I once heard that if your dreams make people laugh only then are your dreams big enough for God. Your dreams ought to make a logical, rationale person laugh when you tell them because you should dream so big that only the hand of blessing and the sovereign work of God could possibly make your dream a reality. When you look through the Bible, this is what you see. God told Abraham when he was already an old man that he would become a father of a great nation. Abraham simple response was guess what…..A LAUGH!!! Abraham laughed but God gave that old man and his wife a son. Then Abraham followed God obediently and eventually through the generations, God fulfilled His promise to Abraham. You see we serve a God who is sovereign and a God who is all-powerful. God does what He wants when He wants and not even unbelief or disobedience can stop Him. There are examples of this in Scripture too…..see Moses, Jonah, and Gideon but that is another topic for another day.
Another big dream was Nehemiah who is probably my favorite character in the Bible….other than Jesus of course!!! Nehemiah was the cup-bearer to the King Artaxerxes. God gave Nehemiah the dream or vision (I like this term better) to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem had been destroyed by the previous king so why would the current king let his trusted cup-bearer go and rebuild the walls of something they had just destroyed. Nehemiah prayed about his vision and God brought it to pass. The king allowed Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and even gave him the supplies he would need to do the job. Can you make any argument against that being an example of the sovereignty of God? Most people would have laughed at the vision of Nehemiah but instead of laughing, Nehemiah prayed and planned so he was ready when God brought it to pass. Nehemiah stood strong in the face of all kinds of problems and enemies when he got to Jerusalem. The vision that God gave Nehemiah influenced every decision he made. If it furthered the dream then Nehemiah said yes, but if it hindered or side-tracked the dream then Nehemiah said no! Nehemiah had a dream and then he trusted God to make his dream a reality.
So what does all this have to do with me? Well…the answer is I don’t know. The reason I don’t know is because God has given each and every one their own hopes and dreams. My vision from God for my life and ministry is very different from yours. J.D. Greear who pastors The Summit Church has the vision to plant 1000 churches in the next 40 years. That’s right I said ONE THOUSAND churches planted. That means brand new, didn’t previously exist churches across the United States and throughout the world. Where are they going to get the money and people to do it? Well, I don’t know but I tell you what if there are a 1000 churches 40 years from now with some kind of association to The Summit Church in Durham, NC then nobody will accuse them of having little faith. They have a dream so big only an act of God could make it a reality. Maybe today your dreams are for the salvation of family members or your marriage to become what God has called it to be. Maybe your dreams include your job and your finances, starting a new business or getting out of debt. Ask God to give a dream for your life and to make it so big that you have to trust in Him because there is no way that you can do it by yourself. Maybe today, God can’t give you a dream because there is no relationship between the two of you. Christ died to restore that relationship if you would turn from your sins and place your trust for salvation and eternal life in Him. God loves you, He has a plan for you and He wants to use you to accomplish something great for His kingdom and His glory. Would you practice more faith in God today? Would you practice trusting Him alittle more? Dream so big it makes people laugh and if you do, I don’t think you will end up disappointed.
No comments:
Post a Comment