Has God placed a dream in your heart that has not yet come to pass?
Perhaps your dream is so big that its fulfillment seems impossible. If so, you’re not alone. All of us have dreams and desires, yet oftentimes the things we desire from God are beyond our natural ability to gain or accomplish.

When it seems as if they are never going to happen, we are prone to bow to the pressure of time and at that point start trying to make things happen. Failure or compromise is usually the result. Sure, we might do some things, but they might not be what God really wanted and we can fall short of the mark.

In this presentation, I would like to share some pertinent information with you that could be of assistance that applies to everyone of us, whether we are “in ministry” or not. The principles are consistent. We shall start with Abraham who was one such man who had a dream or a vision. It was an impossible dream.

When he was advanced in age and his wife was barren, God spoke to him. And יהוה said to Aḇram, “Go yourself out of your land, from your relatives and from your father’s house, to a land which I show you.  “And I shall make you a great nation, and bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing!  “And I shall bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you. And in you all the clans of the earth shall be blessed.”  So Aḇram left, as יהוה had commanded him, and Lot went with him. And Aḇram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Ḥaran.  And Aḇram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the beings whom they had acquired in Ḥaran, and they set out for the land of Kena‘an. And they came to the land of Kena‘an. Genesis 12:1-5.

As I have said many times before, Abraham did not really obey God in the way we often hear at first. He took Lot and his father with him, but God had told him to leave all friends and relatives behind. His journey started when he was 70 years of age and I am convinced that Abraham did not know where God was sending him. All that he had was a word from God telling him to pack his belongings and start moving, saying that He would tell Abraham he had arrived when he got there. That really took a major step of faith, based solely on a promise from God. He did not have a bible and did not have the leading of the Holy Spirit as we do, so at this point he started the journey that would make him the father of our faith, despite some hiccups along the way. I’ve made a journey of my own but knew where I was going and that was traumatic in many ways, so what he did really took some intestinal fortitude to say the least.

When He told Abraham to leave his country, God didn’t tell him where he was going or how to get there. All He said was that He would tell him that he had arrived when he got there.

God does not always lay out all the details of a dream before us. He gives us one piece of the puzzle at a time. It’s up to us to connect each of the pieces by faith in His Word.

Each step toward a dream must be taken in faith and there might be times when each step is challenging, sometimes painful. The promises are real and the Promised Land is real—but there are giants in the land and we have to overcome them.

I believe that every promise from God has to be appropriated by taking action, sometimes violent action to take the promises. Jesus said in Matthew eleven that the Kingdom of God suffereth violence and that the violent ones take it by force. As we know, this kingdom is not heaven. There is no violence or need for such drastic action in heaven. He was referring to the rotten here and now, pressing in forcefully if necessary to take what is rightfully ours.

He was relating to John the Baptist here and up to then, everything was in a different dispensation. Both John and Jesus ministered under “Old Testament” conditions”, so the promises had yet to be “ratified” by Jesus’ ministry, but there were some folk who still pressed in to obtain the promises. The woman with the issue of blood was one. 

What God has for us is there, as I often say, but they do not simply fall out of the sky and land in our lap so to speak; we have to take possession of our inheritance. Doing this usually takes place in different stages.

Let us jump ahead in time from Abraham to the nation of Israel and the Exodus. God sent those plagues, opened the Red Sea for them and provided for all their Needs. He led them by the pillar of fire and the cloud and gave water from a rock, manna and quails, so they knew about and experienced the supernatural of God. What He told them was that taking possession of the Promised Land would not happen overnight, but little by little. We see this in Exodus chapter twenty-three and I recommend you go through it carefully, but here are the key points.

He said that His angel would go before them and that this angel would bring them into the place He had prepared. This means that there is a place for us. It also means that there is a time process involved. In Habakkuk chapter two we see that the vision or our dream has an appointed time for its fulfillment. I shall come back to this later, but bear in mind that when God gives you a dream/vision, a time factor is involved.
  We can be assured that God has something prepared for us and that we will not be alone.

