Circle Maker: Dream Big
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Last week, we talked about getting into our “prayer closets”… drawing that circle around ourselves… and praying that God would fill it with His Holy Fire!
Today we are talking about “dreaming big”… because “BIG Dreams” create fire in our lives!!!
22 This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you,
24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.
25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there.
26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem.
27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.
28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.
29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
Did you notice something?
Paul’s desire was to go to Spain… Yet… Did God tell him to go there??? NO!!!!
Paul was dreaming big!
Look at verse 23:
23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you,
He found that he had done all the work he could in his current situation… He had “run into the wall”… He was serving the kingdom… He was working… He still found great satisfaction in serving the people in the places he served, BUT....
He still had a dream! He desired to do more! So his plan was to go to Spain and continue to spread the gospel!
Look at verse 24:
24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.
Paul was dreaming big!!!!
Take a look at Nehemiah…
Nehemiah’s friends came to visit… He asked them how things were going, and they told him “horrible....”
Look what he says:
Nehemiah 1:4–11 (NIV)
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
5 Then I said: (listen to his prayer) “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you.
7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations,
9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.
11 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” I was cupbearer to the king.
Can you see Nehemiah’s heart?
He didn’t think the king should do something… He didn’t think someone else should do something…
He had a dream to do something about it himself… and so, he took that Dream to God!!!
What is your dream??!
Look how Nehemiah’s turned out…
Nehemiah 2:1–6 (NIV)
1 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before,
2 so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid,
3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven,
5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
When we dream BIG… We PRAY BIG!
When we pray BIG… BIG things happen!!!
Paul and Nehemiah dreamed BIG dreams… and they saw God move in mighty ways!!!
How BIG are you dreaming?
Mark Moore was a former missionary to Africa… In 2009, he launched MANA — “Mother Administered Nutritive Aid”.
MANA is a peanut butter based nutritive aid that is high in protein, calories, vitamins and minerals… It is used for malnourished children because it is easy on the stomach…
Mark states that God gave him the vision for MANA while he was working at Ebenezer’s Coffeehouse in Africa…
Listen to what Mark says happened: “As that dream began to gel and I began to pull together resources and relationships to pursue the dream, Ebenezer’s became the meeting place.”
Today, MANA produces more than a million packets a month!
Mark’s dream didn’t just impact him… it effected Ebenezer House… and it effects people all over the world!
“You show me the size of your dream, and I’ll show you the size of your God.” — Mark Batterson
How BIG is your God?
Over and over in scripture, we are told to dream BIG Dreams… to pray for BIG Things… to expect BIG Answers from God…
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
BIG Dreams change the world!
11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Do you know what testimonies are?
— They are times when God moved!
Testimonies are times when God moved!
— They are times when God moved BIG!
— They are times when God made our dreams a reality!!!
Let me tell you: Sharing our Dreams… unites us!
Think about it…
What happens when we hear a huge Ground shaking… God sized Dream… and how God fulfilled it?!?
(we get excited, right?)
Why?
— They lift us up!
— We love a good story…
— We love stories that help us see God… that build our dreams…
17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
We borrow faith from each other when we share our testimonies.
Mark Batterson shares how he struggled with asthma for most of his life until … in 2016, he prayed the “bravest prayer he had ever prayed”…
You see… It was then that he “stopped talking to God about his problem, and started talking to his problem about God.”
He says, “It was in that moment that I was healed.”
God can do absolutely amazing things in our lives when we stop simply talking to Him about our Dreams and start talking to our Dreams about God!
What’s keeping you from it? What’s keeping you from talking to your problems and dreams about God, instead of God about your problems?
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
We can trust God! He can and will take care of us! He can do immeasurably more than we can imagine!
Are we asking God to do immeasurable things in our lives?
And even more… Are we believing that He already has?
Let me tell you… God has already done what you need Him to do…
2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.
This phrase is past tense! God said this BEFORE Joshua and the people did anything!
All Joshua and the people did was trust the victory that God had already declared!!!
Let me tell you: God has already answered your prayer!
4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
9 All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.
and
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
We just have to have Faith that He has answered us… and express our Gratitude to Him.
We’ve talked a lot about Faith …
Scripture says that “a mustard seed of Faith will move mountains”… Do you know what that kind of Faith is?
— FAITH is thanking God before He has acted.
— GRATITUDE is thanking God after He has acted.
The Psalmist tells us to “Be still and know”… and Jesus tells us
Matthew 6:25 (NIV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
We need to learn to keep Praying… keep Dreaming… and keep circling....
God told Joshua to circle the city once a day for 6 days… What if they had quit at five?
Elisha told Naaman to wash himself seven times in the Jordan river and he would be healed… What if he had stopped at six?
It is always too soon to quit believing!
What are you believing God for today?
(come on… shout it out… )
We Dream Big when we hold tight to the truth that God is bigger than our needs… our desires… our imaginations…
God can move that mountain!
G.K. Chesterton wrote: “How much happier you would be, how much more of you there would be, if the hammer of a higher God could smash your small cosmos...”
You know what we need?!?
We need God to “wreck our world”… because when He does… BIG things happen!!!
We need to have “God-sized Dreams”…
God-sized Dreams are beyond our resources… beyond our abilities… beyond our skillsets… God-sized Dreams are dreams that only God can fill!!!
They give God the opportunity to show up and show off His power!!!!
We need to be in our circle… praying for God to give us those BIG Dreams… and then… talking to those BIG Dreams about our God who CAN!!!!
What are you Dreaming for?