We had quite an interesting trip on the way to Chicago. It seemed the closer we got, the heavier the air felt. Not only in the spiritual was it heavy, but in the physical it was pouring down rain! So, in the midst of some heavy rain, some junk going down amongst us as a team, and an unusual craving for Starbucks coffee, we were struggling.
But here's the good part...as we were entering into a small city in Illinois called "Downs," the Lord began to show Himself. We made a turn towards the West and the sun had broken through the clouds, nearly blinding us. The rain had stopped, and we were singing "No more ups and downs, just ups."
When we arrived in Chicago, we noticed that our left tire on the trailer we were carrying was nearly coming off the axle. Wow! The Lord protected us and allowed us to reach our destination without having a replay of the first Burn Wagon on the side of the interstate! We were very thankful.
As we entered into the house we were staying at, most of us felt something that made us very uneasy. We didn't know exactly what it was though, and we were way too tired to deal with anything else. So, we went to sleep.
In the night, Rachel had an unusual dream revealing some of the stuff that was in the atmosphere. She woke me up feeling afraid, so we prayed and kept the light on as we went back to sleep. This time, I had a dream. I was in the same bed that I had fallen asleep in, Rachel was laying next to me, but the rest of the team was in the room as well. Someone was playing a guitar behind me and we began to worship. The very minute I blurted out the words, "We worship You, Jesus," it felt like someone had dropped a load of bricks on top of me, and I knew it was not God who did it. At that moment, I recognized that I was dreaming and realized that I had to wake up in the real world. So, while not being able to breathe and barely being able to move, I reached over and grabbed Rachel. As I talked to Rachel about the dream that I had, we discovered that the enemy obviously didn't even want me worshiping in the dream world! Also, I felt the Lord warning me to call out the negative spirits that were in the atmosphere.
Not quite knowing what else to do, Rachel and I walked downstairs and woke everyone up, telling them that we all needed to come together in prayer. From 1:30 a.m. to about 3:30 a.m., we prayed, asking the Lord to cover us with His blood and protect us from the enemy. After that, the Lord said, "It's time for bed now."
I'm writing now, just having finished an intense time of worship and intercession right in the middle of our host home's living room, and let me say, God did some junk! For those of you that don't know, the church family here in Chicago has been going through some majorly stressful times. The last time I was here, their church building was flooding. When we showed up to their house last night, their basement had flooded from all the rain! Those are both not even the half of what has been taking place here. They have been believing and hoping for God to breakthrough. So, this morning, during our time or worship, we began to declare that his justice and peace reign in this house, family, and church body!
One thing I didn't mention was that while we were here worshiping, Ryan and Kristy VanMeter had to drive an hour away just to get the part we needed to fix the trailer. We've been hit with some fire-dousing junk, but we are coming out of it hand-in-hand with our King!
We declare that God is a mighty God! That He never sleeps! That He does not sit idly by and watch His children suffer! But that He is always here, ever-present in our time of need! His love is everlasting!
Josh Cotts