get out of the tree, get down by the fire

the motivation call for kingdom prayer initiatives

By Rusty Geverdt

In 1989, I had a dream that has been an anchor in my personal life. I didn’t understand much about spiritual dreams in those days, but I see it now as a foreshadowing of how God was to use me in the years to come. It frames the tenor and tone of what Kingdom Prayer Initiatives is to be. I call it my "purpose dream." Perhaps this will touch you as it has me—if so, take it as your own.

the dream

I was standing on a huge limb of a rubber tree about 30 feet up. It was late in the day, dusk. I had a BB gun in my hand and I was looking out over a small clearing below where a small campfire was burning to the right of my view. Beyond the clearing, just at the edge of sight, were the “wilds.”  Scrub brush was everywhere and what looked like the glowing eyes of five or six marauding tigers maneuvered in the distance. In the clearing below, laying on their backs, were dozens of people, apparently dead. But they were not. Their eyes and mouths were open wide; I knew that they had been attacked and overpowered by the tigers. Their torsos were laid open and insides removed, though they were not dead.

A tiger came out of the brush sniffing around one of the bodies. The flickering light of the campfire in the distance outlined its menacing form. I aimed my BB gun at the tiger and had him in my sight, when a commanding, thunderous Voice spoke to me from my right side saying: “Get out of the tree, get down by the fire!”                   

I was stunned by the majesty of the Voice and the instruction. It's power seemed to completely envelop me. I couldn’t move, thinking to myself, “There’s no way I’m getting out of this tree.” I was quaking on my insides, everything in me wanted to stay up in the tree, but the Voice of command came again, rippling with power and authority. Resisting wasn’t an option.

The next scene found me at the base of the tree without the BB gun, able to see only a short distance ahead, I was terrified and shaking. Something compelled me to run towards the fire.  So, tripping forward, I ran hand and foot toward the safety of the flames. Once there, I saw a few people standing close the fire. Urgency gripped me and I was compelled to run out and grab one of the wounded people lying on their back and drag them back to the fire. I grabbed hold of anything I could—hair, shirt, foot, hand. It was dangerous, difficult work to pull them toward the fire. The task was clear and the time felt short. Tigers constantly roared, sometimes emerging to reclaim their prey. When they did, I ran back to the fire, and waited for a better opportunity.

As I pulled people close, others took them behind the flames of fire where I couldn’t see. In a little while, some of the dead people returned, with big stitch marks on their chests, and joined us around the fire. It was a small company doing these things, each with individual tasks.

At one point the flames burned low. A different sense of urgency set in upon all of us around the fire. At once we turned and faced the flames, worshipping, singing and dancing abandonedly. In short order the fire roared up again and became a large bonfire, at which point we all turned around and went back to what we had been doing.

At that point I awoke with a jolt. My heart was pounding as it had been in the dream. I knew this was a message from God and reached for the journal next to my bed to write it out. As I began, I suddenly found myself in the dream again, at the very beginning. I saw, felt, smelled, touched, and heard everything exactly as it had been a second time, awakening again at the same point, with a jolt, still with my pen in hand and journal next to me.

what He said        

Then I felt God speaking. He said to me:  “You are in a safe, high place where you have a bird’s eye view as to what is going on. But your weaponry is ineffective. ‘Get out of the tree, get down by the fire!’ The fire is My presence. It’s light, warmth, protection, and focus.

The people lying on their backs are not dead. They have been attacked and the enemy has stolen their purpose and callings. They became more focused on what I gave them to do, than on the One who gave them the call.                                 

He said: “Your role is to drag people towards the fire. You noticed that others looked after them and sometimes they returned to join Me. These 'almost dead' ones must be taken into Me and revived. They had once been close to the fire but rotated out further and further until the enemy easily overpowered them.”                                      

He said: “The same will happen to you if you don’t stay near to the flame. When the fire goes low, turn to Me with all your heart, and My presence will increase about you.”

the take away

Though late in the day, it’s still early in the game, and He is enlisting and re-enlisting a company who will stay near Him, near the fire. The light, the focus, the healing, the safety all come from His presence. The tasks at hand only make sense when in close proximity to His presence. Kingdom Prayer Initiatives is made up of those that tend the fire, those that draw people to the fire, and those being drawn back to the fire. My conviction is that God will draw a number to serve before Him in a primary way, which will make room for thousands to be awakened in a profound way. Such endeavors are God’s gifts to communities and cities and regions.