Powerful vision for the church

A Powerful Vision For The Church

I’d like to share with you a powerful vision for the church my wife had recently, just as she wrote it. She’ll be a “guest” blogger in a sense. Take the time to read it and let it soak in.

Here it is:

I saw a large tree on a giant piece of land. It’s branches looked like it was the very beginning of spring; some buds blooming, but not full yet. Then I saw a fence. It was worn down & had dried up vines all over it. My view suddenly became much broader & I saw lines & lines of this fencing, each line looking different. Some made out of wire, some old wood, and others made from clean white plastic faux wood. As I realized the fences were actually making up a vineyard, the tree’s roots quickly began to come out of the ground, wrap around the fences & began tearing them down. They were so brittle & broke so easily, but also so peacefully; as if they were taking a deep sigh of relief when they were being broken & brought into the ground. Healing oil was oozing out of the strong roots & softening the pieces of the vineyard’s graveyard. Suddenly all the soft broken pieces of the fences were brought together on top of the tree. The roots held them up there for a long time. As soon as I expected the roots’ strength to give up, the pieces caught on fire & sweet, kind laughter broke out. The saints & angels were joyfully laughing & dancing over the earth.

I then saw Jesus in a lit closet. He was building something. It looked like a wall made out of some kind of bricks. I realized the bricks were made out of journals. He looked me straight in the eye as he handed me one of them. It was one of mine from my childhood. I opened it & saw tear-soaked writing crying out for revival. He asked me if I wanted to keep it or if he could keep building with it. I gave it back to him. As I did, he grabbed me & put me in his lap as a father would. I started helping him build with the journals. He said, “This is my revival wall.” I was confused because a wall seemed to represent the opposite of what revival is. He laughed & we kept building. I then saw an aerial view of the wall. He has been building it since the beginning of time. It spread all across the earth weaving in and out of the land, surpassing time & dimensions. The wall seemed to constantly be moving just a bit, almost as if it were barely vibrating. Like the lowest possible earthquake; quietly slowly shifting the ground. Our prayers within this wall have been preparing the way this whole time since the very first thought that cried out for revival. He’s been faithfully paving & sculpting the way for His glory to fall by using his kid’s cries for revival. I asked him when the wall will be finished. He told me that I’m not ready to know but to keep praying for his glory to fill the land. I saw the remnants of the prayers inside the journals in the wall seeping into the ground, making those prayers come to pass. Roots soaking it all up and transferring it to the land. I stood up. I was a child now & I put my hand out to him. He grabbed it & I helped him up. Hand in mine, he followed me to where I wanted him to go. I took him to different friends & family members asking him to heal them. Each time, he bent down to whisper something in their ear & they either stood up or stayed sitting. He told the ones that didn’t get up, “That’s okay. I’ll come back soon.” He wasn’t mad at them. He would just lovingly stare at them as we walked away, almost as if he was telling them something just between them. Then we all walked to the big tree. When we got there, there were little green buds coming out of the ground where the vineyard fences once were. There was a giant group of us surrounding him. All ages, all races, all ethnicities, all denominations; all of his children. Full of excitement, he told us that it’s time. We ran out to the fields and started making vineyard fences out of the tree’s roots. They were still attached to the tree, just jetting up out of the soft soil. Our fences looked a bit different from each other’s in how they were structured, but they were all coming from the same place & made out of the same material. We enjoyed what we were doing. Knowing that we would be settled in this place for a bit, we made it our home for the time being. We worked hard & helped each other. We weren’t afraid to ask for help. Laughter was our constant background noise. We worshiped freely as we worked on the fences. Work & rest became one. He was showing us new ways to think. We ate from the tree. It had everything we needed. He was constantly with us. Rain would come, but the sun was always shining. It was beautiful & peaceful.

