Bride Dream

Bride Dream
“Excellence can be obtained if you:...care more than others think is wise;...risk more than others think is safe;...dream more than others think is practical;...expect more than others think is possible.”

I remember having all these big dreams when I was a kid. The older I got, the smaller my dreams became. "Reality" struck me like a Tyson left hook,and brought me down to reality. But reality sucks. I remember dreaming of having a beautiful wife that was in love with me and me with her, but all i hear now is: "Noel its not as awesome as you think". I get the same response when i begin to talk about my future. Recently, God put it in my heart to start dreaming big again. Especially in the field of ministry. I've always wanted to do huge things for God, and until recently i had lost those dreams and i was thinking"maybe i'm just going to be normal". God really hated these words. He wants me to dream big. So i'm starting to again. Most people that dream big have their dreams based on the American dream: get a well-paying job, drive a nice car, live in a big white house, and maybe work enough so one day they can retire. And when they retire, they feel so lonely and purposeless that most retirees actually return to their job. During this past retreat (Unite 07), God gave me a dream to live for. He called it the Bride Dream. It's God's dream. Its the call of Joel 2. God dreams of a day when His Bride will return to Him. Can you dream it?: Masses of homosexuals return to their Creator, government leaders returning to the morals of our nation's forefathers, Hollywood abandoned to God! Can you dream big enough to see your entire school passionate for Jesus? What about all the liquor stores in Miami being shut down for lack of business. What about the clubs in South Beach having to be used as Houses of Prayer..."Those dreams are too big Noel !"(or we can even say that to God) That's not reality. Have you ever read the book of Jonah. If you haven't, try reading it tonight( it's only four chapters). The entire city of Ninevah turned to God (including the leaders) in a day. Are we Jonah? Afraid to obey God due to the greatness of the task. God's dream was too big for "reality Jonah". God's looking "big dream" Josephs "risky" enough to turn an ENTIRE nation back to Him. I'd rather dream big and fail then to not to dream at all and succeed. " I have a dream!" , cried out Martin Luther King Jr. Then he was shot. Why? The "other side" hates dreamers. If we can see into the supernatural, we would be able to see the swing left hook of the enemy trying to bring us to reality and cause us to stop dreaming.
“To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”