The Ultimate Friendship I carried the label of “Christian” for seventeen years before I discovered what a personal relationship with God truly meant. Prior to this, I certainly knew Yahweh as God, and I definitely knew Him as my Savior. I did not, however, truly know Him as my Father, and walking with Him as a friend wasn’t even considered. Satan and his team, with lots of help from religion, have painted God as a very distant, non-relational being. If thought of at all, our Creator is primarily considered the Judge or, in times of crisis, a possible but unlikely means of help. Our adversary is nothing if not a very skilled deceiver. The Lord gave Abraham his dream of producing a nation and generating great wealth in Genesis 12. By the time we get to the thirteenth chapter of Genesis, he and God had walked together for quite some time. Though Isaac had not yet been born, the Lord was upholding His end of the deal and prospering Abraham greatly; he was now rich in cattle, silver, and gold (see Genesis 13:2). Due to his nomadic lifestyle, he had roamed to several different locations, then decided to make a return visit to Bethel. While there, he and the Lord reminisced concerning their beginning (see Genesis 13:4), and Abraham listened as God encouraged him to keep the dream alive: The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.” (Genesis 13:14-17) At this time, Abraham decided to move again and relocate to Hebron. “Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord” (Genesis 13:18). The meaning of this city’s name, Hebron, holds the concept of a close, relational connection such as a league, federation, association, or friendship. This small town high upon a hill took Abraham’s walk with God to an entirely new level. We’re not told the reasoning behind Abraham’s choosing the time and place for this move. Was it his choice? Was it God’s? Knowing the Lord as I do, and observing the way he so carefully directed Abraham on his journey, I believe He led Abraham to Hebron. The progression is too obvious. (In my book Dream, I discuss in detail God’s porposes in the plans He led Abraham.) At Shechem, Abraham had chosen the Lord as his God. At Bethel, he had chosen Him as Father, and they journeyed together as family. But what God had in mind all along was to mature the relationship into a friendship. God wants to dream with friends. This can be seen through Hebron. A few years ago, I was elk hunting in the mountains of Colorado when I saw a monument to friendship. High on a mountain, near the edge where one of the most majestic views imaginable could be seen, was a plaque encased in a rock. Tears came to my eyes as I read the words carved into the memorial: In memory of my friend and hunting partner, [name], with whom I roamed these mountains from 1963-2003. He loved these mountains, streams, snow-packed peaks, and beautiful valleys. I miss him. [Deceased Man’s Name] 1930-2003 It may sound overly dramatic, but I removed my hat and stood in silence, saluting the friendship enjoyed by these men. I tried to imagine the joys and memories created, as well as the pain of the loss this man must have been feeling as he climbed this hill, memorial in hand, to honor the memory of a true friend. The mountain had become their Hebron. Abraham didn’t begin his journey with God as His friend, nor do we. It is possible to be in God’s family and not be His friend, just as it is with our natural family. We can be a family member with someone and not be their friend. A friendship implies closeness and takes time to develop. It is comprised of trust, compatibility, affection, and, of course, a high level of interpersonal knowledge. Friendship defines the highest level of relationship. Friendship with God is possible for every believer and is Yahweh’s desire for us. This is the concept pictured by Hebron. God eventually enjoyed this level of relationship with Abraham - three times in Scripture, he called him His friend - and it's what He desires with each one of us. This is not only a part of our destiny, it’s part of God’s dream. We’re much like Abraham at the beginning of his journey with the Lord. Most of us begin our walk with God to experience the benefits He offers. We aren’t terribly interested in His dreams; we probably aren’t even consciously aware that He has any. But we are very aware that He can help us with our dreams, so we cut deals with Him, talk to Him primarily on the basis of our needs, and remind Him that He is our Father - our source. God understands this, however, and in his love and humility, is willing to meet us there. “He loves us first,” the Scriptures tell us (1 John 4:19), not the other way around. His love embraces us and makes us His child. And just as a natural child doesn’t begin his or her relationship on a friendship level with mom and dad, our heavenly Father knows we won’t with Him, either. Most of us, when younger and in our parents’ homes, trusted them to provide for us. Appropriately so. But hopefully, the day arrived when we wanted to be more than just a well-cared-for child. As I matured in life, I wanted to be my parents’ friend. At that point, I cared more about their happiness, well-being, and dreams than I did their money. I wanted to give them more than I wanted to take. We no longer talked only about my happiness, we discussed things that interested them, as well. Over the years, their faith had been transferred to me, and we dreamed together about making a difference for God. Our relationship had matured into a friendship. The same was true of Abraham. He started his journey with God looking for lands, blessings, and greatness. He embraced the promise of a biological son through whom he would produce a great nation. But thankfully, the relationship grew. In the end, Abraham proved his trust in God had grown to a level few people ever attain. He was even willing to sacrifice Isaac, his long-awaited son, believing if he did so, God would raise Isaac from the dead. What trust! The Lord so cherished His friendship with Abraham that, when he died, He saw to it Abraham was buried at Hebron - not Bethel, Shechem, Moriah, or any of the other places on their journey. I can’t help but believe that, like the hunting friend’s mountaintop plaque, this was God’s tribute to their friendship. Upon Abraham’s arrival in heaven, I like to think perhaps Jehovah stood, got everyone’s attention, and honored the old patriarch, “This is Abraham, my friend. We have dreamed together.” When God is looking for someone He can be vulnerable with, a friend with whom He can share His hopes, dreams, and yes, even His disappointments, I hope He feels He can look to me. And when my life is over, and my body laid to rest, if it can be said that He and I were friends, I will have been a success. Pray with me: Father, You took Abraham to Bethel, which means “the house of God.” You were revealing to him that You wanted family, that You would have Your family back. But Your ultimate goal was that he be more than that; You wanted him to be Your friend. So You led him to Hebron. That You want to be our Friend seems foreign to most of Your kids. Break off of us this result from the Fall, which robbed us of this understanding. Restore to us the audacious revelation that You are looking for friends. May we, like Abraham, become Your friend. May we, like Enoch, walk with You. As we do, please share with us Your desires and dreams. Reveal Your heart, Your ways, Your plans. We want to know You as never before. We ask You for this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Our decree: We decree that a generation is arising in the earth which will settle for nothing less than true intimacy with their heavenly Father. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. Click on the link below to watch the full video. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 101-107.]

The Senior Partner Abraham was a dreamer, maybe one of the greatest ever. God liked that about him - at that time in history, He desperately needed a dreaming friend. The Lord had been waiting for just the right dreamer to come along, one He could partner with to recapture His dream. These two friends walked together for many years, enjoyed a special covenant with one another, and modeled for all of us the power and beauty of divine-human partnership. Their story begins in Genesis 12, where God initiates His plan by instilling a dream in Abraham. “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you…’” Please notice that God began His journey with Abraham by appealing to his dreaming nature. How fascinating is that! “I’m going to make you My partner in rescuing My dream, Abraham. And I’m going to begin by giving YOU a dream.” Why, when looking for someone to help him recapture His dream, would God approach it this way. He could have just demanded that Abraham do what he wanted. But the Lord is well aware of the strength of our dreaming nature. He placed it there, after all. And also, He loves it when we dream. With this in mind, God knew that for this partnership to endure for a lifetime, Abraham would need the freedom to release this God-given nature. It couldn’t be a one-sided dream. Therefore, God began by placing a dream in Abraham’s heart regarding the birthing of a great nation. An incredible dream-marriage was born: “I will make from you a great nation” - Abraham's dream. “And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed” - God’s dream (Genesis 12). (The Messiah would come through this nation.) Having established the all-important fact that God was including Abraham in the dreaming process, two very important principles concerning dreaming are revealed in this inaugural meeting. The first of them is that when we become dreaming partners with God, He must always be the Senior Partner. Jehovah was inviting Abram into His world, not vice versa. He is the Lord and Creator; we are the created. He’s the leader, we follow His leading. Though promising a great blessing to Abraham. God was obviously the one offering the terms and conditions: “Go to the land I will show you…I will make you…I will bless you…I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:1-3). Twice in the passage, Abraham is seen building altars and worshiping the Lord. This clearly demonstrates his devotion and submission to Yahweh. The order is clear: God, the Senior Partner, is offering a conditional partnership to Abraham, not the other way around. The rewards for Abraham were great, but only if he chose God’s terms and conditions So often we reverse this, acting as though we’re doing God a favor by allowing Him into our dreaming world, even going so far as to approach Him in a deal-making manner: At times, we offer God token pieces of our dreams, time, money, and desires, all the while acting as though we’re doing Him a favor. How preposterous! The other important principle shown to us in Genesis 12 is that dreaming requires risk-taking. It required a huge risk and great faith on Abraham’s part to pursue the dream God was offering. Don’t forget, the Lord was requiring Abraham to relocate to an unknown place. Yahweh refused to give him many details up front, even refusing to reveal where He was leading him. “You just go, Abraham, and I’ll lead you along the way. Pack everything and follow me.” What a challenge! The faith this required was incredible, and for Abraham the risks were monumental: What if I’m not hearing God correctly? Or, what if this isn’t actually God talking to me? To Abraham, however, the dream was worth the risk! He took the chance, and God never forgot the trust he demonstrated. Holy Spirit was still thinking about it hundreds of years later when He inspired the book of Hebrews. “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place where he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8) Those who need the comfort of the familiar or the security of the known should forget about dreaming. The required leap of faith will always be a bit too unsettling. They’re like the African gazelle, which can jump fairly high and up to thirty feet in distance. In spite of this, they can be confined in zoos with only a three-foot wall. The reason: Gazelles won't jump if they can’t see where they will land. We are often like the gazelle, blessed with great ability and potential, yet imprisoned by the fear of the unknown. Predictability and mapped-out routes are for nondreamers and Google Maps. Dreamers, on the other hand, will be found heading into the unknown…going out on a limb…and at times, hanging by a thread. Pick your own risk cliché, just know you’ll have to do it. But when God is the source of the dream, that makes Him the limb, the thread, and the guide into the unknown. True faith is not reckless, but neither is it riskless. When Apple Computer fell on difficult days, Apple’s young chairman, Steven Jobs, traveled from Silicon Valley to New York City. His purpose was to convince Pepsico’s John Sculley to move west and run his struggling company. As the two men overlooked the Manhattan skyline from Sculley’s penthouse office, the Pepsi executive started to decline Jobs’ offer. “Financially,” Sculley said, “you’d have to give me a million-dollar salary, a million-dollar bonus, and a million-dollar severance.” Flabbergasted, Jobs agreed - if Sculley would move to California. But Sculley would commit only to being a consultant from New York. At that, Jobs issued a challenge to Sculley: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want to change the world?” In his autobiography Odyssey, Sculley admits Jobs’ challenge “knocked the wind out of me.” He said he'd become so caught up with his future at Pepsi, his pension, and whether his family could adapt to life in California that an opportunity to “change the world” nearly passed him by. Instead, he put his life in perspective and went to Apple. (1). Changing the world always requires the inconvenience of change and the unsettledness of risk. Abraham took this risk and, though he didn’t know it at the time, stepped into the greatest partnership imaginable: working with God to save the world. “In you,” the Lord told Abraham, “all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Though I’m certain Abraham didn’t fully understand the phrase, in hindsight, it is clear. If you’ll trust Me with your future, Abraham, I’ll let you in on Mine. You can be My partner in redeeming the world - the Messiah will come through you! Incredible! Dreaming with God to save the world! In His quest to redeem the world back to Himself, God is still looking for partners. He places dreams in human hearts, then discreetly hides one of His in it. He always has a dream of His own hidden in the dreams He gives us. If being a stay-at-home mom is one of your dreams, rest assured God has great plans for those kids. Why not elevate your dreams of raising children to that of producing God-partners? If your dream is to make great sums of money, why would you want to do so only to enjoy it for a few short years? Why not partner with God through your money, and by doing so, also lay up treasure in heaven where you can enjoy it forever? Whatever your God-given dream, look for one of His hidden inside. It’s there. Once this reality is discovered, it changes our thinking. Our dreams are elevated to a heavenly perspective, and we now see them as having eternal significance. This allows God to become more involved in their fulfillment, bringing supernatural favor and blessing to our efforts. And with Him as our Partner, anything is possible. Pray with me: Father, You have placed dreams in us, some of which we haven’t even yet discovered. You’re looking for those who will allow You to dream through them. We honor You as King and Lord, and desire to dream what You have planned for us, not generate our own dreams and ask You to bless them. We also want to dream fearlessly. When You place dreams in us that require high levels of faith, help us to respond as Abraham did, being willing even to venture into the unknown. As we prepare for the coming season, we want to dream with You of a BIG harvest. We want to dream Your dream of changing nations and reforming the earth. Break us free from earthbound dreams and launch us into Your world of eternal, heavenly dreams. We pray this in the name of Christ, Your dreaming Son. Our decree: We declare that we are a people of faith, dreaming big dreams with and for God. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. Click on the link below to watch the full video. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 85-91.] __________________________________ Craig Brian Larson, Contemporary Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 187.