• He told them to obey this angel and not to provoke him, because His Name was in this angel.
  Who was He? I believe that this was the Lord Jesus before His incarnation. Think about this for a moment.
• He said that this angel would not bring them into a place without having any problems to overcome.
• He said that  but the enemy would be right there in the middle of their Promised Land and that their enemies would be His enemies. He promised to give them their inheritance, but they had to do their part and rid the land of idols and not worship false gods.
• God said that it would take time. Our dreams do not always happen overnight. The reason is simple. If God gave us everything at once, we might not be able to handle it and we could lose what we desire because of our unpreparedness. Liken this to Jesus’ teaching of putting new wine into new wine skins and not into old wine skins. This time factor will, as I said above, be discussed more later.

I once asked a few people in my church before I closed it in preparation for our move, “If I gave you 1 million dollars, what would you do with it?” I had been teaching them the principles of faith, the laws of the harvest, tithing and more and I waited for an answer. Let me ask you this same question right now. “If you were given $1,000,000, what would you do with it?”
After a pregnant silent pause, one person said, “I’d tithe.” Another then agreed and said, “Yes, I’d tithe too”. My reply was, “That’s good, but what next?” After much stuttering and stammering, a range of answers came out, all of which were selfishly oriented. One said, “A car” and I again asked, “OK. What next?” The answers had to be dragged out of them... A house. New Clothes and all kinds of things like that, all of which are acceptable of course, but the exercise revealed what I suspected. They were totally unprepared for anything, despite my teaching.

Let me show you something more by looking at the time Jesus fed the multitude as seen in John chapter six.
He had been teaching and miracles of healing had occurred, so they all witnessed the supernatural of God
 Jesus asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that they can eat?” He was testing Philip.
The immediate reply should have been along the lines of, “What are you planning to do?” or “What do you want me to do?” He could at least have said, “From the supermarket back in town”.
Philip however replied by natural reasoning, despite all Jesus had done, “Even if we had a full years’ wages, it would not be enough.”
The Lord did not mention any amount of money! He asked where they could buy food.
Andrew came along and said that there was a boy there who had offered his 2-piece fish lunch and immediately said, “That will not go far anyhow”.

They, like us at times, did not see into the realms of possibility and reverted to natural reasoning and this is the realm of the enemy.

It also involves doing some homework and conducting research. He can tell us, “I’ve given you the land. I’ve given you the dream, now you start putting it together”. Jesus told the disciples to seat that multitude in orderly rows. That’s organizing things! He also told them that they had to distribute the food. He didn’t. There are things God and God alone does and there are things we have to do. He performed the miracle, but they had to apply it by faith. The prophet told the widow woman to fetch as many vessels as she could and pour the oil out. That’s making plans and doing what is possible so that the impossible of God can happen.

Let’s put this into modern day perspective. Many years ago the Lord told me that I would one day need a ministry aircraft. I never told anyone! Sometimes the best thing to do is to remain silent until we know the full picture. We may not be ready for it. Other things may need to happen beforehand. Other people who will be involved are not yet ready. Then there are the dream killers, or people who do not see what you see and those who do not want you to succeed. Do not be surprised if fellow Christians oppose you. They will. Be careful therefore in what you share and with whom you share. It happens and if you do not believe me, look at what happened to Joseph. Spiritual jealousy is real.
There are all sorts of variables to factor in, so jumping in and blabbing could harm the cause. A dear brother came to me and offered to buy a Partenavia aircraft for me, but I declined. It was the wrong airplane at the wrong time, in the wrong place and I was not then ready! Sometimes we can see the dream or vision ahead of our time! It’s real and it is there but we might not yet be ready to handle it.
Having such dreams requires much more than getting the stuff!
Using the aircraft example, the Lord told me that this aircraft would be a “G something that was not yet built”.
That’s all very well, but what is that “G something?” Was I imagining it? Moreover, was I getting carried away with illusions of grandeur, thinking that I was one of those “giants of the faith” we so often admire (and sometimes want to copy)? We are told to have a correct balanced opinion of ourselves in Romans 12. Don’t put yourself down, but by the same token do not become proud and egotistical. Both are offensive to the Lord. I wanted confirmation by the word of God and  by independent confirmation by other trustworthy believers who have proven themselves. Both came. The scriptural confirmation I received  was seen in Isaiah 60:8, “Who are those that fly like a cloud and as doves to their windows?”
My mentor, Dr. Bill Winston flies an aircraft and his scriptural confirmation was, “A bird of the air shall carry your voice” as seen in Ecclesiastes 10:20. When we first met, he told me that I will need an aircraft.

