In June 2010 I had a dream. I was with old friends and we went down to a river. We were in a boat and I was sitting toward the back as I knew I wasn’t to paddle. Other people were paddling; they moved out to where the current was. The river progressed into white water and it got scary and dangerous. Smaller crafts started flipping over. I looked down the river and at the end there was a lock with huge ocean liners began piling up. It was a major catastrophe.
I could see ocean liners, they were like model ships. They weren’t all that grand as they didn’t seem that powerful when you got up close. I looked down over the lock again and saw an office area. A woman was there and she asked what was going on. As I looked at her, she changed–she suddenly had ragged clothes on. She said, “You’re on the U.S. & Canada border.” Suddenly, I saw one of our young men… he fell in the water and disappeared. I couldn’t see him, so I started yelling “help!!” Then I saw scattered throughout the water, search and rescue angels. As soon as I cried out, I saw one pull the young man out of the water and gave him mouth to mouth. I jumped in and yelled, “save him, revive him!”
I suddenly had a second dream, and in this dream I was telling someone the interpretation of my first dream! This is what I said…
The river: Was the flow of the times we live in. The woman was a secretary: church secretary. Canada/US border: Not limited to one nation, global. Mighty ships: the way we’ve always done church. They were model ships… models, structures, the organizations. Couldn’t handle the , change. The young man: the sons and the daughters. People that have been lost, have fallen, been taken under. Being rescued from tribulation, revived and resuscitated.
Since this dream, I’ve been thinking about this river that we are on. And the ships… models and the structures that we are using to “ride” it. And it’s obvious that many of them aren’t working anymore. Many of the models we’ve used, they can’t handle the river. They are being overturned and capsizing.
Yet, God has been speaking to His Body about who He is, and what model He has created to ride this river. And it’s family. God is the creator of family. He’s the family guy. He’s called Father. It’s His heart to rule and lead His family. Not systems, models and structures. He’s a God of order and His order is family. He’s calling us to be a part of this new, yet not new, wineskin; the wineskin of family.
We tell people we are part of the family of God, but we don’t really operate that way. More often than not, if you don’t agree, you get pushed out the back doors. Segregation, separation, and abandonment occur; people become ostracized. The church was never meant to be an organization. We were meant to be an organism.
Models help, but the real flow of God is to be a family.
John 11:11 This He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.”
The wake up call!! When you read this passage, you can see the way it affects Jesus. There’s a little anger welling up at what the enemy has stolen. He gets a little emotional about this… A little perturbed, a little provoked, a little stirred up… A little passionate!
And when He went to Lazarus, He didn’t whisper, didn’t ask… He shouted (John 11:43)! Come forth!! He’s yelling… He’s passionate about us coming out of our graves, out of our tombs. The Message quotes Jesus as saying, “You are being given new grounds for believing(John 11:14, 15).” Yes, we’ve been given new grounds for believing!
And it’s not just concerning spiritual death alone……but to literally raise the dead!! To heal the sick and the diseased! No one is supposed to be dying of cancer! Of disease! That’s why we go out! That’s why we pray for the sick!
That’s why we bring heaven to earth! Like Jesus, we are removing the tombstones over people’s lives! We are to take authority over tombstones, things that keep us in the grave!
A common ‘tombstone’ can be the word “never.” When we’ve been hurt we often say, “Never will I do that again…” “I’ll never let myself be hurt again. I’ll never do a financial partnership again. I’ll never trust a leader like that again.” … etc. And that becomes a tombstone.
But God wants to remove those things. He’s passionate about it! And He wants to give us a double portion. 11:11
Instead of shame, double honour.
If you’re a son, be a father. Double it.
If you’re a daughter be a mother. Double it.
If you’re a priest, be a royal priesthood. Double it.
If you love family, double it.
If you’ve been awakened, go and awaken others.
Don’t be afraid to get passionate.Get stirred up. Get provoked! Be a part! Be revived! Be resuscitated!