Living The Dream

Ephesians 3: 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (NIV)

John D. had a dream. He dreamed of working in a fast-paced international conglomerate as a consultant. One day he was offered a job that matched his dream. He took the job and lived the dream.

Doris M. dreamed of being a stage performer. After college, she got a part in a local stage production. Two years later she was offered a part in a touring production and she accepted the part. She lived the dream.

James T. dreamed of owning his own construction supply company. After years of hard work in the industry, he started his own company and became very successful. He lived the dream.

Janet S. dreamed of being a mom. She dreamed of having two children, staying at home, and raising them into adulthood. She met the right man, they had the two children, and she lived her dream.

God gave each of us the power to dream and to imagine. What we cannot dream and cannot imagine is the true glory that awaits us in heaven. Of all the dreams we can have about our life on earth, we cannot imagine what the Lord has in store for us in His home. Christ said very little about heaven. Perhaps He said little because our real purpose in this life is to live this life with a desire to please Him. All the dreams we can dream about being a person of the world and about worldly things will never compare to heaven.

Most of our dreams of achievement are dreams rooted in selfishness. Most of our dreams are about fulfilling our own wants and needs. If we would think long and hard about what we dream about we would find that we dream for ourselves and not for God.

Dreaming of dong and being a certain kind of person or doing and being in a certain place and time are not necessarily bad. What is bad is when our ability to dream and envision is not used to fulfill God's will. God has made each of us unique from all other living creatures because we can dream and envision a future. We can dream about building a skyscraper, sketch out the plans, and make that dream a reality. No other living creature has this ability to dream and envision. No other living creature has this ability to dream, envision, and follow the vision to a completion.

What you dream and envision is under your control. You can dream about doing godly things or you can dream about doing ungodly things. In the world today, the world is filled with person's who dream of doing ungodly things. Human beings have taken God's wonderful gift of imagination and turned it into an instrument that glorifies darkness, evil, and Satanic influence.

In your life, dream of being what Christ wants you to be. Dream about building His kingdom here on earth. When you hold these kinds of hopes and dreams, Christ comes to live with you and pours blessings over you.

We are not called to just dream of the future. We are called to build for it in the here and now. To sit in our easy chair and fantasize about a time or place in the future is not enough. To do the will of God is the will of God. God gave us the ability to hope and dream so that we could act on those hopes and dreams.

Isaiah 65:2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations-- (NIV)

We live in a sick and dying world. However, God is not glorified by our calling the world sick and dying. God is not glorified by our putting the world down or putting sinners in their place. God is glorified when we dream of doing His will and being His child within our present darkness. When we hope and dream of doing God's will to counteract the darkness, we will be able to do His bidding. When we show love, caring, kindness, and compassion in action then God is glorified. The darkness is dispelled. When we hope and dream we must hope, dream, and build ways of showing the Lord's love to others. When we hope, dream, and build we must exemplify all that Christ is.

Perhaps you might think that only persons in the clergy need to hope, dream, and build ways to show the love of God. However, this is not so. Think about what a difference there would be in the world if everyone truly lived out the will of God. In this scenario, darkness in the world might exist, but the darkness would not dominate as it does today. In your own life, a remarkable and fantastic change awaits you, depending upon your hopes and dreams. When you hope and dream of doing the Lord's will, these hopes and dreams are fulfilled by Christ. When you hope and dream of being His child, these hopes and dreams come true.

In the world, we can hope and dream of worldly and secular things. In the world, there is disappointment, heartache, and shattered dreams. In the kingdom of God, there are also hopes and dreams, but none of these dreams are ever shattered or dashed by God. The love and mercy of God is instilled in us so we can make dreams of being His child a reality. God gave us an imagination so it would be used for His glory alone.