Amazingly, God chooses to work through people rather than do things Himself.  When he wants to accomplish something, He finds a willing vessel (or sometimes not so willing), and He calls and then uses them.

“When God was ready to judge the world, He came to Noah.  He was about to do something, and He was going to do it through Noah.  When God was ready to build a nation for Himself, He came to Abraham.  God was going to accomplish His will through Abraham.  When God heard the cry of the children of Israel and decided to deliver them, He appeared to Moses.  God came to Moses because of His purpose.  He planned to deliver Israel through Moses.

This is true all through the Old Testament and New Testament.  When God’s fullness of time had come to redeem a lost world through His Son, He gave twelve men to His Son to prepare them to accomplish His purposes. 

When He is about to do something, He takes the initiative and comes to one or more of His servants.  He lets them know what He is about to do.  He invites them to adjust their lives to Him, so He can accomplish His work through them.”  (Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God)

Central to becoming part of God’s plan is getting close enough to regularly hear His voice and then being willing to respond to His nudges. 

Get close to Him this week.  Hear His nudges. 

Why do we have to keep changing?

Why is it so !&%$*# hard?   !&%$*#  =  “very” 

First, a small caveat:  this is a blog; this is not a thesis… having said that, some of the best answers are the simplest. 

It has to do with how we finished the last blog, “Last time I looked honestly inside I found the heart of the problem, not the solution.  I saw the nature of my brokenness, the internal tendencies that left unchecked would sabotage my future.”

What’s wrong with same?  And why the cost overruns and missed deadlines?  I don’t think we want to admit the next statement, but we are universally messed up at a deep level – an absolutely core level… Deep, core-level changes are costly and time consuming.

2 Corinthians 5:17 [NIV] – says that “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  The King James Version adds the word “all” to the mix and confuses us completely… because it never says “all” in the original Greek.  [Check out http://www.searchgodsword.org/isb/bible.cgi?query=2co+5%3A17&section=0&it=kjv&oq=2co%25205%3A17&ot=bhs&nt=na&new=1&nb=2co&ng=5&ncc=5 to look word by word for yourself. (The KJV assumes “all” is implied).]

So what am I saying?  If Christ has become a part of you, He has brought new life into you.  But the process is just beginning.  It isn’t all changed or all new, yet.  Don’t believe me?  Look honestly in the mirror. 

See, actually, change was never meant to be loaded down with a bunch of negatives.  It was the opportunity to join the Creator in the creative process. 

Genesis 1:27, 28 [NIV] “²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Genesis 2:15 [NIV] “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

This fruiting, filling, subduing, ruling, working… all involved change.  It wasn’t merely moving the puzzle pieces around.  More, we were (are) not merely puzzle pieces.  We can be co-creators with God (not God ourselves – but with Him).

And change was not limited to external.  Satan’s enticement to help Eve become “god-like” was actually pirated from God’s own intent – to make us “godly.”  You might argue the need to become godly only came after the Fall, but from the rest of history with Satan, it is clear; he has no original ideas.  They’re always pirated and warped.   I believe God’s plan from the beginning was to take what was created and, through personal choice, allow us to be part of becoming even more like Him.

I screwed up that process.

It has made this change stuff excruciating, agonizing… impossible?

Yet, the offer still stands, by God’s grace, become part of the change process.

No, it never stops.  But don’t allow your tiredness to cause you to excuse or jettison.  Stick with me, and we’ll take the next steps together.

If you are a person who wants to make a difference, just think of how often your thoughts, your reading, your work is focused on how to make change. What does it take? Why is it so often so limited? so resistant? so temporary? so prone to reversal?

Change…the problem with change is we are married, addicted, to who we are at the present. I’m not saying that we don’t have grandiose dreams of what might be different or who we might become. But every change takes change – the more significant, the more internal, deep, the change required.