Please notice here that the vision was similar but the confirmation was different. Acquisition of such ministry tools is but the starting point.
Such aircraft require ongoing maintenance and upgrades, a fixed base of operations, employing flight crew who require routine tests and licensing, insurances and so on even without leaving the ground and then there is the cost of fuel and so it goes.

I shared this to illustrate that getting a dream or a vision, especially in ministry involves much more than we often think.

When God gives us a dream therefore, that dream can take on more than one aspect such as the timing factor (I am still waiting on my aircraft and other things), the readiness factor and the obedience factor, that is something we do not like hearing. Father Abraham took his father and Lot with him, but God told him to leave them behind. Genesis 11:31 suggests that Terah, took Abram with him and got as far as Haran and they dwelt there for 5 years.
The KJV and a few other translations say, “The Lord had said...” in Genesis 12:1, suggesting to me that He had spoken beforehand.
If so, Abraham had missed the mark a little and he only got as far as Haran where he remained for 5 years.
If you really want your dream to come true, follow the Lord’s instructions to the letter, else you may also miss the mark, delay  your progress or perhaps never reach the ultimate destination.

Abraham was 75 years of age when we see God’s instructions in Genesis 12. Age has nothing to do with it. Never think that you are too old or too young or do not have a good enough education or any other excuse. Whenever I start having a negative thought about the direction my revamped ministry it taking, thinking things like, “When is this ever going to happen? I’m getting a bit old in the tooth for this (I will be 75 in October but believe in the scriptures like Isaiah 40:28-31 and it surprises many people when I tell them my age)”, the Lord quickly tells me,  “Moses was 80 when he started”.
My solution is to stop thinking like that and think on the things God has told me and get off those pity parties real quick because they will kill the dream. Don’t let them take root. Picture the finish, not the journey. See yourself doing it and do not despise those small beginnings.

If you look at the events in Abraham’s life, you will see that he did not wait for the fulfillment of God’s promise and tried to help Him. Ishmael was the result when he was 86 years old and God stopped talking to him for 13 years. God is not fickle and temperamental as we can be, but we can offend Him. Did Abraham offend Him? I think so, but God did not throw a tantrum in the way we can and do. He was working to a plan. He too had a dream.

When Abraham was 99 years old, God started talking again and reaffirmed the promise. Why wait for 13 years? When I pondered over this, I suddenly thought of the Jewish custom when boys at 12 or 13 years of age today undergo their Bar-Mitzveh when they are deemed to have become men. Perhaps Ishmael had to reach an age of maturity or independence so that Abraham could then be freed to enter into the vision God had for him.

To bring this segment to a close, let me say that when God calls you, or gives you a dream or a vision, He watches over it and waits until you are ready for it. See Psalm 119:106; Jeremiah 1:2; Ezekiel 12:5 and Philippians 1:6.

Along the way, you and I can get off track a little, but God watches over His word to perform it. This word perform in the Greek is epiteleō that talks about fulfilling, completing, accomplishing, finish, make, perfect etc. The Hebrew is even more powerful describing things like creating, doing, showing, accomplishing and sometimes describes the act of making war. God can go to war on our behalf!
Provided we do not deliberately want to tell Him to get lost or such things, He is faithful and I believe that He waits for the day when we tell Him things like, “I can’t do it alone. I’ve tried it my way and that did not work. I do not know what to do or how to do it, so help”.

Did you know that Paul wanted to quit? I will discuss this another time, but when he was incarcerated in the Mammertime prison, he wanted to die and go home until the Holy Ghost ministered to him and the book of Philippians was the immediate result. The remainder of his life was more productive after that than ever before. Let me now share some thoughts about getting your dream working for you.