The Dream Mix Since God gave us our dreaming nature, and since He has a purpose and destiny for each of us, it seems obvious He would want a voice in our choice of dreams. There is a verse of Scripture that addresses this and has meant a great deal to Ceci and me over the years: “Roll your works on the Lord. Commit and trust them wholly to Him. He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and so shall your plans be established and succeed” (Proverbs 16:3 AMP - classic edition). This wonderful verse seems almost too good to be true. God declares that He will super-naturally shape our thinking and plans, aligning them with His, which will then ensure success. The word plans in this verse comes from a word meaning “to weave, plait, or mix.” It can even refer to craftsmen inventing musical instruments, artistic objects, weapons, and other objects. The concept is simple: combining two or more substances to create something new. When used in reference to the mind, it refers to thoughts mixing together to form plans. This obviously would include dreams. Placing this definition back into the verse, God is saying to us: When you dream, I want to be in the mix. If you will allow Me, I will infuse my thoughts into the process and shape your plans according to the purpose and destiny I have created for you. This will guarantee success. What a great promise! I recall a time when Ceci and I were searching for the next phase of God's calling in our lives. We had recently married and I was about to graduate from Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. We had four opportunities with which to begin our world-changing ministry. (What can I say? We were dreamers!) The leading possibilities in our minds were overseas. We were standing on this verse, Proverbs 16:3, from the Amplified Bible. We quoted the verse daily, usually picturing ourselves somewhere in Guatemala or Zimbabwe. Our bags were practically packed. Then something strange occurred. While praying one day, I had the thought, CFNI is going to offer you a position, and you’re to accept it. “Where did that come from?” I thought. This was nowhere on our radar! Sure enough, within days, the offer came, and we said yes. It probably wouldn’t surprise you to know that those next two years working at CFNI became invaluable preparation for what God has done through us for the last forty years. Proverbs 16:3 had happened. God infused His thoughts into ours, and we listened, allowing Him “into the mix.” Dreaming works out much better when we bring the Author of dreams into the plans! Proverbs 19:21 uses this same word: “Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand.” Most of the time, we humans make our plans and formulate our dreams without bringing God into the process. This began with Adam and Eve’s original sin in Eden. Satan, the tempter, knew he could throw a wrench into God’s dream if he could cause humans to dream without divine influence. God’s plan wasn’t to have a family of independent dreamers; He desired co-dreamers. It was never His plan that we dream apart from Him and His influence - not because He’s a control freak, but because He wanted partners and associates. God wanted someone to dream with and someone to dream through. He needed outlets for His dreams. During the late 1700s, the Lord chose a remarkable destiny for a young man in England, one that would help shape the history of a nation. And as Steven Dyer writes, the date of that man’s departure to heaven, well, that too would prove to be profoundly significant. The movie Amazing Grace tells the true story of William Wilberforce, who led the efforts to eradicate slavery from Great Britain. When asked by his butler after his conversion if he had found God, Wilberforce’s reply was, “I think He found me.” Indeed, God found Wilberforce, who became so joined to His heart and desires that ultimately, no price was too great for the dream. His passion to see slavery end was so overwhelming that it resulted in stomach ailments, nightmares, ridicule, and four decades of tireless work. But days before his death, the decisive vote came to eliminate slavery from England. When the law became formal three days after the vote, Wilberforce’s spirit left this world. Thomas Buxton, a member of the House of Commons at the time, said of Wilberforce, “The day which was the termination of his labors was the termination of his life.” (1) God has need of you, just as He did Wilberforce. Since He never acts without purpose, the fact that you’re alive is proof that you have something this generation needs. Most people, however, go through life pursuing personal careers and goals without ever considering that God wants to dream through them. Too often, He’s a lonely dreamer. There must be millions of written but unfulfilled destinies in God’s dream book in heaven. The plans, accomplishments, and dreams He wrote about for so many are tragically undiscovered and unrealized. He and His plans never make it into their dream mix. Thankfully, this isn’t always the case. James Taylor, a chemist, was intrigued by all things Chinese, according to biographer Roger Steer. In the early months of 1832, Taylor knelt beside his wife, Amelia, in the parlor at the back of his busy chemist shop in England. “Dear God,” he prayed,” if you should give us a son, grant that he may work for You in China.” When their child was born on May 21, 1832, James and Amelia called him James Hudson Taylor. Immersed in a Methodist family fascinated with China, the young Hudson sometimes blurted out, “When I am a man, I mean to go to China,” though his parents had not told him of their prayer. He prepared himself by reading books on China, analyzing the gospel of Luke in the Chinese language, and studying medicine. Finally, on September 19, 1853, Hudson left Liverpool harbor and headed for China. In 1865, with great faith but limited financial resources, Taylor founded the China Inland Mission, with its goal being to present the gospel to all the provinces of China. By the time of Taylor’s death in 1905, the CIM was an international body with 825 missionaries living in all eighteen provinces of China and having seen twenty-five thousand Christian converts. J. Hudson Taylor’s parents put God into the mix of their dreams. Just as He promised in His Word, God infused His heart into theirs, and when they conceived a son, He stamped into his DNA the divine-human dream. Amazing. Only heaven knows the full extent of the fruit. Whether you become a missionary, an attorney, or a school teacher, let God into your dreaming mix. Become the outlet for one of His dreams. (2) Pray with me: Father, as we are challenged to dream, we look now at the importance of keeping You in the mix. Teach us how to allow Your thoughts, Your ways, and Your heart to leaven the process. You have promised that if we do this, our plans will be established and succeed. You tell us in Your Word that many plans are in a person’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord - Your counsel - will stand. Forgive us for taking You out of the mix in our personal lives, and also for doing so as a nation. We repent on behalf of our nation and ask for the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from our rebellion and rejection of You. You have determined that we would be outlets for Your dreams. We choose this day to walk in the fullness of that revelation. Psalm two makes clear Your dream of a great harvest in all the nations. You told Jesus to ask You for this, and You would do it. He has asked, and now You will accomplish it. As part of Your dreaming family, we partner with You to see this accomplished. And we do it in the unfailing name of Jesus. Amen. Our decree: We declare that God is in our thinking, leading us down His paths. Therefore our plans will succeed. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. Click on the link below to watch the full video. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 49-50, 77-82.] ______________________________________ Steven G. Dyer, Transforming a Nation (Grove, OK: Steven G. Dyer, 2010) p 54. Adapted from Roger Steer, “pushing Inward,” Christian History: Hudson Taylor and Missions to China 15, no 4 (1996): http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1996/issue52/52h10a.html ; and adapted from Ralph R. Covell, “Taylor, James Hudson,” Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, ed. Gerald H Anderson (New York: MacMillan Reference USA, 1998), reprinted online at http:www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/t/tayor-james-hudson.php.

Hounds and Roosters Ceci and I have a Treeing Walker Coonhound. Not running around a farm, but in our house. She was found in a cage at the local PetSmart, needing a home. My sweet wife, who it seems has the God-given destiny of seeing how many dogs one couple can own in a lifetime, swears she was providentially led to Gracie Mae. (All of Ceci’s dogs have middle names.) We didn’t know Gracie was a coon dog at first, just that she was a hound (“with a cute heart-shaped freckle on her nose” - Ceci). About two weeks into her adoption, she found her bark. Correction: She doesn’t bark - our other two dogs bark. Gracie howls or bays. (“Not being a coonhound expert, I looked up the word bay to make certain it was accurate: “a deep, prolonged howl, as of a hound on a scent.” Perfect.) When Gracie made her first attempt at it, I said to Ceci, “That sounded like a coon dog.” A couple of weeks later, the vet confirmed it - a Treeing Walker Coonhound. Now that Gracie Mae is fully grown, so is her howl. I’ve tried to come up with spelling for how it sounds, but can’t. Just try to imagine Scooby Doo with a bullhorn. And when she talks - yes, she talks - it’s simply a howl at a conversational volume. Sometimes she tries it with a bone in her mouth. She knows if she drops it, one of the other two dogs might snatch it up, so she simply greets me with it in her mouth. Sounds like Scooby Doo with the croup. We love Gracie Mae. We even like her howls and love language. She was born and bred to do it. It doesn't matter to Gracie that she’s not in the woods treeing a coon; she was born to howl, so she does it anyway. When God wove us in our mother’s wombs, He gave us our “howl.” He placed certain bents, motivations, gifts, and abilities in us. Ephesians 2:10 tells us: “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Because we don’t often use the term workmanship in our culture, this translation doesn’t adequately communicate to us the strength of what God is saying. It doesn’t simply mean that He created us. Poiema, the Greek word used here, means “a product,” often referring to fabric or an outfit of clothing. This verse is using the same symbolism as Psalm 139:13, which says God “wove” us in our mother’s womb. We are God’s clothing, designed by Him, that He intends to wear! Consistent with this symbolism, the phrase “prepared beforehand” in this verse comes from a sewing term meaning “to measure or fit in advance.” Like any good tailor, before God “wove” us in our mother’s womb, He “measured” us. As our Creator and Destiny-giver, He made sure our gifts, abilities, personality, and motivations would fit our purpose. With these things in mind, qualities matching calling, He tailored us as the garment He would need to wear - He does live inside of us - in order to accomplish His purposes in and through us. God warns us in Romans 12:2 not to allow outside agents to shape or design us. He uses the term metamorphosis, the transition of a caterpillar to a butterfly, to describe our transformation. In this analogy, the worm isn’t being changed from the outside in but is “morphing” into what is already programmed into its DNA. The point couldn’t be clearer: Make sure your dreams match your design - become who you are, not who you aren’t! No one who knew him well thought David, one of Israel's kings and ancient ancestor of Christ, was fit to be a king. I’m certain they didn’t think he was a giant slayer, either. When the prophet Samuel was sent to David’s father, Jesse, to anoint one of his sons as the next king of Israel, David wasn’t even invited to the choosing ceremony. Had it not been for a “tuned in” prophet who realized the real king hadn’t yet arrived, history would be very different. What might we call “the tabernacle of David”? Would Christ still be called “the Son of David”? And who would have shown us what a “man after God’s heart” looks like? David’s father thought he was only cut out to be a shepherd and errand boy. His brothers thought he was an arrogant runt, hungry for attention. God’s thesis on David, however, said he was a history-maker, a warrior, and a worshiper. He “wove” him accordingly, writing in his heart dreams of nobility, strength, psalm writing, and radical worship. Aren’t you glad David dreamed the right dreams? Most likely, more people have found comfort and solace from his words than through any other person. What would we have done without the twenty-third Psalm? The Lord Himself quoted some of David’s words while on the Cross. History is filled with similar what-ifs. What if Winston Churchill had believed his critics and chosen a different path? Would England have survived the onslaught of the Nazis without Him? More than a century earlier, would the United States have survived and defeated the British if George Washington hadn’t answered the call? Would there have been revivalists like John and Charles Wesley if Susanna, their mother, had adopted a different view of motherhood? Look deep inside and ask yourself what dreams God hid in you. What makes you come alive? What strengths have lain dormant while you’ve pursued goals that could never fulfill you? Make a determination now to pursue the dreams God has for you. In the Pentecostal Evangel, J.K. Gressett writes about a man named Samuel S. Scull, who settled on a farm in the Arizona desert with his wife and children: “One night, a fierce desert storm struck with rain, hail, and high wind. At daybreak, feeling sick and fearing what he might find, Samuel went to survey their loss. The hail had beaten the garden and truck patch into the ground; the house was partially unroofed; the henhouse had blown away, and dead chickens were scattered about. Destruction and devastation were everywhere. “While standing dazed, evaluating the mess and wondering about the future, he heard a stirring in the lumber pile that was the remains of the hen house. A rooster was climbing up through the debris, and he didn’t stop climbing until he had mounted the highest board in the pile. That old rooster was dripping wet, and most of his feathers were blown away. But as the sun came over the eastern horizon, he flapped his bony wings and proudly crowed.” (1) What a great example for us! The rooster knew his role. He wasn’t trying to make a statement, nor was he checking to see if he could still do it. He was crowing simply because God put into his DNA the desire to announce the beginning of each new day. And nothing was going to change that. Sometimes animals seem to “get it” better than we humans. Like our once fine-feathered friend, God made you with a purpose and inscribed it into your DNA. If you don’t discover that purpose, you could end up teaching school when your Designer needed and wove you to be an accountant. You might end up trapped in an office when the Writer needed and wanted a stay-at-home mom to help Him shape a child into a world-changer! Or perhaps you would pastor a congregation instead of being the CEO He created you to be. Many ill-fitted individuals have climbed to the top of debris piles and are trying to crow. They don’t do it well, and no one awakens to their sound. What were you born to do? What did your Tailor measure you for? Are your dreams consistent with this? Is someone trying to make you act like a Yorkie when you’re a bona fide Treeing Walker Coonhound? You will never be truly fulfilled until your dreams, goals, pursuits, and activities match what your Creator dreamed for you. Like our canine friend, Gracie Mae, find your howl and be who you were meant to be. Pray with me: Father, a fierce storm has come and caused America to forget who and what we were created to be. You declared America’s DNA at the planting of Cape Henry‘s cross: take the Gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth. You wrote it on the Liberty Bell and caused it to ring out across the land at our birth. You have made us a voice for Christ’s Jubilee, His salvation, throughout the earth. You wove the garments of this nation. We are your workmanship - restore us and wear us again. In our rebellious state, many cannot see our true destiny, just as people could not see David’s. But prophetic individuals, the Samuels of the earth, can see it and have prophesied that America shall be saved. We believe this, and decree that America will climb up out of the debris pile, and once again announce the purposes of God on the earth. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen. Our decree: We declare that the Great Redeemer is also the great Restorer and Reformer. And He is coming to America again. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. Click on the link below to watch full video. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 71-76.] _____________________________________ Craig Brian Larson, Contemporary Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), p 183.

The Motivator When Steve Cauthen was nine, his job was helping his father on the farm. In between pitching hay, he liked jumping on the packed bales, pretending he was on a racehorse. Once, when his father said, “Stop daydreaming, boy, and put the bale in the truck.” Steve answered, “I will as soon as I win the Belmont Stakes.” And sure enough, the young man who was riding a bale of hay did go on to win, not just the Belmont Stakes, but the Triple Crown - at age eighteen. His dream at the age of nine propelled Steve Cauthen to become one of the most successful jockeys in the world. (1) You gotta love it! Vision is a Motivator! We began discussing Proverbs 29:18 yesterday. The verse tells us that where there is no vision or dream, we will perish. The word from which perish comes, para is rich with meaning. We saw the following three definitions yesterday: unbridled, unprotected, and unready for an opportunity. Let’s look now at a few more results of dreamlessness. The fourth meaning of para is “to withdraw.” In Exodus 5:4, para is used in the context of withdrawing from or being unwilling to work. Dreams motivate us, whereas lacking a dream will cause us to be unmotivated. It may come as a surprise to you that the greatest motivator in life is not need. If that were the case, the most motivated people would always be those in poverty. Sadly, this sometimes isn’t the case. Without a dream to work toward, some individuals living in poverty are unmotivated and unwilling to work. Typically, the hardest worker in a company, at least in the start-up days, is the owner of the dream, not his or her employees. There is no greater motivator for hard work than a dream. Wilma Rudolph was the twentieth of twenty-two children. She was born prematurely, and her survival was doubtful. When she was four, Wilma contracted double pneumonia, scarlet fever, and polio, which left her with a paralyzed left leg. But Wilma had a dream. At age nine, she removed the metal brace she had been dependent on and began walking without it. By thirteen, she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. It wasn’t. Miracles are sudden, supernatural events accomplished by God and God alone. That wasn’t His plan for Wilma. He wanted her to dream of walking without a brace and, through courage, tenacity, and hard work, chase her dream. How else could she model greatness for the rest of us? But walking wasn’t enough for Wilma. That same year she decided to become a runner. I suppose if you’re going to dream, you may as well go for the gold! She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years, in every race Wilma entered, she came in last. Would the dream survive? Everyone told her to quit, but Wilma kept on running. One day she broke her “sound barrier” - she actually won a race. And then another. From then on, she won every race she entered. Eventually, this little girl, who had been told she would never walk again, went on to win three Olympic gold medals. “My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to,” Wilma explained. “The first was to walk without braces.” (2) Thank you, Wilma, and thank you, Mom, for demonstrating the power of a dream. Wilma took off a brace and strapped on a dream. Dreams heal. The fifth thing that can occur when we’re without a dream came as somewhat of a surprise when I discovered it. Para is used elsewhere in Scripture to describe rejecting counsel (see Proverbs 1:25; 8:33; 13:18; 15:32). Interesting. Where there is no vision, people are unteachable. Perhaps the opposite is easier to see. One who is pursuing a dream is constantly looking for new and fresh ideas to help them on their journey. They realize that “without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors, they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22). Proverbs 29:18 tells us to “prepare plans by consultation.” The wise dreamer knows the importance of this and pursues wisdom, counsel, and creative new ideas. A stubborn, arrogant, and very obstinate man I met years ago embodied the concept of being unteachable. He made lots of money and had a beautiful wife and three wonderful children, but he was one of the most selfish individuals I had ever known. Over the years, people had tried to address his attitudes and issues, only to be rejected and insulted. Then one day, things began to unravel. His business was suffering, his kids were rebellious, and his wife had had enough of his cruel, selfish ways. She told him she was leaving. This individual did something few men in his condition are willing to do: He took a long and honest look into his own heart. The only truthful conclusion was that his problems were self-inflicted. In a move that surprised everyone, he sought help. Over the next weeks and months, he ruthlessly dealt with his issues. Allowing the Lord - with the help of a wise, discerning counselor - to break his hard, prideful heart, he was able to truly change and eventually win back his wife and kids. Ultimately, his business also recovered, and once again, he became very prosperous. When asked what it was that finally opened his heart to receive instruction and produce a willingness to change, his response was profoundly simple: “That's easy. It was the dream of having my family back.” Dreams soften the heart and open the mind. The sixth and final definition of para relates especially to two or more people sharing a dream. Though corporate dreams are not our primary subject in this teaching, they are certainly worth mentioning. Leaders especially will find it interesting and helpful. Para means to let down or unbraid hair. To unbraid is to separate or unravel. Where there is no common vision, people disconnect. The commonality of cause and vision, however, brings people and their labors together. Whether the context is world evangelization, civil rights, saving babies, or saving whales, shared dreams motivate people to forget their differences, come together, and work for the cause. When God created us with our dreaming nature, He knew how powerful a force it would be. He was also very aware of the crippling results of losing this precious gift. He stands ready to lead each of us into the purposes He created for us and to birth in us the vision sufficient to accomplish them. And as we shall see, He has already placed within us the gifts and abilities we will need to succeed. Take our coonhound, Gracie Mae, for example…tomorrow she’ll teach us. Pray with me: Father, America has lost her vision, her dream of representing You on the earth, and things have come unraveled. Submitting to demonic lifestyles and activities has also caused our culture to fray and our strength to wane. In many ways, evil prevails in our nation. We are also “unbraided” in the sense that we have become divided, separated, and disunified. The only hope for recovery is a true spiritual awakening. We have asked for this, and You have said You would give us one. Scripture confirms this, stating that You always want to save, not judge. You are dreaming of a great worldwide harvest, and Your dream for America is to play a significant role in it. So we lay hold of this now by faith. You have told us that appealing to You still works. And we are more than confident that this is true. So we birth this dream of Yours through our intercession, partnering with You to save the world. Your Kingdom IS coming forth, Your will IS being done, and these things will NOT be stopped. Amen. Our decree: We decree that the tide is turning, the purposes of God are being accomplished, and our prayers are part of the solution. We will not waver. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. Click on the link below to watch the full video. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 47, 65-70.] ______________________________________________ Denis Waitley and Reni L. Witt, The Joy of Working (New York: Ballantine Books, 1985), p 33. Adapted from Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul (Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 1995), pp 254-255.

