Seems that I should get in on the action. Acts 12 Peter is sleeping off a few bad days. It is true the end of the world as he knows it. A best friend and work mate has just been beheaded. He is deep in the bottom of the prison himself waiting another religious holiday to end so he himself can be murdered by the politically correct standard of his church. It was somewhat more graphic than the past few days for us and the latest end of the world promises.
Peter is sleeping, not sure how he does it, knowing that in morning will be judgment day for himself, yet he sleeps. During the sleep he begins dreaming of a great escape and the fantasy of walking into the prayer meeting being held on his behalf. However, the dream is more than wishful thinking, it is the truth. The best part of his life is ahead and the Lord has not forgotten the promise he has made to Peter or the rest of humans here on the earth.
Remember the story, Peter is awakened by an angel and a bright light. Instead of watching his dream play out or yelling out, “Would someone please turn the light off I am trying to rest here?” he jumps up, puts his shoes on and plays along with the dream. He is not content to be a watcher of dreams, but chooses on his last day on the earth to be a dream walker. In fact, he thinks he is dreaming and just sleep walking through all the high tech security, when a half mile outside of the prison he realizes that it is real- not a dream. He quickly runs to the prayer meeting and they refuse to believe that it could be real.
You see, Peter unlike us, was willing to co-operate with his dream and live it not- just dream it. How many of us have the dream of great things in God, yet we just watch others live the holy life of God’s anointing and provision? It is time for you and I to stop watching our dreams unfold as a G rated film and actually step into the action. It is not real because you will not co-operate and participate in the dream as if it were real. Dream walking requires one skill to be successful; persistence. Keep going, press on and even if your family and friends cannot believe what you are doing, do it anyway. They doubt and fear their own dreams and therefore don’t know how to support you. They do love you and mean well but If you listen to the voices around you more than the Spirit voice inside you, you will never know what Peter and I know to be the truth. You can live a dream life and it is really good. God’s favor and purpose trumps all other options.
So, if you are struggling with dream crushers, just do something extreme, out loud and on purpose and see if your God is the same God as Peter’s. The voices and world around you say it is doomsday, but they lie. It is another creation day for those that dare to live for God without fear of the doomsday prophet. The prophets of doom are not going away and the household of faith is not going away either and I have read the end of Revelations and we win and the doomsday guys get theirs too!
Need a guide to living a dream come true ? Come with us at House of Prayer and we will show you the way to life -not doom. And if you really want to test what I am challenging you with, buy a plane ticket and let me show you my country, Nepal. Now that is really living a dream of God. Choose the living way and not the movie watching way of Christianity. Do much more than dream of living, live a lot. Bryan Nerren