When we are young, we dream about what we want to do when we get older. We see ourselves leaping tall buildings to rescue those who need rescuing; stopping only to pose for a picture in the local paper. We see ourselves as the answer to all of the world’s problems. We are the local hero who can do it all!
When we are older we still dream, or at least we should; for God isn’t done with us yet. So dream on, my friend; let God bring His dreams for your life! Look at how God worked through His prophets of old; oh, to dream like they did! Wouldn’t it be great to get a prophecy like Joel did or one the other Minor Prophets?
Wouldn’t it be great to get a prophecy like Isaiah did, hearing things that would take place hundreds of years later! Or like Daniel did, hearing things that would take place hundreds of years later and seeing incredible visions!
Or how about seeing what Ezekiel saw! Wouldn’t it be great to get a prophecy like the Apostle John did? WOW! The BOOK OF REVELATIONS!!!! Seeing incredible visions! Wouldn’t it be great to get gifts from the Holy Spirit and help people, and preach the Word of God, and do miracles, and to prophecy?
Wouldn’t it be great to get a dream from God? Are you going to go to bed early to try to make it happen? You CAN’T make it happen; He simply wants to be open to whatever He wants you to do. That’s what the dream is for.
All dreams, gifts, and callings: COME from Him and BELONG to Him.
God loves us as His children; deeply. But when He is anointing us, He is not thinking of us. He is thinking of others. God is essentially saying; “When I speak, you speak and when I stop, that better be two of us.”
The gift of healing is only good to us if we use it for others, otherwise we would only pray when we ourselves get sick. It, it is His power flowing through us.
He is looking for us to lay down our lives to be vessels for HIM! He is looking for “bed pans”; earthen vessels that contain the precious gift of Him. Now, I realize that metaphor is opposite of what we picture the role of the bed pan to be. But in God’s economy, it is the treasure in the earthen vessel that is valuable; not the earthen vessel.
Regarding this, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth;
“For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ
Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For
it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians
4:5-6) He goes on to write;
“But we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
(2 Corinthians 4:7)
Let
me break down those words:
“Treasure” is a deposit,
that is, wealth (literally or figuratively): - treasure, or “this ministry” as v.1 says.
“earthen vessels” is terra
cotta); earthen ware, that is, clayey; by implication frail:
- of earth, earthen. a
vessel, implement, equipment or apparatus.
The word
means baked clay and refers to clay pots. They were cheap, breakable, and
replaceable. But they served necessary household functions. Sometimes they were
used as a vault to store valuables, such as money, jewelry, or important
documents. But they were most often used for holding garbage and human waste.
The latter is
the use Paul had in mind, and it was how Paul viewed himself, - as lowly,
common, expendable, and replaceable.
“POWER” comes from the same word that we get
the word “dynamite”. It means force
specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle
itself): - ability, abundance, meaning, might, power, strength, violence,
mighty (wonderful) work.
Dynamite! It’s God’s power and not any
power that we can generate. The messenger’s weakness is not fatal to what he
does; it is essential so that when God pours out dreams and visions we remember
that He isn’t thinking of us. He
is the source; we are merely the vessels.
God is not
done with you; keep running your race. Keep dreaming God’s dreams! You are “His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
(Ephesians 2:10).
Work with God and let Him take you through the process; you will find
that the results will be eternal. And, It is He who will complete the work
that He started (Philippians 1:6) and “work in you both to
will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13)
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"Scripture
taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved."
Dear Pastor Tom,
ReplyDeleteBedpans? Often the prophets and dreamers of God were not recognized by others of having anything, and so, filled their lives with "dung" so it very much seemed like they were "bedpans". Many dreams took a lifetime to be realized; some as you so articulately expressed; never saw it themselves, nor understood its ramifications; yet, they remained faithful to God even in the midst of all the "horse crap" others who did not understand their dreams, even jealous that they even had them (i.e. Joseph, Nehemiah, Noah).
Sometimes the dreams of the youth, lead a life of hardship which in and of itself a pathway of pain and suffering. But even so; Jesus gives this hope: "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields - and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." Mark 10:29,30.
"And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dad, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. Thery went about in sheepskins and goatskins, detitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." Hebrews 11:31-40.
What am I saying? What I am saying is this; keep dreaming, even if it doesn't seem "wonderful". Keep doing what you are doing for the Kingdom of God; even if the dreams seem to never materialize. Jesus promises persecution; but he also promises a 100 times more in this lifetime what we gave up; and, if we leave this world before receiving our dreams, we will be able to enjoy the fruit of pursuing them with the generation to come. Amen.