OT#1 – Just Believe!

If Christianity had a slogan I think it would be “Just Believe”. From Abraham to the 2^nd coming of Jesus Christ all that is asked of us is to believe. The principle behind having childlike faith to enter the Kingdom of God, to heal the sick, raise the dead, to serve the water which turned into wine; is simply believe. Most often what separates success and failure is based on what we believe.  

Mark 9:23 “Everything is possible for him who believes.” 

God Bless,

Sibya Varghese 

Category : One Thought 

Read more : https://electrifiedreams.wordpress.com/category/one-thought/

Successful everyday!

Your involvement in the success of others is as important as your own.

Are you busy chasing your dreams and don’t see any significant results?

Let’s re-look at this journey.

A doctor is successful when he/she succeeds in saving lives. A pilot is successful when he successfully takes his passengers to the destination. Scientists are successful when they invent or make any contribution that is significant to the world we live in.

What’s the point? Your success is directly proportional to what you do to help someone or something succeed/move ahead.

In the same way, your success in life and your calling/purpose depends on what you’ve done to the people around you, the world around you.

Look for people you can bless everyday. Help fulfil someone else’s dreams today. In doing them, you will see how meaningful and purposeful your life is. And your journey becomes one that is filled with love and grace.

Share if you are blessed.

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the best year yet!

“This was the best year yet” I told my friends, after they sang for me at midnight on my 22nd birthday.
In the morning I sat thanking God and remembering the many things I learned and what made this year ‘the best year yet’.

If I look at this gone year through any other lens apart from my spiritual ones, it definitely wasn’t anywhere close to ‘the best’. I’ve had waiting periods that were months long, a lot of uncertainty, bad decisions, financial crisis, personal struggles etc, and I am still waiting for a breakthrough in a few areas.

In the midst of all, I can still say this was the best year yet. How?

“Every other pursuit in life seems like a dry desert when compared to the fulfillment of an intimate relationship with God”
By grace, I went from a “knowing about God” to “knowing God” relationship status this year. It began there and here are some of the key things I learned.

Surrender :-
“The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity(that is, in truth, into the absolute security and safety of the fellowship of Jesus)” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The most rewarding decision you can make is to surrender your life to God. And yes, it is the hardest too. All of us like to have control over most things in our lives, but the issue is, if we try to do everything on our own, we enjoy the results of our efforts and face the consequences of our choices. And this is a never ending race filled with competition, regrets, sparks of happiness, jealousy and a never ending quest for satisfaction. A better option would be to dream bigger. And this time by surrendering our lives to the One who knows it all and is the creator of all that we desire. This could also be called “living-by-faith”. To leave a legacy of faith you have to face the risk of failure, but enduring faith always wins that battle. “Live in such a way that unless God shows up, what you’re attempting to do is bound to fail”. Faith is birthed in trust and trust is relational. Working on building your relationship with God is again the key here. But this will be your most rewarding pursuit ever.

Enduring faith :-
It is easy to have faith when you are high on faith. But God is looking for dreamers who will endure in faith even when it seems to be the end. I recently had a situation where I took a step of radical faith and have been waiting on God for the breakthrough. Although I am still waiting, He has been speaking and teaching me things I probably would’ve never learned otherwise. And one of the things He spoke is “We owe it to the world round us to endure in faith till the last minute. Because He is not looking for people who will give birth to a dream in excitement or after a powerful praise and worship session/word, and do not have the courage to endure in faith even when all hope is lost in the natural“. Faith is not just a positive feeling, it is a lifestyle. Faith is birthed in trust and trust is relational. Working on building your relationship with God is again the key here. But this will be your most rewarding pursuit ever.

Wonder what building your relationship with God means? Here’s a good read : http://www.intouch.org/magazine/content/topic/intimacy_with_god

Re-defining success :-
We live in a world where materialism defines how successful we are. Yes it is important to have all the resources required to live and do what we are called to do. And wealth is a huge part of christian life and it is from God. But the question is, what is our motive? Are our good acts (etc) just a very good excuse to hide our love for wealth and money? And I have a huge respect for all the people who handle money with the right motives. But it does not end there.

