A Dream, A Groan & The Table of the Lord

The Lord recently stirred me to pull out a dream I had on 11/12/2017 and share this word connected to it.

(Trigger warning: human trafficking)

In the dream, me and my three kids were on a road trip and stopped at what we thought was a rest stop. Sparing the intense details, I quickly found out that the rest stop was a cover for a brothel and people would go in but not come out. I was trying to figure out a way to escape but it was clear, we needed rescue. The dream ended with a lot of despair and intimidation. I woke up at 4:30 deeply troubled, upset and wanting to go check on my children. I woke Ty up and he prayed over me. I was afraid to go back to sleep because I had a strong sense the dream would continue. Eventually I feel back to sleep.

When I did, I had a second part of the dream. In the second dream, two of my kids who’d been missing had been restored to me. We were not out of the brothel yet, but army guys in camouflage (angels) came in tactical gear to help escort us out. The “enemy” was still all around, but it’s like the tactical team were invisible to them. They were trying to intimidate us to stay, but this time, it was the bad guys who seemed powerless to keep us.

When I walked out of the room, we emerged into what had been a hallway for guards and policing. Only now, the entire place had been transformed. What had once been a dark hallway filled with fear and hopelessness was now well lit and lined with a feasting table.

At the table were seated a bunch of people from our church along with the prostitutes. They knew they were being loved. The atmosphere was charged with the presence of God. The room was filled with laughter, feasting and deep down gratitude. The downtrodden were embraced and there was a sense of real care and concern and a real invitation into the fellowship of the saints. I saw that at the table, there was power to overcome strongholds. What before was a place of captivity had been transformed into a highway of the Lord - a glorious epicenter of healing, justice, freedom and deliverance.

When I woke up, I was impressed by two things:

I realized that what was initially was one of the most troubling dreams I’ve ever had was actually the set up for the second part. Just because a dream is troubling doesn’t mean it isn’t the Lord. All throughout scripture people had dreams from the Lord that were initially troubling. This was a learning moment for me to recognize with greater clarity that if I have a troubling dream from the Lord, it’s because it’s a set up to receive revelation, a burden for prayer and a heavenly strategy to partner with Him.

I was arrested by the sense that God is raising up regional watchman throughout our nation and the world beyond anything history has ever seen.

“Who will groan with me?”

Sometimes the only thing that will awaken us is being troubled. I’m not talking about fear or torment from the enemy. I’m talking about the quiet groan underneath the initial agitation or sadness. A groan that flows from the heart of God inviting us to share in His intercession. Entering into that place with Jesus is none other than a breeding ground for miracles.

Don’t run from the groan in your spirit. The Holy Spirit will show you how to steward that groan from a place of security and victory in Him. The challenge is we live in a culture that’s conditioned us to do anything and everything to avoid pain. We’ve been taught to numb it. Distract ourselves with something happy. Quote scriptures out of context to protect our apathy. Or talk about how horrible things are without letting it drive us to where we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. But this is not the way of Jesus.

Jesus was grieved when He saw the house of God being prostituted for monetary gain. He flipped tables.

Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, a city resistant against the heart and rescue of God over and over again:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!” (Matthew 23:37-38)

Jesus wept when Lazarus died prematurely. But something more than sadness and compassion rose in Him that day.

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see. “Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, S”ee how He loved him!” And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ (John 11:33-39)

From verses 41-43 - Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.’ Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”

Did you see that? The groan was the prayer. What started as a gut-wrenching loss became a wild testimony of resurrection!

It is right to be troubled when something grieves the heart of God. God is releasing a groan inside of His people that will produce in us a posture and intercession that breaks strongholds and releases the solutions of heaven into the darkest places of our time and change the course of history forever.

There’s a watchman anointing and grace being released to those who will allow their agitation to provoke them into the face of Jesus. And great will be their joy! Because they will see the reward of His suffering! And they’ll share in that reward. (Hebrews 12:2-4, Rev. 5:9-10)

angel armies

We need to know like never before that we have angelic assistance as we contend for His kingdom made manifest on earth as it is in heaven. (Hebrews 1:14, Psalm 103:20) This is not an hour to cower in intimidation. God is wanting to impart a courage that matches the hour we’ve living in because this is our time to rise to the occasion. What would our eyes see if God pulled back the curtain to see the angels released to perform His word on the heels of our groan and decree? We shake off slumber and the hopelessness that wants to strangle the very cry that ushers in breakthrough!

The giants of our day and the table of the Lord

There is a growing awareness and outcry about the atrocities of human trafficking throughout the earth. This will only increase as prayer movements, grassroots movements, leaders, organizations and creative efforts continue to emerge to carry the part of the solution God has given them. But there is still a sense of intimidation over this issue as people realize just how entrenched this evil is in government and the “high places” of society. While it is true that it will take radical reformation in a holistic way to address the needs underlying this issue, I believe God is calling us back to the table.

There’s a great returning to the power of feasting on Christ and living from that table of communion. I’m reminded of a verse in one of my favorite hymns:

“Take my hands and let them move

At the impulse of thy love.

Take my feet and let them be

Swift and beautiful for thee,

Swift and beautiful for thee.”

God is increasing the sensitivity in His bride to move at the impulse of His love. Oftentimes this will look like intercession and groaning in prayer. It may look like inviting people to your actual table that you never would have thought.

It looks like the body of Christ making Jesus the main thing and creating an environment that fosters a place of belonging for those who are thirsting for the true and Living Water. It’s pulling down the artificial partitions of separation in the body of Christ and uniting around the table of the Lord so that that the lost can recognize us as sons of God revealing the Father they’ve been looking for. More than that, the Father who’s been pursuing them before time began.

David said in Psalm 23:5, “You make a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” The table of the Lord IS a table of victory. May we not get sucked into intimidation, powerlessness or hamster wheel striving when our portion is the table of the Lord.

I hear, “Wake up! Wake up to the power of Our communion and the fellowship that extends from this table. Wake up to the simplicity of being a people who move with me in their everyday lives. Feast on Me and you’ll find there’s always enough to share.”

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 5:14