Dream BIG and Believe that God Will Deliver

For some reason God has led me to several books lately that have to do with ministry. Each of these books has stirred the passions in me that God has placed there. I recently posted the following on FaceBook, which sums up what I believe God is stirring in me.

  I believe that God wants a church in our town that is made up of people who are followers of Jesus that have   thrown off the chains of conforming to this world and the shackles of defeat. A people who are pursuing the     BIG Passions that God has placed in their hearts.

A while back I was talking with a couple of pastors and one told me there are a lot of good ideas flowing out of me but now is not the time to pursue them. My first thoughts was “If not now when?” The above statement is a passion I have and I believe I will have an involvement in helping to create that church. In a church where people have had the chains removed they are allowed to pursue the BIG Dreams that God has placed in their heart. They are not told to stay within the lines or within a box that others have placed them in. They are free to use the Spiritual Gifts that the Holy Spirit has given them for service to others. They are not conformed to the leader but equipped, empowered and released by him or her to ministry.

 Most recently the book the Holy Spirit led me to is “Living BIG” by Pam Grout. The back covers says this, “Do you ever feel that the daily grind is wearing you down and wonder how you can live a more meaningful life? Living Big is a book about discovering your own potential, loving with ever ounce of your soul, and reclaiming your wildest dreams. It’s about visionaries, dreamers, crusaders, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Pam Grout shows you how to shift your attitude, seize the day, and grow into the best person you were meant to be. Featuring profiles of everyday people who are living fully and completely as well as life changing activities. Living Big will get you thinking BIG, dreaming BIG, and asking the right BIG questions.

I personally believe God has placed a BIG dream in each of us and it is a dream that only we can fulfill. I believe that if we do not pursue our BIG dream we will not experience life as God meant for us to experience it.

Luke 12: 23 “For life is more than food, and the body than clothing.”

John 10: 10 “The Thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”

What did Jesus mean by those two statements? I cannot answer either of these for you because what God considers more than food and clothing for you is different than it is for me and we each have to discover for ourselves what abundant living is for us personally.

I can use what Jesus said in John 4: 34 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.” as the basis to finding those answers. We each need to desire the food that comes from doing the will of the Father and out of that we will discover the work He desires us to do and that will lead to abundant living.

I encourage you to dust off that dream and pursue it with all of the passion that the Holy Spirit gives to you because someone is depending upon you to do it. If not now when?

Suggested reading:
“Living Big” by Pam Grout
“7 Practices of Effective Ministry” by Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner and Lane Jones
“The Great Omission” by Dallas Willard
“The Dream Giver” by Bruce Wilkinson