The Dream

Have to say, love being back in the stream and watching God move.

For the last few days I’ve been revisiting the early days of my walk with Christ.  As a new Believer I spent a lot of time in the book of Acts, seeing the power of the Gospel in action. With each miracle, the truth of Jesus was boldly proclaimed without fear or reservation. Many times with great persecution and personal cost.

I wondered why we no longer saw the miraculous. Where was the boldness of Peter and John? Why did the church in America seem so anemic?

I would later be told it died out with the Apostles, and was no longer needed. Many still believe that.

I do not.

I think there are other reasons we don’t see the power of God move the way it did in the early Church, and it has more to do what needs to “die” in us than the passing of the Apostles.

One of the greatest mistakes we’ve make in the Western Church, and I believe where many of us have missed the mark, is found in Ephesians 4:11-12. God gave gifts to the Church in the form of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

Did you catch that?

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry…”

The responsibility lies not only with church leadership, but all of us.

We are the saints of God called to ministry. The gifts God gave his church, He gave to equip us.

We can be more a “fan in the stands,” than “a player on the field,” failing to take our rightful place.

There are a number of reasons why this happens, including power struggles at the top. Empowering the people in your congregation can get messy, and it’s easier to keep order when you maintain control.

But God’s plan was never to handcuff His children.

There’s a lot to unpack here, and I wasn’t sure it would fit into the “Waking with Brooks’ timeframe.

And then…

Last night I had a dream.

Honestly, I rarely pay attention to my dreams because they make absolutely no sense. I am in fact amazed at how at times my brain can come up with such stories! It was far less likely from God, and more likely the ice cream I ate at 10:30pm.

But last night was different.

The dream was vivid and clear. Less like the opening scene of the Wizard of Oz and more like the Yellow Brick Road.

The Prophet Daniel was able to interpret dreams, but the only real thing we have in common are six letters.

And yet the moment I awoke, I knew what it meant.

And I’m sharing it with you.

And here’s the funny part. After I recorded the video I was preparing to send it to a select number of people I know “in ministry,” violating everything I just shared with you. I had already fallen back into that trap.

So here’s something I believe the Lord is saying to all of us. All of the saints who are called. In other words as they say here in Texas.

All y’all.