The dreamer is a thirty year-old male who is in the midst of period of great spiritual change.

Dream

I'm alone in hotel room and find myself in a large bathtub with the shower on. The bottom of the bathtub is filled up with water, not high enough for a bath--just the kind of thing you find when the drain is not working fast enough. All of a sudden, a group of people, perhaps 6 to 8, come into the hotel room. I must have gotten out of the bath to look at them. They look like gypsies, or at least they're dressed in modern day gypsies-type attire. They all look to be young (late teens to twenties). One of the men, perhaps in his twenties, speaks to me. When I asked who they were, he said they were Greeks. Oddly, his English had a New York accent. They explain to me that this is their room and that I need to leave. It's as if they had rented it for the night. I agree to leave, but I first have to take out my personal possessions. The gypsies agree to this.

It seems to me that this hotel room is also simultaneously my house, or at least a place where I have a lot of personal possessions. Perhaps it's a apartment that I own or owned in the past. I have the distinct feeling that I'm gathering together my possessions so these gypsies won't steal them.

The first thing I do to begin the putting away of my possession is to spot a plastic bag on the floor in between two bed. Next to the bag are two bars of soap in wrappers. I give the less nice bar to the gypsies.

Now I begin searching throughout the room for possessions of value. I have a hard-shell suitcase, the Samsonite one that I use to travel overseas. The suitcase has a handle and wheels. I am putting the valuables into the suitcase. I see 3 or 4 television sets very close to each other. I leave three of them for the gypsies because, though they were mine, they didn't seem very good and decide that I'll take the fourth. I know that I can't put the TV in the suitcase, but I have the sense that when I'm ready to leave, I'll put the TV on the suitcase as I wheel it out.

Then, I'm in another room talking to a man–who has something to do with paying my bill. He told me that I didn't vacate the room promptly and as a result I needed to pay for an extra night. I protested, saying that although it took a couple hours to clean out all my possessions from the room, the hotel didn't lose any money and gypsies in the room didn't complain that I was there. Finally, the dispute seemed to end and I left not paying him extra. I thought to myself that I would take the extra money that I saved from not having to pay for an extra night and stay somewhere else.

Jezreel as the key to interpret the dream

The dreamer awoke with a hypnogogic word, "Jezreel." He found that the biblical Jezreel was the site of great treachery and murderous violence, perhaps presenting a lession as to what might happen when people use power and force for personal gain.

In the Hebrew, Jezreel means "God will sow." Amplification of the biblical story portrays that persistence in feeding and fulfilling human aspirations and lusts means turning one's back on , then we shut out God from helping us and open the possibility for all types of unspeakable behavior.

I believe that some of you reading this are in a Jezreel moment right now. This is a crossroads where your decisions, the choices you are about to make are crucial. There is a choice right now--God or another way, another path, that's not His best for you.

God has given to each one a special plan, calling, and future. I believe that one of life's primary purposes is to find out what God is asking of us and to do it. Don't forget that God gives us the strength to accomplish the things He ask of us. This dream identifies several vital areas of possible hindrance that you should prayerfully consider.

1. Recognize That You Might Be in Two Spiritual Places at Once

It seems to me that this hotel room is also simultaneously my house, or at least a place where I have a lot of personal possessions. Perhaps it's a apartment that I own or owned in the past. The place looks like a hotel room, but I have a sense that I own it. This is a picture into part of my soul. It seems as if my soul is mixed- part of it is in one place, part in another. This is signified by the dreams context, "I'm not sure where I'm in. " In general I believe that this issue, "being in two minds on some level." The important factor here is that we may not realize this.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:5-8).

The battle of two places happens because we will always face the contradictory pulls of the realm of the spirit with the realm of the here-and-now. How we're doing in this battle is determined at any moment by what or who we are trusting in. It's either God or ourself, or other people, or that some particular thing will happen. I've found that not infrequently I'm not aware that I'm battling in a particular area. It says in the Scriptures that "the heart is deceitful above all things." Our heart has a way of deceiving us, lulling us into sleep. Pretty soon we think we're just acting normally, when in fact we are giving place to the emotions of the moment.

2. God is the one who cleans us up

I'm alone in hotel room and find myself in a large bathtub with the shower on. The bottom of the bathtub is filled up with water, not high enough for a bath--just the kind of thing you find when the drain is not working fast enough. ...The first thing I do to begin the putting away of my possession is to spot a plastic bag on the floor in between two bed. Next to the bag are two bars of soap in wrappers. I give the less nice bar to the gypsies.

The water of the bath symbolizes cleansing. There's water in the tub. It can't drain out fast enough. Perhaps this signifies that there's unfinished work on the soul that I need to do. One would need to plunge the drain to make it drain faster. This means an act of the will--action is needed.

Soap is part of the cleansing process. We all need cleansing. The two bars signify that both myself and the gypsies need cleansing. I can decide what to do with the bars of soap. The dream points to me judging the the gypsies as less valuable sicne I keep the best bar for myself (this is the same as the theme with the televisions). Here the reason is not fear of loss of a valuable possession, since later I leave lots of things in the room that are of greater value than a bar of soap. Also the soap is the first thing I see one when I get out of the top. This points to there being a future use for the bars. This is also signified by the bars being wrapped up.

If we find ourselves doing anything that is not pleasing to God, let us confess it before Him now and ask for His forgiveness.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us (I Jn 1:9-10).