Then people started coming in waves. Each holding (grasping) a worn page from the journal revival wall. They arrived as if they finally found the place they have been looking for for so long. We recognized so many of them; friends and family we have been crying out for forever. Mothers and fathers would run from the field when they saw their children arriving. Brothers and sisters embracing for the first time. As they came, more ground was laid & more vineyard fences were forged from the roots. The oil still flowing & healing the land, our hearts, & our bodies. Baby vines growing & connecting to the matured vines. Jesus was constantly walking around & stopping to sit with us. He helped us prune our part of the vineyard. Sometimes we would laugh while we pruned & sometimes we would cry. He would cry with us though.

People were consistently coming and making a home with us. Some of us would grab Jesus’ hand and take him to where we needed to go to find the ones who were lost. He would pick them up and hold them. A lot of them were asleep. If they didn’t wake up to his voice, he told them again that he would come back to get them. He told every single one of them that he would never give up. When I was with him on one of these journeys, I got very tired and my heart was hurting. He just picked me up and took me back to the tree and rested me on the oil-soaked roots as he sat next to me. He did this for any of us that were tired or hurting. He was so kind.

Revival is here. It’s rumbling in the ground. It’s surging in the roots. It’s in us. I believe the picture of the roots removing the old dried up vineyard is a picture of the last few months. Everything has been torn down to the beginning. Facades destroyed, old supports taken out, & useless differentiating structures removed. He has used this time to gently reveal so much to us. Everything in our world has been shaken, but we’ve been shaken together. We are living in the answers of our prayers. We are being shaken by our own past cries of revival. We didn’t like it at first, but we slowly gave in and took a sigh of relief in response to the uncomfortable breaking down of our old. It’s time for new. New wine is not made in a day though. It’s time. Right now, it’s time to build the new vineyard fences. Fences that build up & support, not fences that keep out. Stakes in the ground that the vines find and securely grow up and around. Fences made from roots of the one true vine. Keeping our eyes on him while working hand in hand. Everything we knew as normal life has been flipped upside down. A lot of our jobs have either come to a stop or have shifted to become part of our day to day within our homes. I don’t know if he caused those halts, but I believe he is using them to show us his view on rest & work working in harmony. He wants his children in the church. He wants us together in spirit & body. Like a father bringing his kids close. It’s time to come together & grab everyone you know on your way. There is no time for being too shy to not share. He’s given us grace to heal, save, & deliver. Let’s walk out those things. Tell him who you want. Take him to them! And when you are hurt or tired let him pick you up and restore you. Ask for help. Be vulnerable. Let him burn up the old things that aren’t needed anymore. Let him prune the dead so new life can grow. Don’t lose hope for the ones you’ve cried out for. He has saved every prayer & has been building a coming revival with them. I’ll say it again: DON’T LOSE HOPE. Addicts will be healed, the confused will think & see clearly, bitterness will die, relationships will mend, racism will go, anxiety will be removed from hearts & minds, depression will cease, suicide will end, hidden slavery will be no more, apathy will be removed by the bride waking up, the deaf will hear, the blind will see, the dead will live, the hurting will heal, and souls upon souls will come to know Jesus as the person he really is.

Church, let’s not just put aside our differences when we’re together only to pick them back up once we get in our cars. Let’s give them up to Jesus & let him burn them in his holy fire. We can be different & think differently, but those things can not define & divide us anymore. Let’s get back to our roots & let his nature & character define us. Let it bring us together to rebuild preparing for the new harvest. Unity will come when we’re focused on the same goal; revival. Please, let’s celebrate differences, but not worship them. The people we intercede for will not come searching for a divided church. They want to belong to a family. I know you can feel it. We all can. It’s the rumble in our hearts. The rattling of the bones as worshippers have recently written. It’s a hungry anticipation bubbling up. We don’t know whether to laugh or cry. He gives us permission to do both. Let it out. We’ve been pushing it all down for far too long now. A healing roar is coming & it’s coming out of our mouths. A roar can be filled with pain & glory at the same time. We don’t have to define our pain in order to feel it & give it to him. Don’t be afraid to be undone together. It’s that feeling of not being able to talk without crying. It’s okay. Just cry talk if you need to. Be a mess if need be. Let’s surrender together & let his oil soften our past in order to grow the coming revival.

Selah.

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