that I can't I can't do that stuff, and thankfully we don't have that period. Right. Um yeah, they're not even allowed in the bedroom at all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:20

Which is a good thing, in my opinion, at least. So otherwise, I I had a so my brother had a dog, great dog, but this dog would come in. If you tried to sleep in in the morning, it would come in and and it would lick your face if if your face was hanging anywhere close to the edge of the bed. Yeah. But otherwise you'd just hear it sit in there and sigh. So it'd just go. Like, I guess I'll just sit here and starve. And while you sit there all comfortable and stuff, and just whittle away here, well, you let me starve to death. Anyway. They're so funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:02

They're so funny. I don't know what we would do, what I would do without dogs in particular.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:09

They do, they do bring joy. They do have an added benefit. All right. Well, on that note, that's gonna conclude us here. We concluded our our final one for the season here, talking about our our dogs.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:23

What better way to end the the season?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:25

There you go. There you go. So again, like we said, this is not something that is uh gonna conclude uh long term, but it will be a couple of months, and we'll keep you posted. Best way for you to stay up on everything, two things would be just keep an eye on our website at idincchrist.com, but also if you subscribe to the uh YouTube page, which you can access from our website again. There's there's all kinds of links to all the different social media stuff that we have. Subscribe to the channel, and whenever we post something new, you're going to get a notice about it as well. On that note, so glad that you joined us, not only today, but for this whole season here. And we hope to see you. It won't be next week, but hope to see you real soon. God bless. Hi, everyone.