And there is the sticking point. As much as we would long to change, we have become co-dependent on who we are presently. In our fallenness, we have grown to love the broken mechanisms of who we are. We even have phrases to back it up: “Be who you are!” “Look inside yourself.” It’s as if we think the only thing necessary is a bit of tinkering or a greater self-image. We just need an inspirational pep rally, and we can conquer any change. We don’t realize that ultimate change requires fundamental change – core level, warp and woof, fundamental change.

Last time I looked honestly inside I found the heart of the problem, not the solution. I saw the nature of my brokenness, the internal tendencies that left unchecked would sabotage my future.

So, if you dare… if you would change, come on a journey with me over the next number of blogs to experience real change.

I believe it’s possible to be moments away from key decision points, to be standing at key crossroads in your life and to be unaware. Yet, I also believe it is possible to live a life where that is not the case – that while the signs for key life decisions may not be outlined in neon, they are visible.  And while the road less traveled (but rightly traveled) may not be immediately clear, it can be discovered.

“Those who insist on pretending rather than growing transform their dreams into fantasies.  They squander a hoped-for future in a world of make-believe.  Usually that happens not because they risk everything, but because they risk nothing.  To pursue your dreams will involve risk, perhaps even danger.  But if you do not risk something by making the effort to grow, you will one day stare destiny in the face empty-handed.  You will be left to wonder what might have been, if only you had been willing to act.”

-The Dream Cycle, Steve Moore

The very first event recorded in the leadership of Joshua over the people of Israel went like this…
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to [literally – get up and] cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them–to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.  -Joshua 1:1-3

That had to be tough.  Israel had to be reeling internally from the loss of their leader Moses.  Joshua had to be sweating it as the realization that all the grumbling and the borderline mutiny of the nation of Israel were now going to be focused on him.

So what were God’s words of encouragement?
“Moses is dead… get over it… and get going.”  Okay, that’s my own translation, but that’s what He was getting at.  This was not a time to freeze.  It was a time to act.

Think about it… when did the Red Sea part?  Not until the Israelites were smack up against it with the Egyptians breathing down their necks.    Or when did the Jordan River miraculously divide?  Only when the priests stepped into the waters of the Jordan which were at flood stage.

Are you willing to act? Your dream may take years to accomplish.  But are you committed to move, to take the steps necessary to initiate the journey and propel you the right direction?
Then quit stalling, and start acting.

But even when you are winning, there are plenty of moments of momentary loss. You go for the steal with a slide tackle, and you miss. You attempt to score, and your kick sails wide to the right. You go for the header, and the other team beats you to the punch or gets the better of you. You attempt to defend, and you get burned.

If you’ve put everything on the line, when you miss, it can mean you end up on the ground looking silly or even a little wounded. Even more, there’s a tendency to sit there for a minute nursing your wounds. But when you’re on a winning team, the rest of the team has little patience for teammates who stay down while the rest of the team tries to make up for their missing presence. Goals aren’t scored by people nursing their wounds.

Bruised knees, wounded pride, momentary dazed feelings – whatever you’re feeling, your caring teammates have one encouragement… GET OVER IT! AND GET UP!

Granted, that’s not too compassionate or tender, but it has good results. Their press and the possibility of even further wounded pride infuses you with instant inspiration to get off your butt and get moving. A wound may create a temporary limp, but the opportunity to redeem yourself can quickly cause you to forget all about the pain.

In the pursuit of anything, the chance for wounding, dazed feelings, and momentary sense of loss is common. We can lust after the success of others. We can wonder how some seem to be so capable in their walk with Christ, so impactful in using their gifts, so peaceful in their approach toward life. If you talk to them, you find they are just people who allowed God to inspire them to get back up again, and through learning more of what it means to live in His strength kept on walking. Oddly enough, it’s those bruises God uses to bring ultimate impact [1 Peter 5:6-11].

Momentary losses can knock the wind out of you… especially if you have experienced a number of them. But aside from moments of serious wounding that require surgery, getting up is actually an act of faith – staying down an act of failure.

