The Truth About Dreams

When God calls us into his dreams for our lives, many times we have no idea what we are in for.  It is so easy to have unrealistic or unhealthy expectations on what it's going to mean to serve God and his call on our lives.

I personally had an amazing time traveling and preaching while I was still in Bible college.  I didn't expect anyone to have me in to preach at their church, so my expectations were very low.  However, as my wife and I graduated, tied the knot and attempted to jump into evangelism full time as our living, things quickly got rough.  I already had a few years of speaking behind me and assumed it would get easier.  How wrong I was.  Being an evangelist or itinerant speaker is sorta like being an itinerating missionary.  Itinerating missionaries call up everyone they know and then some, traveling and speaking to raise awareness and funds as they prepare to face the mission field.  Most do this for a year or two or three, then they make the ultimate sacrifice and leave their comforts behind to follow the call of God to a foreign country.  Evangelists do those first few years, then start all over again.  Of course, new contacts are made in the process and God opens amazing doors, but every week is a new week, and we can wear out our options.

After some time of this comes a reality check.  I remember (even in the midst of amazing opportunities here or there), feeling elated one week and absolutely floored the next.  Dozens of times I felt I wanted to quit, but didn't know where else to go, or how I could ever "quit" what God had laid so heavily on my heart.  From this trying time I began to emerge with a new understanding and a deeply rooted optimism of what it means to be an evangelist and to be a Christian.

Here are a few "expectations" that we have about the dreams God puts in our hearts, but that can quickly become stumbling blocks if we don't choose in our hearts that we are going to do this thing, no matter what:

1. Dreams don't always pay the bills: ministry still doesn't pay my wife and my bills.  It helps, but we work some weeks full time in flexible marketing jobs for major brands.  Sure, we could live below the poverty level if we chose to, and be "full time evangelists," but who says ministry has to be that hard or cookie cutter bland.  I'm not the only one who knows this truth.  The Apostle Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 12:27 that he “often shivered without enough clothes to keep me warm.”  Now I'm from Minnesota, and I understand this shivering thing!  Listen, catch this - the Apostle Paul (guy who wrote half the NT we preach, pillar of the church, led hundreds of thousands to Jesus) at times didn't have enough clothes to keep himself warm!  He didn't have enough clothes, because he didn't have enough money.  Paul knew that the dreams don't always pay the bills, and he had the frostbite to prove it.  In the middle of his ministry (not the start) he had to make tents to even be able to eat.  He had the humility and grace to work for his food, and this didn't make him any less of an Apostle.  I love what Mother Theresa had to say about this: “Do not concern yourself with your vocation.  Concern yourself with your calling, and that is to be lovers of Jesus.”

2. Dreams aren't always full time: along with not always paying the bills, we must expect that it is difficult to keep up a schedule of speaking every week.  I remember reading a book about being an evangelist that stated the average full time evangelist can't find services 7-9 weeks of the year.  That's 3 months.  I encourage pastors to take at least a dozen weeks off each year from speaking, but it wasn't until recently that I realized I was holding up a pattern for wholeness to others that I wasn't doing for myself.  I was so encouraged recently to read on one of my favorite blogs by Mark Batterson that he hadn't spoken in the past two months.  Sure, he probably spoke at the church he pastors, but as far as gigs on the road, he had a refreshing, needed break.  This is a guy who has sold probably a million copies of his books, written thousands of blogs, had millions of hits on his blogs and my personal favorite - read 2,500 books (and I think he's only in his thirties).  And just like the rest of us, God gave him a break too.

3. Dreams don't always mean security: let's keep in mind in this whole ministry process that the founder and finisher of our faith, Jesus, gave his life for his message.  And out of the 12 pillars of the Church we preach, 11 gave their lives in a similiar way, preaching the Gospel around the world.  The twelfth, John the Beloved, was supernaturally protected from several such attempts and died an old man.  Of the Scriptures we preach, many of the books were written from jail by men of God who knew that when God calls us to something he's not guarenteeing ease or security.  In fact, it may be just the opposite.  I love the words of Joan of Arc on this one: "Everyone gives their life for what they believe. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing and yet they give their life to that little or nothing. One life is all we have, and we live it, and then it's gone. But to give up what you are and to live without belief is more terrible than dying, even more terrible than dying young."

4. Dreams don't happen overnight: This one should be easy for us to understand, but it seems like anytime I see some person God is using I think to myself - how'd they get so lucky?  Why did doors open for them?  What about me?  The truth to remind ourselves with is that there are no overnight successes.  I would really encourage you to read a book that means so much to me: Anonymous by Chole.  I really believe that God wants us to fall in love with obscurity or whatever season of life we currently find ourselves in.  To savor any time and freedom we have to study, grow, learn, become, fall in love with Jesus, grow as worshippers, dig our roots down deep, develop our servant's hearts, sacrifice for another to have opportunity, learn to trust our God. 

Dreams don't happen overnight, or mean security, nor are they full time, and they certainly don't always pay the bills ... but I'm glad they don't.  God is too big and has too much in store to make it easy, and as we follow hard after him he will give us the desires of our hearts at just the right time.