Decorate the Dream No one imagined Charles Dutton would ever amount to anything, for he spent many years imprisoned for manslaughter. When asked how he was able to make such a remarkable transition, this successful Broadway star replied, “unlike the other prisoners, I never decorated my cell.”(1) The mundane art of cell decorating is common but unnatural - it’s a learned art. Unintended for us by our Creator, this practice is the equivalent of being dreamless or purposeless. Decorating one’s cell means he or she has determined to make a current rut permanent. You don’t have to be in a prison to live in a cell. Your current job could be one; perhaps the job you just lost, having imprisoned you in unpleasant circumstances, is your prison cell. The relationship you lost, the abuse you suffered, the poverty in which you were raised, the injury you incurred, the personal challenge that you seem unable to conquer - cells come in all shapes and sizes. If allowed, they will imprison you in a confined place of isolation, despair, hopelessness, and inactivity. Their ultimate effect, if not checked, will be to rob you of your future. There is good news, however, concerning this Alcatraz of the soul. You possess a key that will unlock the cell door. What is this key? Dreaming. The only thing that can keep you locked in your cell is losing the will to dream. You’ll have to either dream or decorate. Proverbs 29:18 speaks of the death sentence that comes from being dreamless: “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (KJV). It doesn’t get any plainer than that. If you don’t dream, you’ll die. Perhaps you won't perish physically, but a part of you certainly will, and it will be the part that makes you truly live life. As William Wallace in the movie Braveheart said to the cell-bound men of Scotland, men who were afraid to fight for freedom from the tyranny of Britain, “Every man dies; not every man really lives.” Truer words were never spoken. Like a flashlight with a hidden, corroding battery inside, you can look good on the outside but be dying on the inside. Cell decorating requires a degree of denial. Hiding behind a well-disguised facade, while actually plagued with the inability to live life to the fullest, is exactly what this verse in Proverbs is describing. The word perish is actually more associated with this figurative meaning than it is with physical death. Perish comes from the Hebrew word para, and when fully understood, reveals several ways dreamlessness can destroy. First, para means unbridled, uncontrolled, or unrestrained. Where there is no dream or vision, we are like a horse without a bridle or a car without a steering wheel or brakes: out of control and headed for disaster. Activity alone doesn’t equal progress, and busyness doesn’t equate to productivity. Hard work in and of itself doesn’t guarantee success, nor does the admirable character trait of perseverance. Something must direct these efforts and qualities, and that something is a clear vision. Someone once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” A bridle, providing a connection point for a horse’s reins, illustrates this well. It allows the rider of a horse to control its great strength and ability, making these things work for him, not against him. An out-of-control horse is not only unproductive, it is also dangerous and destructive. With a bridle and reins, however, a rider can turn a horse with just a gentle tug. It’s not difficult to see how dreams function in this way, keeping us moving in the right direction. Dreams not only steer us, they also provide restraint. Where there is no vision, people are unrestrained (see Proverbs 29:18 NASB). It is easier to refrain from overspending, for example, when one is saving money for a specific cause. Whether it is a child saving her allowance to purchase a bicycle or a married couple saving funds to buy a home, vision produces self-control. The second meaning of para is somewhat unusual; it can actually mean naked. The concept is often figurative, referring to one that is uncovered or unprotected, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually. The word could actually be translated as “exposed.” Where there is no vision, people are unprotected and vulnerable to wrong choices, compromise, and distractions that waste time and energy. In 1991, just after moving to Colorado for the purpose of writing and taking a partial sabbatical, I was offered the pastorate of a very large church in Florida. The pastor and founder of the congregation wanted to retire and was searching for his successor. Though I didn't feel the position was right for me, out of respect for this person, I agreed to at least travel there to hear his proposal. The offer was generous and enticing. The church had just completed a new and beautiful 2000-seat sanctuary, the salary would be much more money than I had ever made, and my young family would be secure for years to come. At one point, the pastor actually held the keys of this new building up to me and, with tears in his eyes, begged me to take them. After much prayer, we said no. My dream was to write. I also felt called to the nation at large, to travel and teach on the subject of prayer, something I would have been unable to do while leading a large congratulation. This was a huge test, but my dream protected me. We stayed the course and remained in Colorado Springs. It was a short time later that my first book, Intercessory Prayer, was written. I also became one of the leaders of the worldwide “prayer movement.” Intercessory Prayer is now in more than thirty languages, and I have authored over 20 other books. I often wonder what would have happened had I taken that offer. Would I have written books? Would I have connected with the necessary leaders in the prayer revival? Many lived in Colorado Springs during that time. It’s impossible to know for certain, but I would likely have missed portions of my dream and destiny. Still, another concept of para has helped decorate more cells than you can imagine. “Perish” means to be unready or unprepared. Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, in his lexicon, says it is used to describe missing an opportunity by letting it slip through the fingers.(2) Where there is no vision or dream, opportunities will be missed. On the other hand, focused vision produces alertness to opportunity. A person who dreams of becoming wealthy through real estate will see building and land opportunities others miss. Shockingly, during the Great Depression, there were more millionaires created than at any other time in history. While many people decorated their cells, others were dreaming of opportunities. One who dreams of winning souls will see the potential in a sinful individual, whereas someone else may see only their sinfulness. Jesus saw something more than a prostitute in Mary Magdalene; He saw a potential follower and helped her undecorate her cell. He hates decorated cells. Perhaps you’ve heard of Ned and Jed. They were seeking their fortune-hunting wolves - a $5,000 bounty was being offered for wolves captured alive. Exhausted, they fell asleep one night dreaming of their soon-to-come riches. A few hours later, Ned awoke to see them surrounded by forty wolves with bared teeth. Nudging Jed, he whispered, “Wake up, Jed. We’re rich!” Some see obstacles, dreamers see possibilities! The problem is that most of us aren’t looking for the opportunities; and we aren’t looking because we aren’t dreaming. This would be a good time to remove and demolish all of the decor in your cell - every picture, the figurines, the souvenirs. Get rid of everything that makes you feel comfortable in a dreamless world. It’s time to decorate the dream. Pray with me: Father, many people have given up on dreaming. Locked in their prison of passivity or fear, they endeavor to make the cell as pleasant as possible. But You have other plans for them. You want to heal them of disappointment, fear, hope deferred, or anything else that keeps them from dreaming with You. Bridle us with Your plans and purposes for our lives. Appropriate dreaming brings discipline and needed restraint to us. It protects us from detours and wrong choices, and keeps us alert to Your opportunities. And as we allow You to stir up the dreaming nature in us, we pray that believers always include You in their dreams. Here in our nation, so many have made “the American dream” a selfish one, all about money and possessions. We pray that in this coming Great Awakening, Your dream for America would be rediscovered in “the American dream.” And we know the dreams of Your heart always involve people, not things. Melt our hearts into Yours, we pray, in Christ’s name. Amen. Our decree: We declare that we are a people of vision, we have dreaming hearts, and our dreams will always be influenced by the heart of God. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. Click on the link below to watch the full video. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 57-63.] _______________________________________ Craig Brian Larson, Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), p 280. Spiros Zodhiates, ed., Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible (Chattanooga: AMAG, 1990), 1766.

You Were Born to Dream “Hey, Mom,” shouted Sarah, our older daughter, “close your eyes until we tell you to open them.” Sarah and Hannah were five and three years old at the time - going on twenty and eighteen. The girls were in another room, not yet visible, waiting to make their grand entrance. “Okay, Mommy, open your eyes,” cried Hannah. Into the kitchen paraded two young ladies in Mom’s high heels, play dresses, purses, lipstick, makeup, and jewelry, ready to strut their stuff. Too pleased and proud to be upset - and hoping the lipstick was smeared only around their mouths and not on the carpet - Mom played along, and out came the camera. The Sheets Family Fashion Show was in full swing. What mother of little girls hasn’t experienced something similar? And what parent of little boys hasn’t seen them playacting some aspect of being a man? During the years my brother, Tim, and I were growing up, our dad was an evangelist and pastor. Mom has a picture of us at four and three years of age using a small stepladder as a pulpit, with a Bible resting on top. We two young boys were fervently “preaching the gospel.” Thousands were saved! Whether it’s a small child dreaming of being an adult, a teenager fantasizing about changing the world, or an adult planning their future, we’re dreamers all. Some internal force compels us to think about the future: tonight’s party, the trip next week, or the expansion next year. Regardless of the theme, we’re always thinking about our tomorrows. We can’t help it. Our nature is to dream. Our Creator is a dreamer, and He placed within us His dreaming nature. Made in His image and likeness, we can’t simply function like angels or animals, which do not dream. Angels do as they’re told, and animals act based on instinct or mimic their parents. Even those animals that seem to think ahead - hoarding food for a winter season, building a “home,” or flying south for the winter - aren’t planning; they’re “instincting.” On the other hand, when we do these sorts of things, we are planning, imagining, and envisioning the future. We’re dreaming. Unlike my girls fantasizing about being like Mommy, a baby peacock doesn’t put on pretend feathers and strut its stuff. A caterpillar doesn’t dream of one day having beautiful butterfly wings and colors; it doesn’t even wish it could fly. Lions don’t invent new ways to kill prey and salmon don’t long for the day they swim “home.” None of these creatures are blessed and trusted with a dreaming nature. Only humans. This means the animal world has strict preset limitations as to what they can do and become. Not us. Through the power of imagination and creativity, God has gifted humans with almost unlimited ability and potential. We manage and steward our home - the earth - and its resources. We grow and maximize our inherent gifts and talents, shaping and molding our futures. We build and invent by discovering, harnessing, and utilizing the laws of physics and science. We mass produce materials and reshape earth’s elements into steel, concrete, rubber, and other useable products. Like a thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie, we’re hopelessly addicted to the rush of pursuing, discovering, or creating something new. We can’t help it. We’re made in God’s image, therefore, we dream; we dream, and therefore we create. The Scriptures actually connect dreaming and creating, a fact I mentioned earlier in this series and will look at more closely later.. Observation and history both teach us this is true. If you didn’t dream, you wouldn’t create, for creating is simply transferring dreams from the realm of thought to the world of reality. The story is told about a young misfit named Sparky who dreamed. And he created. Many obstacles tried to stop him, but the dream survived. For Sparky, school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. In high school, he flunked physics, Latin, algebra, and English. He didn’t do well at sports either. He did manage to make the school’s golf team but promptly lost the only important match of the season. Sparky was socially awkward. He was astonished if a classmate ever said hello. And dating? Well, that was totally out of the question. Sparky was a loser, and everyone knew it. Somehow he rolled with it, learning to be content. Drawing was important to Sparky, and he was proud of his artwork. Here, too, he would suffer rejection as his drawing submissions would be turned down by Disney, and even his school yearbook. More losses for the loser. Sparky decided to write his own story - a story told by cartoons. He described himself as a little boy who was a loser and a chronic underachiever. That little boy in the cartoon, who was rejected again and again, was known worldwide as Charlie Brown. The Peanuts comic strip helped Charles Schulz go from misfit to sensation.