Yesterday morning I didn’t post my usual weekly blog- I just had an unsettled feeling about it. Something in particular has weighed heavy on my mind since the Paris terrorist attacks. My fear in sharing it is that I could forever be thrust into the “crazy” category; however, if what I share could somehow make even one small contribution to strengthening us in the face of this extraordinary evil, it is worth it.

This “one thing” is a dream that I had back in February of this year. Before you throw up a red flag and begin to discount what I’m about to write, please know that I’m probably just as skeptical as you are when people say they have dreams, visions, or prophetic words to share. There is so much hype in the charismatic movement that it’s easy to throw the baby out with the bath water. But it is scriptural that in the last days the Lord will give dreams and visions (Acts 2:17), so although it’s healthy to be cautious, we can’t discount these things altogether.

I am going to share the dream, not because I know or believe that these things will take place specifically, but because I believe God may use it to show us something on a broader scale.

In my dream, I was on an airplane flying to an unknown location. The plane had to emergency land, and the pilot wouldn’t tell us why until the very last minute. He also continuously tried to divert our attention from what was going on by asking us to look out our side windows at an old lady building a fence. As he was talking about this over the intercom, the Statue of Liberty appeared in front of the plane and suddenly blew up into millions of tiny pieces. As the shrapnel came towards the airplane’s windshield, everyone ducked down tightly in their seats. Nothing from the explosion was able to penetrate the plane’s windows, but there was a sense of panic and fear among the passengers. As I was hunched down, I began to sing these lyrics from Israel Houghton’s song, “We Worship You”:

“Lord You are good and Your mercy endureth forever.
Lord You are good and Your mercy endureth forever.

People from every nation and tongue
From generation to generation

We worship You, hallelujah! Hallelujah!
We worship You for who You are
You are good!”

Here is what I make of the dream: I believe the pilot represents the leaders of our nation; as the pilot tried to distract the passengers by drawing their attention to division (the fence), there is an attempt on our leaders’ behalf to deceive and distract us from a very dangerous reality.

I believe that the Statue of Liberty represents our freedom, a freedom that is under attack. This attack will create fear, just like it did in the dream as all of the terrified passengers ducked down in their seats.

Just as the distress and ultimate protection of the passengers led to praise and worship for the one true God, I pray and firmly believe that God will use any and all plans for evil against us to bring revival and spiritual awakening to our nation.

This is my burden for the American Church: We are in a spiritual stupor. Our comfort has drugged us into oblivion, and I’m as guilty as the rest. In 100 years, it’s not going to matter what name-brand clothes we or our children wore, the house we lived in, the car we drove, or who we hung out with on Saturday night. What will matter is that we lived fully “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

 “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” (Joel 2:13)

“Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh—the people He has chosen to be His own possession.” (Psalm 33:12)

Fortunately we know how this all will end- people from every nation and tongue will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.