On December 29, 2020, right at the close of the year, I had an extremely specific dream. I want to share it with you today, as it is only just recently that God has given me the ability to release what I feel like He is saying to this generation through the dream.
As I was listening to a YouTube video yesterday, I heard someone quote a statement from Kenneth Copeland, made a few years ago. “IT’S TIME FOR THE STREAMS OF MINISTRY TO COME TOGETHER.” I am not saying I endorse Kenneth Copeland, but I felt the magnitude of this quote considering the dream God gave me.
In the dream, I was somewhere remote and beautiful. This area was gorgeously breathtaking. It was summer, and the sun was shining brightly through the trees. As I was standing near the bank of a large, rushing river, I looked up and saw at least three tinier rivers, tributaries, like streams, trickling steadily into the expansive river below them.
I heard a voice from behind me. In a deep and commanding tone, it said, “Do you understand? A river must have all the smaller ones. Otherwise, the larger river dries up completely.”
As I woke up from this dream, I could not help but feel like the voice was that of the Holy Spirit. According to Isaiah 30:21, “You will hear a voice behind you saying, this is my way, walk in it and I will walk with you.” So was this voice behind me in the dream. It felt like I was brought to this wonderful, remote scene for a reason. I was meant to understand something about the season of life we are in as God’s people.
This generation must be one where all the tributaries flow together. We must be willing to step out of our denominations, our segregations, our theological differences, and flow with His Holy Spirit and His truth into a place where we are simply ONE river.
When I think of a river, I think of something powerful, big, and life-giving to the forest around it. A river carves a path where there is thick and hazardous terrain. It is said that if you are ever lost in the woods, find the river, and follow it; for a river always leads to civilization in the end. A river gives lifesaving water to the life within the wilderness. It alone shapes the terrain of the mountains, forests, and scenery around it.
For too long in our world, there have been many streams without flowing into ONE river. We have each been little rivers within ourselves, kept safely behind our own personal beliefs, theologies, and ideologies about what life as God’s people looks like. But in this season, I honestly believe that God wants each of us to recognize, as PEOPLE, that we are His tributaries. Tributaries are responsible for “channeling material or supplies into something more inclusive: a CONTRIBUTORY.” (Webster’s Dictionary)
When we come together as one PEOPLE, one BODY, under God, we will begin to see a mighty rushing river as foretold in Revelation 22:1 “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the lamb.” I believe that God is wanting us to understand where we are at in terms of eternity. The LORD is calling upon each of us to seek Him personally. He wants to show you and help you understand how your tributary in HIM feeds the river of life which has the eternal power and capacity to shape the landscape of our culture and our world.
Many people are calling for unity in a world that is divided. People never address “how” unity comes about. Unity comes when there is true repentance. Why? Because true repentance always leads to restoration. When we come to a place of personal repentance for our part in the divisions we see today, and corporately confess and repent of these places within the church, our streams can start to flow together again as one. It is only in a place of true repentance and lament, that we begin to see each tributary flow towards the same rushing RIVER, the one flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb.