The Power of Vision
Any successful movement requires a vision...
Literally, vision means to see what is visible. It is also used for a special ability to see with unusual competence and perception and discernment, what others cannot see.Jonathan Swift defined vision as “the art of seeing things invisible.”
• Companies need CEOs with vision
• Countries need politicians with vision
• Families need parents with vision.• Teams need coaches with vision.
Without the ability to visualize future success, then aligning the team around next-step goals, very little of importance will be achieved.Vision is tightly connected with faith.
• Proverbs 29:18 (ESV) Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint…
• Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Jesus had a great vision: the saving of souls! (Mt 9:36-38; Jn 4:35)
Nothing begins without a dream. There is power in dreams. Dreams precede a brighter future. Dreams motivate to action. We are not talking “wishy wishy dreamy dreamy fantasy” types of dreams. We are talking about dreams that inspire, that motivate to action. Dreams that put wind in the sails and direct the course of life. When we dream, we are writing history in advance.Baseball legend Sparky Anderson understood this:
“I have my faults but living in the past isn’t one of them. There ain’t no future in it.”
[bctt tweet="The rear view mirror on a car is smaller for a reason." username="stanlubeck"]Dreams are about moving forward, letting the past stay in the past.World history is about dreamers, both good and bad.
Alexander the Great dreamed of conquering the world.
Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin had dreams. Their dreams were self-willed and cruel, leading to devastation for millions of people through the worst atrocity in history-the Holocaust.
Bernie Madoff had a dream to be rich and his Ponzie scheme destroyed lives, swindling others to the tune of $65 billion. His dream was flawed and it became a nightmare in 2008 when he was arrested and thrown into jail for a long time.
Fortunately we have experienced visionaries who benefit others.
Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a world without racism. His “I Have a Dream” speech marked his life and moved a nation to this day.
Robert Kennedy inspired our nation with, “Some men see things as they are and say ‘why’, I dream things that never were and say ‘why not?’”
William Carey changed India by dreaming of the impact of the gospel of Christ.
Sam Stephens birthed 86,000 new churches in India since 1992, because of his dream for India Gospel League.
The Christian Church in China is flourishing today because Hudson Taylor had a God inspired dream.
D.L. Moody, dreamed of launching a church, a network of schools, including a Bible college and a world impacting evangelistic movement. This undereducated dreamer changed the world.
Abraham received a dream to be blessed and to be a blessing to all nations.
Joseph, with a coat of many colors, had a dream that saved thousands.
Jesus had a dream for world-wide revolution!
Without apology Jesus proclaimed:
Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV) “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Within the next generation God’s people had nearly reached the known world. Thomas went to India, Paul was headed for Spain, others spread to Africa and into Asia.This dream spurred action in Christ followers and after the first three centuries, these ordinary, unschooled people turned the world upside right.They had nothing but a dream! No TV, no computers, no Internet or smart phones, copiers or marketing campaigns.They had the simple faith that God could do the impossible, and that was enough. They trusted Jesus’ words, that He would be with them always.[bctt tweet="God still does impossible things through improbable people." username="stanlubeck"]He uses fishermen, ex-prostitutes and tax collecting swindlers, who are willing to humbly surrender to Him.Which means that God can use you! His dreams for you are bigger than you can imagine.My question for you?
What is your dream?
As long as you are breathing air, you need a dream of a better future. God wants you to be inspired to do something for His glory.
Proverbs 29:18 (ESV) Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint…
Without a dream, there is chaos, and no direction…God wants you to dream! Not for your glory, not for your self-actualization or for your fame.God wants you to have a dream that is so great, that there is no other explanation other than that God did it. He wants His strength to be perfected in your weakness.God Sized Dreaming is not just for Biblical superstars that God uses, but for people like you and me.
What are the ingredients of a God honoring dream.
1. TRUST THAT GOD IS ABLE!
Luke 1:37 (ESV) For nothing will be impossible with God.”If you don’t believe that, then your view of God is too small!
A.W. Tozer, “The most important thing about you is your image of God.”
Jeremiah 32:17 (ESV) ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.[bctt tweet="You cannot come up with a dream that is too difficult for God to pull off." username="stanlubeck"]
2. GOD IS WILLING
God is not just able, but He is also willing to do great things today.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV) …“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
God is already prepared! He is willing… and the key question becomes, “are you?”This is not just a promise of heaven, in the sweet bye and bye. It is for life on this planet.Everywhere I go, I hear people giving excuses as to why God can’t do something great through them…
We live in Canada – no one attends church here…
We are Chinese – we are being persecuted
We are not Chinese – people who naturally follow
We are in Australia – a penal colony of Great Britain… everyone rebels against everything…
We live in Africa – everyone is under-employed.
What’s your excuse? Quit blaming your parents! Quit blaming your first grade school teacher. Quit blaming your boss.[bctt tweet="Blame is lame!" username="stanlubeck"]
God is willing to use you if you are willing to be used! “Oh you of little faith…”
Whatever obstacle you are facing, it is not more difficult than what the first believers faced in the first century.