The Dream Killer:

There is an enemy who does not want us to succeed. He is the ultimate dream killer.. When Jesus taught about the shepherd and the sheep, He said, I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 
But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 
The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 
After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 
They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice. John 10:1-5

Let me liken the Holy Spirit to the gatekeeper. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep. You and I can learn to discern His voice and follow Him, not another. There are many voices out there, all clamoring for our attention, so we need to learn to recognize the difference. The way to do that is by association. He added-
“I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 
All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 
Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. John 10:7-10

Satan is the one who wants to steal, kill and destroy your dream and one of the most effective tools he uses is to cast doubt on the integrity and effectiveness of God’s word and to instill fear into our lives. He cast doubt on God’s word in the garden in Genesis 3:1 when he said, “Did God really say that?”

One way he does this today is to discourage us from reading what God has said and if he cannot do that, to introduce “variations” and “substitutes”, all of which fall into the realms of religion. Visit some churches today and observe. See if they refer to scripture, how they refer to it and how often. Do what the Bereans did in Acts 17:11 and check out what is said from the pulpit, no matter who is speaking!

When we stop feeding on God’s word, meditating on it and speaking it, something else has to replace it and many times it is fear based or on religious lines. You’ve doubtless heard someone, possibly yourself,  say, “What if it doesn’t work?” What if it does? I know a pastor of a large church who announced that he was going to pray for the sick in the evening service and added, “I’m not sure if it will work or not.” Huh? I was shocked. He was supposed to be a word of faith preacher and he said that? I had been visiting there that morning and as we were leaving, the Lord told me to go back inside to pray for the wife of a man I knew. He was a lawyer and his wife was ill, but he declined, saying, “No thanks. Pastor is going to pray for her tonight” and told me of her condition. The Lord had sent me back there to pray for her and he declined. She died a short time later. Fear had set in there and had been spoken and the result was a sad thing.
Do you see how our responses, actions and words have an affect? Satan had done his thing that day. This spirit (fear is a spirit) has to be cast out. ...God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7 
 

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 
And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
1 John 4:16-18

One of the biggest dream killers is fear. Ground yourself in the word of God that He gave you to confirm his promise to you. It will give you an anchor to your soul and provide you with a reminder of it when you need reassurance.

Write the vision:

The best way I know of to get your dream working is to know what it is. It’s one thing to want something and long for it, but another to take positive steps to get it working. This is like wanting to go on a holiday somewhere, but never doing anything about it. Where do you want to go? How are you going to get there? How long will you be there? Where will you stay? What will you eat or wear? After all, it would be foolish to take summer clothing if you are going to snow country or arrive at the train station to catch the plane. These are the kinds of things we plan when going away, but how about planning for your dream? I really believe that most failures happen because well intentioned people do not make plans. They just drift along hoping that in some way, God will come good. He makes plans. He told the Israelites how to pack up the Tabernacle, who carried it, how to carry it and such things. Nothing was left to chance yet many believers live this way, hoping things will turn out well and it is not a good thing.

Many readers and others have asked me to visit them and so I will—when the time is right and the Lord says I can—but I am already making plans. I have checked the airline timetables and flight details. I will need to renew my passport shortly and have already inquired into it. We have to ensure that our shots are up to date because if we do not, we might not be permitted back into our own country and will have to spend time in isolation because of our quarantine laws. These are the kinds of things in a practical sense that we all need to plan for, but what about the dream or vision itself?

You need to know where you’re going, so that you can set your goals for getting there. This brings me back to the earlier mention of Habakkuk’s words.
I will climb my watchtower now and wait to see what answer God will give to my complaint. And the Lord said to me, “Write my answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell the others. But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day! Habakkuk 2:1-3

Apparently the prophet had been complaining about something and God told him to be patient and start to look at things closely in the way a watchman did when stationed in his tower.
Whilst we are waiting for it to happen, God expects us to keep looking for it. In a practical sense, I could be waiting for a bus and will miss it if I do not see it coming and hail the driver. Even a bus line has a timetable so that anyone can read it and see what time the bus arrives. Many people miss their day of visitation because they are caught up with things that take their attention off the approaching promise.

