Big Dream or Status Quo? -- Part 3/3

Hold onto the dream God's given you. It may be years, but God holds the key to your dreams in His hands. Like a lump of clay on a potter's wheel, it is not destined to stay a lump. It is a process. Just like you would not give up on your child and call him or her hopeless, don't give up on the dream God has given you. Yes, God may tweak it, it may "feel" as if God is starting from scratch and all your work went to nothing, but God is doing the building. Nothing God puts His hands to do is worthless or pointless.

Though it tarries, it will come to pass, if your hope does not fail. Do not settle for that status quo. Do not  get so used to not having it that you get comfortable where you are at. Get your mind out of that rut. Things could change at a moment's notice. The rut is not God's norm for you. The waiting time is a doing time, not a sit-on-your-butt time; it's preparation time. You want change, expect change to happen.

God doesn't want us to just settle. He has big plans for you, for each and every one of you. So what are you doing? 

Deam Big!  Nurture the dream, by focusing on aspects of it, mulling it over in your mind, feeding it. Ask God for a "living" dream...for God to make it tangible for you. 

What big dreams does He have for you? If it's not big, it's not God's. His dream for you is a God-sized dream, otherwise, it's just something man could do in his own strength, his own way. But if it's a dream God has given you, you will not be able to do it on your own. And only God-sized dreams can satisfy the soul of a believer.

Look at each dream. How does it feel? What lives are supposed to be touched for the Glory of God through this dream? What kind of Kingdom difference can it make? What is God using to feed it? How are you trying to feed it? Are you feeding it what God knows will make it thrive? 

Want different results than what you have been getting? Change the process. Ask God how to get on track. He will tell you if you ask. Be willing to work with His timetable. Ask Him what your next step is. He will tell you, He will give you a plan. 

Ask for specifics, get and set clear goals. You don't want fuzzy or vague goals. So there needs to be some type of structure. But at the same time, be flexible, give the dream breathing room. A dream will get smothered if you try to force it into a strict time-table. 

Hold your dream up to the Light. Let the Light of God shine upon it. Ask God what He sees. Allow God to direct the process, knowing that He wants this dream He has for you far more than you ever can. 

And remember, He chose you to be His vessel for this work upon this earth. He chose you to be the carrier for His call and His dreams. Will you accept this honor?

And if for no other reason than your Love for the Lord God, and your willingness to obey Him, you cannot say no. 

So...

Dream Big!

Big Dream or Status Quo? -- Part 2/3

Sometimes in between our calling or promise from God and the waiting for the fulfillment of that promise, we may start to think that God's forgotten us, or that we somehow did something that derailed our qualification in receiving the promise that God had given us so many years ago.

SO WHAT DO YOU DO?

Dig deep. Look back at the original dream , the original plan, God had given you. Are you staying true to what He gave you, or have you detoured away from the root of what He's shown you? Your dream may have many branches, be very diverse, but the root of what God has given you, is the core, the basic foundation to what God wants for you. His plan, His call on your life! His destiny for you. His way, not your way, of fulfilling His plan. 

Let's look at Sarai and Hagar. What happened when Sarai and Abram desired to fulfill God's promise (Genesis 15) themselves. 

Genesis 16:1-4

 "Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, 'Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.”

Here Sarai was so desperate to make God's promise happen, that she tried to make it happen, force God's hand, if you will. But God is not to be manipulated. Faith moves God, not manipulation. You must believe that God can, know that He is working, and that His promises will come.

Hebrews 10:23

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."

It took another 14 years for the promised son to be born. It had to be God's timing, done His way, for the working of the flesh removed from the picture. That in order for the promise to come, flesh had to be unable. Man could not do it in their own earthly abilities. 

Isaac wasn't born till after Abraham was 100 years of age. (Abraham was circumcised at 99 years old, and Sarah was 89 at that time. It was an outward sign of an inward change.) Abraham had to go through a name change--a character change--for the timing of the promise to come. A tempering time does not mean you are out of favor with The Lord or that He's given up on you, or that you blew it so badly that He'll never want to use you.

God is not just merely the God over the day, of joyful times, of everything going peaches 'n cream, although they are good things. He still works even when you are in the night time of your life, during your low times, even when there seems to out. But just because your surroundings and your circumstances may be dark, you don't have to live there. They don't have to affect you. You can rise above it.

Discouragement lives and thrives in the darkness, but we are children of the Light, and our hope rests in Jesus. It's that Hope that is the Light that shines upon you and your dreams.

So shine His Light upon it.

Big Dream or Status Quo? -- Part 1/3

Too many in the Body of Christ have gotten used to the status quo. But the Christian Life is more than this. If we do not dream a BIG dream with God, how can we be where we need to be. Christians who choose to live in the status quo are living out there walk in a rut. God wants more for His people than this.

The prophet, Samuel was birthed via the desperation of his mother, Hannah. She wanted to have a child so deeply that she faced years without any. Scripture says in Proverbs 13:6, that "hope deferred makes the heart sick." Year after year, Hannah, having no child, while Peninnah, her husband's other wife, was having child after child. Penninah would use Hannah's barreness to provoke her to tears, sobshe would not eat.

All Hannah knew to do was to lay her heart bare before the Lord. So she sought the Lord out. It's that type of desperation that often moves the hand of God. Hannah was in position for a miracle to happen. Like her, you must know where to put that desperation. Desperation is often that fertile ground that God uses to propel you forward into the destiny that He has for you.

1 Samuel 3:10-11says, 

"She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, 'O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.' ”

Hannah was willing not to own, lay personal possession of the promise, but to give him unto the Lord God for service. Her dream, her desire, was placed in the hands of God. She wanted God's promise fulfilled His way.

