If you have read my previous article, Biblical Meaning of Handguns in Dreams, then you should have an idea of what a gun symbolizes in a dream. If you have not, I recommend reading that first, then come back to this one, because I went into a lot more details in that article.

Disclaimer: I am not a pro dream interpreter, I am still in the school of the Holy Spirit but from what I have been taught, I think it is only fair that I help those who might be struggling to interpret their own dreams. 

Meaning of shotgun in Dreams

Recently, I had the 'privilege' of dreaming of a shot gun for the first time ever. Not something to be excited about because we know what guns represent in a dream.

Every type of gun in a dream has different meanings, similar to how every type of gun in our waking life has it's varying uses.

A shotgun is a way of saying, 'stop doing God's will' whereas a handgun says, 'don't do God's will'.

Have you ever been to that place where you cannot be bothered anymore? You're doing so much and yet it seems like nothing works.

I am writing this blog nearly blind. My eyes are so full and overflowing with tears, so much so that everything I see is blurry.

Why must it be like this? Why must we suffer? Whilst it may be true that I already know the answer to the questions I am asking, right now I cannot find these answers.

It's just too much. When I think of the life I had growing up and the struggles I am faced with now, it breaks my heart.  I want to quit so bad, it all feels too much for just one person.

I feel like I would just flip my humanity and just stop caring about everything. 

But why do I still have to teach when I'm broken?! Why don't I get a break? 

Have you ever been so broken that you can't breathe?

The last thing I wanted to do was to write a blog. I just could not sleep and I did not understand why. I found myself sitting on my bed, saying nothing, doing nothing and before I knew it, I started balling my eyes out and then I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to write.

At this point in my life, I feel no ounce of hope. It feels like better is never coming. This must be how the children of Israel felt when they were in bondage. Hopeless.

I cannot help but think that I want my children to be born in the promise land. I want my children to live in abundance but these emotions.

These emotions.

It was just the other day that the Lord taught me something incredible about David and just now the Holy Spirit allowed me to see what He was showing me from a different perspective.

Before David got his breakthrough, he too balled his eyes out. He was mourning the death of his mentor and his friend. He was overcome with emotions. The longer he mourned, the longer it would take him to become king. David already had his answers but emotions often prevent you from hearing God clearly. He already knew what he needed to do but he first had to calm himself. 

 Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. ²⁵ How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. ²⁶ I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

²⁷ How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished! 2 Samuel 1:24-27

And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron. 2 Samuel 2:1

So David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal's wife the Carmelite. ³ And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. ⁴ And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. 2 Samuel 2:2-4 

Sometimes we have to mourn the life we are leaving behind because it can have no part in our future. This includes our childhood, the people, the places, the decisions.

Sometimes we have to mourn our old ways of thinking because it is not of God. Sometimes we hold the answers to the questions that we ask, but because of emotions we can't seem to locate these answers. During times like these, a time like I am in now, the soul has power over the spirit.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41

That is when we fail to recognize what God is doing or saying in a moment because we are too blind to see the bigger picture; the things that are happening behind the scenes. 

You do not have to go to your future blind. You will fail to hear or see what God is showing you when you allow emotions to take you over. 

Learn to control your emotions. It takes time. The future king of Israel took time to mourn the late king of Israel. Just remember, David would never be king as long as Saul was alive. Saul had to die! Jonathan had to die! and everyone else that would inherit or fight for the throne had to die!

David got attached to Saul and Jonathan but they were not meant to journey with him into his promise land but David did not know that until they died.

He and Jonathan loved each other and the last thing that God had to teach David before he got his breakthrough, was how to let go. David did not just mourn Saul and Jonathan, he also mourned his past. 

Please notice that his mourning had to come to an end before he stepped into his new beginning. The Bible says "And it came to pass after this..."

We too have time to mourn. We have to let self die daily. Whatever God is telling you to let go of, LET IT GO!

It is causing your delay.

Letting go is hard. I know this. Forgiving is hard, especially when the people who hurt you never ask for forgiveness.

This blog is very prophetic. I never start writing any of these blogs knowing what to write but when I start writing, the Holy Spirit takes over. Talk about a step of faith!

God wants us to trust Him in the process. We won't know everything about our journey, but trust that He will never fail you.

The reason people hesitate to do things is lack of knowing if something is from God or not. That is a sign that you need to work on feeding your spirit more. Study the Word and engage in intimacy with God. That helps to build your discernment.

I never knew why I was crying a few minutes ago. I never knew that I needed to mourn a part of me. There are so many of us adults who are still struggling because of things we may have been through and currently are because we are still living in that place, among those people that caused us hurt. 

This is your push. It's getting harder because you're getting closer! Let go of your childhood trauma, your past mistakes, past hurt, past failures. You have to let them go to be able to talk about them without crying. God wants to use your story but you first have to become unattached!

This is your final test. I pray you pass in Jesus' name. Amen.

It is a fact that you can never have two homes.  Just as how you can never serve two masters, it's either God or the devil...so, it's either heaven or hell. 

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24

A home is more than a place where you live, that is the definition of a house. There is a reason hosts tell their guests "make yourself at home" meaning, make yourself comfortable.

Your home is the place where you are most comfortable. A place where you can be yourself without being judged.

Therefore, when God is about to move you, your current environment will start to feel UNCOMFORTABLE or more uncomfortable then usual.

I have had this experience once in my life, at my first and last job. I had been working at this place for almost three years and after I got baptized, the Lord showed me in a dream that I would leave this job for ministry but at that time I had no full understanding of dreams, so I did not know what it meant.

A few weeks later, I heard my boss, who I thought loved me, talking behind my back. I was surprised considering how they would make me work overtime without being paid for it and how they would sometimes call me late at nights to design things for them for FREE. I could not understand how I heard this because I never heard it before that day nor did I hear it again after.

Now, of course, it was impossible to feel comfortable in that place afterwards. That one day gave me the push I needed to finally leave. It was shortly after that I left and became a full time entrepreneur and although there were ups and downs in business, I have been living my best life.

From this one instance, I noticed that there are times when God will protect you from the fire but sometimes He'll allow you to be thrown in the fire, long enough for you to realize that is not where you should stay.

The children of Israel got their taste of the fire. They became slaves in a place where their forefathers took up residence; a place they once called home. 

And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶ And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: ⁷ His sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. Genesis 46:5-7

Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. ⁹ And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: ¹⁰ Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. ¹¹ Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Exodus 1:8-11 

 

Many of us do not know our worth or where we belong. We do not know the promises of God for our lives, like the children of Israel at this time. The promise of abundance was made to Abraham and the generations that kept that promise alive, died out.

Sometimes God has to remind us of His plans due to our own ignorance. And because His ways are not our ways, this reminder may not look like how we want it to. Sometimes God will put us in situations so that we can say "I do not like this", "there has to be better". 

Because if we refuse to speak over our situation, God cannot send help. 

And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. ²⁴ And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Exodus 2:23-25

Don't stay in a situation longer than you should. If God instructs you to leave a place, be obedient. If He has not given you such an instruction, it is because He is at work behind the scenes, endure until He says otherwise, because you should also not leave a situation before time. 

A lot of us were innocently thrown into dangerous situations because of something our parents or grandparents did or said. Saul is a good example. Saul, during his reign killed the Gibeonites and because of that his remaining children and grandchildren died.

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. 2 Samuel 21:1

Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them. ⁷ But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: ⁹ And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. 2 Samuel 21:6-9 

A lot of people and places in our lives are just for transition. You are only there to learn some things and that's it. Kind of like a bus stop; a place where you wait for your ride to get to your next stop. 

Egypt was a place a refuge. In times of famine, people would journey to Egypt for food. Egypt was meant to be a temporary place for the children of Israel. The promise land was meant to be their home. If the children of Israel did not become slaves, they probably would have made Egypt their permanent residence but that was not God's will for them. God needed to give them that push. He needed to bring them low enough, so they could cry out, so they understood that there was indeed better for them.

The reason your environment is suddenly becoming uncomfortable is because God does not want you to take up permanent residence in a place that is only supposed to act as an Airbnb. He does not want you to become attached to a place or it's people because that would make it harder for you to leave when He says it's time to go.

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy..." John 10:10

Below are some handgun scenarios and their meanings:

1. Handgun pointed at you / Held at gunpoint means a weapon is being formed against you where the goal is to keep you stagnant. 

I had a dream recently where I was in the middle seat of a moving car and someone from the back placed a handgun to my head and with no hesitation, shot me 3 times in my head. The gun in this dream represented something from my past (an old habit or behaviour) that will resurface and it will cause me to step outside of God's will for my life.

It's funny how people believe that spending time in the Word and in prayer only draws us closer to God, but would you believe me when I tell you that it also draws the devil closer to you?

Read Saint Matthew 4, when Jesus was on fasting but that did not stop the devil from doing his deeds.

If I am being honest, I do not know how to handle conflict in a professional manner, so as much as possible, I try to avoid it. Not necessarily the best method because what happens when its unavoidable?

I am a very quiet person and this also makes me an avid observer. There are times when people forget that I'm in the room when they say and do things they don't really want a third party involved in.