God said to write the vision or dream down so that you can see it and check its progress. If others are to be involved, they too need to know a few things to encourage them, to allow them to weigh things up or to help them be ready to act when the time is right. Every time you read the vision that God has put in your heart, it enables you to run with it.

Reading the vision keeps you focused and motivated and it propels you forward. What is the dream God has put in your heart? What causes you to look forward to rising up each and every new day? Write the dream and keep it before your eyes in whatever way works for you. It could be a picture of the finished product, a car, a house, a church building, people with you, seeing yourself laying hands on others in a prayer line or anything that is consistent with the dream God has given you. The next thing to do is to enter into dialogue with God and I am not only talking about prayer.

Reasoning together:

God has given us an invitation to talk things over. Several years ago, the Lord spoke wonderfully to me, saying, “Robert. I held you to your word, now you hold Me to Mine.” I had made a vow about my ministry saying I would be prepared to do anything that He asked of me so that the ministry dream He had given me would come to pass. I know that making rash and impetuous promises are foolish and said so, adding that I knew the consequences—but I want what You have got for me and I am prepared to pay any price for it.
He replied, “You’re on!” and things happened so quickly it took me by surprise.

Never do such things if you do not mean business! He reminded me of that promise as He spoke and in part of that conversation, He told me to read Isaiah 1, that states-
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes! Cease to do evil,  Learn to do right! Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. 
Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. 
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 
But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Isaiah 1:16-20

This refers more to a salvation kind of message I suppose, but He invited me to start talking things over with Him and I adopt this as a way of life now. I rarely pray in the sense of praying the way most people think, but hold discussions  with Him, asking things like, “What are we going to do today?”, “Where would you like me to go?” And “How are we going to get this thing done?” I’m continually thinking of the ministry vision.

If it were up to me, I’d probably mess it up, so to avoid some of the pain and disappointment, I invite Him to take the lead and I follow.
He does the miracle part, but I have to do my part too, so we work in a partnership.

When you write down what He shares, you can go back over things without forgetting stuff. You can ask Him for clarification and direction and for your own sake, when He does respond, follow through on it. Marjorie and I keep a dated journal that we go over from time to time. It helps us check our progress, much the say way I guess that a ship’s captain or an airplane pilot keeps checking the map and course settings to make sure they are on a correct course. Without such course corrections, we can drift in any direction, influenced by outside forces. For a ship, it is wind and wave influence, but for us it is more of a spiritual nature. It is surprising how certain patterns emerge over time.

God’s plan is for your dream to become reality. He said-
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Psalm 32:8

If you’re going to hear God’s plan for making your dream come to pass, you’ve got to communicate with Him. You’ve got to shut yourself away in a quiet place to pray—and to listen to Him. It’s foolish to do all the talking and not listen for His answer. Sometimes it requires effort to do these things. We need a private place to commune with God and to seek His Wisdom.
He said-
...I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. 
Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 
I will be found by you, says the Lord... Jeremiah 29:11-14

The last  piece of information or advice I will share with you is to share your vision, or talk to other dreamers.

Talk to other dreamers:

This is very important, but it can also pose a few problems that I shall touch on later. Sometimes others can have an insight into things we might not have and when they share this, it can enhance our own vision. We could as an example want to go to a certain place and had been thinking we had to drive down a particular road after looking at the route on a map. Someone else, who knows the route could advise you not to go on that road, but go an alternate route, for some reason. Long delays would be experienced because of roadworks could be a reason.
The bible talks about such sharing in many ways.  The principle of confirming things at the mouths of 2 or 3 witnesses is a great safety net. Proverbs 11:14, 15:22 and 24:6 talk about a multitude of counselors providing this. Proverbs 27:17 says that iron sharpeneth iron. You know Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 don’t you? Of course you do. It says-
Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 
If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 
Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone?
A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Talking to other dreamers has its advantages. It can provide balance. It can give you practical advice. It can reveal something you might not have thought of. The other person could give you real and practical help. He or she could have a parallel dream and so when you share together, you can pool resources and ideas and really get the job done. There are other reasons to share and one is seen in Acts 15, where great dissension arose over legalism entering the church. It was about circumcision and Paul, Barnabus, other apostles and elders discussed it. The point I want to make is that they all agreed on a course of action saying that it seemed good to them...and to the Holy Ghost!

