Dream With A Purpose - Purpose Driven Dreams

When my bishop's wife asked me to talk at her event Ladies' Coffee, I went to the Lord to hear what He would have me to share about. I felt in my heart to talk about dreaming... a theme that is very close to every woman's heart. Though, as God is a God of dreams and visions, I believe the subject suits men just as well.

There are two words for dreaming in English - dreaming and daydreaming or fantasizing. In Estonian we stick it all into the same pot - we call it all dreaming. Though, when I looked up the translation of 'daydreaming', the dictionary defined the word: 'to build castles in the air'.

So, there is dreaming with a purpose that takes us somewhere... and there is dreaming by building bubble castles. When I did not know the Lord, I was definitely the one to build castles in the air. When I came to the Lord, He began to teach me how to dream with a purpose. Though, our 'bubble castles' can actually take us also to purpose driven dreams IF we share those 'castles' with the Lord, asking Him to mold them into purpose driven dreams.

I fully believe that dreaming is of God. The Word tells us that "People without a vision perish"... which makes sense. If we do not have purpose and we do not have a clear vision of where we are going with our lives, we just vegetate, while Christ died that we might "have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." (John 10:10) ... how sad to miss all the good!

So, when we share our 'bubble castles' with the Lord, asking Him to take them and mould them into purposeful dreams that He desires to bless us with, our lives will change. If, on the other hand, He says that some of our 'air castles' are not of Him at all, we better let Him take them from our hearts for He will always do it much more gently and lovingly than we would ourselves. I have prayed so many times, Lord, if this is not of You, please take it from my heart... so that I would not hurt.

Nope, I don't like pain... and He has removed some 'castles' completely pain-free. Utterly amazing... for at the time they sure seemed real important to me! Only He can take something so important and remove it so tenderly and gently, replacing it with something more abundant, glorious, and beautiful.

As we constantly have so much going on around us: media is promoting certain types of life-style, advertisers promote 'dream homes', 'dream vacations', 'dream lives', soap operas instill into our minds and hearts what a 'dream spouse' should look like... and on and on... so that in the end subconsiously we adopt certain 'dreams' as our own, while they contain no ability to satisfy our deeper longings. With the help of God we can replace them with dreams that will bring fulfillment to our unique personalities and hearts. God helps us to fashion our dreams according to our uncommon, singular personality.

One of the most common kind of dreams and daydreams is romantic. This would be a completely separate theme and I actually did not intend to go in this direction at all... but when I submitted my topic and my draft to Him, asking Him to make the changes, to add or remove, He put on my heart to talk a bit about romantic dreaming too.

We dream about our prince or princess and it is completely normal and a beautiful longing placed into our hearts by the Lord Himself, Who "created them male and female" (Gen 1:27) - two separate, yet perfectly fitting integrants of the same integral... two parts forming a harmonious whole. So, the longing for the other half is so of the Lord... yet, more often than not, when dreaming separately from God we bring more harm in this area than good, hurting ourselves and others.

Dreaming is just like meditating. When we meditate on the Word of God, the time comes when the Word becomes flesh or the Word comes alive in and for us. When this happens, this specific promise changes our lives and circumstances. It is the same with dreams. When we dream about something long enough, at some point the dream becomes a part of us. So, if, for instance, we have been dreaming about a specific person whom the Lord has not put into our hearts as the ONE for us, one day the dream becomes a part of us and we actually begin to believe that we are getting confirmations from the Lord about this person being the ONE... when it only is our own heart that is deceiving us.

No wonder the Lord pleads with us in Proverbs 4:23, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life." In Hebrews 3:10 the Holy Spirit grieves, "They always err and are led astray in their hearts, and they have not perceived or recognized My ways and become progressively better and more experimentally and intimately acquainted with them."

We can trust our hearts only - especially when it comes to romantic dreams - when the Word of God has taken root in our hearts in this area. This is the reason our hearts can bring profuse confusion. Jeremiah 17:9 goes even further, revealing, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick!"

