In a dream I saw a large church building filled with people running to and fro all over the building frantically searching for something. Their heads flashed side to side and many were looking behind doors and checking in closets. Suddenly, I heard one of the people ask another, “Have you found our hog?” Over and over again they questioned each other about some missing hog. Despite their frantic search, the dream ended with them admitting “we’ve found no sign of our hog anywhere in the church.”

A few weeks later I again had the exact same dream, only this time it continued further. As they declared the futility of their search, saying “there's no sign of our hog anywhere in the church,” I could see the letters R H-O-G illuminated above the scene.

Next, a man came into the room with an excited look on his face. “Have you found our hog?” everyone inquired with excitement. “No,” he responded, “but I did find a pig.” While this was being spoken in the dream, I could see the letters A P-I-G as if aglow above the people. With this the glad look of anticipation on everyone’s faces turned to disappointment. “The church doesn't need a pig,” they declared, “we need our hog.”

What Does It Mean?
As I prayed about the meaning of these dreams, the Lord told me that “our hog” is missing from the Church, and then He showed me what the letters “R,” “H,” “O,” and “G” represented. The “R” stands for Repentance. The Lord is looking for a repentant people. Love means you are not only willing to say you’re sorry, but willing to meekly ask for forgiveness. Much of what gets passed off in the Church as repentance is really little more than rationalization, regret, and remorse stated in a religious tone. “H” represents Humility. Look at what the Lord has promised the humble. He will save the humble … guide the humble … sustain the humble … give grace to the humble, and crown the humble with salvation. The “O” was for Obedience, King Saul learned the hard way that in the kingdom of God “… to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). The “G” stood for Gentleness. In our society we have equated gentleness with weakness, but it is not to be so in the kingdom of God. Philippians 4:5 tells you that in the kingdom of God you are to walk in such a way as to “Let your gentleness be evident to all.”

While these foundational characteristics are missing, “a pig” can easily be found in the Church. The Lord said that the letters “A,” “P,” “I,” and “G” that make up “a pig,” represent Apathy, Pride, Independentness, and Greed. Certainly the Church doesn't need any more of these character flaws.

But God has a cure for them. The cure for apathy is repentance. It is not OK for you to sit back and let everyone else do all the work in the church. God has given you gifts and talents and He is expecting you to use them to build His kingdom. There are works which God has destined for you to do. The Bible tells us that you were “… created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). If you have been laid back in apathy, repent and re-engage — start accomplishing those things for which you were created. The remedy for pride is humility. Satan was prideful; Jesus was humble. Which camp do you want to be in? The cure of independentness is obedience — the obedience to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, the obedience to allow the Lord to plant us in a church just as “God sets the solitary in families” (Psalm 68:6). And the treatment for the grabbing hands of greed is gentleness. Truly these Godly characteristics are worth searching out and seeking after. Let us not give up our quest until “R H-O-G” is once again safely at home in the church … and we are the church.