(1) How fortunate for Charles Schulz, and for cartoon lovers everywhere, that he continued dreaming. Had he not, the creative wit and imagination in him would have stayed locked up in his brilliant mind. His dream would never have materialized, and his destiny would have been lost. The dreaming nature in you wants and needs an outlet. If you are not dreaming, a part of who you were made to be has ceased to function. And, as we shall see, if you’re not dreaming, you have cut yourself off from at least some portion of your future. Your destiny needs for you to dream! Monty Roberts was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who worked hard training horses at many farms, stables, and ranches. His high school career was continually interrupted because of this work schedule. As a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up. Monty wrote a lengthy paper describing his goal of someday owning a magnificent horse ranch. He drew a diagram of the two-hundred-acre dream ranch, detailing the location of the buildings, stables, track, and four-thousand-square-foot house. A great deal of his heart went into this project. A few days later, Monty received the paper back from his teacher with a large red F. Upon being asked the reason for the F, the teacher responded, “This is an unrealistic dream for a boy like you. You have no resources or money. You’d have to buy the land, breeding stock, and pay stud fees, among other things. There’s no way you could ever do it.” The teacher then added, “If you rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.” Monty thought about it long and hard for a week. Finally, he turned in the same paper, making no changes at all, and informed his dream-stealing teacher, “You can keep the F, and I’ll keep my dream.” Years later, Monty’s dream became a reality. He now owns a two-hundred-acre ranch…and has his high school paper framed over the fireplace.(2) Don’t allow anything to steal your dream, and don’t shut down your dreaming nature. Your destiny is at stake. Ronald Meredith, in his book Hurryin’ Big for Little Reasons, describes one quiet night in early spring: “Suddenly out of the night came the sound of wild geese flying. I ran to the house and breathlessly announced the excitement I felt. What is to compare with wild geese across the moon? “It might have ended there except for the sight of our tame mallards on the pond. They heard the wild call they had once known. The honking out of the night sent little arrows of prompting deep into their wild yesterdays. Their wings fluttered a feeble response. The urge to fly - to take their place in the sky for which God made them - was sounding in their feathered breasts, but they never raised from the water. “The matter had been settled long ago. The corn of the barnyard was too satisfying! Now their desire to fly only made them uncomfortable.”(3) If you’ve stopped flying, determine to start again. If you’ve stopped dreaming, tell the naysayers they can keep their F; you were made to dream. If loss or pain has created hope deferred in you, ask God to heal your heart and awaken your dreaming nature. He will do so. He loves to give new beginnings, and He loves it when you dream. Pray with me: Father, You made us dreamers, just like You. We can’t help but look ahead. Today we dream of a different America. We dream of an America that honors life, that honors You and Your Word. We dream of a generation that embraces, once again, Your passion for delivering the good news of Your Kingdom to the ends of the earth. We dream of young people who know You and are secure in the identity and destiny You gave them. We dream of them as passionate worshipers of You and followers of Your ways. We dream of a government that lives our national motto, In God We Trust, and honors our national pledge, “…one nation under God.” We dream of a church that is filled with life, fire, and power. And for people around the world, we dream of freedom, health, food to eat, and prosperity. Send revival. Defeat and remove evil leaders that oppress people, dictate, and create war. Remove them from power. Destroy their evil yoke. We pray all this in the authority of Christ. Amen. Our decree: We declare that no comfort will create passivity or complacency in us. We will dream big dreams for God. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 39-45.] Click on the link below to watch the full video. ____________________________________________ Earl Nightingale, “Sparky - Charlie Brown,” in More Sower’s Seeds, ed. Brian Cavanaugh (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1992), pp 54-55. Adapted from Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul (Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 1993), pp 201-202. Craig Brian Larson, Illustrations for preaching and Teaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), p 38.

The Song One of the great dream stories of our day bears a striking resemblance to part of God’s dream journey. As a contestant on Britain’s Got Talent, Susan Boyle pursued her lifelong dream of a successful singing career. At forty-seven, her age, pleasant but non-striking appearance, and shyness caused the judges and crowd to initially be condescending and dismissive of her. Perhaps you saw later how her introduction and opening interview were met with mock smiles and derisive nods by the panel of judges. A few chuckles even arose from the crowd as this misguided dreamer shared her dream. Then Susan began to sing. Mouths flew open, applause exploded, and a star - or should I say a dream - was born. On the surface, the title of her flagship song, “I Dreamed a Dream,” taken from the musical Les Misérables, seemed perfect for the dream-come-true story of this middle-aged phenom. The irony, however, is that the song is really quite depressing. It is the story of a person who has completely given up on dreaming and the song ends with the line, “Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.” What a disheartening statement. How tragic and sad…and how oft repeated. But the story didn’t end there for Susan Boyle - she robbed the song of its meaning! This amazing lady defied all odds and rode one of the world’s most famous “dead dream” songs to her own dream. Incredible. A song about the loss of a dream has now brought inspiration to millions. A dirge birthed a dream. God sang one of those songs. His dream had barely begun when the Father of Lies, the dream-stealer, misrepresented His heart to Adam and Eve. “God’s holding out on you,” was satan’s accusation. “You should come out from under His controlling oppression so you can really dream some big dreams.” (see Genesis 3:1-7) What a perversion of truth! God had already invited Adam and Eve into the most amazing dream partnership ever. He had just created time for them (there’s a brain teaser), had fashioned the earth and its incredible bounty for them to steward and enjoy, and had begun the process of relating to them as His family, friends, and co-dreamers. Paradise and unimaginable bliss awaited these first two humans and their eventual family. Tragedy struck, however, when Adam and Eve bought into satan’s dream-stealing lie. Immeasurable pain ensued, and God’s dream became a nightmare. As in Les Miserablés, life had tried to kill His dream. It looked as though the Creator’s dream was dead before it had fully begun. From all appearances, the dream-stealer had won. But God is an incurable dreamer and refused to give up on His dream! He had, in fact, already planned for this potential setback and was ready with an audacious and incredible plan for the redemption of the dream. It was brilliant, spellbinding, and, though successful, very painful. When God sent His Son to rescue the dream, Christ stepped onto the stage of life and began singing. And what amazing songs He sang. Songs of love, peace, and healing rolled off His lips and out from His hands. Lepers were cleansed, and rotting skin was replaced by healthy tissue. Sightless eyes were filled with wonder as they saw the world around them for the first time. Outcast prostitutes felt clean and pure again, paralytics walked, and dead people lived again. But suddenly, like the high-pitched screech on a beginner’s violin, a horrible sound was heard. Love’s music stopped, and hate’s song began. Redemption's song was replaced with a dirge, much like the song Susan Boyle sang. What horrible lyrics were heard as the Author of life and Giver of hope was beaten and tortured. Satan was the songwriter and it seemed that hell itself became the orchestra. In the person of His Son, God’s very own blood and mangled flesh - along with history’s ultimate injustice - was paraded before His taunting abusers. Mocking laughter and derisive jeers from satan’s kingdom celebrated the apparent final death of God’s dream. But for the Prince of Darkness, something began to go horribly wrong. The Son of God persevered in singing death’s dirge, and as He did, the hideous lyrics were overpowered by His love, power, and purity. In heaven’s gallery, a glimmer of hope began to emerge. Could it really be? Yes, the impossible was happening! Through Jesus’s shed blood, death was losing its sting, the grave its victory, the destroyer his hold on humanity. Death’s dirge was birthing a dream! In the greatest turning of the tables in human history, God was stripping the dream-stealer of his power and using his own song to do it! Death lost, life won! When Christ shouted, “It is finished,” the music changed, death’s song died, and dream’s song was reborn. Not only God’s but ours. I know many of you have seemingly had your dreams stolen by life. I want you to keep reading. I want you to dream again. I want you to know that God Himself had His dream stolen but refused to give up. And just as He recaptured His dream, He knows how to turn your dirge into a dream song. Never forget, there was a point in time when the comforting words, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus,” would have been horrifying beyond belief by all of heaven. Yet God turned the words into an eternal anthem of hope. At the Royal Palace of Tehran, in Iran, you can see one of the most beautiful mosaics in the world. The ceilings and walls flash like diamonds in multifaceted reflections. But to create this priceless work, the architect had to rob destruction of its power. Originally, when the palace was designed, the architect specified huge sheets of mirrors on the walls. When the first shipment arrived from Paris, they found, to their horror, that the mirrors were shattered. The contractor threw them in the trash and brought the sad news to the architect. Amazingly, he ordered all of the broken pieces collected, then smashed them into tiny pieces and glued them to the walls where they became a mosaic of silvery, shimmering, mirrored bits of glass.(1) The Architect of life has designed some wonderful dreams for you. If you’ve been broken, through that brokenness, He wants to create a mosaic of His glory and present you to the world as a testimony of His grace and love. Joseph kept dreaming in his prison and ultimately reflected the mosaic of kingly wisdom and godly virtue (see Genesis 28-50). David kept dreaming, even as an outcast living in the caves of Adullam, and eventually revealed what a man after God’s heart looked like (see 1 Samuel 18-31). God has plans and designs for you, as well. For some, they’ll be new dreams; for others, they will be broken dreams reconstructed by the Master Dreamer Himself as He transforms your dirge into an anthem. Allow Him to reconstruct, restore, or even recreate His dream inside of you so you can, once again, sing His song and reflect His glory. You were born to dream. Pray with me: Father, You were determined to allow nothing to conquer Your dream. You have proven that life conquers death, good conquers evil, and You will ultimately win. Thank You for sending Jesus to become one of us in order that we could become a member of Your great family. We pray today for those who have seen their dreams shattered, stolen, or lost. Let them know You are He who heals broken hearts and restores our dreaming nature. When Your ways are followed, You bring forth beauty, in Your time. Heal those experiencing hope deferred and give them the help they need to dream again. We pray once again for the fulfillment of Your dream of a billion souls saved in our generation. Pour out Your Spirit in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, Canada, South America, North America, and every inhabited island of the sea. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, we command into the earth now, in the name of Jesus. Our decree: We declare: for every shattered dream, God has a mosaic of beauty in mind. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 33-37.] Click on the link below to watch the full video. ___________________________________________ Alice Gray, More Stories for the Heart (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1997), p 220.