3. GOD HAS PROMISED
Psalm 37:4 (ESV) Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
He will place His desires in you! Love Him and give yourself to Him. Become passionate about the things of God.He will place His heart in your heart! Your heart will begin to beat with His heart!
Dream for your neighbors…
Dream for the homeless
Dream for unwed mothers
Dream for single parents
Dream for the next generation
The future is as bright as the promises of God.
2 Corinthians 1:20 (ESV) For all the promises of God find their Yes in him…
4. GOD INVITES US TO DREAM
Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV) Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Dreams are those things that you have not yet known! God promises to tell you, if you will ask.This is God’s phone #, Jere 33:3 Give Him a call.
John 16:24 (ESV) …Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.Psalm 2:8 (ESV) Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
God is inviting you to ask something great in believing prayer![bctt tweet="Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators commented, 'Do you know why I often ask Christians, What's the biggest thing you've asked God for this week?" username="stanlubeck"]"I remind them that they are going to God, the Father, and the Maker of the universe. The One who holds the world in His hands. What did you ask God for? Did you ask for peanuts, toys, trinkets, or did you ask for continents? I want to tell you… it's tragic! The little itsy-bitsy things we ask of our Almighty God. Sure, nothing is too small--but also nothing is too big. Let's learn to ask from our big God some of those big things He talks about."Our God has the ability! And the desire and He has promised! So, how will you respond?
5. GOD INSPIRED POTENTIAL
Jesus proclaimed, in John 14:12–14 (ESV) “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.“Truly, truly” means that you can take this to the bank! In answer to believing prayer, you can be empowered to do greater things than Jesus did on earth…Jesus healed and delivered and raised people from the dead and fed the multitudes. Jesus is saying that greater things are possible… today.The greatest thing is salvation! Spending eternity with God in heaven. Oh happy day!Two things required for this to happen:• Abide in Jesus – John 15:4 (ESV) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.• Believing Prayer –
John 15:16 (ESV) You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
GOD’S PROCESS FOR DREAMERS:
A. STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Abraham, a man of faith, was called by God to go! God didn’t tell him where, he just said, “go!” Dreams are birthed when we are willing to leave our creature comforts, relationally, geographically, financially as Abraham was willing to do.
B. DIE TO YOUR OWN DREAMS
God often allows us to fail in our own efforts before we see the dream realized. God birthed a dream in Abraham to be the father of many nations.
Then God led him to the death of that vision, asking Abraham to kill his one and only son Isaac. As Abraham obediently prepared to sacrifice his son, God leads him to the rebirth of the vision that only God could pull off… the sacrificial lamb took the place of Isaac on that altar. Abraham believed God for the dream to come true.
Birth, death, rebirth of a vision is often the process God uses, so that we don’t pridefully think that we pulled the dream off in the flesh. Moses was another man in the Bible who learned about the death of a vision. He spent forty years in Egypt thinking he was somebody before God sent him into the desert for 40 years to learn that he was nobody. He murdered a man, thinking that he could lead in his flesh. But God took him through the death of that dream.
Finally, the last 40 years of Moses’ life he learned that God could even use a nobody like him.
God wants you and I to die to those dreams of what we can do in our own power?
C. THE DREAM GIVER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE DREAM
David had lots of dreams that became reality. He was a mighty warrior, a sweet psalmist, a great king. He wanted to please God more than he wanted to have his dream of being king fulfilled. He was a “man after God’s own heart” – (Acts 13:22).David wrote his heart in
Psalm 73:25–26 (ESV) Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
A couple of verses later David writes…
Psalm 73:28 (ESV) “But for me it is good to be near God…”
D. GOD EQUIPS THE DREAM RECEIVER
Paul was a murdering and arresting Christians when God struck him down and gave him a dream of being a servant of God. God brought others into his life and equipped him to be a force for righteousness.If you think that you are not qualified to have a God inspired dream, think again.
Paul called himself the worst of sinners.
King David was a murderer and an adulterer, God forgave Him and restored him to be a man after God’s own heart.
Your failures, your difficulties, your pain and brokenness can all be used by God to accomplish His purpose, His dream for your life.[bctt tweet="Martin Luther risked his life for the dream he tacked on the Wittenburg Door." username="stanlubeck"]
Dietrick Bonhoeffer died for Germany saying, “when God calls a man, he bids him come and die.”In the early days of mission work, missionaries often packed their belongings in a coffin because they didn’t expect to return.
HOW TO DEVELOP GOD’S DREAM FOR YOU:
1. Write it down.
Dream a God sized dream, then write it down. Dream for your marriage, for your children, for your fellow workers and for your ministry. You may not want to keep these private, between you and God. Write down details of next steps needed for the dream.
2. Review Your Dream
Keep the dream in front if you. Post it on your car’s steering wheel and the mirror in your bathroom.
3. Pray, pray, pray.
If God is in it, it will be impossible for you to pull off on your own. Great dreams will force you to ask God for help.
4. Listen for the leading of the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit will empower and enable you, giving you all that you need to see the dream come about. God’s Spirit is for you! He loves you and desires God’s dream to be fulfilled in you more than you do. Watch as God orchestrates details and brings people across your path to help you realize your dream.