Led by a Dream: A Lost Chapter from the 10 Days Book
It always makes more sense to listen to God and to obey him, even if what he is telling you to do seems “less spiritual” than what He is telling someone else to do.
This is a “B-Side” from 10 Days: The Unlikely Story - one of the God stories that was cut from the final manuscript. While it didn’t make the book, it’s a great story about following Jesus when you’re in a lot of pain, and how God often meets us personally while we’re on mission. It’s also how I met Matthew Lilley, Niko Peele, and Michael Thornton, who are still good friends and partners in ministry 10 years later!
In October 2014, I was wrestling with significant discouragement. While 10 Days had grown from just one to twenty locations in just three years, those years had not been easy. The litany of pain from those years included separation from close friends we thought would be life-long ministry partners, the death of a house of prayer we had started in 2013, the pastor of our church leaving the church and the faith, being disowned by a spiritual mom and dad, as well as a major disappointment related to our prophetic hopes at Northfield.
Betrayal is one of the most difficult forms of suffering to navigate, something our Lord knew and experienced as well. Several of these situations felt like true betrayal. Add to these things the ongoing financial pressure we had been experiencing for years, not to mention having 6 kids 8 years old and under, and it was hard to follow Jesus in that season.
Cancel Your Plans and Go to Washington
I was feeling discouraged and distant from God, so I figured taking an extended time talk with Him would be good. I needed comfort. I went down to a local pond to take in the beautiful fall colors and sit with the Lord. As I sat down, the Lord began to speak in a flood and I began writing down what He said.
In 2008, I had been part of starting an outreach during Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts. Each year, we saw dozens and sometimes hundreds of people gather from all over to pray 24/7 for three days and do outreach on the streets of Salem to tens of thousands of revelers. Each year, we saw notable and unusual miracles and many salvations take place in response to our prayers and street ministry. It was something I looked forward to each year.
“Cancel your plans for Salem. I want you to go to Washington instead,” he said.
The Lord pointed out that John Robb, leader of the International Prayer Council and someone I had known since my days in Santa Fe, had invited me to a national gathering of prayer leaders in Washington DC during those same dates.
“When John invites you to something, it has more weight than an invitation from someone else,” He told me.
As I continued to talk with the Lord, I saw that after the event in D.C., I’d be able to continue south and cast vision for 10 Days in Virginia and North Carolina. God was going to open a door to share about 10 Days in the South.
Confirmation
While I love hearing from the Lord and responding, I do not like canceling things or flaking out at the last minute.
“Lord, I believe you, and I will obey you, but you need to give me strong confirmations that this is your voice and your will. Those confirmations need to include a travel partner.”
The next thirty minutes were electric. My phone started ringing. Within 30 minutes, I had received multiple confirmations in this direction. To top it all off, within an hour of hearing this, I had a traveling partner, Gregg Healey, who called me at that very time to see if I’d like to go to Washington D.C. to the same event. Despite my disappointment with the last season, God was moving.
A Dream
In the next few days, I had a mysterious dream from the Lord. In the dream, I saw that Gregg and I were traveling together in a black SUV, the kind of vehicle driven by diplomats. When we got out, I realized I had forgotten to pack my bag.
“Don’t worry,” Gregg said. “I packed one for you.” He handed me a fully packed bag identical to the one he was carrying.
The scene shifted. We were back in the black SUV. I now realized the event we were going to was a barbeque. The attendees were supposed to bring meat to cook together while we were there. Gregg had brought a large package of chicken wings to contribute. I had not brought any meat and although I was short on money. Out of politeness, I was going to the store to pick some up.
As we were pulling into the grocery store, the Holy Spirit spoke to me (in my dream) and told me not to buy meat, that there was plenty of meat that was coming. We immediately turned around and headed toward the barbeque.
In the final scene of the dream, I was spending time with people at what seemed to be a cocktail party. People were hanging out casually, drinks in hand, socializing, and chatting. It was a networking-type event, where people could get to know each other and have casual conversations in a relaxed atmosphere.
In the dream, I exclaimed, “I thought I was coming to a prayer meeting, but this feels like a cocktail party.” The cocktail party wasn’t good or bad in the dream. It was just a surprise to me.
Leaping of Joy
As Gregg and I made plans for D.C., I began to respond to God’s invitation to share about 10 Days in the South. I called a friend from seminary, Lee Winters from North Carolina, who introduced me to 3 amazing, younger leaders in the state: Matthew Lilley, Niko Peele, and Mike Thornton. Lee described Mike glowingly as a “modern-day George Whitefield”. That was high praise, and I couldn’t wait to meet this young revivalist.
I had high expectations for meeting Mike, but our first phone call exceeded them by far. As soon as Mike and I talked on the phone, I felt my Spirit leap for joy. Immediately I thought, “This is like when John leapt in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary and Elizabeth met.”
Mike began to share a remarkable word the Lord had given him on a recent ministry trip to Boston.