Sounds hopeless! Well, there is hope and help. Lisa Bevere - through her books and teachings - taught me something that helped me profoundly in this area. Lisa teaches us - whether unmarried or divorced - to put the romantic and sexual love to sleep. It is interesting that in the Song of Solomon the Lord tells women 3 times to not awaken love before its time. He never tells this to men. Why? I believe women are more apt to create air castles in their minds in this area... also, women can awaken love in men by the way they dress and act (flirting, seducing)... which sadly only ruins the beautiful dream the Lord has placed within each of our hearts.

But what I was about to say is this - as He tells us not to awaken the romantic love before the right time, it consequently means that love within us has been sleeping at some point... which also means that we can put it back to sleep again. Lisa says that the ways we awaken romantic love and love for God parallel each other. We awaken romantic love by listening to love songs... we awaken love for God through worshipping Him. We awaken romantic love by thinking about the person... we awaken love for the Lord by meditating on His goodness and loving-kindness. We awaken romantic love by speaking romantic words to our chosen one... we awaken love for the Lord by speaking love words to Him. I must admit that the latter has helped me the most. When I began to daily tell the Lord, Lord, I love You above everyone else... Lord, You are the love of my life... Lord, You are everything to me... Lord, I am so happy in You... Lord, I am complete in You... Lord, I long for more of You... things changed.

When I began to say those words, I did not completely mean them... but I knew that the words would begin to shift my thinking and so it was. I awakened a deeper love for the Lord and this filled me with greater joy. Also, I noticed that my ministry was lifted on a new level. I honored the Lord by doing what He told me to do and He honored my ministry, in turn. I also asked Him specifically to help me put the romantic and sexual love to sleep within me. He has done that. I do thank Him, like the Word teaches, for the one prince who has the authority and power and anointing to awaken the romantic love within me at the right time.

I honestly believe that when the romantic love begins to awaken in our teenage years, we should put it back to sleep, allowing the Lord to awaken it through the right person at the right time. This way we will truly know that we are with the ONE the Lord has for us. We have no need to walk around and wonder where is our prince or princess. We actually should not do it for then we will be suppressing the voice of the Lord and He will be unable to lead us to the right place at the right time. We have to always keep the channel between us and Him open and clean... for the Word says that "Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life". We would not, on our own, be able to find the right way, the right dream, the right person. But when we are in communion with Him, He will be able to lead us.

Trust Him to put the romantic love to sleep... even if You are in Your twenties, or thirties, or forties, or fifties and unmarried or divorced... and thank Him to bring the lovely gift of the other half to You. It will always be worth the wait... ALWAYS! ...I wish someone had taught me this Truth much earlier... but never the less, I am glad I've learned it!

Now, going back to the general theme of dreams and visions, more than anything, I truly advise to dream with the Lord, allowing Him to fashion Your dreams to fit Your special singularity, Your uniqueness. He is the God of dreams and visions. There is a story upon story in the Bible of Him giving dreams to His people. So, we should dream too. He says in Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart."

Some time ago one of my friends told me about her dream... a dream home. She has been dreaming about this specific apartment by the sea for quite a while... but as it is beyond her budget, she has given up this dream. I could tell that her heart was deeply saddened because she could not afford to pay for her dream. I'm quite sure she is not the only one whose heart grieves, thinking her dreams are beyond fulfillment.

I believe God has called us to dream... so, we shouldn't give up on our dreams when we can't afford them. God longs to see us dreaming so big that only He can fulfill our desires. God has called us to live by faith and not by sight. Also, He wants to show Himself real and to show Himself big to the world. He can do it only through our lives. If we, having an awesome Almighty God as our Father, dream tiny dreams, where does He fit in? How can the world recognize His love and goodness? How can anyone experience His Power?

