Last November I had three prophetic dreams in sequence over a period of five days that define the heart of the Father and pose three vital mandates for the church in this strategically crucial time.
In the first dream, John Paul Jackson (leading prophetic voice, deceased February 2014) came to me to pour out his grief over what he saw going on in the prophetic movement. Deeply broken over it, he knew that he could no longer change it himself. I knew that he had passed away and so it felt as though his spirit had come to me bearing the grief one would feel when you can’t go back to address the mistakes made in life. It seemed that some measure of responsibility was being passed to me in the encounter.
God has issued a mandate to cleanse prophetic ministry, to restore it to soundness and its rightful place and purpose in the church. As prophetic ministry has been abused and misfocused, lives have been damaged and the name of God profaned when prophetic words have failed to come pass, both in individual lives and regarding national and world issues. Events prophesied in connection with blood moons and shemitahs have not come to pass. Personal prophecies have failed. Faith has been shaken and in many places, cynicism has taken root. It’s time to heal the wounds and begin to repair the damage by bringing forth true prophetic ministry grounded in the Father’s heart, the Scriptures and intimacy with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
To accomplish this, those who are not prophetic people must sharpen their discernment and be bold to hold prophetic people accountable for character and accuracy, as well as biblical grounding. The whole body of Christ is in this together.
In my second dream I was preaching at a small venue with only eight or so people present when the pastor of a mega-church where I once served entered the room. I had been slandered and badly wounded in that place by him such that he and I had not spoken in twenty-four years in spite of my efforts to reconcile.
Surprised and delighted at his presence, I edited and changed my message. Afterwards, we spoke together very cordially, as if we were friends once more. I got to genuinely thank him for what I had learned musically while on his staff, as well as responding to his misconceptions of the Toronto revival and our church.
A young relative of his had just moved into an apartment and we went to see it together. It was one very small room with just space enough for a bed and a kitchen with windows down two sides and a number of TV screens. The whole encounter was very cordial and restorative.
This second mandate calls for healing and reconciliation with regard to old church wounds, not just for me but for the multitudes who have been hurt and disillusioned in churches. That former senior pastor represents damage done by leadership figures who don’t understand the Father’s heart. It’s time to forgive, love and reconcile. We must do this for the sake of the young whose heritage will be stolen if we don’t come together and restore the broken church. They carry revelatory gifts as represented in the windows and TV screens that will be essential in the days to come. For their sake, if not for our own and for the Lord’s heart, it’s time to let old wounds and conflicts go and become a force for restoration. God calls us to heal the body of Christ and recover those who have been alienated.
In my third dream, President Obama was in town to make an announcement in a large shopping mall concerning the deaths that happened in a recent shooting incident. Overcome with emotion, he kept breaking down and crying so that they would have to stop filming while he pulled himself together.
The Lord filled my heart with an overwhelming sense of love for this man and told me to stand with him as he made the announcement in order to support him emotionally and to openly demonstrate love before the nation. I chose a moment when only one Secret Service agent stood guard, walked right up to him as he stood behind the podium, took his hand and said, “Mr. President, I’ve never agreed with your policies but I’m here to support you. Would it be all right to stand with you before the nation?”
I saw myself with my arm around him standing together before the lights and cameras. Overcome with gratitude, he grasped my hand, nearly wept and latched onto me like drowning man reaching out for rescue. He agreed that I would stand with him and I began telling the stage people to remove the podium so that people could see us together.
The mandate is that we must receive and walk in a restoration of the power of God’s overwhelming love to touch those we strenuously disagree with, even our enemies, and to be certain that the world sees it. In so doing, we validate the power of the gospel and the true heart of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The world needs this desperately. They’ve seen too much of our division and have heard to many negative, bitter and judgmental words from us. We need to recover the right to be heard.
Three mandates summarized:
- Heaven calls us to cleanse the prophetic ministry. There will be an accelerating shift in the prophetic world, already under way, moving us toward prophetic voices we can trust. God is retiring an older generation whose words have not proven to be consistently accurate and a new generation rises more grounded in the heart of the Father and in His written Word. Right now they’re mostly hidden. They’re not mainstream or well known. The mainstream sells books and packs conferences, but accuracy and substance have been lacking. A different heart has taken root in this upcoming generation. They are the Micaiahs of our day, standing alone among the 400, getting it right but not truly received by the kings in authority. Those older prophetic voices who carry over into this shift will be seasoned mentors with the heart of the Father to father a generation of more accurate prophetic voices emerging at just the right time in history.
- We must become those who work for healing and reconciliation in the body of Christ. This will mean that some of us must choose to return to church after being absent for various reasons. It requires that leadership develop a deeper understanding of the true heart of the Father as revealed in Jesus – a heart that releases and sets people free to realize their callings and destinies. Those who’ve been wounded either by leadership or by other members of the church must choose to forgive and re-engage. We must do this for the sake of young and function as Joshuas and Calebs leading a new generation out of the wilderness to conquer a promised land.
- We must learn – even choose – to radically love even those with whom we have deep differences. Progressive versus conservative. Republican versus Democrat. Black versus white. Rich versus poor. Charismatic/Pentecostal versus cessationist. Nothing less than love and a culture of honor will suffice.
Called as a strategic people, we live in the most crucial period of history in centuries. Let us rise to the destiny appointed us by the living God!