Dream 4

I’ve been shouting for an hour. My throat is hoarse from hooting and hollering like a crazy person. 14000 people have been screaming with me. The minister on stage took the podium 60 minutes ago and started listing all the things he was grateful for. About 5 minutes in the entire auditorium erupted into spontaneous praise. The joy that floods my soul was uncontainable; I had to let it out. I have never felt such a flood of absolute ecstasy before. I am so aware of every gift from God that each breath I take inspires me to shout my gratefulness. I can even feel my heart beating, the blood running through my veins.

A blind person stands next to me, no miracle of sight received, but she is shouting her gratefulness for being able to smell and hear and touch.

It is as if the entire hall has become aware of life for the first time.

I take a sip of water and the taste and texture make me weep with gratitude.

My legs are sore from jumping up and down. My throat feels like razorblades live there. My chest heaves with effort.

I have been shouting for so long that my head hurts. The noise around me is deafening.

It is as if my spirit cannot contain its gratitude and is ignoring the limitations of my body.

And then exactly on the hour it stops.

14000 people suddenly go quiet.

A new speaker takes the stage. He can’t speak; his throat is numbed beyond hoarse from the shouting.

We are all so hungry for something from the word that 14000 people start reading their bibles on their devices.

Usually a lot of people leave after each hour so that more can come in but the atmosphere is so thick with the tangible presence of God that nobody dares even move.

The scripture I am reading says ‘write down the vision; make it plain so that he who reads it may run with it’.

I feverishly begin to type out my vision for the eradication of poverty. The detail is effortless. My desire to obey what I have read is overwhelming. Each tap on my Ipad brings with it a flood of joy. Every word I type feels like I am physically shaping the world. Faith hums in my heart with the confidence and energy of the Sun itself. I have no doubt that every word I type will come to pass.

I briefly look at what the blind lady is doing. She has a brail bible and a laptop with raised letters on the keyboard. She is typing away furiously too.

I read what she is typing.

‘Seek first his kingdom, seek first his kingdom, seek first his kingdom, seek first his kingdom, and seek first his kingdom…’

She types this over and over. I can’t stop reading it. The smile on her face while she types makes her almost glow.

I feel like I should lay hands on her for the recovery of her sight so I do.

She blinks a few times rapidly and then squints her eyes at me. Tears start to flood her eyes as she shields them from the light of her new vision.

She grabs an elderly lady next to her and hugs her furiously. They hug for a time while they both weep happily.

I look around the hall. People are tapping away on their devices, some writing in notebooks. A man next to me is doing bank transfers in small amounts to lots of different people. Each time he types the transaction reference it reads ‘bless you, I am praying for you’. I notice a highlighted scripture on his phone, it reads ‘bless those who persecute you, be kind to those who mistreat you’. He is smiling and laughing as he types.

I finally get up and head outside to the side of the building where the huge screen is. The entire football field sized parking lot is filled with people who also shouted praises and thanks until their voices failed. Every person sits, typing or reading. There must be 20000 people or more out here. The atmosphere feels so thick with the presence of God that I feel like I am wading through static electricity.

I look at my social media feed. People who have been watching the live stream are talking about what just happened. Millions of viewers around the world had just burst into spontaneous praise for a full hour and were now obeying the exact scripture they read afterwards.

A friend’s updated status reads: ‘after 40 years my brother and I are reconciled’. The update makes me weep. These two brothers had been ignoring each other for four decades after one of them commit adultery with his brother’s wife.

I see a lot of people hugging and weeping.

On the daylight screen a scripture reads ‘sorrow only lasts for a night but joy comes in the morning’.

I wake up and realize that what we are building is going to be so different from anything we have ever seen before. As I type this, I can’t stop smiling. God is building His church and the gates of hell don’t stand a chance!