God has called us to live supernatural lives and not natural ones. The Gospels tell us that all things are possible for the one who believes. I love what Luke 1:37 promises: "For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment." So, the truth is, nothing is impossible... when we choose to believe. Indeed all things become possible for us when we take the steps the Lord has taught us to take in order to see our dreams fulfilled.

I want to share with You the steps the Lord has personally taught me over the years... the steps I have taken again and again... and seen my dreams come true.

God taught me to not only dream in my head but write my dreams down. Interestingly, the science confirms this verse - well, like all other verses if it would check them out - saying that only 10% of all people dream purposefully, writing down their dreams. 90% of people only dream in their heads. The 10% who write down their dreams, achieve 90% of all their visions and goals. Out of the 90% who do not clearly write down their dreams, only manage to fulfill 10%. So, it sure is worth jotting down our visions!

He has taught me to be specific ...for He can't answer vague prayers. If we want a bigger house, we need to be specific. We need to write down our dreams the way we really dream them and desire them ...NOT the way we could somehow afford them. We have to learn to forget the affording part. We write down our dreams and then take the next step:

After writing down our dreams, we won't just sit and wait for them to come to pass. The second point that God has taught me is to begin to thank Him for my dreams every day. We do not have to feel any faith to receive them. Faith grows while we thank God for the fulfillment of our dreams. Also while thanking Him, things are being moved in the spirit realm. We call our dreams into being. We speak to the mountains that might be on our way. We cast them out of our way. This is how things come into being. Just like God created everything by calling it into being, so we too create this way.

Also, when we first set out with a new dream, more often than not, our inner vision of ourselves does not fit our dream. We have to first get our inner image changed in order to be able to receive our dream. There are many examples in the Word how the Lord did it. I love the story of Gideon found in the book of Judges chapter 6.

Gideon, just like all Jewish men at the time, was completely downtrodden by Israel's enemy who ruled over them. Jews lived in fear and yet the Lord sent His angel to Gideon saying those words: "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of [fearless] courage." The angel was literally speaking of the non-existent things that God had foretold and promised as if they already existed, calling Gideon the mighty man of fearless courage. Nothing was further from the harsh reality.

The Lord had to change the image of Gideon, who with his present image of himself - depressed and put down - would never have won the battle against the enemy. He wouldn't even have stepped out to recruit men into his army. Next the Lord predicted the outcome, saying, "Go in this your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you? Surely I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as one man." (v.14,16)

David also is an awesome example of calling things into being. Although only 17 years old, he understood the power of God and the power of his words. So, when stepping out to fight the giant that the whole Israel's army was terrified of, David first called out in Whose power he was stepping out and in detail what he was going to do to Goliath, boldly declaring, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will smite you and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands." (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

And of course we all know the end of the story: what David decreed, happened. In both cases, Gideon's especially, by calling out the end result - perfect victory over enemy - God removed fear from his worriors' hearts. Fear is a negative faith and is just as effective as faith in God. Job found that out hard way, letting us know, "For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, and that of which I am afraid befalls me." (3:25)

We need to root out fear and fill our hearts with faith. We do it through our words. Romans 10:10 says, "For with the heart a person believes... and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation." Our salvation comes when we decree it before stepping into an actual battle.

Faith is NOW. When we write down our dreams we should put down those dreams in present tense. We should begin to see ourselves with our dream achieved. If we write down our vision in a future tense... we will be pushing it into an indefinite and vague timeframe, which never leads us to take definite steps towards achieving it. We should thank God for those things in the PRESENT TENSE ...for according to Mark 11:24 if we have prayed for something, it has already been granted to us. When something has already been granted to us, we won't have to ask for those things again. Now is the time to thank for those things that we have received by faith. We express our faith through thanksgiving. Philippians 4:6 exhorts us, "do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God."

By giving thanks to God for the fulfillment of our dreams, we express our faith. In the beginning we might not even feel we have faith to receive what we have asked for. But it doesn't matter whether we FEEL any faith or not. Faith is not a feeling, it is believing and trusting the Word of God. And "faith comes by hearing and hearing..." (Rom.10:17) Our faith grows while we keep thanking God for our dreams.

