There are moments when God speaks through the most unexpected vessels.
Not always through a sermon. Not always through scripture jumping off the page at exactly the right moment. Sometimes through a dream your sister had about you in the middle of the night; a dream she almost dismissed as ordinary until something in her said: reach out.
That happened to me this morning. And I have not been able to stop thinking about it since.
What Jessica saw.
My sister Jessica sent me a message this morning that stopped me mid-breath.
She had dreamed about me. In the dream she saw me crying; deeply, openly; in a way that she said stayed with her long after she woke up. She reached out not because I had asked her to. Not because I had given her any indication that I was struggling. But because the Holy Spirit prompted her to; and she obeyed the prompting.
I sat with that message for a long time.
There is something both humbling and deeply moving about being seen in someone else’s dream. About the idea that even when we are presenting our most composed selves to the world; the functioning professional, the present mother, the woman who is healing and moving forward; God can still see beneath the surface. And sometimes He chooses to show someone who loves us what He sees; not to expose us, but to mobilize prayer on our behalf.
Jessica did not just send me a message. She interceded for me. She carried me before the throne in a moment I did not even know I needed to be carried there.
That is the gift of an intercessor.
What the Bible says about this kind of prayer.
I want to talk about intercessory prayer for a moment because I think it is one of the most underappreciated gifts in the body of Christ.
Most of us understand prayer as something personal and individual; a conversation between ourselves and God about our own needs, our own struggles, our own requests. And that is real and important. But intercessory prayer is something different. It is stepping into the gap for another person. It is saying to God: I see this person, or You have shown me this person, and I am standing before You on their behalf.
Throughout scripture this kind of prayer carries extraordinary weight.
Moses interceded for the Israelites when God’s anger burned against them. Abraham interceded for Sodom. Paul interceded continuously for the churches he had planted; people he could not always physically reach but could always carry in prayer.
"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people." (1 Timothy 2:1)
Intercession is listed first. Before petitions for ourselves. Before thanksgiving. First; intercession for others.
That is not an accident.
Dreams and visions as vehicles of God’s voice.
And then there is the dream itself. Which I do not want to rush past.
We live in a culture that is largely skeptical of dreams as meaningful communication. And I understand that skepticism; not every dream is a message, and discernment is always important. But the biblical record on this is consistent and significant enough that I think we dismiss it too quickly.
Joseph’s dreams in Genesis shaped the trajectory of an entire nation. Daniel interpreted dreams that revealed the movements of kingdoms. In the New Testament, Joseph received direction through dreams at every critical juncture of Jesus’ early life; where to go, when to flee, when to return.
And then there is Joel 2:28; quoted by Peter at Pentecost as being fulfilled in that very moment:
“Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.”
This is not an Old Testament phenomenon that ended with the closing of the canon. This is described as a mark of the Spirit-filled community. Dreams and visions are part of how God communicates with and through His people.
Jessica’s dream may not have been accompanied by angelic visitation or world-altering instruction. But it moved her to pray for her sister at a moment her sister needed it. And in that; it accomplished exactly what God intended.
That is enough. That is more than enough.
What it means to have an intercessor.
I want to speak practically to this for a moment; because I think the theology is beautiful but the lived experience of it is what most of us actually need to hear.
Having someone intercede for you is one of the most profound expressions of love available to human beings. It costs the intercessor something; their time, their spiritual energy, their willingness to be used as a vessel for someone else’s breakthrough. And it requires something of the recipient too; the humility to receive it, the openness to believe that God is working on your behalf through another person’s obedience.
I have been the recipient of that this morning. And it has reminded me of something I want to carry forward deliberately:
I want to be that for others too.
Not just someone who offers to pray and then forgets. But someone who actually stops when the prompting comes; who sends the message, makes the call, gets on their knees for the person whose face appeared in their mind at an inconvenient hour. Because that prompting is rarely accidental. And our obedience to it can become someone else’s lifeline.
"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)
Powerful. Effective. Not conditional on perfect circumstances or resolved situations. Just; powerful and effective. That is the promise.
The ordinary day that held all of this.
I want to briefly note that all of this unfolded against the backdrop of what was otherwise a genuinely good day yesterday. A long Yoga-Pilates session that restored something in me. A family dinner with Allen and the kids that felt like quiet progress; normal, unhurried, present. Snowy and Adi at the playground, completely unbothered and entirely themselves.
Good days and deep spiritual moments are not mutually exclusive. God moves in the ordinary just as readily as He moves in the extraordinary. Sometimes the most sacred thing that happens in your day is a message from your sister about a dream she had about you.
Do not miss those moments in the busyness of the ordinary. They are often the most important ones.
For anyone who feels unseen in their struggle:
You are not as hidden as you think you are.
God sees what you are carrying even when you have not found the words for it. And sometimes He shows someone who loves you enough of what He sees to mobilize them on your behalf; through a dream, through a prompting, through the kind of inexplicable nudge that makes someone pick up their phone and reach out at exactly the right moment.
Let yourself be prayed for. Let yourself be carried. And when the prompting comes to do that for someone else; obey it quickly, without overthinking it.
You may be the answer to a prayer someone didn’t know they were praying. 🌿
Has someone ever interceded for you at exactly the right moment; through a dream, a prompting, or an unexpected message? I would love to hear your story in the comments. 🤍
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