The best person to talk to about your dream is the Holy Ghost!
He will give you the right advice and in so doing, He will give you the ability to carry it out, providing you let Him.

I must give a word of caution however. When we talk to other dreamers, it is easy to get excited and carried away with it all, little realizing that not everyone you talk to understands or has the same capacity to receive as you do. If you intend sharing your vision, be very selective, but do not talk too much for several reasons. The jealousy factor is very real.
I’ve shared before on how God can send a man to a certain place to start a church somewhere. He has a legitimate dream. That church could be right next door to another, so if both pastors are God’s appointment (not man’s) the two can work as a team. They are not competing with each other, but often times it seems that way. One man could fear sheep stealing! One man could be jealous or envious over another’s anointing, thinking that other person is better or has more than he does.
It’s silly of course, but it is real, so sharing your dream with another person could lead to all kinds of problems you do not want. Think of Cain and Abel. Spiritual jealousy led to murder and we do not have to literally kill another person, but hold wrong thoughts like jealousy or hatred in the heart that Jesus said is as good as committing murder.

Oh, by the way, if you do share your dream and vision with someone else, please do not do it alone with a member of the opposite sex for obvious reasons. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said-
Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. Matthew 7:6.

In other words, don’t share your dream with anyone who is not also a dreamer. Talking to other dreamers can be a faith-building experience. It is one that can help you learn more about where you are in relation to your own dream. When you talk with other dreamers who have stepped out in faith, you realize you’re not alone. Their faith-filled words will help motivate you to do the impossible. Talking to other dreamers also unleashes a potential opportunity to be partakers of their ministry. This is very powerful and often overlooked.

What I am saying here is to sow into the dream of others. It is a seed and if you or I desire fruit in our own lives, seeds must be planted. When Paul was telling the believers in Philippi about their giving to him, he said that he only wanted it for their own good! He said in Philippians 4:15 that he desired fruit to abound to their account! Sowing into the proven ministry of others releases something. It brings a return to your own account and enables you to be a partaker of their ministry. Unlike many others who are always begging, I do not ask anyone for money, but I do invite others to share in the fruits of the ministry for two reasons. It helps me get it done, but more importantly, it gives scope for others to be partakers of what is happening.
The principles of sowing and reaping are real and they work and so I give to others who are proven. I sow into good soil. Those I sow to, reach places I cannot and do things I cannot do, so what fruit they have in their respective ministries abounds to my own account. One precious soul who is born again in their ministries is deemed to be part of my own ministry. Much of my material is shared around the world in at least 19 nations. One pastor in Czechoslovakia uses my material to reach into his country and surrounding countries. I believe it even goes to Russia so I partake of the results of his ministry in that part of the world, without having to literally travel there. He had a dream and I had a dream and our two dreams have merged.

If you really want fruit in your life, sow into someone who bears real fruit. It has to be fruit that abounds and is not necessarily tithing into a local church program when such things are often introverted. The church is not a building or programs but people, so we sow into people’s lives.

Dreamers know that God will give them supernatural ability beyond their own natural ability to accomplish their dreams. These are the people you want to talk to about your dreams, for they will tell you that nothing is impossible when you put your trust in the living God. Doubters will say things like “You’ll never be able to do that!” and give you numerous reasons why your dream is impossible, never knowing that the enemy is using them in an attempt to plant a seed of doubt in your heart. Despite the words of the naysayers, don’t give up. Don’t allow the words of negative people to cause you to draw back from your dream. They may use facts to discourage you, saying you don’t have enough money or you don’t have any training in what God has called you to do. These may be the facts, but they are not the truth, for the Word of God says that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us in Philippians 4:13.

They may tell you that you don’t have the right educational background, or your skin is the wrong color, or you are not the right gender. Despite what they say, don’t give up. If God has placed a dream in your heart, just say yes to Him. Determine in your heart that if God says you can do it, then you can do it. You have the assurance from the word of God that your dream will surely come to pass. Though it tarry, wait for it. Take your stand firmly on the Word of God, refuse to fear…and never stop dreaming!

Dream big!

Robert