Chapter 2
God Dares Us to Dream
Normal people don’t change the world. Many live their lives day to day simply fitting in to society. Those who choose to remain normal will not have the opportunity to realize their full potential to the degree that they leave a lasting impact on their generation. As believers this is a culture in which we must stand out and not stand in. We are the ones who demonstrate to society that there is more than the every day, more than the normal. We must look to the future, we must become dreamers. Dreamers believe for the impossible. They are stargazers, they are wanderers, and they are the adventurers.
Even if your life seems normal–if you are eternity conscience–then you are different, viewing life from a standpoint and paradigm that those around you fail to have the capacity to realize. Therefore if you live from eternity, your life will stamp the times with meaning and significance for generations to come. You contain in your relationship with Jesus the substance the earth is starving to apprehend. Grasping this empowers you to no longer remain the same, and to no longer remain normal. You become something different, something other, something that looks a lot like Jesus. And that something inside of you is the culture needed that will influence the world. So believe for it, dream for it, and simply go for it.
Supernatural Dream
In 2001, I had a dream. In the dream, I was in the church. The entire church was assembled on a rock face, kind of like a rock quarry. I was seated in the middle next to a man in a booth, who was a prophet. The prophet would change from himself into Jesus and then back again. The prophet was not Jesus, but I believe that this was signifying the role of the prophetic place in the church in recognizing the real Jesus in the last days.
Suddenly from my right, a great dark blue and smoky looking cloud appeared. Many of the people who were assembled began to freak out and shouted, “It is the Lord. Jesus is coming.” The prophet however remained silent, so I followed his lead. Next, the cloud moved from the right side of the sky to the left, and it was revealed that this was not the Lord, but the devil or anti-christ spirit acting like Him. Many of those in the church were deceived because of this and fell away.
Next another cloud appeared in the right side of the sky. This one was golden in color and there was a bright light in the center of it. It was more like an expanse in the heavens than a cloud. The prophet began yelling, “Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming!” Then the cloud move over to the center of the sky and pushed the other cloud away.
On the other side of where the prophet was sitting, my friend was present. The only two people that I recognized in the dream were the prophet and my friend. When the cloud arrived at the middle of the sky, it was so bright, one could not look, but somehow, he could at the same time. It stung the eyes while giving life to the eyes simultaneously.
And then, shockingly, my friend flew like a rocket from where he was sitting straight into the expanse and then exploded into a fireball. He was in the expanse, for he had seen Jesus in the midst of it, and he was changed, even transfigured. He was hovering and flying. His arms became wings, suspended straight out on each side, he was in the midst of God looking down at the church, and His appearance was similar to a phoenix.
Instantaneously, when I saw him fly into the expanse, such a tremendous amount of faith filled my heart and emerged in my spirit, that is was like the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion. I became the rocket and lifted off into the expanse. I flew into Jesus. It was and still is to this day like nothing I have ever experienced. I had an encounter with Jesus in which a description of this is beyond my ability to write. I instantly exploded into a fireball just as my friend did. Here we were suspended in the sky. Both heaven and earth was our dwelling. I was on one side of Jesus, and my friend on the other, similar to a few moments before when we were on either side of the prophet. The things we do on the earth mirror what we do in heaven.
All together, four of us flew out into the expanse. All of us were flying and on fire. Each one of us had a different color flame, (which I interpreted as different gifts and ministries). From our position, you could see the top of the rock quarry [church]. Behind it was a black, great and deep darkness. There were multitudes coming over the edge from the night into the church.
When I was in this state I could fly all around, just like the superheroes we described. Faith was not even an issue, for we knew that God could and would do anything. It was almost as if we were in bubbles of fire and power in which fear and doubt had no possibility of penetrating. Anything that came our way was nullified because we resided in God and His power was all consuming. I am unable to illustrate the state of faith I was in. I only hope that one day I will experience here and not just in a dream.
I was prone to pride however, and when it entered my heart, I immediately lost the ability to fly and fell down to the bottom of the quarry and landed in water, which was there for our protection. It caught us when we fell so we could climb back up the rocks.
The dream ended with me on fire and full of faith, flying out into the darkness. As I went, light was shinning from Christ through me, showing them the way to salvation. And I saw people, the further I went all heading in the direction of the church, for a revolution was taking place and multitudes were being saved. Others were coming behind me, to accomplish their heavenly mission as well.
Those who were like us were going out into the darkness and sending as many as we could find to the church to be disciples. When they entered the church, they sat by the prophet just as we had done until they had their own encounter with the true Jesus. Once they could fly, they too would be sent out as well. There was a pattern of people coming out of the darkness into the light, encountering Jesus. Then they went out into the darkness to send even more people into the light. This went on from generation to generation.
I am driven every day by this dream. It has become the foundation for my vision and calling, how I see God and relate to the church. I long to see this fulfilled. Night dreams are given to enable daydream. I live the impossible in the night dream so I can believe for the impossible in the daydream. I am given over to seeing this dream fulfilled. I want to fly and have faith like I did in the dream. I want to help build, equip, and live life with a church that functions the way God showed me in the dream. He showed me for a reason, and that reason becomes a passion and purpose for my life.