Stop and think for a moment…What would your life be like if you ignored and refused to listen to the voices of doubt, discouragement and uncertainty and started listening to the voice of the dreamer that lies deep within you?
Are you dreaming BIG or small or not at all?
Are you dreaming beyond your wildest imagination? Or have you become too practical in your world, too cautious that you do not allow yourself to dream for the unimaginable? Have you stopped allowing God to work your life out according to His plans and not your plans? His word promises that His plans are so much higher, and so much better (Isaiah 55:8-9). Do you believe this for yourself? For your children? For your children’s children?
To truly be a dreamer and to live out your dreams takes courage, perseverance and bravery of heart. To be a dreamer and to commit to allowing God to work out the plans that He has for you, I guarantee that you will come up against naysayers, the people who oppose, the people who will mock and ridicule. But take a look at the mockers, what are they doing with their lives? Are they positive people who go alongside others and encourage them? Or are they the people who are the discouragers and are always finding fault? Are these discouragers really the people you should be spending time with anyways if you want to fulfill your dreams? Will they help you get to the promised-land? Or will they tell you 150 reasons as to why you cannot get there? Is their influence going to help or hinder your progress?
Have you ever sat at the table of your enemies knowing that the people who you were rubbing shoulders with did not believe in you and did not care to see you succeed? In fact, as soon as you leave the room they condemn and ridicule you. I have been in situations like these. I used to allow such circumstances to bother and upset me however, looking back, I wasted the precious resources of time, energy and creativity by being caught up in their insecurities and petty behavior. I finally decided with the help and strength of God, not to allow these negative voices to rule over me as I was giving these voices and the people who owned these voices, power. It took a lot of years however I finally recognized that these people hold no power over me if I do not permit them to. It was then and only then that I began to walk on in God’s fullness and in the plans that He has for my life.
I had a choice. I could choose to listen to the voices of discouragement, envy and hatred or I could choose to listen to the encouraging voices that were telling me to dream BIG.
Does this sound familiar? Who in your life holds negative power over you? What do you plan to do about it? Who will you seek to help you so that you will not allow certain people to hold you trapped in disbelief and discouragement?
Think about Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald. He came up against a lot of opposition, ridicule and discouragement. However, he had a dream, a vision for the future of Canada. With this vision that he had for the nation of Canada he wisely knew that he would never see it to completion, as it is still unfolding today. He started a dream and founded Canada hoping that his efforts would continue long after he had departed from this earth. Sir John A. MacDonald’s dream was greater than his mind could even imagine. It went beyond his human capabilities and has become such a beautiful reality for us as Canadians today. We, along with many other nations in the world, are reaping the rewards of the free and democratic society founded on the dream of the Fathers of Confederation.
Canadians, as well as the rest of the world, need to be grateful that Sir John A. MacDonald along with the other Fathers of Confederation did not back down, that they did not get discouraged even in the face of adversity they never gave up hope. Their hope was founded in a greater future then they themselves would never know. Their leadership of hope was a selfless hope, as they wanted to make a better life for themselves, their families, and for people such as us.
The Fathers of Confederation were true dreamers with a purposeful vision. They dared to dream BIG. They put their faith and trust in God and persevered knowing that their efforts would benefit many for years to come. That is true servant leadership, the kind of selfless leadership that is founded on a dream and a vision for a better tomorrow, knowing that much hard work needs to be done but that the rewards will be reaped by many.
Abraham, the Father of Faith stepped out on a promise given by God the Almighty Father. He stepped away from his extended family, knowing that the dream and vision that the Almighty Father had for him was so BIG that he would never see the entire dream unfold while he was alive here on this earth. Yet he believed! Abraham knew that the dreams and plans that God had for him would be generational, as is promised in the bible. These dreams are continuing on today. We are reaping the rewards of the courageous faith demonstrated by Abraham, a simple man who stepped out and dared to dream BIG. This is why Abraham is referred to as the Father of Faith. He believed in the unseen. He believed in the dreams and visions that God spoke to him and he did not waver in his trust in the Almighty Father.
Are you daring to dream BIG? Do your dreams involve plans that are small or are they too large for you to even comprehend? What dreams have you let go of, that you have allowed to die in the grave site of discouragement and despair? I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone, the world is waiting to watch your dreams unfold!
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