Big dreams?

With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Do you ask God for big things? Or do you play it safe and ask only for the things you are pretty confident he will provide? Don't be afraid to ask for the big things because we serve a BIG God who delights in revealing his love toward us. What we don't want to do is limit God in any way. We want to remain open to the 'power working in us' that will 'do much' if we allow him access, are obedient to what he asks, and trust him with our whole heart.

In my youth I was a big dreamer. In fact, I was a bit of a daydreamer growing up. I'd drift off into thought about things way bigger than I could achieve right then, finding myself carried away in a world of imagined plans. It wasn't until I began to realize God has dreams for me that were being limited by the dreams, I concocted in my own mind that I began to let God show me the 'much more' he had planned for me. His power within me was aching to be turned lose, but I was limiting his actions by the limitations of my dreams.

With God's power working in us - this doesn't say 'when' his power is working within us - it says 'with'. The way we read this is important because we already have his power resident within us, ready to work not only within us, but through us. If we read just a few verses prior to today's passage, we will see Paul reminding us that God's plan is for Christ to live in our hearts, for us to come to experience his love, and that we should be 'filled with everything he has for us'. When Christ is in the center of our lives, his power is working within us - no matter what!

What are the 'big things' God has prepared for you? Today is a great time to find out. You won't know until you begin to ask! He can do much - we just need to be available to him. Maybe it is time to ditch some of our 'daydreaming' and listen to hear the plans he has prepared for us well in advance of us ever knowing he would do such things in or through us. Just sayin!

Sleep well, my friends

The saying is true: Bad dreams come from too much worrying, and too many words come from foolish people. (Ecclesiastes 5:3)

Are you a dreamer? I don't have many dreams I can recount when I awaken. Most of the time I simply have a slight memory for a short period of time and then as I fully awaken, those memories fade away as quickly as the day dawns. Yet, I have dreams - mine are just 'daytime dreams'. I think on things at night when I awaken, mulling them over and over in my mind until I find a solution to the thing I am contemplating. If I need to make something out of this or that, I think on the many 'solutions' to the 'making'. I don't create the thing while I am asleep, but rather when I am fully awake, firmly committed to the design I imagine will work, and committed to beginning to put the idea into motion. 

Bad dreams - do we have these on occasion? Some people suffer from traumatic circumstances that leave them with haunting 'nightmares' of the events. Imagine never being able to go to sleep without the 'fear' of reliving the worst event of your lifetime. Most of us would resist the tiredness of our bodies and minds in hopes we'd never drift off into that state that would allow those images and memories to haunt us. We'd fight sleep because we would know the 'fight' of our sleep. I am not referring to these type of 'terror' dreams today, though. I am referencing the 'bad dreams' that come through what Solomon aptly referred to as 'too much worrying'. The type of 'dreams' that surface because we mull over things best left 'un-mulled'. 

Do you know that the term 'mull' actually means more than to turn something over and over in our minds? It also carries the meaning of making a mess or failure out of something - probably because the more we ruminate on something that causes us anxious worry, the worse we imagine the outcome will be. We actually bring on the 'mess' by all the 'mulling'. Bad dreams come to those who are continual 'mullers'. I used to kid with my mom on occasion, telling her she'd worry about not having anything to worry about. Sometimes we 'mull' over the things that we have little control over - thinking our worrying would somehow change the circumstances. The truth is - if we don't 'own' the issue, we the ones to 'fix' the issue. 

When we begin to 'give over' ownership of the issues in our lives, the one who takes control of those things begins to settle our minds and hearts. Jesus doesn't look lightly upon us 'owning' what we cannot fix. He makes a way for the 'fix' even when we don't know we don't own the problem! Once he shows us we aren't the right 'owners' of the issue, and we let it go, he takes it into his hands. There is much to be learned in letting go, but perhaps the best lesson we can learn is how to get the best night's sleep of our lives! Just sayin!

Be a BIG Dreamer

For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for well-being and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

If you were to hear those words spoken over your life today, what would you imagine yourself doing with the help and power of God actually guiding you to accomplish it? I think we 'dream dreams', but we seldom see those dreams come to full fruition. We have 'big plans', but they somehow fizzle out before they ever get finished. The more dream, the harder it seems it is to see those dreams become a reality. I dream of retirement and I am getting closer to that place, but today is not the day to accomplish that dream. Just because we dream something doesn't always make that dream come true - but if God is the author of our dreams, those things are already set in motion within our lives that will help to bring that dream to fruition!

Disney used to say all our dreams could come true if we had the courage to pursue them. I don't think he was terribly wrong, but I do think there are some dreams that require a little more courage than others. The dreams God has for us - the things he has planned for us - these may require a little more courage from us than some of the other 'run-of-the-mill' dreams we could muster up in our imaginations. God's dreams are "BIG" dreams - plans for our well-being and not for trouble. How many of your dreams could you say were going to enhance your well-being? Some of my dreams when I was a kid would not have done much to enhance my life, but I still pursued a few of them. Today, I find myself much more 'selective' about the dreams I pursue - because I have learned God's dreams for my future are much more reliable than my own!

I came across this quote the other day and wanted to share it with you: "The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do." (Sarah Ban Breathnach) Dreamers who do - this conjures up the idea of 'putting feet to our dreams'. In other words, we take action. Too many times we know God has placed within us a 'plan' or a 'purpose' - we can feel it and sense it with each intake of breath - yet we don't act upon those plans or step our into that purpose. Dreamers who do are more than 'fanciful believers' - they are committed to the plan and know each step they take brings them closer and closer to the fulfillment of the dream. 

Dream big - there is nothing wrong with that. Give those dreams to God and ask him to sort them out for you - helping you to see which ones are the ones he knows will enhance our well-being and keep us out of trouble in life. Big dreams in the hands of an even BIGGER God have a way of changing the world! Just sayin!