The other night I had a dream.

As is often the case in dreams, it took place in the home where I grew up, though it was in many ways more like the house I live in now.

In this dream, my family and I were all in the kitchen doing different things, and I looked out the window to see a large, black SUV pull into our driveway. Two men in black jackets exited the SUV and began to approach the house.

It was all wrong, and I knew it. It was not safe.

For fear of tipping my hand (they could see me as well as I could see them), I gently instructed my children to go to their rooms and for my wife to go with them. I took a few steps toward the basement door, until I was out of sight, then ran downstairs.

Once downstairs, I ran to the far end to get a gun, but they weren’t there…they were upstairs. As I made this realization, I turned to return to the main floor, and then upstairs. But, turning, I saw that one of the men had broken in through the basement door (it was a walk-out basement).

I knew I had to fight him.

He dispatched me quickly, and the dream ended.

I don’t believe that every dream means something, but this one did. I pondered over the dream, and I felt the Lord saying to me, “You’re not prepared, and you’re not ready.”

The statement may sound redundant, but it’s not. In the dream, I wasn’t prepared, because I didn’t even know where to go to get my weapons. I wasn’t ready, because if I had been carrying a weapon, the men who were breaking in wouldn’t have made it through the door.

Physically, fighting the man in the basement served to remind me that, should I need to fight anyone…ever, I would almost certainly lose in the shape I’m in.

Spiritually, have I been eating right and working out? Is my fitness level at a place where I can hope to fight off the enemy? The beauty of your spiritual training is that you carry the weapons with you at all times. There’s not a pause while you run and get the Scripture you’ve memorized, and the truths you’ve studied. I do, of course, need to be training with those weapons. I must not run from smaller battles the enemy will bring, or how can I expect to survive the greater?

So what do I do with all this? I didn’t see what happened after I was dealt with in the dream, but I saw how flippantly I was removed from relevance. I’m happy not to have seen what would have happened next, as it stands to reason that no man should want to see it.

The last couple years of my life have seen great spiritual growth. I don’t say that in arrogance, since this is growth I should have made in much earlier years, and the amount of growing I still need to do is immeasurable, so there’s nothing to brag about. I’ve got to keep my foot on the gas as it pertains to my walk with Christ, and I need to be certain that I am also not neglecting my body.

Worse yet, can I honestly look at my eating habits and conclude that I am not partaking in the sin of gluttony? The Bible has some pretty strong language concerning that.

Gracious Father, please help me to replace any gluttony for food I have with a desire to consume Your Word. Replace in me any useless passions with a pursuit of Your face. Help me to arm myself to the teeth, and to resist the enemy fiercely, with full expectation that he will flee.

Finally, Father, may I raise up my children to do the same, leading them and their mother well, for the glory of Your great Name.