So in the journey of the dream, let me encourage you (inspire you to courage) to:

Focus on the coach, your champion Savior Hebrews 12:1-13

Pursue the prize, the kingdom win. Philippians 3:12-16

Join up with the team, His body. 1 Corinthians 12

And… Get off your butt! Pastor Phil 1:1 and Hebrews 12:3-7

… are you still sitting there?

What do you do?  Does that mean you’re defective?  Is your dreamer broken?  Did God miss you when He was handing out the cool dreams, and you were left with blah? 

No, actually you may find that you just never stopped to listen or you weren’t in the place that you could hear.  Know this.  The dreams based on your design are as close as the God, your Creator, who desires to live in and ignite what He has caused to dwell in you.

As you dare believe for your created intent, here’s what you can know about you:

God has a design for you.  (Jeremiah 29:11)  

It is ultimately about Him and not about you.  (Matthew 6:33; 16:24, 25) 

It is bigger than you are.  (Psalm 2:8, 1 Corinthians 12:7)  

He’s created you with just the right potential to fulfill that purpose.  (Ephesians 4:7) 

If you listen to Him, He will free you to the spacious life of your design.  (Romans 8:6)

Being willing to do His will is an essential prerequisite for knowing it. (John 7:17)

The God who created you and set you apart for your purpose (who “sanctifies you”) is the power supply for accomplishing it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24)

A God-given dream is simply, “a compelling awareness of what could or should be, accompanied by a growing sense of responsibility to do something about it.” (The Dream Cycle, Steve More).  Or, as Bill Hybels put it, it’s a “Holy Discontent” – a discontent with a need, an unfulfilled opportunity, or a lack in the world.  And the cool thing is you don’t have to make it up.  You’ve been designed with it already intact.

God has given everyone an ability, a gifting.  You are no exception.  And with every gifting, He gives a God-inspired dream.  So go discover the God who created you.  Let Him illuminate your heart and design.

As you do, read Psalm 37:1-7, and listen not only to His promise to give and fulfill the desires he placed within you, but listen to the attitude he calls you to while you pursue His design.

So go find God, and Get Dreaming!

By the way, who determines what can/would ever happen in the real world?  Isn’t that why we give up on our dreams, even our God-given ones!?!  We decide, after a number of failed attempts (either at the dream itself or others that are even less challenging), that God’s dream in us can/would never happen in the real world… at least not in our world.

We look at the dream, and we look where we are, and we think, “You can’t get there from here!”  That’s the problem with dreams. 

You can never just do the dream. 

Any dream worth its salt is totally out of reach from the immediate.

If you want to take your family to Disney World, you can’t just be there.  You have to set out on a journey.  No amount of wanting, wishing, believing, or talking about it can get you there.  You actually have to set out on the journey.  You have to plan and then execute, follow through, to make your dream vacation a reality. 

If Disney World is your dream vacation, then Disney World is not “where dreams are made;” it’s where dreams are realized.  And you find out that dream vacations always take longer and cost more to get there than you first realized.

Are we there yet?

What about the dream of reaching our community, our culture, with the incredible truth of Jesus Christ?  What about a dream that includes not only people in mass being drawn to God but His actually transforming them?  the real them?  the one that never changed before and was so full of impossibilities they had long since given up? 

They say the journey of 1,000 miles starts with the first step.  Great!?  And if you take big steps, it also includes another 1,759,999 after it.  Sound daunting?  But wait a minute, even in playing a game of golf, you’ll walk an average of 12,320 big steps.

So get walking.  Start executing – in the direction of your God-given dreams.  Begin responding to God’s dreams in you.  You can’t get there from here.  You can’t reach your dream from here.  What I mean is… who you are is not sufficient for what you need to become in order to reach your dreams.  It takes movement.  It takes steps.  It takes execution. 

So go beyond talking, actually put your life on the line.  Engage your dreams.  Engage the Creator of the dream.  Get disciplined.  GET REAL.

