God is Setting Leaders & the Lonely in Families

On August 30, 2023, I had a dream that I was in a gathering and there were people there from around the world. There was a buzz of excitement about the event and the big names that were present. The room had a square wooden stage surrounded by rows of chairs on each of the four sides. I noticed there were a number of “big name” preachers there and the conference broke for lunch.

I started to tell the people around me they’d be welcome to my apartment for lunch and one of the well known preachers looked at me hungry to know what I was talking about. I said, “Oh, I’m having people over to my apartment for lunch. You and your team are welcome. We’re just going to gather around a wooden table and have vegetable stew.” Then I second guessed myself because I thought she must be used to really nice meals and I asked her if she’d prefer to go to a restaurant for a nice steak and she cut me off and said, “No, I’ll come to your house. It sounds like family.”

She went on saying, “You probably notice that my face looks different than what you’ve seen on a screen.” I had noticed but of course I wouldn’t have said anything. On-line she looked young and so alive but before me she looked tired and haggard to a point of being almost disfigured. She was also significantly heavier in person and made a comment about it being hard to get the weight off.

I continued listening. She said, “You see I’ve got these AI filters that make my face look a certain way online. I have to. The people don’t want to see the real me. I figure if I just keep the filters on, God can use me that way.” The unsaid reality I could see in her eyes was “and so that I can protect myself from some of the painful and relentless criticism of others.” So she resigned to using an AI filter that would modify her appearance on video, but I could see that she longed to just take the mask off and be a human alongside other brothers and sisters in Christ.

I assured her that she could just BE around us and not worry about what she looked like. She and her team came over with many others and the dream ended with everyone just eating around the table together. Seated low on little benches and cushions, I could see and feel healing balm being poured into hearts so hungry for Jesus.

Friends, God is setting the lonely in families.

It’s time to lay down the idolatry of stages, names and platforms and return to the table of the Lord. God is breaking our boxes of what ministry is and it’s far more beautiful, costly and liberating than we’ve known at large.

Some months back I had a dream where I saw a tall wooden platform, just like a smaller version of the square wooden stage in the first dream. In the dream, the four legs holding it up were shortened by cutting off the bottom half so that the platform was turned into a table which was then filled with people on every side. This is what God is doing. This was His intent all along.

To the lonely, to those burnt out on religion, to those who feel weathered by the relational storms they’ve endured, to you I say, IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO THRIVE.

God is releasing grace for radical re-alignment in relationships and lifestyle to promote prosperity of soul and restore health to the weary. Don’t delay the alignment moves God is showing you. Don’t let fear propel you away from familiarity of what you’ve known. God is breathing on the imaginations of the Body of Christ to show us what’s possible in kingdom family.

God is looking for willing hearts who will simply make room for the one God leads you to. You don’t need special credentials. Who you ARE is a gift that draws the downtrodden and hurting to the embrace of the Father. There’s oil in your story. There’s oil in your hospitality. There’s oil in your refusal to accuse and judge. There’s oil in your commitment to keep Jesus at the center, to move when He moves, and love like He loves.

I see the sword of the Lord bringing a division between honor and idolatry. He’s revealing the orphan heart in His bride that pants after the affirmation of men, the next great teacher or runs away into isolation because of not knowing what’s real anymore. Wherever we are in the journey, He is Fathering us into SONSHIP which leads to wholeness, alignment and fruitfulness. There is no other way.

Let’s repent for idolizing leaders. Let’s repent for our part in creating an environment that teaches people they need to live double-lives to feel accepted at the table.

Leaders, it’s time to come out of isolation and come into family. You may not know who those people are yet, but it’s time to renounce the lie that you have to do it on your own.

Wherever each of us finds ourselves in this story, we can say, “God, I’m willing. I give you permission to break my boxes and bring me into what You had in mind all along.”

Because the winning strategy in the Kingdom is SURRENDER.

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“God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.” Psalm 68:6

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2

“And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by people, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5