I’ve now had 14 dreams that feature a direct appearance of God. This is one of them. It isn’t the first or last but is one of the more powerful examples I have.
From the journal, 6/21/2005:
OK, this is a very exciting dream - I'll try to get it all down!!
There was more than I will write, but this is what I remember:
As I lay sleeping, I stir and look to my right. Beside me is God. We are in a large, cavernous room. God whispers many things to me without pause. I want to find some kind of writing implements so that I can record what He says, but because he speaks softly and without stopping, I must remain near and attentively listen to what he says.
"I SPEAK TO YOU SO THAT YOU MAY HEAR. THESE WORDS ARE SPOKEN DIRECTLY TO YOU FOR A PURPOSE. I HAVE CHOSEN YOU TO HEAR THESE THINGS."
He actually said more than that, but I spent so much time worrying about recording His statements, that I forgot some of the things He said at first, though I think they were on the same theme. The next group of statements are different. Here is a paraphrase of what He said:
"THESE THINGS WILL SHORTLY COME TO PASS: WE ARE IN A HOLY PLACE, A CAVE NEAR THE CITY OF -------. THE RELICS IN THIS PLACE ARE HOLY AND WILL SOON BE RECOVERED TO MAN. WHEN THE DISCOVERY IS MADE, THIS CITY, WHICH IS FALLEN AND CORRUPT, WILL BE RESTORED AND SANCTIFIED TO ITS FORMER STATE. AT THAT TIME, THE CITY WILL BE KNOWN BY ITS TRUE NAME INSTEAD OF THE FALSE NAME IT HAS BORNE FOR MANY YEARS.
THIS GROUND IS HOLY, BUT UNKNOWN TO MAN. ABOVE US IS AN UNRIGHTEOUS CITY. WHEN THE DISCOVERY IS MADE, I WILL BE KNOWN TO ALL. THIS CITY WILL BE HOLY AGAIN."
My impression as God said these things to me was that whether or not He also spoke to others, and I assumed that He did, these words were meant for me. I didn't know why, but at the same time I was more interested in listening to Him than trying to figure out His motives. I doubt that mine are the only ears to have heard this message either, and His words did not imply that such was the case.
The room is full of holy objects, but I also sense a city above us, and a similar room that is not holy. It is like a merchants shop, and sells trinkets and idols that are among the things that will be destroyed after the cavern is discovered. My impression is that the objects in the cavern are so holy, that no one will be able to resist acknowledging their importance and holiness. As God talks to me, I can see the things happening that he describes. I can see the city transformed into a holy place that is great in the eyes of the world.
The true name of the city was not familiar to me, and pronounced in an unfamiliar tongue, so I can only approximate the sound of it. There are three parts to the name. The first part is a word that means "city" or "place," the second word has two parts (not to be confused with syllables.) The first part made me think of the Navajo word that in English is spelled "Chielly" but it was not this word. I thought of it because of the way I mispronounce it. It is supposed to be pronounced "Shay," but I usually try to pronounce the "l" sound, and did so here, so it sounded like "sha-el" with the last "y" dropped. It was followed with another sound that I don't remember. So, to put it all together, the true name of the city looks something like this: <city> Shay-el (or “Shay”)<syllable.>
Now I go to Nina to tell her of this message from God. I find her in a crowded restaurant, where I ignore my food and excitedly tell her of the discovery to come. Because I am excited, I speak in a loud voice that attracts the attention of some neighboring diners. I tell one woman that when the name of this town is changed, that will be a sign for her so that she will know that I have spoken the truth when I said that God is returning to earth, and holiness with Him. I get all choked up with excitement as I think of God's imminent return and weep openly as I talk about it.
I take Nina out of the restaurant to show her the secret place. Many of those who saw us at the restaurant follow us, so we avoid public transportation. Next we enter a building where I see a lamp stand with an old-fashioned oil burning lamp upon it. When I am near the lamp, it is miraculously filled to overflowing with anointing oil. Flaming jets of burning oil shoot out in every direction, filling the room with a bright light. It lands on everything in sight, but as Nina points out to me, it consumes nothing.
Notes from the journal, 7/12/2005:
This dream seemed important to me, but I didn't understand it at first. I mentioned it to several pastors, Tim, Candyce, and Sandy, but none knew what it meant. Tim did mention something about "the New Jerusalem" from Revelation, but I didn't know what he meant. Then three weeks (or so) later, he recited a passage during the sermon that seemed to describe this dream's prophecy perfectly. From Zechariah 8:3:
"Thus says the L-rd, 'I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the L-rd will be called the Holy Mountain."
Comments
Shortly after the above comments were written, I was at Tim’s place at a gathering of about 20 people. I was having a conversation with (I think) Jeff or John when I heard a female voice behind me utter the same word God had used for the name of the city in my dream.
I spun around to see who had said it, to inquire further. It was a young woman I hadn’t seen before, a friend of Tim and Candace. Without preamble, I asked, “what did you just say?”
“It is where I am from.”
Can you say it again?”
She did, and again, I heard the name used by God but I couldn’t picture how it would be spelled, because it was so alien to me.
“So what does that mean?”
“It’s just a place where I live.”
I asked her to write it out on a piece of paper.
“Jerusalem”.
She was from Israel. To an American ear, the word spelled out as “Jerusalem” sounds like, “Yay-roo-shay-eem”.
I had this post open for over month meaning t say something.
I've forgotten what I was going to say. However, this dream is a big WOW. He wanted you to know He was indeed speaking to you. I think He is speaking to you all the time.