Therefore, I have the power to withhold nothing when the time comes to fire and to always hit my target.

But seeing people hurting, hurts me, so even when I have the opportunity to do damage, I'm reluctant to. Hence, I've learnt that being as quiet as possible, works for me.

So when conflict does arise, I only have one option...stay quiet and hold back my tears for as long as I can.

I've learnt that crying does not make me weak. I've cried for 90% of my childhood and looking back, if I did not cry, I would not be alive today.

There is this saying "wherever pressure builds, it will burst." 

If someone has been on my nerves for a while, best know that there is some build up and the fire rate will be similar to that of a machine gun. If I'm crying during or after a conflict, it's because I'm withholding myself from causing hurt. Be glad I'm bursting out in tears and not bursting out in flames.

A few attempts at getting on my nerves will never cause me to make a comeback but that does not mean I won't retaliate because I do not like being treated without respect.

I was raised to keep my mouth shut especially when an adult disrespects me.

Now, who raises a child like that? I'm just supposed to be a pushover, right? I should only respect my elders but they should not respect me, right?!

Did you know you can stop something from happening multiple times by putting an end to it the first time it happens? I wish people understood this.

I am no longer a child, which makes me less reluctant to withhold myself because I'm now my opponent's match...an adult!

After I got fired up and ready to respond, for a moment I did not care what Jesus thought about me. This was my opportunity to finally get my piece out because I did not want to tolerate this abuse for much longer. 

But after I cooled down, I realized how impulsive my actions would have been had I followed through and spoken out. I realized at a certain point, that I was not dealing with people, but something behind the scenes. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood..." - Ephesians 6:12

Some people are literally the devil's partners. These people will get on your nerves no matter what you do.

I believe the best way to avoid conflict is to stay prayerful, stay in the Word and to know your limits!

Walking away does not mean you should tolerate disrespect. 

If you feel you are about to lose your composure, you do not have to wait until the conversation ends before you walk away. "I do not like how you are speaking to me, so I will take my leave now." 

You can walk away if you feel you cannot control yourself, because your reaction will only add fuel to their fire. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." - James 4:7 

No matter what, as children of the Most High, we should always be respectful!

This is a question that I have had for a long time...why does God cause delay?

You'd think that God would give everyone a red carpet entrance on the way to their Baptism. That God would clear the way so that nothing prevents a precious soul from being saved.

Now, my question without sugar coating it is this " Why did God send a storm on the day of my baptism?" Should I not be baptized?

The devil cannot cause it to rain, he has no power to create. Only God can. So the devil did not send the storm, God did.

2 years later, I understand that God does NOTHING outside of His timing.

Moses at one point was getting ahead of God, when he killed the Egyptian to protect his brethren. He was playing hero before it was time, so God put a delay in that moment.

Pharoah heard what Moses did and wanted Moses dead, so he had to run away (Exodus 2:11-22). This was God's way of pulling Moses back in His timing.

The specific answer to my question has not yet been received but the general answer is this, God delays you when it's not yet time for you to have or do something you're praying for but the devil delays you when it is your time.

God delays you when you are unprepared stepping into something He has called you to but the devil delays you when you are prepared.

David was delayed, it took him roughly 15 years to get to the throne. His uncle, Joseph was delayed, it took him around 13 years to get from the pit to the palace. But the question is, who caused their delay?

There are times when we are the cause of our own delay.

God tells you clearly, on numerous occasions that this woman is your wife. He gave you specific instructions on how to pursue this woman but you chicken out time and time again. You don't want to get married, nuh true?

Get this, you are only delaying yourself because God simply recommends one of His daughters to you. You playing chicken gives Him enough room to recommend her to someone else, especially if this woman is prayerful and content with her relationship with God.

And women, learn to hear and understand God before you start praying for a husband because when that man comes to ask for your hand, you don't need to spend more than a day in prayer. God speaks all the time and often times He reveals who your husband is before you even meet him. 

That man is not your man! He belongs to God and is simply following his Father's instructions. You may not even be his taste, as hurtful as it may be. You are simply delaying yourself by waiting a month, 6 months to year to give that man an answer. Remember, you remain an option until that yes is given.

There are some tasks that cannot be fulfilled without the commitment of marriage.

Some men and women need to be married before God elevates them further because of the extent of the call that He has on their lives. Why play around with that?

Knowing who is causing your delay comes down to hearing and understanding the voice of God. He'll reveal the season you are in. God hides nothing about you from you.

NOTHING!

If God is delaying you, He will tell you. If the devil is delaying you, God will tell you. If you are delaying yourself, God will tell you!

That is how precious your soul is to Him!