I had a dream the other night about a friend of mine. He and I and some other people were in a classroom. Different people had been asked to speak about certain subjects, and my friend had been asked to teach about prayer. I could tell he was really excited about being asked to speak, but also nervous. He didn't know if he was the right person to do the job, because he was the youngest person there, as well as the newest believer.

When his time came, he jumped up from his seat and ran to the front. He asked us to open our Bibles to a certain passage and although I can't remember what that passage was, I know it was something really poetic and beautiful. I want to say it was either in Isaiah or Psalms. I suddenly realized that my friend wasn't going to read the passage... instead he started singing it. Now my friend isn't necessarily a singer in real life, but in my dream he was singing these words from God in the most beautiful, clear, pure tenor. It sounded like the perfect singing voice for his real life speaking voice. My heart was so full of joy as he was singing it. I realized that the reason he chose to sing a Bible verse was because it was so important to him, the message ran so deep for him, that he didn't know how to adequately express it otherwise.

Another one of my friends was sitting next to me, and when the song was done, he leaned over to me and said, "Well we didn't learn anything about prayer from that." (This is not to say anything about that person, because he's a wonderful man of God, and he would never say anything like that in real life, he was just used to make a point in my dream.) I leaned over to him and said, "Sshhh don't say that!" Because I knew that we had learned an incredibly important thing about prayer.

I was thinking about my dream yesterday, and as I was thinking about why my friend sang the scripture, I realized that the song that was playing on my ipod playlist at that moment was a song by Charlie Hall called "King of Heaven". The chorus says this:

We’ll sing the gospel to the poor,
We’ll go to comfort those who mourn,
You’ll put together what’s been torn,
King of Heaven.
We’ll sing the news of all Your grace,
We’ll help the broken-hearted praise,
You’ll put Your glory on display,
King of Heaven.

It's based on Isaiah 61...

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

I had been reading that chapter of Isaiah that very morning. THEN this morning in Sunday school, my teacher, Miss Tina, had us read it! The more I think about it, the more I believe that was the chapter my friend was singing from in my dream, although I can't be positive. I guess it doesn't really matter. What matters is the connections God made between it all in my heart. If you knew my friend you would know how significant it is. He has had and is still having first hand experience with being the broken heart that is being binded up by Jesus. I know that God is in the process of turning his broken heartedness into a testimony of how great His saving power is. And after his time of healing is over, he will sing that good news to the poor and broken-hearted. It's just about the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. It also challenged me to passionately sing the good news with all the power and freedom and love that it carries wherever I go on this earth.