“This is what the Lord told me, brother: ‘New England is the revival womb of the North, and North Carolina is the revival womb of the South. In the coming days, when leaders of revival movements from New England and North Carolina meet, there will be a ‘leaping for joy’ in the womb as when Elizabeth met Mary.’”
I was amazed. “My heart lept for joy from the moment I heard your voice,” I told him. This was an amazing confirmation for both of us, and further evidence that God wanted me to travel south.
The Dream Unfolds
Gregg and I were ready to go. There was just one problem. I only had fifty dollars to my name. While I was confident that I’d be okay traveling for over a week with just fifty dollars, I was rightly concerned about my wife. Cassi is a woman of faith and had agreed to send me out, but I needed to leave her and our children in a better state. I needed the Lord to come through.
For some reason, as I drove home the day before we were to leave, I was not worrying about this significant problem. For some reason, I was full of joy!
As I was driving and about to arrive home, I received a phone call from some friends in St. Louis, Bob and Donna Schalk. They were laughing and excited when they called me. As we laughed and caught up, they shared how they felt led by the Lord to give us a special gift of $2,000 immediately.
“We just felt like you might need it right now.”
This led to more laughter as I explained my situation to them. Yes, we really did need it. I called Gregg to share the good news of how God had provided.
“That’s interesting,” he said. “I have been praying for several weeks that God would give our family that exact amount--$2,000.”
Immediately, I remembered the dream. I had forgotten to pack my back, but Gregg had “packed my bag” for the trip. That must be what it meant—He had prayed for the $2,000, and the packed bag, the resource needed for the trip, was now mine.
As we arrived in D.C., we entered a corporate time of prayer for the United States with John Robb and many other excellent prayer leaders from around the country. As prayer began, I was surprised to find that I had no desire or burden to pray for America. Meanwhile, many of those around me did. They were going for it in prayer, while I was unable to enter in.
I was confused, so I asked the Lord what was happening.
“Lord, is there something wrong with me that I don’t want to pray for America? or is something wrong with how these people are praying, or with the heart of our gathering? Lord, why don’t I have any burden to pray for America?”
As I asked the Lord these questions, I heard back a resounding answer in my Spirit:
“You’re not here to pray. You’re here to meet people!”
Immediately, I realized I had been acting out parts 2 and 3 of the dream. The “meat” for the BBQ seemed to represent a burden in prayer for the nation, and the BBQ represented the prayer meeting - a fitting image considering that Scripture compares prayer to the “sweet savor” of the “evening sacrifice” in the Old Testament.
In the dream, the Lord had told me I would feel bad about not having meat, but then the Holy Spirit would tell me not to worry about it. Holy Spirit had just done in real life what He had done in the dream.
Gregg was filled with passion to pray for America like most of the people there. In the dream, he had brought meat to the BBQ, but God didn’t need me to bring prayer—there was enough of that there already.
This led to the 3rd part of the dream—I thought I was coming to a prayer meeting, but it felt more like a cocktail party. God had led me there to meet people—this was all a big set-up from the Lord!
From that moment on, I let myself relax into the role of networking and getting to know new people. Many great connections happened during those days and some of those connections are still bearing fruit to this day.
It always makes more sense to listen to God and to obey him, even if what he is telling you to do seems “less spiritual” than what He is telling someone else to do.
Wilmington
Gregg and I finished our gathering in D.C. and headed south to Virginia and North Carolina. We had an amazing time, full of incredible meetings. As we prepared to wrap up our trip with one final Sunday morning gathering, I was eager to meet Michael Thornton, the man Lee had described as a “modern-day George Whitefield.”
The night before, my friend Lee hosted us at a lovely family beach house in Wilmington. I went to bed early. The sound of the sea and the cool sea air were good medicine. My sleep was sweet and I woke up feeling better than I had in a long time.
That Sunday in Church, I shared the vision for 10 Days. I could see the Lord was encountering Michael in the front row as I shared. Something was happening to Mike. Something was happening to me as well. The people of the church prayed for me, and I could feel God moving. He was touching me in deep places, and I felt a heavy sense of peace descend on me. The pain of the last few years was washing away. His presence was good medicine. If I had just traveled that far down the coast for that experience with the Lord, it would have been worth it.
Later, over lunch, Michael shared with me that the Lord had told him to host 10 Days of 24/7 worship and prayer for Wilmington outside in their giant revival tent. As he shared, I didn’t have a strong emotional response. I was still feeling relaxed from the great sleep and how God had moved during the service. However, I could tell what was stirring in Mike was very significant, both for Wilmington and for 10 Days.
Our trip South had been miraculous from start to finish. Led by the Holy Spirit and supplied by miraculous provision, we had planted seeds that would continue to grow.
In the case of 10 Days in Wilmington, the merging of DNA between the North and South would mark a way forward to one of the deepest desires of my heart—seeing a city-wide 10 Days event where people stop everything to meet with the Lord, a moment when an entire city would encounter the love and power of God!