The Heavenly Dreamer We are dreamers because God is a dreamer. His book, the Bible, is actually the story of His dream. That may surprise you. Some think the Bible is a legalistic rule book or, at best, a boring history book. Nothing could be further from the truth. Obviously, it contains many precepts and principles, but they are given to us as a road map for life’s journey, not a rule book. In Scripture, God shares His dream with us - in a most vulnerable way, I might add - and invites us to enter His dreaming world. He and His kids were to be the ultimate “dream team.” The dictionary defines a dream as: A cherished desire What is seen, envisioned, or longed for in the mind concerning the future Unrealized desires, longings, or plans. In light of these definitions, it is obvious that creation’s story is that of a dreamer, the tale of a “cherished, unrealized desire” in the heart of God - a “longing” for family. He who had innumerable angels serving Him had not yet dared to create a being in His own image and likeness. His heart, however, wasn’t satisfied having only angels with which to relate. Certainly, these amazing creatures were a wonderful part of His company, and I’m sure they brought Him a degree of pleasure, but they weren’t family. He who is love personified (1 John 4:8) desired sons and daughters; He also wanted suitable companions - a corporate bride - for His Son. To accomplish this, God would create the human race in His own image and likeness, far different from the angels. He would actually give this new “species” the amazing ability to procreate other eternal spirits. That fact is almost dumbfounding. For five days, the Creator worked on their “home.” In Genesis, we read of His meticulous creation of the heavens and earth, the sun and moon, animals and plants. He separated night from day and established the boundaries of the seas and land. Angels must have watched with great fascination as various plants, seeds, mountains, rivers, and oceans were formed. Certainly, they weren’t surprised at the power of His words or the creative force of Holy Spirit’s hovering. Having lived with God for so long, they were aware of His greatness. However, they must have been curious throughout the week and perhaps even found some of the creatures humorous. Was there laughter at the elephant’s trunk or the zebra’s stripes? Did they “ooh” and “ah” at the butterfly’s beauty, the eagle’s majesty, the cheetah’s speed, or the lion’s might? We’re not given these answers, though I suspect these things occurred. Job seems to imply that the angels sang and shouted for joy during creation (see Job 38:7). It’s not difficult to imagine high praise erupting from them as mountains sprang up, waves began rolling, birds started singing, and the first sunset was seen. Then came day six, the day we humans were formed. My guess is the atmosphere changed, angels' mouths hung open in silence, and eyes stared in wonder as the Creator stopped speaking, and with His own hands, began to shape from the dirt…What was this to be? It must be special if He needs to form and mold it with such meticulous attention, they must have thought. Look at the care with which He is forming and handling this creature. But wonder became shock and awe as He brought this as yet lifeless creature - which had an uncanny resemblance to the Creator Himself - into an embrace and what looked like a kiss! God breathed out, Adam breathed in, and emerging from a hidden place in God’s dreaming heart, a created being described as “a little lower than God” (Hebrew - Elohim) stepped into creation’s story (see Psalm 8:5). This was more than unbelievable; it was unimaginable. God had practically cloned himself, forming someone in His own image and likeness. Gene Edwards, with great poignancy and imagination, captures the significance of this amazing moment in his book, The Divine Romance. “He paused, reached down, and scooped up a small handful of earth. He stared at the soil for a moment, then spoke again. “‘From this red dirt, I will create the highest form of life within the realm of things visible...’ “The angels…stared, enthralled at their Lord’s intensity. They noted how deeply the aloneness, so uniquely His, was etched upon His face. “Suddenly, the look on the face of the Creator changed. He was searching for something…something in His own being. Slowly He drew that element from out of Himself and engraved it upon the clay. “With the last sculpting stroke, He stepped back from the moist sod, allowing the angels to have a full view of His completed work. They gasped in amazement and cried together, His image! Visible!”(1) It is difficult to imagine what the angels must have felt. God had made an image and likeness of Himself, shaping it with His own hands, then filled it with His very Spirit. His dream of family was coming true. And He was pleased - very pleased. Six times in creation’s story, our Maker said the progress was “good.” I find that fascinating. Was God bragging, patting Himself on the back for a job well done? Of course not - there is no pride in Him. Was He surprised - “Wow, this is turning out really well!” Certainly, that wasn’t the case, either. God was simply voicing the satisfaction of His dreaming heart. His pleasure increased to its highest level, however, after creating Adam. In the sixth pronouncement that creation was good, the Architect added a word: “This is very good.” That one word practically leaps off the page at me. Can’t you hear the heart of a satisfied dreamer in each of these statements, especially this last one? His plan was coming together, and like a proud parent standing over a newborn baby, papa God was savoring the moment. If we humans experience such a mix of elation, contentment, and joyful expectation at the birth of our children, what must the Father of all creation and giver of life have felt? One can only imagine. Following this extraordinary launch of His dream, God further explained His plan, entrusting humans with the stewardship of their amazing home. “You’re going to manage earth for us,” He said to Adam and Eve (see Genesis 1:26-28). In describing this role, He used Hebrew words that held the meaning of “ruling,” “managing,” and “governing” (mashal, radah). He was clearly saying, “Taking care of the planet is now a partnership, a family-run operation. I will speak with you, teaching you My ways and communicating with you as My family and friends. You will do the hands-on work of managing this paradise.” But there was more, much more. We would be more than managers; we would be developers. Unlike animals, Adam and Eve weren’t programmed to act without thinking; nor would they function like angels, simply waiting for a command and then obeying it. They were processors, thinkers, reasoners…and, like their Creator and Father, they would also be dreamers. “You will also dream with Me, Adam,” our Father may have said to him, for it was unquestionably true. “I will reveal to you the laws, secrets, and resources hidden within the earth, and you will use the incredible imagination and intelligence I’ve given you to create with them. You’ll discover the laws of physics and harness the powers therein.” Perhaps picturing skyscrapers and airplanes, He continued, “Your dreaming will be breathtakingly exciting and the results astounding as you think of creative ways to use the resources of your elaborate home. Each new discovery will lead to others and be fascinating beyond your wildest dreams.” (Pun intended!) What a plan! That we inherited God’s dreaming nature is undeniable. And thousands of years and billions of people later, He is still inviting us into His dreaming world - one dreamer at a time. I realize that religion - a system of works-oriented, structure-based activities through which humankind attempts to find God - makes Him seem cold and distant. But the Bible makes clear that He is the essence and personification of love (see 1 John 4:8). Even after we became estranged from Him through Adam’s sin, He loved us so much that He sent His only Son, incarnated as one of us, to reverse that separation (see John 3:16). The dreaming God was determined that nothing would end His dream of family. Nothing. As a result of this redemption, we can now step back into God’s dream program. I’m hoping to enlist you. You were made to dream, and you must dream - both for yourself and for God. God is the Author of your dreams, and you’re an outlet for His. Pray with me: Almighty Father and eternal Dreamer, we thank You for Your thoughts toward us, which the Psalmist said are too numerous to count. You formed us in Your image and likeness, making us dreamers like Yourself. You spoke of it as “very good.” Revisit Your people with the wonder of this amazing plan. You wrote about us in Your book before we took our first breath. So often we see this as Your list of demands or requirements for us, not Your dreams regarding us. Break off the concepts we have of You that are filtered through the Fall - the fears of rejection and the propensity toward performance. You are the great Lover! We pledge to become dreamers with You. While we dream our natural, human dreams, we refuse to be tethered to earth by doing only that. We join our hearts with Yours and dream of the greatest harvest of souls the planet has ever experienced. Bring this ingathering now we pray, in the unlimited authority of Christ. Amen. Our decree: We declare that we will cast off of us the limitation created by not dreaming with God. We are becoming heavenly dreamers! Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 25-31.] Click on the link below to watch the full video. ______________________________________ Gene Edwards, The Divine Romance (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 1984, 2992), pp 3-4.

Unlock Your Creativity Like you, I’ve had many hopes and dreams over the years, some frivolous and insignificant, others meaningful and substantive. I recall my first baseball glove - a Pete Rose signature edition, by the way! - which actually had supernatural powers of baseball artistry. I knew it could make me a better baseball player. Instantly, I was the most excited and envied kid on the block. And, of course, the glove worked. I was most definitely the best baseball player on my street. My dreams changed over the years as they evolved to jobs, money, a family, a home - the usual list of American dreams. “With your good looks and intelligence, my mother assured me, “It will hardly be a challenge.” (I know what you’re thinking, but unlike most moms, mine was totally objective) I went to college to begin my journey toward greatness and was on my way to success, fame, and fortune…that is, until God arranged for me to go on a missionary journey to Guatemala. It was a trick! I was there when the earthquake in 1976 occurred, killing 30,000 people in thirty seconds. One million people were left homeless. How do you look into hopeless, grieving eyes and dream of fame and fortune? How do you face a hungry, now fatherless three-year-old and her widowed mother - having to turn them away because you just served the last available bowl of soup in the relief effort - and dream of ease and comfort? My dream of owning the world transformed into changing it. I’ve been working on it ever since. God wants you to be an agent of change, also. Things are supposed to be different on planet earth because you showed up. You’re part of the plan. A solution, an invention, a prayer, another person yet unborn - there is something in you we need. It all begins with a dream. In his book A Savior for All Seasons, William Barker speaks of dreaming. He tells of a disagreement between a traveling bishop and the president of a religious college who also taught physics and chemistry. The itinerant minister persistently contended that we must be near the return of Christ and the beginning of His millennial reign. Why? “Because just about everything concerning nature has been discovered and all inventions created.” The college president disagreed and insisted there would be more discoveries. “Name one,” challenged the preacher.” “Well, I’m certain that within fifty years, humans will be able to fly,” replied the president. “Nonsense!” shouted the skeptical minister. “Men will never fly because flying is reserved for angels.”(1) The preacher’s name? Wright. He had two sons at home, dreamers Orville and Wilbur - you know them as the Wright Brothers - who proved to have a bit more vision than Dad! They were the first people to fly. Dreaming ignites creativity. The impossible is powerless against the relentless energy and creative imagination flowing from a dreaming heart. Dreams are pregnant with hope, persistence, ingenuity, and inventiveness - if you dream, you WILL create. Contrarily, if you do not have dreams to pursue, you’ll languish and stagnate in a sterile, uninspired, unimaginative, and uninventive world - exactly the way most people live! Their world is small and confined, restrained by the mundane existence of a nondreamer. For them, the fulfillment of destiny is not accomplished by dreaming, planning, and creativity, but is based on chance. God’s plan for us, however, is not to spin in circles on the roulette wheel of life, hoping we bounce off at the right place and land on success. Our Maker wants us to dream, plan, and create. Many people are simply waiting for “the big break” or longing to be “discovered”; they trust chance, wandering through life hoping for the right lottery number to appear. Those are fantasies, not dreams. God doesn’t want you to live in a fantasy world, waiting for a magical spider bite to launch you on your Spider-Man journey. Being dreamers doesn’t mean we live in a make-believe world. The Bible says much about dreaming, and it is enlightening that the concepts of dreaming and creating are both found in the same biblical word. Think about that. Yatser (Hebrew) means “to create”; yetser, a slightly different form of the word means “imagination, conception, and thought.”(2) Yetser refers to the plans and purposes formed in the mind, which, of course, is what it means to dream; Yatsar is the resulting actions of creating them. So, the power to create begins with the ability to dream. This is exactly how God functions. Isaiah 46:10 states that He declares the end from the beginning. In other words, He sees or imagines the end result (yetser), forms the plan or design, then backs up and begins creating it (yatsar). He dreams, then He creates. Likewise, when God fashioned humans in His image, He placed within us a portion of His ability to imagine, dream, and create. We have a God-given ability to conceive something in our mind or heart, which then awakens the creativity and innovation He placed in each of us. Like Him, we dream, and then we create the dream. Consider these cases in point. We have airplanes because a couple of brothers dreamed we could conquer gravity and fly. Eventually, we went to the moon because someone dared dream we could conquer space. We have lightbulbs because a man dreamed of light without a fire. People continued to dream, and now we have lasers. Telephones were invented because a dreaming mind conceived the outlandish concept of talking through wires. But dreaming begets dreaming, so someone imagined telephones without wires, and cell phones were born. Crazy! Cars exist because someone dared to dream of a “horseless carriage.” Henry Ford dreamed of mass-producing these man-made beasts. Another dreamer dreamed of making money by paving roads for those amazing new machines, and, eventually, someone dared to dream of a network of roads all across America without one single stoplight or stop sign. Some nerd dreamed of the computer. Someone “nerdier” dreamed they could be portable - not bad since initially one computer filled up an entire room. Then came the Internet…the World Wide Web…Facebook…Twitter… Google. And the multi-zillionaire nerds are still laughing. And tweeting. (Someone even had to dream up new words for all these crazy ideas.) Someone dreamed up television, and - it was inevitable - some guy dreamed of changing the channel without getting out of the recliner. Yep, along came the remote. All of these once unbelievable concepts began with a dream. Dreaming, then, unlocked creativity. And by the way, dreams don’t have to be big to be substantial in their impact. Consider these “insignificant” dreams: Someone got tired of their papers being displaced and dreamed of a paper clip (They also made sure they were small enough to lose easily so we would have to buy trillions of them.) Annoyance over trapped food inspired the toothpick dream. A would-be writer grew tired of scribbling in the dirt and dreamed of a pencil. A guy with sore feet from going barefoot dreamed of sandals. A woman dreamed of making them stylish. Some teenager dreamed of making them comfortable and voilà - flip-flops were born! Dreams happen. But they don’t “just happen.” They’re accomplished because dreaming unlocks creativity, innovation, action, and originality. If you don’t dream, you won’t create. Period. End of story. But if you do dream, you will create, you MUST create. Necessity isn’t the mother of inventions, dreams are! Pray with me: Father, we want to dream Your dreams for our lives, our families, nations and the entire world. The dream in You was so powerful that it cost You the incarnation and the Cross. We are grateful that You enable and lead us to dream human dreams regarding accomplishments and those we love, but we ask You to also elevate us to dreaming God-dreams, as well. Today we dream with You for worldwide harvest. We dream of those who are broken being healed. We dream of the oppressed going free, homes being healed, lives being restored, and eternal destiny‘s rescued. We in America dream of the time our destiny is restored and we are a nation that once again honors You and partners with You. We declare and decree that this is coming and will not be stopped. And we do so in Jesus’ name. Amen. Our decree: We declare that the church will release the imaginative and creative power of God into their lives and realms of influence, partnering with Him to change their world. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. [Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 17-21.] Click on the link below to watch the full video. ___________________________________ https://todayinsci.com/W/Wright_Milton/WrightMilton-Quotations.htm Spiros Zodhiates, ed., Hebrew-Greek key Word Study Bible (Chattanooga: AMG, 1990), 1732.

