HOW BIG CAN YOU DREAM?

The bigger your dreams are, the bigger God will show Himself to be.

“Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Genesis 18:14

How often have you been encouraged to dream? 

Not often enough, I’d venture to say. 

The dictionary defines “dream” as “an aspiration, goal, aim.”  We often hear expressions such as “beyond your wildest dreams,” “the house of my dreams,” “my dream job,” or “I have a dream.”  So, I say a dream isn’t any ordinary “aspiration, goal, or aim.”  It is something beyond that:  something more significant, out of the ordinary, and exceptional.

In my years of growing up, I was never encouraged to dream.  Even as an adult, very few people have encouraged me to dream.  But every now and then, someone has said something like, “If you could have or do or be anything you wanted, what would that be?  Dream big, now!”

I have always found it challenging to dream.

I’m somewhat conservative and tend to think and act conventionally, carefully, and with a lot of thought.  To dream means to drop all restrictions and let your mind go beyond what you usually think.  That’s a real effort, but I am learning I can do it.  It just takes practice.

One of the things that hinders my ability to dream is fear.  I’m afraid to dream because my dream may be silly or unrealistic.  I have yet to grasp the fact that to dream is to be silly and unrealistic.  I’m still in the realm of thinking that dreams need to make sense.  But, as I said, it takes practice.

Recently, I was faced with a deep, long-buried belief of which I’d been unaware. 

At a conference, as part of an exercise, we were told to identify a lie we believed that was blocking the progress we were trying to make in our entrepreneurship endeavors.  What flew into my mind immediately was, “God does not want to bless me.  I am not good enough to deserve His blessings.” 

This thought rose so rapidly into my thinking that I was utterly taken by surprise, and I began to cry.  The speaker then told us to replace the lie with the truth:  God wants to bless me.  His blessings are not based on my being good enough—they’re based on His love and grace.  Of course, as I let this truth enter my mind and heart, I cried even harder.  God wants to bless me!

Too many of us have been unintentionally deprived of the truth of God’s joy in blessing us.

We have been taught about God’s goodness and love and that He cares for us.  We know that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)  We are well-taught that God loves us profoundly and unconditionally.  But the fact that He longs to bless His children and give them abundant life is less emphasized.  We are taught to obey God, as obedience pleases Him, but we are not taught as often that asking Him to bless us pleases Him too.

There’s a story about a man who saved every dollar he could to buy passage on a ship. 

He managed to save just enough to buy his ticket, with a bit of money left to buy some cheese and a few crackers.  Every day on the ship, he would see the other passengers enter the dining room and enjoy sumptuous meals.  But he had no extra money for food, so he would sit alone on the deck and eat his carefully rationed meal of cheese and crackers.  One day near the end of the voyage, one of the ship’s crew saw the man eating his meager meal and asked him why he didn’t go into the dining room and eat there with everyone.  The man said he had no money for the wonderful meals they were serving.  The crew member exclaimed, “Didn’t you know?  The meals are included in the price of your ticket.  You are entitled to eat everything they serve in the dining room.”

Many Christians live their lives eating cheese and crackers alone on the deck.

They don’t realize that because they are God’s children, they are entitled to the sumptuous meals that come with the ticket.  They miss the myriads of blessings God has for them, just for the asking.  We are taught to be grateful for our salvation but are not encouraged to ask for blessings because it might seem selfish or might be asking for too much.  We are taught to be content with what we have but not ask for more.

This brings me back to the issue of dreaming. 

What do you do when God asks you to dream?

Jesus asked the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?”  The blind man said, “Lord, I want to see.” (Mark 10:51)

Talk about a dream!!  To others, it may have appeared silly and unrealistic for this blind man to ask for his sight.  But Jesus didn’t think so.  “Go,” Jesus said, “your faith has healed you.”  Immediately the man received his sight.  (Mark 10:52)

Know this:  Our God is not the God of just enough.  He is an extravagant God of abundance, eager to pour out His blessings on His children.  Do not be afraid to desire great things of a great God!   

All you need is faith to ask.  He is waiting….