A mentor of mine, a few months ago, asked me the questions, "Mary Kat, what is it in your heart to do? What are the dreams of your heart?" I could not answer those questions because I had forgotten. Through disappointment and disillusionment, the biggest dreams in my heart had been quenched. They had been crushed so much that I could not even remember them anymore, until the Lord began to awaken them again.
I heard a lot of words of wisdom this weekend at one of our conferences called Eleven. We had some amazing speakers visit The Harbour Church and impart an abundance of wisdom. One of the services that stood out to me the most was our powerful Saturday night service.
Wow! Banning Liebscher from Bethel Church in Redding, California talked about God releasing the dreamers again and raising up the ministry of encouragement at the same time! It was so impacting to me and my life. It was also yet another confirmation that becoming a dreamer is critical in the hour which we live.
Our dreams coincide with the dreams of God's heart. When our dreams are fulfilled, God's dreams are being fulfilled as well. There is an amazing parallel! Obviously, I am describing a heart that is seeking the Lord and delighting in His Presence.
I am also talking about the dreams of a believer in Jesus Christ. When we are a new creation in Christ, we have the ability to dream good dreams and think good thoughts! We have a new heart! Therefore, a Godly desire in our heart that is fulfilled becomes a tree of life as it says in Proverbs 13:12. When our desires are fulfilled, they fulfill the heart of our Father.
For years, I have felt so much condemnation in that place of dreaming. Many people who were the "voices" in my life had spoken words of "realistic thinking." Many even claimed to be "realists." I heard some things this weekend that set me free from my old ways of thinking. "God doesn't live in reality" and "You are free to get your hopes up."
These very words were completely opposite from everything I have ever known. The American culture is used to carrying this phrase, "Don't get your hopes up." Yet, this is a lie! The truth is that Jesus Christ is the HOPE of what? He is the HOPE OF GLORY! Therefore, we need to get our hopes up as high as they can go! God is for us!
Could the Christian life truly be this exciting? Could it truly be this fun? Another quote I heard was, "If your dream is not impossible, perhaps it's not God." All things are possible with God. How far are we dreaming with Him? Are my dreams only going as far as I can make them go in my own strength? If so, am I dreaming with God?
I am discovering more and more that this Christian life is participatory. God gives us choices. He chose us to co-reign with Him to advance His kingdom and bring it to this earth. He chose us as the vessels to do this, but He also has given us a free will to choose. Isn't that crazy? What an honor we have to be co-reigning with Christ on this earth even now.
In Christ, we now have the ability to walk with God as Enoch and Moses did, face to face. A man named Kris Vallotton once said he had an epiphany one day with the Lord when He felt God ask him, "What kind of friend would I be if we only did the things I wanted to do?" God no longer calls us servants, but friends! We can see the Lord and walk with Him because of the blood of Jesus and His salvation for us! Therefore, we have the freedom to tell Him what we think and what is in our hearts.
From the moment of creation, God, the Ultimate Creator, created us to be like Him, one who creates. He made us creative and full of thoughts! He created us to have dreams and think like Him! I even think about Adam in the Garden. God gave him a choice to name the animals. He gave him the opportunity to "create" a character or name for each animal. I am sure there were thousands of creatures.
Can you imagine all the different types of animals and creatures in the Garden of Eden? Adam was given the opportunity to create from the moment he breathed his first breath. Why? Because somehow in this mystery, God chose us to participate with Him in bringing His Kingdom to this earth. Somehow, we move God's heart in such a way that not even the angels can comprehend. Out of all His creation, we move His heart the most!
He wants to know our thoughts even though He already knows them before we speak them out. He wants us to tell Him our thoughts and He wants us to tell Him our dreams too! The enemy's plan would be to destroy the dreams in our hearts so that God's plans cannot be fulfilled. The enemy's plan would be to wound us so much that we would not know how to hope anymore.
We know, however, that in this day, God has a plan. He is redeeming His people back to Himself. When He redeems, He restores, and He heals the heart completely. Once the heart is healed, it begins to come alive again. The child-like innocence is given back to us and we can dream without fear! We can have as much as hope as we want when we become children again in the Father's house. What an exciting time to be alive!
In closing, the most important point of all of this is, your dreams matter to God! Your dreams not only matter, but they are an integral part of God advancing His Kingdom on this earth. He has chosen us to bring His Light to the world. With this perspective, we can literally change the world. Dreaming with God can actually bring Light and life to this dark, dry, and barren land. So we say yes God to the dreams in our hearts. Let us dream as far as we can.
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