Some of us truely have
huge dreams. By anyone's standard, they are huge. However, there are many of us who just have a small 'Mom and Pop' dream
to do something for God, a small startup dream on the way to the huge dream, an unusual hard to package or merchandise dream
that no one can wrap their understanding around,(That one's ours.)or a radical change from the type of accepted
ministry we have already been walking in.
In any case, because we have
not felt called to leave our paycheck lifestyle for the fulltime-on-the-road-in-the-field-or-in-the-church-taking-offerings-selling-books/cd's/dvd's-nonprofit-or-incorporated-ministry
lifestyle, or are finding that we need to leave that particular lifestyle, for something off of the accepted beaten path, we haven't
seen how we could fulfill that dream without the finances or the support of some sort of official organization.
It doesn't help that we've been
told, repeatedly, that what we are dreaming really isn't considered ministry, and especially isn't considered 'fulltime' ministry
or is unsupportable because no one can "see" our vision, and that we really aren't qualified or equipped for ministry,
that we are just laity or in helps or that we would no longer be qualifying for ministry if we moved in an unapproved direction.
Allow me to correct some inaccuracies.
1-If we love and belong
to Jesus, breath and are alive, we are qualified to minister. Jesus made it quite clear that just giving a glass
of water or sitting in His presence is considered ministry.
2-If we have a dream, that
means we have already been called to minister.
3-If we have a dream, that
also means that the provision for the fulfillment has already been allocated and will be distributed as we
walk into the dream, as it is needed.
3-As we learn to walk
into that dream, we will be equipped to do the job, not before and not after, but as we walk into
that dream. No one else can do it for us.
4-Each dream is a learning process.
There is never a time where we have finally arrived and have it all figured out. We're always 'starting
over' in some area and building on to what we already know into a new bridge to another great 'unknown'.
5-We are all called to helps in
one capacity or another. Show me a minister who isn't called to mow his lawn and I'll show you a minister who is not called
to have a lawn. Helps is one of the most important ways that any of us can tell another that we care, that they are important
and that faith in God isn't just a pie-in-the-sky dream. Actions speak louder than words. Jesus showed that clearly when
he bathed the disciple's feet and broke bread and fed it to His disciples.
The hardest part of fulfilling the
dream that God has given us is changing our perspective on what would be considered possible or impossible and expected or
unexpected.
When we have crossed over into what
is God's point-of-view we will find that impossible and unexpected tend to fade out of our understanding and things take on
a totally different view. We find ourselves in the realm of practical application of all the pieces that make a mission work,
while others are just scratching their heads and wondering how we could possibly have done it again!
My answer is,'Only God'.
