I seem to find myself daydreaming a lot these days. Dreaming of places and people…dreaming of colors and sights. Sounds. Tastes. A touch.
Some of these dreams take me to places that I have been. I’ve walked their streets—felt their hard ground beneath my feet. But some of them I have yet to live.
Both dreams call me back to them. They won’t release me. I’ve tried to free myself from their pull. I’ve flooded my mind with entertainment—the television, loud music, crowded restaurants--but they won’t let me go. Somehow they keep me captive.
I’ve bought things to try to replace the desire to visit my dreams...to live my dreams. But in buying more I just accumulate things that tie me here away from where I was create to live...away from who God create me to be. And somehow, knowing that, I allow them hold me prisoner barring me from really living anywhere—too caught up in my dream world to live in the present and too much a realists to believe that my dreams could come true.
I know that my dreams are not of my own making because if I could, I’d change them. I'd change myself. I’d change my personality. I’d change my wants. I’d change my mistakes. I’d probably even change my successes. My insides so wants free of this body and all of her wickedness and all of her limitations. My insides want free of the fear that limits my capabilities. I want to stop dreaming and to start living.
I believe, in so many of our lives, God has been calling us to stop dreaming and to start living. Stop dreaming of our lost family coming to know Christ and start passionately pursuing them with His love. I hear God calling us to stop dreaming of His power showing up in our lives—of Him using us to see miracles--and to start acting on the truth of His Word. I hear clearly God commanding us to stop dreaming of reconciliation with friends and family and to start reconciling. Offer forgiveness where it hasn’t been asked. Giving love even where it’s not wanted.
Just as easier I could say...
Stop dreaming of a world with no human trafficking…
Stop dreaming of a world with no hunger…
Stop dreaming of the life you’re called to…
Stop dreaming…
Start living.
Yes, there are somethings that we cannot change. I wish we could, but alas, our fallen world controls and limits God’s will.
Understand me. Our world and our will does not limit God’s power. God is infinite and incredibly able. Sometimes God's power does move of His on accord, but God's will is to use men and women to impact the world.
Living in God’s will—God’s perfect will—is a beautiful thing. Living is a beautiful thing. It is a beautiful gift.
But an even more beautiful gift, a gift we give back to God for all of the gifts He’s given us, is to live His dream.
You see, I think God gives us dreams—you know the ones you can’t shake free from—the ones you wake up to and the ones that follow you to sleep—the ones you try to run from—those dreams. They’re from God. I know we all have them. We may lie to ourselves and say we don’t. We may have filled our lives with clutter clouding our hearing. We may think we’re too old or too young. We may say we’ve all reached our dreams.
No, no.
Stop.
Just stop.
Just stop.
There. There it is again. A flicker of light. There it is. A jump of the heart. There. Right there. A jog in your memory. There it is. That’s the dream.
And I would imagine it’s probably something you can’t do on our own, so how could you have imagined it.
I told you. Dreams are from God.
And just as the dreams are from God, so is life.
Life brings so many challenges. Challenges can limit us. Maybe your challenges are age or wealth or weight or circumstance or timing or health. They are challenges and they are real and they do limit us. But I have to believe that because dreams are from God and because they are a part of this beautiful, complicated gift called life—I have to believe that these limitations will never stop us.
Why?
Because we have something that the world does not have. We have the power of God on our side. We have the promise of Scripture. We have the presence of God in us. Around us. Anointing us. Empowering us. Destroying every limitation in our way.
In Philippians 1:6, Paul plainly states, “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Psalmist writes in Psalm 138:8, “The Lord will vindicate me: Your love, Lord, endures forever. Do not abandon the works of Your hand.”
Paul writes again in 1 Corinthians 1:8, “He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So, I pose to you this. How do we make this all happen? How do I go from living a life of unfulfilled dreams to a life walking perfectly in God’s will? How do we see these God given dreams come true?
More than anything this life is a waiting game. We wait on God’s timing. We wait on His plan. But in all the waiting, we don’t give up. We do what we can do. Not sitting still, but ever moving towards Him and towards His will. It does take work.
Moses had to leave His family behind and journey to a land He did not know. Ester laid her life on the line and went before the king to ask for the lives of the Hebrew people. The disciples didn’t wait for the lost to come to them, but after they were given the power of the Holy Spirit, they went into the whole world and preached the Gospel of Jesus.
We can’t just wait and expect to catch up to God in this race. God’s moving forward and we have to chase Him. We have to move towards Him. I feel that part of moving towards Him is obviously seeking His face in private and public, but I think it’s also helping remove some of those limitations that keep us so bound up.
This afternoon, I cannot say that I’ve chased my dreams or chose to live. It’s not because I didn’t want to. I want to live and live fully, but I think I am afraid. I’m afraid of failing. I’m afraid of starting. I’m afraid I won’t make people happy. I’m afraid they’ll reject me. So instead, I suppose I live paralyzed in my fear, drinking in entertainment and shopping quite regularly. It’s funny, but it’s sad.
And then you wake up one morning and a new lie squashes the dream that was chasing you to sleep the night before. Too much time has past. You’re too old. You’re too in debt. And you think, “This is how my life began and this is how it will end.”
But that is a lie. That darkness is a lie. Don’t listen to that or those lies. Don’t give the liar presence in your life.
Instead. today, right now, this moment, choose joy. Instead, today, not wasting a minute, choose hope. Instead, today, choose to live. Choose to live God’s dream for you, do what you can do, and watch God remove every limitations.
Stop dreaming. Start living.
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