Ai, Ai, Ai, Ai!
I was pleasantly surprised last night by having a very high-definition dream. I remember each detail very clearly, so I know it is meaningful. I believe God still speaks to us in dreams and visions.
In the dream I lived in a roomy house with my father, brother and daughter. My daughter was somewhere in the periphery of events. My father was fixing a plumbing problem in a room in the back of the house, and with him were my youngest brother and a tall good-looking man who was supposed to be my boyfriend, (which, I don’t have) they were standing around trying to be helpful to my Dad.
Next, the door bell rang and I went to answer. There was this man at the door with a van or a small bus full of children, wife, and some grandparents too. There were quite a lot of kids, maybe eight or nine. The van was full of them. So, I asked the man what did he want? He said they had been roaming around and it had already turned dark and he was trying to find out where he was. He added, most of his kids in the bus were behaving okay except for one of the little girls that looked like she was about seven or eight years old. She ran out of the bus and started kicking, crying and screaming and acting very badly. I thought the child was just tired of traveling in the bus.
As the man turned to head back to the bus, I volunteered and said my father can pray for your little girl so she can calm down. He hesitated and said no thank you and started to walk off with the screaming child. I quickly added my father was a retired preacher. This made the man come back and he said, “okay, he can pray for the girl.”
I went to the back of the house and ask my father if he would pray for the little girl. He agreed quickly, dropping what he was doing, he made his way to the front of the house with my brother and my boyfriend trailing after him.
The little girl did not want to be prayed for and would not let my father place his hand on her head. The father, mother, grandparents and other children had gotten out of the bus and just stood around in a circle watching as my father tried to pray for the little girl.
Suddenly, my father turned to look at me and said “I am stepping back and you are going to be the one to pray for this one.” I was a bit surprised at my father’s request, but I moved forward towards the child. The moment I started to pray for her she was reacting with more screaming, kicking and writhing. Immediately I knew this didn’t take just plain prayer. This called for a deliverance.
I asked the man what was the child’s name, he and his wife said, “It is Ai.” I asked, “Ai?” So they spelled it out for me, “Ai.” So I started to pray some more over her and addressing her by her name, Ai. Her voice kept changing from low guttural tones to high screeching voices. She would hiss like an angry cat and would try to bite me. Then she would say, “My name is Ai! My name is Ai! At that moment God said, “Tell her she will not be “Ai” anymore.”
God continued, “Tell her, she will now be named, Lilly of the Valley.” There was something about the name of Ai that had repulsed me. I could not explain my reaction to the name of Ai, but it made me wince. Then I asked God. “Why am I having such a hard time in casting out this demon?” He answered me, “These kind come out with prayer and fasting.” This was the end of the high-definition dream.
When I woke up in the morning I got up running to write my dream down. Usually dreams get siphoned off quickly as we are waking up. This time I had an urgency to write it down and its’ vividness has stayed with me since.
I knew I had run across the name Ai as I had read the book of Joshua in chapters seven and eight. Ai was a city with whom Joshua and Israel battled against twice. The first time Israel lost because of someone had lied and stolen plunder that belonged only to God’s treasury, the second time God demanded they go back and defeat Ai once and for all. Following God’s advice Israel went into battle again and completely destroyed them, burned their city down and hung their King. The good thing about this victory was God told Israel they could take all the plunder, herds and goods for themselves as reward.
In further research I found out the name Ai means “ruins.” I believe that the dream I had was especially talking to me, my younger brother and to anyone else that is going through extreme personal pressures in this present downward spiral in our economy. We have to pray and cast off the spirit of ruins from our lives.
It will not be an easy fight against Ai, for it is a stubborn demonic spirit of destruction. God demands that where we were defeated before we need to obtain the victory. It amazed me as I meditated on the two battles Joshua and Israel had to fight against Ai. The first time they lost was because one person had stolen some items that belonged to God’s treasury. God had told them before the battle of Jericho that all the silver, gold, bronze and iron must go into his treasury. No one was to take any of the devoted things that belonged to God alone.
On the second battle God said all the plunder is for the people of Israel after they would defeat Ai. I wondered if…what if the parallel in these histories are that if we keep the devoted things that belong to God like the tithes we will fall into the ruins of Ai. When we give God what belongs to God, we defeat Ai the demonic spirit of ruins and we win God’s prosperity and favor. God demanded Israel to destroy Ai, its’ inhabitants and ruler.
I know the dream was meant first of all for me and my brother because we were in the dream, but now lets’ stop looking just within our families and what affects us personally. Let’s extend our vision with spiritual binoculars and see if we can spy Ai the demonic spirit of ruins with a strong choke hold on our beloved country. We pretty up the words and airbrush them on the news to make them palpable to the general public. Phrases like sluggish economy,tightening up the belt, economic recovery, if we change presidents, administrations or parties etc. then our bad economy will go away. What we need to acknowledge flat cold is our country also is under demonic attack. We as Christians need to rise up, pray and fast against the spirit of Ai to loosen its’ grip on our country.
God ordered Joshua, “as long as you hold your javelin towards Ai, I will deliver them into your hand.” Let’s pick up our javelin (the word of God) and let the spiritual war began. Lets’ possess the city of Ai and make it a victory place for the Lilly of the Valley.
Very timely message. Stand strong have faith .
Mrs. Sanchez, Thank you for your encouraging words. Glad the message was understood.