“But when the time
arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a
woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us
who have been kidnapped by the law.
Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell
for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent
the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that
privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a
slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete
access to the inheritance.”
—Galatians 4:4–7 MSG
(emphasis added)
A few years after I
was born again, God gave me a prophetic dream showing me the battle I would face
with legalism. Please bear with me as I share this dream with you in detail and
provide you with the interpretation as I have it today. Mind you, I did not
understand most of the meaning of the dream until after He had already performed
a great work of restoration from legalism within me and from the resulting
fruits in my life of scrupulosity and religious OCD.
In the dream, I was a
high school student, and I was running late for my class. As I walked in the
hallway of the school toward my classroom, an announcement was made through the
school’s speakerphones, and the lady said, “Kathleen Kaczmarek has been
kidnapped!” I knew by the tone of her voice that the kidnapper was still
roaming around and that he was a threat. But why had she said my name? I
quickly became uneasy. Was it a prophecy of what would happen to me? Could
there be someone else with the same first and last name? Hadn’t it already
happened? She said, “Has been
kidnapped,” but I was still there. When I reached the classroom, everyone was
panicked. The teacher dismissed the class, and all the girls ran for refuge
back home. The teacher left, everyone left, and I was left alone in the
classroom. Suddenly I saw to my left maybe two or three strong men,
muscle-bound men; and I started to look to them to protect me from the
kidnapper. However, and to my surprise, even they ran for fear![1]
By now I was standing
at the front of the classroom. On my right was a door that led to the hallway.
At that moment, the kidnapper appeared in the doorway, laughed, and hid again.
He wanted me to know that he wasn’t far and that he knew where I was. I thought
to myself “If even the muscular men can’t save me, who can?” This is when the
very voice of our heavenly Father spoke to me. I say our heavenly Father
because when He spoke, His voice sounded like thunder. A fair description could
also be like many waters. But I know it was powerful and loud and it resonated
everywhere. I recognized it from the way it is described in John 12:28-29 where
the Father speaks as a response to Jesus’ cry to glorify the Father’s name. The
sound of His voice is likened to thunder. When the Father spoke to me, His
voice seemed to be everywhere at the same time; it was outside of me, inside of
me, went through me, and was everywhere! And this is what He said: “You are not
alone, Jessica.” He didn’t even know my name! But at the same time I knew that
God obviously had to know my name. I didn’t know what to make of it. I guess I
had mixed feelings. Part of me was so blessed that God Himself would speak to
me at this moment of great need in such a way, but at the same time I felt kind
of offended that He didn’t call me by my real name, Kathleen. It made me feel as
though He barely knew me and that I didn’t matter to Him very much for Him to
make such a gross mistake with my name. That’s the way the dream ended.
Through the dream, the
Lord was showing me that the law (legalism) would come and kidnap me, but that
I could call to my heavenly Father and He would be strong enough to deliver and
to protect me. The apostle Paul made it clear to us through Galatians 4:4–7
that we are not slaves, but children. Legalism reduces us to slavery through
fear. However, God the Father has set us free from bondage to fear by adopting
us as His own children through Christ.[2]
What’s more, the Lord wanted
to teach me another powerful lesson. . . Before I had the dream, I had been
spending some time searching the web for the meaning of the name Kathleen. I
also knew that my mom had debated between Kathleen and Jessica. Most sites say
that the meaning of Kathleen is “pure.” Even a lady from church gave me a card
with the name Kathleen on it and with a description of its meaning as “pure.” Through
my search on the internet, I also came across one site (and I cannot find the
site anymore) where they insisted that even though most people say the meaning
of Kathleen is “pure,” it is a mistake. Instead it means some kind of dark
sorcerer or something like that. I can’t remember the exact words they used to
describe it. Though I knew it was only a name and only one site, still it
troubled me a little given my past and the way the devil liked to play with my
mind. Regardless, Kathleen represented who I was, in and of myself. However,
all of this didn’t matter anymore after I had that dream because God had called
me Jessica! So I hurried to the computer, eager to know the meaning of the name
Jessica. I knew it had to describe how God saw me and that it represented who I
was in Christ, for God had spoken it. When I found it, I was pleased to see
that Jessica means “God beholds,”
“wealthy,” and “foresighted.”
Now, you may wonder
where I am going with this. This blog is about our true identity, our new life,
the one that is hidden with Christ in God.[3] The
Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMPC that if any person is ingrafted in
Christ, he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous
moral and spiritual condition] has passed away and the fresh and new has come! This
means who we were before is buried with Christ. I believe that God is the
ultimate visionary, and He has buried our past through the blood of Christ so
that the new could come. We are a new creation. Consider Abram, Sarai, Jacob,
and Simon for example. Each of them were renamed by God Himself once they had
an encounter with Him. Abram was renamed Abraham;[4] Sarai,
Sarah;[5] Jacob,
Israel;[6] and
Simon, Peter.[7]
In their days, names were very important because they represented who they
were.
Now, let
me share something with you that I consider of utmost importance. What we
believe about ourselves, how we see ourselves, and how we believe that God sees
us is critical. It will ultimately shape who we are and, really, the course of
our lives. In Romans 6:11, the apostle Paul told us to consider ourselves dead
to sin but alive to God. I heard Beth Moore say during an interview with Joyce
Meyer what I consider to be one of the most powerful statements I have ever
heard. It went something like this: “You will end up where you believe you
belong. Always.” This is why we need to renew our belief system with the truth
of the Word of God. If we believe in our heart that we belong in the pit, no
matter how hard we try, we will always ultimately end up in defeat. If we
believe that we are a sinner, no matter how many good intentions we have, we
will ultimately go back to the sin we are desperate to get free from. So it is
important to believe with our heart that we belong to and with Jesus because of
our faith in His work at Calvary, if we ever want to live the corresponding
victorious life. It is important to believe what the Word says concerning us.
The Bible
says about us who believe in Christ that we are children of God. We are slaves
of righteousness, not slaves of sin.[8] We are
the righteousness of God through Christ.[9] We need
to know this truth for ourselves: that we have been
made righteous through Christ, that we are accepted in the beloved, and that we
are forgiven.[10] The Bible even says that we are seated in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus![11] Talk about a done deal! Unless we see ourselves right with
God through the blood of Christ, we will never be victorious and we will always
end up in defeat in the end, always.
Now be encouraged dear one, for there
is hope! There is a way out.
―Kathleen Kaczmarek
[1] See Jeremiah 17:5 MSG.
[2] See also Romans 8:15.
[3] See Colossians 3:3.
[4] See Genesis 17:5.
[5] See Genesis 17:15.
[6] See Genesis 35:10.
[7] See Matthew 16:17–18.
[8] See Romans 6:18 NKJV.
[9] See 2 Corinthians 5:21.
[10] See 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:6 KJV; Matthew 26:28.
[11] See Ephesians 2:6.