Dreaming with God Without question, God is the most misunderstood person that has ever existed. Since the destiny of anything is inseparably linked to its creator, we can never fully accomplish our purpose until we understand the heart and motive of our Creator. I want us to look at this for the next few days, doing so in the context of God’s dreaming heart, and our dreaming nature. You may not be aware of it, but you have a dreaming nature. I’m not speaking of night dreams and visions; I’m referring to desires, plans, hopes, and dreams regarding your future. You inherited this part of your nature from your Creator and heavenly Father. God is a dreamer, and He created us in His image and likeness so our hearts could relate to His, and in order for His dreaming heart to have millions of expressions. You were designed to dream, and you must dream - both for yourself and for God. If you don’t dream, He can’t experience all of His dreams…and you’ll never achieve the destiny He planned for you. A life without dreams is like a GPS without a satellite. The GPS might operate, but it would lead you nowhere. That’s a horrible destination! Without God-given dreams to guide you, you will travel life’s highway, searching for a destination you’ll never find. Divinely inspired dreams, on the other hand, will guide you to the destiny He intended for you. Your Designer dreamed dreams for you before you were even born, then skillfully wove them into your DNA as you were created, along with the ability to find and fulfill them. If you don’t discover God’s dreams for you, you’ll either waste your life running in the wrong races and crossing wrong finish lines or, like many people, having no finish line at all. Other individuals stop running altogether, wandering through life as though it were a maze, hoping they will stumble upon the right exit. What a tragedy. Your Creator doesn’t intend for life to be a roll of the dice. You CAN find His plans and dreams for you and pursue them with confidence. I want to help you through this series. The inspiration for it began twelve years ago on a personal retreat, as did a new phase of my own dream quest. The Lord used several things to launch me into this new season: prayer, His Word, a song, the right setting, and a movie. Yep, a movie. The Ultimate Gift is one of my favorite movies. It’s the story of Red Stevens, an older and extremely wealthy businessman who had contracted a terminal disease and was trying to decide where to leave his billions. It seemed his children were money-hungry, self-indulgent, and irresponsible, as were his grandchildren. All but one. Jason seemed like all the rest, but Red had seen something else in him, buried under the outer layer of pain, laziness, and his party-driven lifestyle. Red knew that under this stained veneer was great strength and noble character, so he decided to leave his fortune to Jason - IF he passed a series of tests, which Red would present personally and posthumously by video. These tests would be difficult and time-consuming, some of them lasting for weeks. Jason would only learn of the next challenge after successfully completing the previous one. At first, Jason resisted - the old man’s money could go to charity - he wasn’t going to play the game. But after much thought, he decided to give it a try, just to get the money. What he didn’t know was that each challenge was designed not only as a test, but as a character builder and teaching tool. Red called them “gifts, a series of gifts.” Throughout the movie, it is fascinating to watch the transformation in Jason. He learns the value of hard work, loyalty, giving, family, and several more essential qualities needed for a successful and responsible life. Toward the end, he sits down to see the next video, giving him still another assignment. Grandpa, though now gone, knew when making the videos that if at this point they were still being shown to Jason by his wise and discerning business partner, Jason had passed the previous tests and could be trusted with wealth. Almost. When this next video begins, Red says, “It’s time for you to learn to dream, Jason.” Like the character in the movie, I was riveted to the television. What a concept, I thought, the test of dreaming. Jason was given a very large sum of money, though it was actually a small portion of the inheritance, and told to do anything he wanted with it. And just in case you decide to watch the movie, that’s where I’ll stop. The timing of watching this movie - I had taken it with me on a personal retreat - was perfect. I was in a season of reflection, analyzing the past and considering the future. As part of this process, I planned a week alone to think and pray. The place Ceci found for this was more than perfect. The altar and cross out back reminded me of Moriah, a special place of dreaming mentioned in Scripture (Genesis 22). Perhaps you aren’t aware of Moriah and its rich biblical history. It is the mountain where Abraham took Isaac to offer him as a sacrifice. God stopped him, of course. He had only wanted to test Abraham’s obedience and paint a picture of Himself offering His Son on the Cross centuries later. Moriah was the actual place where this would occur! There, on that momentous mountain, Abraham and God dreamed together. Abraham dreamed of the day he would have so many descendants they would become a great nation. God dreamed of the day He would recapture His dream of family. But I’m getting way ahead of myself. As the week progressed, I found myself being drawn into a thoughtful analysis of my life. What had I accomplished? Which of these accomplishments were truly worth the time and effort? How many would stand the test of eternity? As painful as some of it was, I was trying to be brutally and utterly honest. What dreams had I pursued under the banner of “for the Lord,” when my heart had deceived me and they had actually been “for me”? Many dreams passed the test, some failed. It was painful, but good. Finally, on that life-changing day several years back, Holy Spirit shifted my focus from the past to the future. He bagan speaking to me about dreaming, just as Red did to Jason. “What are your dreams for the future?” He asked, pulling my innermost thoughts from my heart to my conscious mind. I thought. I journaled. Hopefully, with a little more clarity of heart and a few decades of added perspective, I dreamed with greater depth and less selfish ambition than I had in my younger years. Over the past four decades, climbing the ladder of success had gradually been replaced by plumbing the depths of His heart. Accomplishments were now measured more by heaven’s approval than earth’s applause; making a name had given way to making a difference. At least I hoped so. Eventually, the Lord steered the conversation in a direction that caught me completely off guard. “Now, I’d like to dream a little,” I heard Him say. “Would you like to hear some of My dreams?” I listened and I wept. God was trusting me with His dreaming heart. That day remains one of the most holy of my life. I built an altar of remembrance that day - not one made of rocks and mortar, this altar was in my heart. My goal for this series of posts is that you, too, connect with the dreaming heart of God. If I can enlist you in His dream program by connecting you to His dreaming heart, you’ll never again be satisfied with the subnormal existence of a nondreamer, or the self-limiting, mundane life of an earthbound one. You were created to dream with God, and doing so in partnership with Him is one of Yahweh’s greatest gifts to us. Pray with me: Father, help us to understand Your heart as a father and friend, not just as the all-powerful God. Raise up a generation of dreamers who will dare to dream with You. Show and impart to us Your heart for the lost, the hurting, the lonely, and the deceived. Help us to break out of earth-level dreams only, and break into heavenly dreams, eternal dreams. Deliver us from shallow thinking and selfish ambition. Release passion for the saving of nations. Grip individuals with Your heart for the young, the old, the poor, and the rich. Help us to see revival - not as an event or series of events - but as heaven’s response to Your great passion. It is love’s response to earth’s need, a father’s heart to a prodigal earth. GIVE US YOUR PASSIONATE HEART TO HEAL AND SAVE! In Christ’s name, we ask You to do this, Amen. Our decree: We decree that we will dream with God, and because of this, a portion of our dreaming will be eternal in nature. Today’s post was taken from my book Dream. ___________________________________ Dutch Sheets Dream, Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Life (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), pp 11-16. Click on the link below to watch the full video.

