Here is another teaser from the new book. This was a dream I experienced in 1993 that has helped people hold onto their divine vocations. This same deep dealing of God is seen in so many lives of God’s servants: Abraham and Sarah (double), Joseph, Moses, Hannah, David, The Twelve, and others. This has sometimes been tagged as “death of a visiion” by preachers.Crossing the Betrayal Barrier: When the Dream Must Die to Live Again
“Yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.”
— Isaiah 49:4b
1. The Dream Begins — Striking Out and Going on Strike
It began with a vision:
A baseball player at home plate. Swinging — and missing.
Whiff after whiff. Then the voice of the Lord came:
“My people are on strike… and they are striking out.”
It was a wordplay, yes. But more than cleverness — it was diagnosis.
The people of God were in a season of deep frustration.
They had tried. They had obeyed. They had pressed forward.
But nothing seemed to break through.
So they went on strike — not against God in rebellion,
but in confusion, exhaustion, and grief.
They were stuck. And they didn’t understand why.
2. The Scrolls of Isaiah Unroll — The Hidden Servant
Then, in the dream, scrolls began to unroll before me — ancient texts from Isaiah.
They were shimmering. Alive.
Isaiah 49 was the first. A passage that had lingered in my spirit for years.
“The Lord called me from the womb… from the body of my mother He named my name.”
“He made my mouth like a sharp sword… in the shadow of His hand He hid me.”
“He made me a polished arrow… in His quiver He hid me away.”
— Isaiah 49:1–2
This was a person with a divine calling from birth,
a sharpened life, honed in obedience, forged through Scripture.
They were ready. Or so they thought.
But the dream showed the paradox:
They were polished — but hidden.
Sharp — but shelved.
Prepared — but withheld.
And the ache set in: Why hide me now, Lord, if I’m ready?
3. The Refuge of Lies — Isaiah 28 and the Shack
Then another scroll: Isaiah 28.
“We have made a covenant with death… we have taken shelter in falsehood.
— Isaiah 28:15
The frustration of delay had led some to build false shelters.
In my dream, I saw a man crouched in the corner of a decaying wooden shack.
It was barely standing.
And yet — it was familiar. Comfortable. A place of resigned safety.
But hail was pelting down and tearing the insufficient, but once comfortable, shack apart. There was nowhere now to hide.
“This is the refuge of lies,” the Lord said.
False beliefs had crept in:
– Maybe I was never really called.
– Maybe I’ve been self-deceived.
– Maybe I was just emotionally driven.
– Maybe God is done with me.
But the Word broke through again:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a precious cornerstone…
whoever believes will not be in haste.”
— Isaiah 28:16
Then hail came in the dream.
It smashed the shack. Water rushed in. The shelter of lies was washed away.
And the man — finally — stepped out.
Back onto the sure foundation.
4. The Groaning of Delay — Pregnant with Wind
Another scroll. Another ache.
Isaiah 26:16–18:
“O Lord, in distress they sought You; they poured out a whispered prayer.”
“Like a pregnant woman who writhes… so were we because of You, O Lord.”
“We were pregnant… but we gave birth to wind.”
This was the agony of the hidden years.
Of being impregnated with a divine purpose,
but finding no fulfillment — only delay, disillusionment, and groaning.
We expected the baby.
But we birthed wind.
It was devastating.
But the Lord was not finished.
The seed of promise had to die. When it would mature, it would not be a giant seed!
The shape of the fulfilled dream had to change form — like a seed turning to a plant.
So alike in genetics, so different in manifestation!
5. The Betrayal Barrier — When Even God Feels Absent
Then the Lord took me to the shore.
I stood on a beach with Him, gazing out over the ocean.
He moved from my right to my left and drew a line in the sand.
“This,” He said, “is the betrayal barrier.”
Isaiah 49:4 rose again:
“I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity…”
This is where the dream reached its crucible.
It was the place of divine disappointment — where even God seemed to have failed us.
Here, the servant says: Don’t prophesy to me again about destiny.
I’ve heard it too many times.
It felt like betrayal.
But this line was not to destroy — it was to purify.
It was here that the precious was separated from the vile.
The old zeal — mixed with striving, ambition, urgency — was burned off.
Only God’s zeal remained.
And then came the second half of Isaiah 49:4:
“Yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.”
This was the crossing.
A place of deep yielding — of our past, our promises, our relationships, our pain.
Everything… placed again into His hands.
6. Reaffirmation of Calling — A Light to the Nations
Then, the dream lifted again.
Isaiah 49:5–6 now rang with clarity:
“It is too light a thing that you should be My servant to raise up Jacob…”
“I will make you a light for the nations, that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
It was as if God said:
“You thought your dream was too big? No — it was too small.”This is the transrational realm — the dream that exceeds comprehension.
A calling far beyond personal success.
A divine story too big to manage, too holy to control.
7. The Branding Iron — “Not by Might”
Then came the final image.
A branding iron in the hand of the Lord.
On its end, glowing with holy fire:
“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.”
— Zechariah 4:6
He pressed it — onto the heart of the servant.
This wasn’t just a memory. It was a branding. A tattoo of truth.
From this point forward, the servant knew — knew —
that what God had called them to do could never be done by human strength.
Only by the Spirit.
Divine plans.
Divine appointments.
Divine timing.
This is what makes the mountains bow.
8. The Final Benediction — Rewritten Lives
And then, a final word — not from Isaiah, but from 2 Samuel 22, in The Message:
“God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before Him…
…God rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes.”
— 2 Samuel 22:21–25, MSG
This is how the story ends — not in despair, but in divine authorship.
When we yield. When we open the tattered manuscript of our story to the Spirit’s gaze…
He begins to edit.
He re-orders. He heals.
He rewrites a better story than we dared to hope.
And then — it all makes sense.
The knots untie.
The ache finds context.
And the seed that died becomes a tree of life.
Let this be a mirror.
If you have crossed the betrayal barrier…
If you’ve taken refuge in a lie…
If you’ve given birth to wind…
If you’re watching your shack collapse…
If the brand of the Spirit is burning on your chest…
Then know this: your calling is still intact.
And you are not behind.
You are right on time.