That Dream?

I look at my clock.  It’s 5:30am on Friday.  Only 15 minutes until that obnoxious alarm goes off.  I don’t even feel like getting up today.  Like I mentioned last week, this summer was very tough mentally, physically and emotionally.  I am totally drained, no motivation at all.  The last thing I want to do right now is to get up and go to an early morning men’s meeting and read through more bible verses.  Besides, I must be at the podcast studio anyway by 8:30am.  It’s been a long, tough week in the ministry.  I’ll just turn off the alarm and re- set it to wake me up in a couple of hours.  They won’t miss me anyway.  (I know several of you are nodding your heads relating to my thoughts right now).

I immediately fall back asleep.  But wait . . . I need to pee.  So, I turn off my CPAP machine (yes, I have apnea), stagger into the bathroom, take care of business and then, for some reason, I feel like I need to take a shower.  So, I hop in and start washing my hair.  With soap in my eyes and the steam building up in the bathroom, I have a sense that I’m being stared at.   I open my eyes, and I’m shocked to see my little brother, Haden, standing next to the shower with a cup of coffee in his hand.  I’m stunned.  After all, Haden died this past June.  Haden gives me his famous sarcastic smile with a raised eyebrow, takes a sip of coffee and says, “You need to go to that men’s meeting this morning.”  Then the stinging shampoo seeps back down into my eyes as the steam intensifies and clouds up the room so that I can’t see my brother anymore.  I call his name . . . with no response.

I jolt up out of bed.  Surprised I didn’t wake up Donna.  What a crazy dream!  My brother, who died just 6 weeks before, was standing there while I was naked, telling me to go to a men’s meeting.  In fact, just the day before I had received a copy of his death certificate with his cause of death in big bold letters . . .  Cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol abuse.  I looked at my clock again.  It was 6:00am.  The meeting starts in 15 minutes.  I felt The Spirit guide me as I threw on some sweatpants, a T-shirt and a cap and headed out the door to our meeting place. 

Upon arrival, there were the usual 50 men standing there catching up.  I felt some dried mucus hanging from my eye and nose.  (In Texas we call it a booger.)  In my haste of getting out of the house, I forgot to clean my face.  I wiped my eyes and nose and, as I walked in, a young man I’ve known for several years greeted me.  He gave me a big hug and said, “Trey I’m so glad you’re here.  I’m so sorry about the passing of your brother.  How can I pray for you?”  I told him about the difficult summer.  My brother’s senseless death and that I received his death certificate the day before with those chilling words listed as the cause.  I explained that my heart was heavy and would appreciate a prayer for peace to wash over me.  He then said something that made me take a step back, “Trey, you’ve been through the wringer.  I have as well.  And if some things don’t change for me, I’m scared my death certificate will show the same cause of death as Haden’s.”  I was speechless. 

The group spent the next hour reading through the book of John, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the dream with my brother and the words from my friend about his problem.  After the meeting he told me about his recent alcohol relapse and the failure he felt he was.  He told me of other thorns that had afflicted him recently in his personal and professional life.  As he spoke, I noticed a sense of healing washing over him.  I then told him about my dream.  I told him I wasn’t even going to come to the meeting today, had it not been for that dream.  My brother told me to come to the meeting.  I had no idea why I had to come to that meeting, until now.  He was the reason Haden appeared in my dream and insisted that I get my lazy butt out of bed and come today. 

Then my words to my friend were, “How can I pray for you?  How else can I help you?”  He mentioned that he would appreciate someone to talk with each week.  Just someone to maybe check in for coffee or a quick lunch, just to talk about life.  Someone he could trust in a non-judgmental and transparent atmosphere of grace.  I’ve chatted with my friend several times over the past few weeks.  He seems to continue in his healing and resetting his bar in life.

Isn’t it crazy how His Holy Spirit works?  Even through our dreams!  Did you know that one of the fastest growing Christian populations in the world now are in the Islamic countries.  All due to Jesus appearing in their dreams and visions!  Think about it.  Tens of thousands of Muslims in the middle east are now worshiping Jesus (be it behind closed doors in secret due to safety concerns).  Just like Joel prophesied:

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”

It seems I have dreams like this often.  I had a dream about our Grace for Man Experiences years ago.  Now we’ve partnered with some of the biggest Christian artists in the world 6 times!  Tim Tebow joined us twice.  All because of being stirred by His Spirit in a dream.  Needless to say, I've shrugged off many dreams in my years.  But what if The Holy Spirit wants you to tune into him in such a way each day because we're too busy dealing with of our life during our waking hours to even pay attention to Him?  Your dreams are His opportunity.  

My question.  When we are pulling the covers up after we've turned off Netflix each night, do we pray for The Spirit to move us?  Do we pray for Him to give us a revelation?  What about during the tough seasons of life when we feel so overwhelmed that we don’t even have the words to pray due to our circumstances.  Do we look up from our pillow each night and pray for the Spirit to engage and empower us?  We can take comfort in Paul’s words in Romans 8 and pray for His Spirit to intercede?

“Likewise, The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses.  For we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words . . . The Spirit interceded for the saints according to the will of God.” 

The Spirit interceded for me during a tough time.  He gave me a vision of my brother, who I know is with Jesus in Heaven right now.  That dream triggered an interaction with an ailing brother in Christ which resulted in an amazing opportunity for discipleship; and HE did it . . . IN MY DREAMS! 

My prayer is that this story will inspire you to look a little deeper today.  To inspire you to tune in and notice that HIS SPIRIT is working in many ways inside of you, RIGHT NOW. He may speak to us in our daily walk or our slumber each night.  Are we all actively listening for when he groans for us?  Understanding who God truly is and who we truly are as his forgiven, holy, justified and righteous children is the start in our walk with The Holy Spirit.  I hope we can all grow in this knowledge and then, may all of our dreams come true as a result!

Peace, prayers and grace to you all.