The Kingdom House

When I was a teenager, I remember some of the kids in youth group expressing their hope that Jesus would not return until after they got married.  The adults in our lives were often talking about end times, and we all honestly wondered if there be a future for us.  Would we get to share in the life experiences they got to enjoy before deciding it was the end of the world?

I don’t know if you can relate (those of you who were raised in the church or around Christians), but unfortunately, I believe we were misguided and focused on the wrong thing.  We were all just hoping to survive.  Many of us were even afraid to have children.  Why would we want to bring them into a world on the verge of wrath and disaster?

Here it is, over 20 years later, and many of us now are married and have kids.  Jesus hasn’t come back yet.  And while I believe we are living in end times, the way I think about that and the way I talk to my children about it is much different than what I heard growing up.  I’ll leave that as a post for another day! 

Regardless of how we all feel or believe about end times, the question I’d like to ask is, how committed are we to raising the next generation as mighty servants of the Lord?  Is it still worth teaching them even if we only halfheartedly believe they have a future on earth ahead of them? 

I’d like to present two, simple biblical thoughts before I share another dream that greatly shaped the vision of RockAware.  (You can read the other ones here: RockAware and Refugees, A Flood and a Building Site.)

First.

Jesus told us to stay occupied with the things of his kingdom until he comes back (Luke 19:13).  Check out the different English translations for that statement.  I love all the words for “occupy.”

We don’t need to get overly focused on the what the world is doing.  We need to be busy about God’s kingdom.  We are to take what he gives us and do something to multiply it on this earth.  Until he comes back.  To do anything less leads to trouble for ourselves.  Read the parable of the ten minas in Luke 19 and let it sink in.  

As teenagers, we were all waiting for the end of the world.  I wonder if we would have accomplished more in the last 20 years if God’s people had been more focused on engaging and occupying than fearfully waiting. Food for thought.

Secondly, I leave you with Isaiah 9:7, which says the increase of Jesus’s kingdom will have no end.  Evil may abound, but the kingdom of God should abound even more!  

In a dream I had in 2014, the Lord showed me a picture of his ever-increasing kingdom in the form of a house.  Let me unpack a few parts of the dream.

When my dream began, I was in the attic of a huge mansion of a house.  (The attic was located on the third floor of the house.)

Attics are usually small, with cramped spaces under slanted ceilings.  But not in this dream.  The walls in the attic were so tall, the room looked like a cathedral.  The family that lived in the house had 7 children (I understood there were seven, but witnessed many, many more present in the attic), and I was talking to them there. 

The children were discussing how they were going to set up their room—it was their bedroom—and they were seeking the advice of a few of us older ones in the room.  The seven kids had access to eight bunk beds, but they were thinking of setting up only 7 beds, one for each of them. 

I advised them, however, to set up all 8 bunk beds for two reasons.  First, the attic room was shaped like an octagon, and it made sense to have a bed on each wall of the room.  Second, if they set up the 8 beds, they would be ready when guests came.

Ok, let me stop there and make a couple of comments on the dream thus far. 

I believe the third-floor attic is a picture of what God wants to do with the younger generation today.  A spiritual father figure in my life would often pray for the younger generation, saying, “Oh God!  Let our ceilings be their floors!”  Essentially, he was praying that we would start where they (the older generation) left off and then go beyond!  He prayed that we would do even greater things in the kingdom than them.

So, the dream provides us with a picture of the young generation building upon the generation beneath them, and they are looking for counsel on how to proceed in life.  Should they do what is necessary to simply take care of themselves or is there a greater purpose to attend?

I believe we need to take off our limiting mindsets and prepare the young generation for the harvest of people the Lord wants to reap in our days.  The guests I mentioned in the dream are the ones who do not yet belong to God’s Kingdom but are invited to come.  We need to make room for them in our hearts, homes, and churches, and actively prepare for their arrival!

Rather than scaring our kids, we should be exciting them with the news that God wants to use even them to extend His kingdom…until he comes!

The possibilities of what God wants to do with this generation are limitless!  Like the walls of a cathedral, and not a cramped little attic, we need to raise our expectations of what God has left to do and desires to do, even through our littlest children.

There’s are several other details I could divulge from the dream, but for the sake of this post, let me share one other part.

After my time in the attic, I toured the rest of the house.  It was an older house, but it had character and was stunningly gorgeous.  I loved it! 

I kept running into a Christian woman I knew.  In fact, when I saw her for the first time on the ground floor, she greeted me and welcomed me to her home.  She invited me to look around after she described to me the rooms the house contained.    

As I explored, I found one fascinating room after another—many more than the women had detailed. The space in the house seemed to never end. 

Once again, I observed the same theme: The increase of God’s kingdom will never end!

The woman plainly told me how many rooms the house had, but she was wrong.  The more I looked, the more rooms I found.  The Lord was stirring my faith.  If we would seek more His Kingdom, I know the more we would see Him do and open up to us.

Soon, I discovered there were doubles of different rooms.  For example, I came across a kitchen but then found another one.  One kitchen was formal and fancy and empty, and the other was more casual but full of life, food, and friends. 

I also saw double dining rooms and double living rooms.  Again, one version of the room contained luxurious furniture and expensive décor, and the other was less ornate but had a relaxed and comfortable vibe.  I knew the formal rooms were used for special occasions but remained dark and empty otherwise.  In contrast, the informal rooms were bright, warm, and full of family and activity.  One family room I saw held several families, all interacting, playing games, watching movies, having great conversations, and eating.  There was joy and laughter. 

In this part of the dream, the Lord began to challenge me that we often view His Kingdom as we do our local church.  Heavily based upon our experiences and cultural paradigms, we may limit what God can do to our once-a-week time within the four walls of our church building.  We may even limit him in the realm of our own imagination. 

How often have we planned a special event or program at church, expected great things, and, after, flicked off the lights until next weekend?  God certainly can and does work within the church (building).  Please don’t misunderstand me.  But, how often have we neglected to see what God is wanting to do in our homes and communities?  

With the arrival of the Covid-19 virus, we saw how schools and churches could completely shut down from one day to the next.  Whether we liked it or not, our attention shifted to our homes and to our families.  In the dream, I saw the power of families gathering in the home.  With the illustration of the informal rooms, I saw how effectively God can move in and through our lifestyles and relationships.  It’s raw and unrehearsed.  It’s loud and sometimes messy, especially when it involves our little ones.  But it’s real and necessary, and our children are hungry for it.