Have you lost hope? Are you afraid to dream about a better future? What dream is dead for you now because of some relational disconnect, because of a broken relationship, or because of a separation? You think, "Here I am and there he is. Walls have risen between us." Who is coming to your mind?
There's hope. you can dare to dream about what once was might be again. Except better. See, when the Spirit of God breathes life into dead, dry bones – when revival comes – He fulfills His promise to rejoin, to make us one.
What would it look like if you began to dream and claim the promise of God for you to regroup – to believe that God can make what has become two into one? What might happen in your marriage, in your family, and in your ministry?
Dream big! The Lord has promised not only to renew us and to rebuild us, but He also promises in Ezekiel 37 to regroup us.
God's Message came... "You, son of man: Take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah...' Then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph—Ephraim's stick...' Then tie the two sticks together so that you're holding one stick. When your people ask you, 'Are you going to tell us what you're doing?' tell them, 'God, the Master, says, Watch me! I'll take the Joseph stick that is in Ephraim's hand... and lay the Judah stick on it. I'll make them into one stick...' (Ezekiel 37:15-19, Msg).
It's God's dream to take two warring people and make them one. He promised to do that in ancient days for the northern and southern tribes of Israel. It's His dream to make two into one. If He did it then for them, He can do it now for us.
Will you dare to dream that that God can restore the broken relationships in your life? And will you claim the Ezekiel 37 promise that God will make the two into one? For you?
Our human dreams are doomed to fail. Our human dreams are limited. Our human dreams are earthly. But God’s dreams succeed. God’s dreams are infinite. This means that we must go to the Scriptures to find God's dreams. And we can find His dreams in His promises, in the "shalls" and "wills" of the Bible. We must claim the promises of God. We must find His promises in the Old and the New Testaments.
Dreaming God's dream and claiming God's promises involves...
...finding them; recording them; praying them; expecting them; and receiving them …
A dream that is birthed in wishful thinking will see no fruition. But a dream that is birthed from the heart of God will see itself become a reality. We must dream God's dreams about our own lives, our families, our churches, our cities, our nation, and our world. Our dreams must match the dreams of God.
We have to learn to live with a constant, two-fold state of grieving and dreaming.
Grieving is a kind of desperation of being broken over what’s broken. Tears fall. Knees bend. Over the history of our church, we have seen God change lives in ones and twos and threes and fours. We have a loving and Christ-exalting, Bible-based, worship-filled, mission-minded congregation. But it still seems that not enough has been accomplished for the kingdom of Christ.
We’ve sent postcards, produced radio spots, handed out invite cards, and hung flyers on doors in neighborhoods. Some have come to Christ and their lives have changed, but it’s not enough. The lack of interest in Jesus, the people coming to Christ in ones and twos rather than hundreds and thousands, and the hard-heartedness of the people ought to make us grieve.
If, however, all we do is grieve then we will end up depressed with a desire to quit, to give up. So, we need to add dreaming to our grieving. We need hope.
Grieving without dreaming will lead us into a futile pessimism. Dreaming without grieving will lead us into a false optimism. If we only dream, then we become Pollyanna-ish just figuring that somehow, some way everything will work out just fine.
We need both grieving and dreaming, both desperation and hope.
So, how can you have both grieving and dreaming? How can you persevere in a difficult marriage, with troubled teens, in a stagnant business, or with a faltering ministry?
You must dream God's dreams and pray the promises of God in faith (Matthew 21:22). You must really pray. By this I don’t mean a few minutes on the way to work in your car.
By really praying I mean at least four things.
1. We learn to dream God's dreams and pray “God-centered” prayers so that the Lord will be known and glorified in all the earth (Matthew 6:9). We start this way: “Hallowed be Thy name!” Ask God to work in you a passion for His passion—that His name be glorified in everything you do. (We’ll explore this more next weekend.)
2. We learn to dream God's dreams and pray “We’re-not-giving-up” prayers. We pray with a zealous persistence. We keep asking, seeking, knocking (Matthew 7:7-11). This is only possible when we grieve. We’ll quit really praying if we forget how dead things are. If you pray only a few minutes per day, if you find yourself falling asleep when you pray, then surely you are not surveying the scene. You’re not desperate about the dryness. And when you are not desperate you will lack zeal and persistence. If your ten-year-old son is diagnosed with a brain tumor then you do not fall asleep while praying for him. So, when we truly believe the diagnosis of deadness, dryness in our hearts, in the hearts of those around us, and in our city, nation, and world then our prayers will have a fervency and persistence about them.
3. We learn to dream God's dreams and pray “Spirit-led” prayers (Romans 8:26). This never comes with only a few minutes in prayer. This means to pray until you pray. Pray until the Spirit comes upon you. Pray until you sense the glory of God’s presence. Pray until the door, as it were, to the Holy of holies is opened before you.
4. We learn to dream God's dreams and pray “Promise-driven” prayers – prayers based on the promises of God. John says, “This is the confidence we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (I John 5:14). What’s His will? Find the promises and you will find His will. My former pastor, Adrian Rogers, used to say, “The prayer that gets to heaven is the prayer that starts in heaven.” Find the verses that say God will regroup you and that estranged one and then pray those promises back to God. Our problem is that we pray for only a few minutes at a time as we pray our pet phrases, “God be with John” or “Give traveling mercies to Janet” or “Help Bill through his surgery” and we quickly run out of things to pray. If, however, we pray the word of God we can go on literally for hours.
