Greetings in Christ to All ! My wife Lynn and I have been praying to the Lord for confirmation regarding the newly formed Latterrain Safe Haven Ministry. We did not hear from the Lord, so we began to feel that the Lord wanted us to take a step of faith and sign up for both Refuge Hub and Prayer Team. I rarely dream, but during the early morning hours of August 6, I received this dream:
I was in a very large open field, with manicured green grass as far as the eye can see. There were several groupings of folding chairs together, some were in circles, others were in rows, each of these chair groupings were well spaced from each other. I knew in my spirit that bible teachings and testimonies were to be conducted in each of these groups. I noticed for some reason that all of the attendees were middle aged men dressed casually. As I was standing alone near a circular group of chairs, suddenly the Lord Jesus appeared before me. I noticed that he was dressed very much like the other men, and blended in as if he was one of the attendees. As He began to speak to me concerning the meetings, I was stunned as if in a state of shock at His presence. I managed to utter the words "can I", He immediately read my thought that I wished to test the Spirit, and said "oh yes" and held up one of His hands so that I can see the large nail piercing in His hand. At the sight of this, I fell at His feet to worship Him. After this, I began to draw some of the other men to Him. He began to move with a following of men across the vast field to meet other groups, and I sensed in my spirit that He was discussing how He wanted the sessions to be conducted, and the Scripture content He wanted to cover. After this, I began to sit down in my assigned group, and the session started. The man seated to my left began to eat something that was offered within the group. He was called upon to speak, and I remembered that he had to quickly chew and swallow the food so that he can speak clearly. As he began to speak, I heard the group leader say, "The Lord Jesus had me change that". Then the dream ended.
Brothers and Sisters, any interpretation assistance with this dream would be most appreciated !
Thanks John
Extrapolation:
Shock at His presence makes me laugh. Sometimes we try so hard to please Him on our own, we forget that He wants to be involved with us in our ministry ventures.
Jesus is the Word, logos, rationale. Jn 1:1
Greek Logos: what is declared, precepts, motive, teaching, account, explanation, reasoning, continuous discourse.
--Thayer-Strong definitions
The Father created with His voice, and His creation demonstrates His heart and mind;
Jesus taught reasoning behind the Father's spoken creation, Law, choices.
The written Word of God is not merely treasured for canonized word-by-word record, but for truths and wisdom behind what God does. People want to know who God is, what he wants.
You led others to Jesus' lead.
Sessions
Your scenario shows multiple teachers and sessions, maybe a continual rotation.
Past Christendom encouraged sticking to one church, one teacher. Sometimes shaming people for church-hopping. Aside from the value of fellowship and caring for needs, multiple sources and ways of learning can help growth.
Learning styles article
Humans crave learning, and will pursue better understanding by listening to sources that shed more light, build on what they already know.
Proverbs recommends a multitude of advisors. Proverbs 11:14, 15:22, 24:6, 27:9
Limiting sources of info, people absorb what one speaker can give; small errors get reinforced, and members parrot mistakes. Cult-like behavior grows when clusters narrow, and lose concept of "iron sharpens iron". A murky pond, lacking inflow-outflow.
The dream's manicured green grass seems sharpened this way --like a lush spread of teachings, co-sharpening. Not wild-abandon weedy growth, and not cut down to the ground until there is no green.
Relief that people are free to learn, wisely - with Jesus as plumb line. (So many mixed metaphors, lol.)
I don't know if your role will involve coordinating; but if you do, you already have a feel for how it can look.
Folding chairs seem to show temporary listeners -- that you would minister briefly, and they would move on, to where God leads each (both learning, and their own ministries).
It seemed a comfortable environment with choices of approach, not rigid structure.
Green grass-- not needing a lot of watering and feeding, but offering open fields to participate.
In the drm, you were not on your own, but linked with others teaching/ministering and organizing.
You made a point to discern what was truly Jesus, and to honor his leadership. (I find sometimes in panic to do everything well, and not lack, I invent things that "need" to get done, instead of following Him in simple single-minded obedience.)
The speakers were eating the same food with listeners -- having a harmonizing, non-heirarchical feel.
The speaker admitted a fault of his own (did I read that correctly?), and how Jesus challenged him to work on that -- humbling, modeling character growth for others. This echoes teachings before the prosperity movement, where people humbled themselves before God and each other.
These days there is so much jumpiness over harassment and lifestyle, that it is probably safer at this time to focus on middle-aged men. A decade ago, people might have considered this too fraternally exclusive.
It's thoughtful of you to commit to prayer for the groups, and hub participation. It will be interesting to see what comes of it. The dream seems a nice response, to give you a sense of the mantel you're taking on.
I find when I commit to prayer (which I often fail and fumble in), it turns into an adventure. Hard to describe, but rewarding.