pt 2 “To Dream Is To Be Free”

I used to imagine I was Superman. I could fly. And move mountains. And wrestle monsters.. . with my bare hands (my dog Blackie)!!

I had all kinds of imaginations about who I was and what I could do. Most all of us did.

What happened? When did it change? When did responsible reality settle in and dreams fade?

Think back with me. Back before you were “adulting.” Do you remember the daydreams you had as a child? Do you remember when you used to think about impossible things?

Adults tend to think in the confines of limitation. We have run into disappointments and our own limitations.

To dream requires hope. It requires imagination. It requires freedom.

Hope. Ever heard this? “Don’t get your hopes us, that is a good way to be disappointed.” To dream requires hope. Hope is risky. Life, people, circumstances will let you down. Father God may not write the story the way you would, but Romans 10:11 and other places say those who put their hope in God will not be disappointed. Hope is the confident belief that good is in the future. The words of God promise He is already there ahead of us working even our disappointments for good in a way only He can do. Hope understands that when God is in the picture, if it isn’t good, it isn’t over yet.

Imagination. There is an element of dreaming that, by nature, requires creativity and vision to see something out of the box. The only reason change happens is because someone dares to see something different than what had been done before. We drive cars instead of ride horses. We flip light switches instead of burn candles. Right now, we are communicating information, pictures and movies over wires and wirelessly through the air. If you can imagine it, God can do it.

Freedom. Millions of people around the world have hoped to come to the United States to pursue the “American Dream.” What makes it so attractive and why is it possible? Freedom. Without freedom there is no dream. Dreams are only limited by our vision and imagination. Our thoughts create limitations. Fear is most often the prison guard we allow to imprison us. Some of the most influential documents ever written were written from inside prison walls. The only prison that can truly stop us from making a difference is our own imagination. Jesus said, “with God, all things are possible.”

If God dreams of hopes and a future and I am created in His image, shouldn’t I dream too?

The Original Dreamer has a picture, a vision and hopes for all of us. It is beyond what we can hope or imagine for ourselves (sneak peek part of His dream here Revelation 21).

The God of the impossible lives in the realm of what I can only dream (check out 15 verses about the God of the impossible from Empowered Moments Blog with Yvonne Wilson). He doesn’t do ordinary. He doesn’t live in a physical house, with a fixed income limited by natural laws.

Jesus walked on water. He fed thousands of people when He multiplied a few loaves of bread and few fishes. He calmed storms. He healed blind, mute, diseased and broken people. He even brought dead people back to life. A life of what is only possible is a life void of God. God doesn’t do possible. He doesn’t play inside the boundaries of possibility. He is beyond.

We have mistaken natural limitations as a reason to stop dreaming with child-like wonder. Our limitations were never meant to kill our dreams, they were an invitation to partner in faith, hope and love to dream and do with our Father, the God of the impossible!

We were always meant to be life-long dreamers but lost our ability to dream when we decided our ceiling was our own limitations. Father always meant for us to live a life of dreaming new possibilities and outcomes as we walk in partnership with Him and His abilities.

Us: “Look Dad!!! A mountain!!! Can you move it??!!”

Father God: “I don’t know son, lets see!” (entertained and having fun with our enthusiasm, wonder and faith knowing all along He wasn’t even straining)

This will mess with your brain. John 14:12 (Jesus talking) “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing (remember that list about walking on water, healing broken people and the rest?) , and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

I have seen those verses happen in real life. When we pray and ask things in His name (that means in His character and nature, not just whatever I wish :), He loves to answer. I have seen people’s lives changed. I have seen broken bones, disease and cancers healed. I know people who have seen food multiplied to feed way more people than they had food for. I know people who have seen dead people raised back to life in Jesus name.

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13 NIV)

Ordinary people + Extraordinary leader = Ordinary people doing Extraordinary things.

When we dream of things beyond ourself we are actually are being honest. We are coming into agreement with the purpose we were created for. Honesty requires that fear leave the equation. Be honest about what you hope and imagine without fear at the steering wheel, dream with Father God, dare to see the dreams He has for you.