Will you dream God's big dreams about two becoming one? Will you really pray according to God's dreams? Will you really pray for God to regroup the two sticks - to make the two into one?
There's hope. you can dare to dream about what once was might be again. Except better. See, when the Spirit of God breathes life into dead, dry bones – when revival comes – He fulfills His promise to rejoin, to make us one.
What would it look like if you began to dream and claim the promise of God for you to regroup – to believe that God can make what has become two into one? What might happen in your marriage, in your family, and in your ministry?
God's Message came... "You, son of man: Take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah...' Then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph—Ephraim's stick...' Then tie the two sticks together so that you're holding one stick. When your people ask you, 'Are you going to tell us what you're doing?' tell them, 'God, the Master, says, Watch me! I'll take the Joseph stick that is in Ephraim's hand... and lay the Judah stick on it. I'll make them into one stick...' (Ezekiel 37:15-19, Msg).
It's God's dream to take two warring people and make them one. He promised to do that in ancient days for the northern and southern tribes of Israel. It's His dream to make two into one. If He did it then for them, He can do it now for us.
Will you dare to dream that that God can restore the broken relationships in your life? And will you claim the Ezekiel 37 promise that God will make the two into one? For you?
Our human dreams are doomed to fail. Our human dreams are limited. Our human dreams are earthly. But God’s dreams succeed. God’s dreams are infinite. This means that we must go to the Scriptures to find God's dreams. And we can find His dreams in His promises, in the "shalls" and "wills" of the Bible. We must claim the promises of God. We must find His promises in the Old and the New Testaments.
Dreaming God's dream and claiming God's promises involves...
...finding them; recording them; praying them; expecting them; and receiving them …
A dream that is birthed in wishful thinking will see no fruition. But a dream that is birthed from the heart of God will see itself become a reality. We must dream God's dreams about our own lives, our families, our churches, our cities, our nation, and our world. Our dreams must match the dreams of God.
We have to learn to live with a constant, two-fold state of grieving and dreaming.
Grieving is a kind of desperation of being broken over what’s broken. Tears fall. Knees bend. Over the history of our church, we have seen God change lives in ones and twos and threes and fours. We have a loving and Christ-exalting, Bible-based, worship-filled, mission-minded congregation. But it still seems that not enough has been accomplished for the kingdom of Christ.
We’ve sent postcards, produced radio spots, handed out invite cards, and hung flyers on doors in neighborhoods. Some have come to Christ and their lives have changed, but it’s not enough. The lack of interest in Jesus, the people coming to Christ in ones and twos rather than hundreds and thousands, and the hard-heartedness of the people ought to make us grieve.
If, however, all we do is grieve then we will end up depressed with a desire to quit, to give up. So, we need to add dreaming to our grieving. We need hope.
Grieving without dreaming will lead us into a futile pessimism. Dreaming without grieving will lead us into a false optimism. If we only dream, then we become Pollyanna-ish just figuring that somehow, some way everything will work out just fine.
We need both grieving and dreaming, both desperation and hope.
So, how can you have both grieving and dreaming? How can you persevere in a difficult marriage, with troubled teens, in a stagnant business, or with a faltering ministry?
You must dream God's dreams and pray the promises of God in faith (Matthew 21:22). You must really pray. By this I don’t mean a few minutes on the way to work in your car.
By really praying I mean at least four things.
1. We learn to dream God's dreams and pray “God-centered” prayers so that the Lord will be known and glorified in all the earth (Matthew 6:9). We start this way: “Hallowed be Thy name!” Ask God to work in you a passion for His passion—that His name be glorified in everything you do. (We’ll explore this more next weekend.)
2. We learn to dream God's dreams and pray “We’re-not-giving-up” prayers. We pray with a zealous persistence. We keep asking, seeking, knocking (Matthew 7:7-11). This is only possible when we grieve. We’ll quit really praying if we forget how dead things are. If you pray only a few minutes per day, if you find yourself falling asleep when you pray, then surely you are not surveying the scene. You’re not desperate about the dryness. And when you are not desperate you will lack zeal and persistence. If your ten-year-old son is diagnosed with a brain tumor then you do not fall asleep while praying for him. So, when we truly believe the diagnosis of deadness, dryness in our hearts, in the hearts of those around us, and in our city, nation, and world then our prayers will have a fervency and persistence about them.
3. We learn to dream God's dreams and pray “Spirit-led” prayers (Romans 8:26). This never comes with only a few minutes in prayer. This means to pray until you pray. Pray until the Spirit comes upon you. Pray until you sense the glory of God’s presence. Pray until the door, as it were, to the Holy of holies is opened before you.
4. We learn to dream God's dreams and pray “Promise-driven” prayers – prayers based on the promises of God. John says, “This is the confidence we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (I John 5:14). What’s His will? Find the promises and you will find His will. My former pastor, Adrian Rogers, used to say, “The prayer that gets to heaven is the prayer that starts in heaven.” Find the verses that say God will regroup you and that estranged one and then pray those promises back to God. Our problem is that we pray for only a few minutes at a time as we pray our pet phrases, “God be with John” or “Give traveling mercies to Janet” or “Help Bill through his surgery” and we quickly run out of things to pray. If, however, we pray the word of God we can go on literally for hours.
Will you dream God's big dreams about two becoming one? Will you really pray according to God's dreams? Will you really pray for God to regroup the two sticks - to make the two into one?
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