(Eph 3:20) “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think according to the power that works in us.”
I am convinced that doing big things for and with God starts with a big dream. Vision is empowering to the person who has it and those they influence. It will give you a glimpse of what the future could look like if you do certain things. David had killed the bear and the lion, and now he was about to face a giant. But he said, “he will be like one of them.” Before he killed Goliath, he could see the outcome in his imagination, and it empowered him to slay Goliath with one of his five stones in his sling shot! Albert Einstein said, “Your imagination is a preview of your life’s coming attractions.”
(Neh 1:12) “What my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem.” When Nehemiah received news about God’s people and the state of things in Jerusalem, he began praying and fasting, and God put a dream in his heart. The dreams that I like are the ones that come from deep imaginative thinking inspired by God’s word and prayer.
(Jer 33:3) “Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” He is the God who showed Fleming how to take a piece of moldy bread and turn it into the miracle of penicillin and showed Edison how to make the light bulb. Henry John Heinz, founder of the Heinz 57 Varieties, said two things directed his life and kept him going through a lot of unusual joys and sorrows: His devotion to God and an unshakeable dream of his destiny.
Before God can use people in a big way He has to expand their thinking. He takes you on a journey to expand your mind. I built my first church on 43 acres of land. After I bought the land and made plans, I began to panic when it realized how much it was going to cost! So, my wife and I went down to Oral Roberts University and saw how he had purchased 500 acres of land and built a whole Christian complex on it. I said to myself, “If the God I serve can do this for Oral Roberts, then He can certainly do this small 43-acre project for me!” So, we stepped out in faith and God came through for us.
We Dream, Live the Dream, and Dream Again!
Of course every big dream will eventually require you to step out of your comfort-zone and take some risks. The devil doesn’t mind you thinking and even speaking words of faith if you don’t take steps of faith. There are many dream thieves you need to protect against, like fear, adversity, poverty, discouragement. Remember Joseph. (Ps 105:17-19) Even self-imposed limitations, like Jeremiah. (Jer 1:5-7) Never say you can’t when God says you can! (Phil 4:13)
The process of a Dream is: I thought it. I sought it. I caught it. It has to go from the head to the heart and from the heart to the hands. It takes faith and imagination coupled with action to realize a dream. All the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 had a dream that they refused to give up on. They kept trying, learning, and as a result, expanding the kingdom of God. (Ex 14:15)
(Ps 27:13) “If I hadn’t believed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living I would have fainted.” Great things happen when we expect great things to happen. So, expect great things from God and attempt great things for God!!
Yours for the fulfilling of the dream!
Dr. George Hill,
Founder and President of Victory Churches International
www.victoryint.org