I remember hearing Dr.Oral Roberts share about how God taught him to sow a seed whenever there was a need in his life. Dr. Roberts never did anything without sowing out a seed for it first. One of the most unexpected seeds the Lord asked me to sow was a financial seed towards seeing a friend of mine getting saved. Whatever we desire, God will show us what is the seed we would have to sow out in order to reap our own dream. Helping others is also a seed. Everything in the kingdom of God works by sowing and reaping... before we reap, we will have to sow.

When we have written down our dreams and visions and we are daily taking the time to thank God for those dreams...then we should concentrate on God and His Word. Those dreams we are dreaming are beyond our own abilities. Our present faith level does not suffice to bring our dreams to pass. We have to step on a new level of faith to attain those dreams. This means we draw closer to God, learning to know Him as even Greater and Mightier than we have known Him so far. This happens through meditating on the Word and declaring the promises of God.

God teaches us in the book of Joshua, "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success." (1:8, stress added)

Also, when, after submitting our dreams to the Lord, we concentrate on Him, He is able to show us the steps towards fulfilling our dreams. He knows the correct path. We need to hear from Him. When Gideon had done what the Lord told him to do - recruited men - God gave him further instructions that would, step by step, move him closer to the victory. It was God's battle and only God's way could bring success.

Gideon had done what one would humanly do when sent to war as a leader - gathered as many men as he could find. He had managed to recruit 32,000 men. Now those were the Lord's instructions to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel boast about themselves against Me, saying, My own hand has delivered me. So now proclaim in the ears of the men, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him turn back and depart from Mount Gilead." (Judges 7:2-3a) The Lord would not give honor to man for the battle He fights. Also, here He removed all fear from the army. Fear can't win God's battles... only faith can.

So, "22,000 of the men returned, but 10,000 remained." (v.3b) Boy, this could have truly promoted fear in men - seeing more than 2/3 of the army leave! I wonder whether Gideon might have felt bitterness towards God as all his hard work went out the window in a flash. But what God said now was even more scary. His next instructions were: "The men are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. And he of whom I say to you, This man shall go with you, shall go with you; and he of whom I say to you, This man shall not go with you, shall not go." (v.4)

Inspite of his emotions Gideon obeyed the Lord... so, He picked 300 men to go to war against an enemy that was as numerous as the grains of sand on a beach. And "the same night the Lord said to Gideon, Arise, go down against their camp, for I have given it into your hand." (v.9, stress added) The story goes on how the Lord removed all fear from Gideon... but in this verse too, God called forth victory even before his people engaged in a battle... and the victory was won - first in the spirit realm, then in the natural realm.

Finally, when we have clearly engraved our dreams... we are taking time to thank God for them daily... we are renewing our minds and stepping on a new level of faith... we will have to wait. For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end fulfillment. It WILL NOT DECEIVE or disappoint. Though it tarry, we shall have to earnestly, expectantly, confidently wait for it, because it WILL SURELY COME.

When we write those dreams down, we don't even have to have any faith to receive them. We just do what the Word of God tells us to do. We thank God for the fulfillment of those dreams. We keep our eyes on God and His Word... and step by step our faith will grow, until it becomes strong and ready to receive what was impossible to us a little while ago. Then, when God tells us to step out, it is time to step out and receive what we have been believing for.

Those are the steps the Lord has taught me, to achieve my dreams... and also to pay my bills - for that is what I started from.

What are Your dreams? God calls You to dream. He wants to give us the best. He desires to show Himself All-Mighty and All-Powerful and All-Good through our lives to the world. He knows that if our dreams remain only in our heads the enemy can so easily talk us out of them... and he will indeed steal our dreams if they remain in vague colors. So, dream and take concrete steps to see Your dreams fulfilled.

I wish You all many, many blessings and big, bold dreams. We are called to dream... dream big... believe big... and receive big!

Eve
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