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| 03/31/2008 |
| A few days before we recorded Wake Up the World,Gateway Church’s worship pastor Thomas Miller posted this on his blog. |
I dream a lot.
When I was a kid, I dreamed of being able to have superpowers
(especially fly and teleport).
When I was a teenager, I dreamed of living in a big city far away
(I lived on rural West Virginia farmland in the sticks).
When I was in college, I dreamed about my wife
(whoever she was).
When I was an engineer, I dreamed of being in full-time ministry
(I was bored).
When I was first in full-time ministry, I dreamed of being at a big church
(I was in a small 80-member church).
When I was at my first big church, I dreamed of simpler times
(Leading worship 5 times every Sunday was exhausting – I’m sure you can relate).
Have you ever noticed that dreams are mainly made up of better times
and/or bigger things than you are currently experiencing? Yes, dreams are
fascinating. They lift us above our current experience into a realm that is
full of hope and what-ifs.
Have you ever noticed that during the hard times, oftentimes the dreams
are what get you through? In fact, I think that in the hard and dark times,
the dreams become bigger, more vibrant, and more tangible. There is hope
in the dream. There is life in the dream.
Think about this: Could it be that God didn’t create the dreams for the
hard times as much as He created the hard times for the dreams? Get it?
Read that again just in case.
“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does
not disappoint us” (Romans 5:3-5 NIV).
In the hard times, we are able to see a perspective (a dream) that we
would have never known existed had we not gone through the hard time.
If we allow the Lord to use the hard time to our advantage, we don’t
become hopeless and bitter. We pray. We forgive. We hope. We dream.
And then once the night is over, we can wake up and put those dreams
into action. But it takes the night for the dream.
Does God dream? Yes. Here was one of His dreams that He put into
action: “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy
and blameless in his sight” (Ephesians 1:4).
We have a live worship recording in just a couple days. My question is
this: What is God’s dream for the live event and for the recording?
God does have a dream. If you look around you, you can see that the
night is so prevalent in the world. He obviously has some pretty big
dreams. Could God have a specific dream for this recording? You bet. I
believe that it has something to do with bringing light into the darkness,
hope to the dejected, healing to the wounded, justice to the downtrodden,
salvation to the lost, love to the unlovely (and a ton of other stuff).
It’s our call to do our part to wake up the world and put His dream into
action.
Thomas Miller is worship pastor at Gateway Church.
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