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Dear Christian Believers,
Greetings and God bless you in the powerful
name of Jesus Christ.
Welcome to 2005, a new year of hope and anticipation,
and another year of pursuing the life God has set before
you to live. God has given us his Word to guide us and
encourage us with His truth. He has also given us His
gift of holy spirit to walk in wisdom and power. Recently
my daughter-in-law gave me a book titled “The
Dream Giver” written by Bruce Wilkinson. It was
a fascinating book and I’m going to share a shot version
of it that I believe may be helpful to you.
Most of the book is written in the form of a parablen
and features a journal that is written by the main character
named “Ordinary.” This Ordinary
lives in a city called “Familiar.” One
night he has a dream, that he is suppose to be doing more
with his life. The first step towards realizing his dream
is to leave Familiar, (his comfort zone). He
becomes very fearful even at the thought of leaving Familiar,
but finally overcomes his fear and makes his way to a
place called Borderland. It is here that he meets
the “Borderland Bullies.” They try very hard
to convince Ordinary to go back to Familiar.
Some of the “Bullies” were, his mother,
his uncle, and his best friend. They
all pleaded for him to give up his silly dream. But Ordinary
makes it through Borderline into Wasteland.
Wasteland was nothing but rocks, sand, and a
few trees. Wasteland seemed endless with no way
out. Ordinary felt hopeless and cried out to
the Dream Giver for help. After a while he laid
down and slept under a tree. When he woke up he saw “Faith”
sitting in the tree. He asks Faith for directions
to get back to Familiar, but Faith said
“going back is not my job, I have no directions for going
backward, I only move forward, and then Faith
leaves.” Ordinary decides to follow after Faith,
and moves on to a place called Sanctuary where
he gets more direction, and speaks to the Dream Giver.
Also from Sanctuary he is able see the Promised
Land in the distance. While Ordinary is
at Sanctuary the Dream Giver asks Ordinary
to give him back his dream. At this point Ordinary
is confused and asks the Dream Giver if he had
to give it back? The Dream Giver says no, it
is your choice. You can please me or yourself. He decided
to think about it overnight. The next morning when he
awoke he found a flat smooth stone with the word “Remember”
written on it. As Ordinary thought, he remembered
his journey and how the Dream Giver always kept
his promises and supplied what he needed. Ordinary
surrendered his dream to the Dream Giver. He
decided he could live without the dream, but not without
the Dream Giver. Ordinary left behind
the journal and the feather Dream Giver had given
him at the beginning. He decided to keep moving on and
as he crossed a river he found his journal and feather
along with a note from the Dream Giver saying,
“I’m giving you back your dream because I now know you
will serve me and truly achieve great things.” He
also said “I will always be with you.” Ordinary
was filled with great joy because he had blessed the Dream
Giver, because of his willingness to give what was
most precious to him. Ordinary had grown up as
he journeyed to follow after his dream, and now was ready
for the future.
If you will read the book you will discover that Ordinary
really was ready for the future and it’s challenges. As
he journeyed to the Promised Land he ran into
more challenges, like the three giants named Moneyless,
Corruption, and Rejection. Everytime
time he asked the Dream Giver for help he would
get it and had victory. Many times he was challenged by
“Unbelief,” but he would remember challenges
and victories of the past and how Dream Giver
always supplied what he needed if he would just keep moving
forward with “Faith.” Later Ordinary
challenged a fierce Giant that had terrorized and chained
a great city. Ordinary fought him and he won,
and “Darkness” fled away. When he came into the
gate of the city he saw carved on the the inside of the
gate the name of his dream. Dream Giver
said, “YOUR DREAM LIES HERE.” This was the city
pictured in his dream, except in his dream it was to become
a greater city. The city needed help and he was the one
to supply it. As Ordinary worked through the
many tasks he would ask Dream Giver for counsel
and direction and he would get it. As Ordinary
was completing his dream others in the city started to
awake to their dreams, and they began their journeys just
as he had did many years before.
Perhaps 2005 is the year you become aware
of your dream and decide to pursue it. You will face fear
as you leave your comfort zones just as Ordinary
did. You’ll encounter opposition from those around you,
maybe from those who love you.
We can learn from the lessons of Ordinary to seek the
counsel and wisdom of God (the Dream Giver) for
He will not fail you. A Dreamer is one whose life is in
motion towards the vision he has for his life.
Proverbs 29:18a says ... “Where
there is no (prophetic) vision the people
perish...” A literal translation of this verse
18 is;
“Where there is no vision of God, people wander
aimlessly.”
I believe that God works in the hearts and lives of people
throughout the generations, and He gives people a dream
or vision for their lives. So why don’t people seek after
their vision or dream?
Below are five reasons people do not pursue their dream:
They will say,
- “I have no dream.”
- “I have to invent my dream.”
- “I have a dream but I don’t
believe it is that important.”
- “I have a dream, but it’s
up to God to make it happen.”
- “I had a dream once, but
now it’s too late, I’m to old.”
Whatever the reason people will
live out a lifetime of excusing themselves of their dream.
What a shame ano a waste of the good life God has given
to everyone to enjoy. Will it be easy to seek and follow
after the viS God has given you? You would be a fool and
a short time seeker of your dream if you believe it will
be easy. But wii t be ;ewarcng? You wilt never know if
you don’t try. How about it folks ... Let’s seek after
the vision God has set before us and live our I/fe dream.
Thankful for my life and the new year God has given me
to live my life’s dream.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
John
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