Is There Room at the Table? Hello and thank you for joining me for Give Him 15. We have a wonderful guest with us today. If you follow us regularly, you know that on Fridays we try to bring in a prophetic voice who can talk about what God's saying to the Church right now, as well as what He's saying to the nation. You also know, something that God has gripped my heart with, that I try to keep before you on a fairly regular basis is the life issue - protecting the babies and ending abortion. It's very dear to my heart. I feel like it's an assignment on my life that's connected to the Supreme Court and praying there. The recent decision made by the Supreme Court regarding the reversing of Roe vs Wade was wonderful, but we still have a lot of work to do at the state level. Our guest today is a person who has been contending for life for many years. She is in the thick of this battle and you're going to be excited to hear from her. Kelsey Bolender is a dreamer who is believing for a million adoptions to change the landscape of the Life Movement in America. What an incredible dream. As the mother of ten children - she may mention how the Lord took her that direction, it's quite a story, but she’s a mother of 10 children, six of whom are adopted. Kelsey is passionate about coaching families in their own adoption journey. In fact, because of this passion, she has founded Zoe's House, which is a Christian adoption agency. Without taking any more of her time, I want Kelsey to share with us. What is God saying to the adoption movement and the pro-life movement today? Kelsey begins to share: “It's so good to be with you today, Dutch. Thank you so much and we so appreciate you and your stand for life and what the Lord is doing to bring that subject to the fore-front in the Church. You and Chuck were in our region, in Kansas, this past summer, and you came because you felt an urgency to help us contend for the ‘Value Them Both’ Amendment which was actually struck down a few days later. And yet, in the wake of that, so many are asking, what do we do now. We knew the vote would be close, we didn't really know it was going to be that close, and that we would lose. So, what do we do now? I just keep hearing, sensing, and telling everyone around us that we keep doing what we do, and we keep moving forward. In fact, when Chuck was here in Kansas, he said that this is going to be a long journey of worship. Before we get into any of the action points, we have to focus on that and remember our first and foremost action must be to worship. Chuck talked a lot about David’s life and driving out the ‘Jebusites.’ But in doing that, establishing the ark of God's presence and the arduous journey of patiently worshiping God, must be at the forefront. “So that's what we're doing here in Kansas City and at Zoe's House. We've actually been having a daily prayer meeting for about a year now, beholding the beauty of Jesus each day and asking Him to bring His presence to our city. Out of that place, He's actually showing us strategy. Here in Kansas - post Roe v Wade and post “Value Them Both” - nothing has really changed as far as the abortion landscape. Here in Kansas women are still free to have abortions and we have not seen a change in that. Therefore, we are continuing to do what we do at Zoe's house: serving women, serving children, and proclaiming life. We're praying and we're keeping on keeping on. I think the word of the Lord is DON’T QUIT. I can't tell you how many times I've been tempted to quit, and God’s word to us each time is “don't quit.” We have to continue on. “But here's the other thing. Hebrews 11:40 has been such a bullwork for us. Many of the saints of old didn't receive the promise because God had something different in store. Scripture tells us He has something more perfect. He wanted us to be part of the storyline and when we receive the baton from the prior generations and take it further, something happens. Dutch, over the years you've called it the “synergy of the ages”, when we actually tap into what God has done in the past and bring it further. “So here in Kansas City, we have researched what God did. We found that George Whitfield was a revivalist here in America during the 1700s. In 1740, George Whitfield opened the first orphanage. His heart was for the children. The first orphanage in Georgia was opened by George Whitfield and he called it Bethesda. We're saying, okay, there's something regarding taking care of the children that opens up a revival spirit. In 1854, a pastor on the east coast - Charles Loring Brace - had a heart for the orphan crisis that was happening, particularly in New York City. He started the orphan trains that became the precursor for the modern day foster care and adoption movement - all because a pastor said I'm going to do something about it. “Here we found out that back in the 1800s and early 1900s, Kansas City was called the ‘Adoption Hub of America.’ We began asking, ‘Why is this, God?’ We then found out that 20 women in 1870 came together with the heart of God and said, ‘We've got to find the orphans and we must help them,’ and started the Women's Christian Association. Out of this began a women's home, children's homes, and an adoption movement right here in Kansas City. We're are now telling the Lord that we want to take the baton and go on, taking this movement forward.” Dutch comments: “Let me jump in here for a minute here. You're blowing me away with some of these facts. I had no idea regarding this history, Kelsey, that adoption - the heart of God for the babies - has been so connected to revival! I also had no idea of these deep roots there in Kansas City, where God led you and your family. Of course, I know for the last 20+ years, you and Randy have been involved in the prophetic movement and you've always tried to move by the Spirit of God, listening to and being led by Him as to where God wants you to be. You’ve been associated with Mike Bickle’s House of Prayer in Kansas City, and worship as well as LIFE has always been on your heart. I'm not really surprised that God caused you to land in this region. I don't think you probably knew all of this when you guys were led to settle in Kansas City, starting this work, and yet here you are. God does that, He goes back to roots we don't even know about, plants us there to pick up the baton and continue, as you said - with the synergy of the ages. I'm just blown away by some of this and I feel like it's even consistent with the assignment on my life. My heart is to see revival in America - a third Great Awakening. I've always known that it is somehow connected to the life issue, that if we don't end this plague - this curse of the shedding of innocent blood - there's a limit to what God can do. I believe however, that the victory that broke this decree over the nation nationally from the Supreme Court (June 2022) did something to allow God to now move us forward. I'd love to hear what you feel about that. I believe God can now begin to do things at a state level legally and legislatively. I feel the Supreme Court’s ruling now allows God to lift the curse off our nation. Now He can begin to deal with regions and states. “I'm still blown away that God planted you guys there in KC, at this place that has such a strategic life and adoption history. Kelsey, tell us how that happened. Why are you there?” Kelsey shares: “You're right, Dutch. Randy and I knew we were coming to Kansas City to be part of the International House of Prayer in 2003, but didn't know exactly what God’s plan was for us 20 years ago. Back then we had three children. We were very pleasantly done with our family, feeling that it was complete. Then we started praying for the ending of abortion in a very focused way. We actually moved to Washington, DC for a year and regularly stood on the steps of the Supreme Court praying regarding the abortion issue. We felt we were to help Matt and Kim Lockett start Bound for Life back in the day. We were challenged that if we're going to pray, would we also actually be a prophetic witness regarding what we were praying. So be careful what you pray! “We ended up believing that if we were to adopt a baby that perhaps might have been aborted - or had been saved from abortion, that it would be a sign - not only to heaven and earth, but even a motivator to the Church to wake up - we have to love the unwanted/unplanned babies. We have to care for them and we have to care for the women. So we did that. “My husband says adoption is like tattoos - you think long and hard about the first one. All of a sudden the second and third come easily, and then your arms are full. Like you mentioned earlier, Randy and I adopted six children and now have ten children. We didn't see that coming and yet, it's the brilliant strategy of the Lord to declare that He's the father to the fatherless and He wants children set into families - the lonely He sets in families. It’s Psalm 68:6. Romans 8 - talks about the spirit of adoption. The gospel is birthed out of this spirit of adoption and we're groaning for that spirit of adoption to be complete. The earth is even groaning to see the sons of God revealed right through that spirit of adoption. “So we started Zoe's House out of a prophetic desire to see abortion end. Now that we are post Roe, we're realizing that we need new strategies. Recently I was with a group of executive directors from across the Midwest. They are all involved in pro-life ministries, from post-abortive counseling, to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, and other life-giving ministries. I was so surprised at what they said. Across the board, they said that they weren't ready for June 24th - they were not prepared for the overturning of Roe v Wade. I was shocked and in my heart a little saddened. Something rose up within me and I saw that we now have to be a trumpet - we have to hear new strategy. You know, we call it a new wine skin, but it's really innovation and creativity; it's having new ways to do the right thing. “Last year I finished grad school. I took a class called Grand Strategy in Military Operations. This was a part of my National Security Degree and I took it with a friend who was a worship leader. It's really interesting to take this kind of class with a worship leader whose literal weapon is a guitar. We think of all of this in regards to the Spirit of God. I thought it would not be interesting. It was a huge book about the strategy of warfare. Business people use this book because it's so brilliant. Strategy is the most important element when we're in a spiritual battle or any kind of battle. We need strategy to see opportunities because we only have limited resources. Therefore, we must maximize what we have. In the pro-life movement right now, we need to maximize and ask the Lord, the best divine strategist, what we are to do. We must employ new ways of doing things. “As we talked to the Lord about this, He challenged us, ‘Well, you really like the babies and you're pro-life, but are you pro-child, are you pro-family?’ We began to step out and say, yes we've been about the adoption of babies. But now Holy Spirit is leading us as we're stepping into the foster care system. We found out that in the state of Kansas, there are 500 kiddos right now who are ‘adoption ready.’ In the foster care system, most of the time reunification is the goal. But these kids’ parents have already had their rights terminated. These 500 in Kansas are the closest thing to orphans that we have in the United States and there are thousands of them across the nation. The state of Kansas is actually working with us to say, ‘Will you help find families for these 500? They're not babies. Most of them are older kids - will you help us find families?’...because the state realizes that family is the way to go. So we're stepping into new ways of doing things, and I think that's also the word of the Lord: strategy!” Dutch jumps in: “Kelsey, this is amazing and truly incredible. “I want to challenge the people for a moment. When you get to be our age - Ceci and I are at the age where we can't adopt, but we have the ability to sow financial gifts into the adoption process. There are a lot of young families who could be foster parents or want to adopt, and it has become so expensive to go through this process. I know that part of your ministry is to raise funds or believe for funds to offset some of the financial needs for these families who can and desire to adopt. At our age, we can't adopt - we are too old to do this, but we aren’t going to sit on our hands and say we can’t do anything about this dire situation. We sow into Zoe's House every year and try to sow generous gifts to help a family adopt a child. “I want to get on board with what you’re talking about today. I feel that God places people like you, Kelsey, on the front lines of strategy for adoption, and you’re doing it. But He also wants those of us who can, to get on board and partner with you, sowing financial gifts into this plan, and I believe adoption is God’s plan. The purpose of Give Him 15 today was to make you aware of this nation-wide need and not necessarily to raise money for Zoe's House. But honestly, I really want to raise money for Zoe's House, this ministry we personally know and love. If you know of other ministries or groups of people doing this and you'd rather sow into them, do it. But let's get behind God’s desire to take care of the fatherless and embrace adoption. Knowing how many children are currently in foster care and are ready for adoption is blowing me away; you just don't hear about it. But obviously, this is something God is saying to us right now. We're going to pray into this and we're going to begin picking this up here on Give Him 15 and talk more about it. “Kelsey, thank you so much for sharing with us today. I would like for you to take a minute or two and close us out in prayer. I believe God will touch the hearts of believers to get involved, to take in these dear children, and support these efforts.” Kelsey begins to pray: “Father, we thank You for the spirit of adoption. Lord, that is the gospel and it's what You do for us. You bring us in as our Father. Lord, I pray for a spirit of adoption to be released over the Church of America. Come and take in those who are fatherless, create a home, set the lonely into families. We cry out, Jesus. “I pray for hearts that would say YES across the Church. I pray that the Church - the body of Christ - would rise up to say yes, God. I pray they would begin to say there's room at our table for one more. I pray, God, as many sit down at the dinner table tonight, they'd look at their table and say oh there's room for one more at our table, there's room for a sibling group, there's room here because revival is family. I pray that You would do that across this nation. “I also ask You to reveal the history to each listening today regarding where You've planted each one. When you planted us in Kansas City, we didn't know You were planting us in the adoption hub of America. God, I pray for each one listening, that they would begin to see where You've planted them and the history there, and the batons that can be picked up to further the life movement and to further a Great Awakening here in this nation. “Father we're looking to You. We desire for the nation to be restored, and a Great Awakening to happen, for the gospel to be known in America and known on the shores of other nations. I pray that You would restore us and release the spirit of adoption. In Jesus name, Amen.” Dutch shares: “Amen and thank you so much, Kelsey. This has been powerful and we're going to have you back on. I want people to go to the link and check out what you're doing. Zoe's House is a 501c3 and your gifts will be tax deductible. Kelsey is also the co-author of the book: The Spirit of Adoption - Winning the Battle for the Children. I encourage you to visit their website see what they're doing. “Friends, thank you for joining us today; I really appreciate it. We will see you on Monday!” Click on the link below to watch the full video.