That’s what SG is all about. Each week, think about questions that are critical to you. When you’re listening on the weekend, and you get a burning question or something key comes to your mind, write it down and then email it to me. We’ll use these to build your life way beyond where you’ve been to this point. 

In pursuit of the God who is already pursuing us.

Janan and I were reminiscing about the first years of our marriage and those first places we lived. One of the biggest things I remember about them was the fact that if you didn’t like something – tough luck. Renters don’t get the right to change stuff – at least not in the settings we were in. But if you own something, it opens up all kinds of opportunities.

Owning is a really cool concept. It means it’s mine. I get to choose what goes on with it – with written permission from my HOA. I get to choose the colors. I get to benefit from improvements.

Kids come by that concept naturally. They love having toys, dolls, video games,… all the fun stuff. Over time with birthdays, Christmases, and grandparents, they can accumulate an incredible amount of stuff. What amazes me as much as what they can accumulate is they know who “owns” what. They can have 50 My Littlest Pet Shop figures and know exactly whose belongs to whom. And they think having a sister is really cool, until that sister starts trying to use their stuff.

It’s all about control. It’s all about possessing. Janan and I are passionate about breaking that tendency in Carina and Christi – about teaching them to grow up.

Yet, I’ve got to confess. I’m kind of skeptical that we ever “grow up” or “grow out of” our desire to possess. In fact, I believe the greatest sign of God changing us as adults is when we stop looking at who’s touching our stuff and start investing our stuff to impact the Kingdom of God.

The truth is the best way to Go Kid! is to Grow Up! The best way to pursue those silly dreams is quit worrying about who’s touching your stuff. You can’t be looking at your stuff and your design at the same time. You either serve the Creator and do His design, or you serve your stuff and find ways to protect it. You can’t do both. That’s Jesus’ take anyway [Matthew 6:19-34].

At Cross Connection, that’s our passion. In fact, even our potential of stepping into a new building is all about other people and not ourselves. Even more, our willingness to release the death grip on our stuff will determine our ability to make that step. It will also determine how impactful that step becomes. If you stop protecting and start investing, you’ll reap the harvest of the dreams of a design God created within you. And we’ll get front row seats in seeing His Kingdom come.

            A fire fighter? 

            A ballerina?

            A soldier?

            A superhero?

            A veterinarian… or someone who makes kitties better?

I know.  You’re like the rest of us now.  You’re mature.  Mature means you don’t have silly dreams any more.  Real life is too painful, too realistic, too stressed for silly dreams.  Besides that, we have all kinds of examples of people who went off on some stupid idea and got creamed for it. 

But I know a secret.  You’re like the rest of us.  You are a closet dreamer.  You’ve never been happy with this part of the “mature” life.  I believe we’ve never really gotten away from our dreams.  That’s why we still go to movies.  We want to see silly dreams become real.

.  

I wonder if that’s what Jesus was getting at when He challenged the disciples, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”?  [Mark 10:14, 15] The problem with kids is they have silly ideas.  They’re not mature.  They believe in fairies, dragons, and being superheroes.  By the way, it says God got mad at them for being so “mature.”  OK, the NIV says he got “indignant.”  That’s mad.   

.

I think it makes God mad when we call His grand designs silly dreams… when He calls us to God-sized dreams and purposes, and we back down because we’re mature.  I don’t ever remember Jesus getting mad at someone trying something outlandish in the pursuit of His kingdom.  I do remember Him getting mad at people trying to get everyone to color inside the lines.  [Matthew 12]

So here’s what I would challenge you with. Go kid. Color outside the lines. Maybe even try some new colors.

And just so you can show benefit from something you’ve learned in your mature years, give yourself permission to get mature in two things.  First, go kid in response to God’s design not your own selfish desires, and second, execute – don’t just talk about it, actually put your life on the line, get disciplined, and do your design.

See you on the playground!