I had a prophetic dream in early October that I have been pondering for weeks now. It deeply impacted the way that I see the Father, but it has also altered the way that I interact with Him daily. I felt to share the dream here, along with a few brief thoughts, and I pray that it will impact your heart to the depths that it pierced mine.
The Master and the Exchange
Dream – October 3, 2023:
There was a man [in my dream] who wrote a best-selling book. His name was "The Master," and I was the event organizer for a Christian community who hosted The Master for a book signing and book talk for the public. The Master had also roasted His own coffee beans, so we held the event in a very large, lovely-feeling church with a café so that we could also make, sell, and promote The Master's coffee.
The event was a huge success. Hundreds upon hundreds of people gathered to hear The Master speak, to get a photo with Him, to have Him sign their books, and also to try His delicious coffee. The people LOVED Him, and were incredibly positive and supportive. They were even buying up extra books to share with the world outside the church.
The atmosphere in the church and café had a clean, pure feel, and I could tell that these were genuine Christians who had a desire to go deeper in the things of God. It appeared that The Master's book was helping them to do so. There was peace and joy in the crowd. It felt very genuine.
I was standing at the café register, just observing. The Master finished His speech with a thunderous applause from the crowd, then sat down at a table to sign books. People streamed to Him, and many even wanted photos with Him. It felt like what one would see at a comic con, or some event of that type, where people line up to meet, greet and take photos with their favorite celebrity. There seemed to be a lot of small talk and shallow, polite conversation with The Master. The Master was indeed famous, and quite loved and honored, and even highly revered by many. But there was something sad about His face as the book signing went on.
After some time of diligently watching His face to make sure He was OK, I noticed The Master rise from the table and look in my direction. I realized that He perhaps needed a break, so I made sure to announce a short break. The Master came over to where I was standing, near the espresso machine, and asked if He could make lattes and other coffees for the crowd. Of course, I was obliging, as it was, after all, His coffee and His event. He said to me, "I love to serve them." (Photo via Pexels)
Although He seemed happy to serve, I could see that He also felt so sad, and His eyes were full of what felt to me like grief. I asked if He was OK, and, as the event organizer, was there anything I could do for Him or any way I could make His time with us more pleasant. The Master looked me square in the face and said, sadly, "I just wanted to sit with them. I wanted to know them, and I wanted them to know Me beyond the stories in My book. But they... they just seem to want the exchange."
And I woke up.
What a dream. I hope you catch what the Lord was wanting to say. It pierced my heart, and brought such a deep sense of awareness of His heart and what He is truly desiring from His children that it has taken me weeks to process it.
I don't want to take away from the impact of the dream itself, but here are a few of my own thoughts, based on what I processed with the Lord from this dream:
The Master represents the Father, and the adoring crowd (I believe) represent a large number of His children.
We adore Him. We revere Him. We applaud Him and honor Him, and we look to His "book" (the Bible) for the things we need in life. There's a purity in our hearts as we look to Him for wisdom and peace.
We love that He loves to serve us. We drink in the deliciousness of what He gives us, and we love to gather with others who love Him as much as we do. We desire to celebrate Him, and we long to spread the words of His book far and wide, and let people know who He is and how much He loves us.
The stories in His book make us feel alive – make us feel connected to Him, as they are meant to! We come to know Him more when we read about His life.
We are content with the gathering, adoring Him, connecting briefly in small talk, and letting Him serve us. We gladly receive His words and His love, and we are often keen to share that love with those who don't know Him, and do everything we can to serve Him and show Him how much we adore Him.
This has been my life, for a very long time. And though there is nothing wrong with this... it is not the fullness of what The Master desires OR what I was created for!
"... and I wanted them to know Me beyond the stories in My book. But they... they just seem to want the exchange."
The Invitation
I don't believe that this was a dream to bring guilt, condemnation or shame. I DO believe that this dream is an INVITATION to letting go of the "exchange" and sitting still enough, with Him, to truly KNOW Him.
At the same time that I had this dream, I was reading through Jeremiah. How "just like God" is it to have me dig into the original context of a passage in Jeremiah 9, just at the time of this dream.
"Thus says the Lord: 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,' says the Lord." (Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV) (Photo via PickPik)
The word "glory" speaks of boasting or praising oneself. The word "wisdom" means insight or intelligence. "Might" means strength, bravery, and power. So basically, this scripture in Jeremiah is saying that we are not to boast or praise ourselves, or our own intelligence, strength or bravery. But if we boast, we are to boast in this – that we KNOW (Hebrew word "yada" – H3045) God.
That word "yada" means an intimate knowing, like a husband and wife being intimate; a knowing that is so deep, so intense and vulnerable, that it causes God to "delight" (Hebrew word "ḥapes" – H2654). This word "ḥapes" literally means to delight or to take pleasure in, but also to bend down.
Our intimacy with Him causes Him to MOVE! He bends down to be with us. He sits with us, and His heart longs to have us get to know Him (to "yada" Him) beyond any exchange or trade we could make. Yes, He loves to serve us, but His true delight is in the knowing.
There is an urgency in the spirit to yada Him. I believe it is beyond even a "Martha" (busyness) interaction (Luke 10:38-42). I am convinced that even Mary could have gone deeper, especially since she did not yet have the Holy Spirit as a companion and helper.
I felt the Holy Spirit pose this question: How deep are we willing to go? Do we even know how to let go of the "exchange" to find a deeper intimacy?
I don't even know what that looks like yet, not fully. But I am willing to give my life to find out.
I hope this blesses you, impacts you and causes you to push into knowing Him like never before. The Master is waiting, and He longs for us to know Him beyond what we already do.
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Mandy Woodhouse
Mandy Woodhouse Ministries
Email:Â Mandyfirehouse@gmail.com
Website:Â www.mandywoodhouse.com
Originally from Lafayette, Louisiana and now living in Adelaide, South Australia with her amazing Aussie husband and three miniature schnauzers, Mandy Woodhouse is a speaker, author, artist, teacher and biblical life coach. Mandy burns to see the world awakened to the truth that Jesus is worth dropping everything to follow.
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