It is not for us to determine the way in which will clean us up. God orchestrates circumstances to lead us to relinquish our will--our right to make our own decisions without consulting Him or being led by Him. God's desire is to have us be soft toward Him, His will and desires for our lives. When we submit our will in this way, it opens the door for Him to move. When we fail to listen to the voice of our apparently negative circumstances as perhaps a message to change our behavior, we can slow the process of God changing us. Get out of God's way--don't choose your bar soap.

3. Fear Keeps Us in the Soul Realm

They explain to me that this is their room and that I need to leave. It's as if they had rented it for the night. I agree to leave, but I first have to take out my personal possessions. The gypsies agree to this. ...I have the distinct feeling that I'm gathering together my possessions so these gypsies won't steal them. Now I begin searching throughout the room for possessions of value. I have a hard-shell suitcase, the Samsonite one that I use to travel overseas. The suitcase has a handle and wheels. I am putting the valuables into the suitcase. I see 3 or 4 television sets very close to each other. I leave three of them for the gypsies because, though they were mine, they didn't seem very good and decide that I'll take the fourth. I know that I can't put the TV in the suitcase, but I have the sense that when I'm ready to leave, I'll put the TV on the suitcase as I wheel it out.

Fear is "an uneasy feeling that danger, evil, or some foreboding thing is near." This is the natural consequences of living outside of the spiritual realm. In the dream, I'm struggling to gather things–to find valuable things. This action takes time and a lot of energy. Why am I doing this? Because there is a sense that it is what I'm supposed to do–an obligation of ownership--"These things are mine."

While this is certainly true, let's look at further. In the dream I felt a fear that the gypsies would steal from me. There's nothing covert about this. It was spelled out explicitly in the dream. The fear drove me to stay and look for my possessions. So it was fear that kept me in the hotel room. The natural part of you continually strives to protect itself from loss--material loss or emotional loss–regardless of whether this potential loss is a real possibility. If you think it's possible, then it can control you. It's a person's perception that's the most important aspect controlling this.

What are the actual–reality-based–consequences of the loss of possessions that I feared happening? For me, right now in my actual circumstances, the answer is nothing. If I didn't have much, it would be a different story, but right now my possessions are more than enough. Yet, symbolically as the dream points out, I'm still feeling that there is a potential for loss.

Most of us are neither rich or poor and as such, we have the general tendency to want to keep what we have and protect ourself against any person or circumstance that may cause us to risk or lose what we have. Yet most of us have a deep, and often hiddden desire to have more. This splitting of reality and desire can cause problems for us. The most common one I see is a tepidness toward life and a generalized inertia. However, I believe it from this type of person that comes the greatest leaders that God has ever created. He gets hold of that desire for more and transforms it by His power into something great.

God asks us to be on the front-lines spiritualy. It not the safe way. God asks us to risk all that is of our earthly nature (our body and soul) to move forward in the things of the spirit. There's no way His kingdom can move forward without confronting and overcoming risk. The primary way that God does this is to give the people a vision. From a vision flows a calling and from the calling comes the mission that guides our life.

I fear that my possessions may be stolen. Sometimes life does not treat us fairly, we experience tragedy, our posssessions may be stolen. Yet sometimes life is not the way we'd like it to be. Beware of not facing the realities of life.

4. Facing Our Dark Side

All of a sudden, a group of people, perhaps 6 to 8, come into the hotel room. I must have gotten out of the bath to look at them. They look like gypsies, or at least they're dressed in modern day gypsies-type attire. They all look to be young (late teens to twenties). One of the men, perhaps in his twenties, speaks to me. When I asked who they were, he said they were Greeks. Oddly, his English had a New York accent.

Why did I dream of gypsies? Perhaps they represent my shadow side–a fusion of all sides of me that I need to face. My subconscious perception of gypsies is that they are of low stature, in poverty, and generally unkempt. Though this generalization is not true, from the dream's standpoint, Gypsies are used as a symbol that has meaning to me. The same is true of Greeks. At this particular time, I was studying the hedonistic, love of control and power, andhigh culture side of Greek thought. So in the dream this what the Greeks represented to me. Likewise, don't some of us view New Yorkers as brusk and pushy. Perhaps my inside fear was that I'd become gypsy-like. Certainly symbolically--this represents the lowest that I could sink to.

God wants us to face the complex things that are inside us. He does this for our benefit. If we take what is revealed, He can change us on the inside into a people who walk in a manner that pleases Him.

5. Winning is Not the Point

Then, I'm in another room talking to a man–who has something to do with paying my bill. He told me that I didn't vacate the room promptly and as a result I needed to pay for an extra night. I protested, saying that although it took a couple hours to clean out all my possessions from the room, the hotel didn't lose any money and gypsies in the room didn't complain that I was there. Finally, the dispute seemed to end and I left not paying him extra. I thought to myself that I would take the extra money that I saved from not having to pay for an extra night and stay somewhere else.

The interaction with the man is part of the dream that doesn't take place in the hotel room. The underlying lesson from this part of the dream is that I felt like I had won. Winning makes us feel good or clever or superior. I had the feeling that since I had won, I could treat myself to something better. I'd reward myself. Yet this is the cry of our soulish part. We must never give in to the desire to win. If we stay in this type of mindset, we'll never get the fullness of what God has for us.