1 Samuel 1:20

"And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, 'I have asked for him from the Lord.' ”

The Word goes on to say that when Samuel was three years of age, Hannah brought him to the temple to serve there, as fulfillment of the promise she gave the Lord, and in turn, the Lord gave her five more children (3 boys and 2 girls).

Like Hannah, we need to be able to release what God has placed within us. Every dream has to start somewhere. All dreams start with faith, faith that God has a plan for you, that you to know and believe He can do it, and to be obedient to His commands.  

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare (your good/peace) and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

First, we need to listen to the Lord and keep His Word--whatever He asks of us to do, for the promise will come.

Habakkuk 2:2-3

 "And the Lord answered me:

 'Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow, wait for it;

 it will surely come; it will not delay.'"

God will make a way, where there seems to be no way. Just do as He shows you. 

Christian Cliff Notes

Now...let me see if I can reconstruct this post that had recently gone missing early this Wednesday morning when I tried to post it online.  Unfortunately, remakes are generally never better than the original...we'll see what happens. I pray it comes across how the Lord wants it expressed. 

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With the start of the new school year upon us, I began thinking about college students going to school for the first time. They have more freedom than when they were at home to make their own decisions. And with that new freedom comes many more responsibilities. There are class schedules, extra curricular activities, outside jobs, college tuition, book fees, general living expenses. They face many decisions that they may not have had earlier in their life. So where does that leave their spiritual growth? With such busy days ahead, will they take the time to continue growing in the Lord, taking the time to be in His presence. Or will they merely seek the cliff notes' version for their spiritual walk, trying to just coast along on having only the basics? 

Sometimes a person doesn't even need to be in college to have a very busy schedule. So, in everyday situations, do we, as Christians hunger for more of the Word, more of the Lord, or do we just settle for only cracking open the Word, maybe once a week, or only after a crisis hits?

In Deuteronomy 11:18 the Lord commands, “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." Basically, we are to focus upon the Word as a continual reminder, so that we are ever meditating upon it, and APPLYING it our daily lives. The Word is here to not only teach or instruct us, but also that we know it deeply within our lives, that we are enabled to face every situation BEFORE something hits.

If we just settle for having milk, allowing others to feed us, we will never be strong, nor be equipped to share forth the gospel and present it to a dying world. How will God get the glory then? Living only by the milk of the Word, how can we stand like we are admonished to do in Ephesians 6:10-20. 

We are called to be salt and light to a darkened world (Matthew5:13-16). If we are merely smoldering embers, how can we light the way to the Lord? How will our lives stand as a witness to God's glory? We cannot do this without keeping built up in the Word, not by eating merely milk, staying weak, but digging into the Bread--the Bread of Life--and the meat of the Word also. For our Lord wants more for our lives Han merely existing. We need to live, to grow, to be on fire for the Lord. And when finished, to know that we have done all that He has asked of us, fulfilling our destiny in Him.

Technological Problems

Apparenly the iPad blogger app is no good, because the post that I was working on yesterday--and saved--they deleted as soon as I gained a Wi-Fi connection this morning. I am ridding myself of the app. It is so much easier to just go online and post something and NOT go through the app. They do not delete it on you then.

I apologize for not having it ready to post. I will try to get something soon.

A Piece of My Passion

My Beloved,

     How I long to draw closer into your arms, to feel Your heart beating next to mine. So that the nearer I draw to Yours the more my heart will beat as one with You. Show me Your ways, my Love -- show me the power of Your Love so that I may know it in its fullness.

     Oh, Your heartbeat--such a strong beat--how I  long to continually feel that strong pulse echoing through the recesses of my vessel. The rhythmic thunder of Your mighty pounding within my being--oh! What addiction! Such sweet desire! More, my Lord, more of Your life--Your Glory--flowing forth from within me.

     How I long for the world to see--the world to know--Your mighty splendor for themselves. Pour it forth, pour it through me, Lord.

     Overwhelm me, Lord, with the strength of Your Love for me. The intensity of Your Love, so strong and yet, so gentle. All consuming and so liberating! 

     Oh, what words? How can I express such a force? It surpasses all mortal comprehension, and I overflow. For how could anyone hinder the floodgates of Your Love from bursting through? Such perfection--Your Love--the flawless source of unconditional love.

     Transform me, My Love. Change me that I may fully express forth Your Love to a dying world. Free me to fully embrace all You have for me and the destiny You have mapped out for me. Conform my will to match Yours that I may forever be in sync with deep pulsing of Your heartbeat. Oh, that I would carry that heartbeat to all whom I encounter that I may be a catalyst in stirring their embers into flames for You.

     Continue transforming me by the power of Your Love, that I may fully know Your heartbeat, Your passion, so that Your Glory be made manifest, revealing Your very Presence, My Lord. For I can never be the same again. Nor would I desire it, my Love. For I am Yours, You are mine, for all Eternity.

Your Angel
(SeekingHisheartbeat @OneHeart.com)

A Thought--Personal Resurrection of Dreams and Visions

This past weekend A group of ladies and I went to a Ministers'  Conference in Iowa. It was very refreshing, uplifting, and engaging. Old dreams were resurrected, my (spiritual) vision was broadened and added to, and my direction in the Lord has become sharper, more tangible. I now have so many more ideas for my writing, more ways in using that gift for God's glory. Areas that have gone stagnant, or simply unproductive, have started producing again. I praise God for the added clarity.

More will be coming...for now I've got to scoot.