The truth is materialism has very little to do with being successful. Success is evaluated based on the purpose you were created for. How many ‘successful’ people today can say they’re doing all that they were made for? Our evaluation of success has to be based on a God given goal. Goal is to reflect His nature and do His will by being His hands here on earth and He has set the standards very high.
If we don’t change the way we see things we will believe what we see in the natural is the superior reality and that will determine what success means to us. Can you re-define your success to “an entire nation being transformed through your business?” or “God using your business to wipe out poverty?” or “you rising up to a place where you can stand up against corruption?” or “a revival in your office through you” or “you being a blessing to a beggar you see on your way to work everyday?” or “going the extra mile for something or someone you believe in?”. Let your standards for success be beyond what is humanly possible and acceptable. Go after it and starting in prayer is the best place. And while doing that, it is guaranteed that God will give you and your family way more than you could’ve ever imagined. He will make sure you lack no good thing and blessings will follow you because God is always looking for a righteous man to bless. It is His promise to those who live for Him. And well, you could imagine what it will be like, when He chooses to bless. It is very important to get our motives right before we begin.

Yes, all of the above comes over time and after encounters with God that changes our lives. But it is worth an effort from us everyday. I am very excited for this new journey of living everyday surrounded by His glory and power which comes out of His presence in us.

Blessings,

Joel.

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THE RIGHT TO DREAM

THE RIGHT TO DREAM

I am so thankful for Bill Johnson and what he does. I was listening to one of his sermons that really touched me and I decided to write on the same topic.

God has a dream. He has a vision. He has songs He wants to sing over us. 

 

Once you have God’s vision, ours will compliment His and wont divide. Dual vision is die-vision. 

Luke 11:23 : “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters”

He’s got this mission to bring people to Him and dream consistent with His dream; or all our attempts scatter. All our good wishes and good plans will scatter.  

 

John 15:7 – If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 

John 16:25 – Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 

 

While we do have the right to desire, what is important is what is our source? What is our reason? Are we selfishly caught up with our dreams and desires for our good, that we do not have the heart to know what His dream is and align our dreams to His? 

 

In between all these amazing promises, there is a shift in relationship being asked for. And it is this shift that fuels these promises that gives us the right to ask whatever we want. 

 

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Matthew 6:33 : Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.(NLT)

Now what does kingdom mean? King’s domain, His world in ours. 

 

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Co-Labouring : 

Psalm 37:4 : Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 

We have this robotic idea that every good desire that we have is God giving it to us and he tells us what to do. That is NOT the way a relationship works. It is true that in that relationship he transforms us and we desire things that are pleasing to Him as we become like the one we are united with. But that is not what that verse means. 

 

What it means is, God made himself vulnerable to the desires of His people. History is unfolding according to our desires, what we do and what we don’t do, what we pray and what we don’t pray for. He told us the parameters, He gave us the principles and He set the boundary in principles. Now He is calling the dreamers to come in and dream. He’s giving us one theme and that is “on earth as it is in heaven”. Now let that shape every breath of your life.

 

As He sees our surrender to His stuff, He is interested in hearing about what we think about stuff. Its out of surrender He’s made himself vulnerable to our dreams. Because then it becomes a co-labouring effort. Abide in Him, live under the influence of the consciousness of His presence. Let His words abide in you, let his declaration shape what you think, what you say, what comes out of your heart and in that context, you will be the one who shapes history. Much of us are waiting for a command from God and God is waiting for a dream from us. 

 

God has a plan for you and purpose but, so much of it is left wide open for your influence so much so that He says whoever you forgive, He forgives. There is a co-labouring privilege. 

 

This is not about how to have your own way with God. This is about the creative role you and I have in unfolding of this plan of salvation and the kingdoms of this world becoming His kingdom. The world around us is being transformed because people catch the heartbeat of God and start dreaming. 

 

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ONE QUESTION : 

The only question is can God trust you with a dream? 

It is only in the concept of intimacy can our desires be trusted. There is a point in a relationship where obedience is not the primary issue. Are you and I there yet, to let God give us the liberty to bring our opinions before Him? In that context comes the liberty for intimacy and the freedom to dream. 

 

Intimacy is birthed out of friendship – 

John 16:15 : “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you”

 

There is a radical difference between being a Servant of God vs. being a Friend. The Servant is task oriented, and the Friend is relational. (By the way, lovers of God get more work done than do workers.) Mary and Martha are good examples of this. Moses and David are good examples of being a friend of God and sharing their hearts and thoughts with Him. A friend is concerned not just about doing the right things, but a friend is concerned with anything that sustains and increases the meaning of the relationship.

 

A servant does not see his master outside of what he commands him to do. A servant does not know how the master is moved by certain things. We need to get a point in relationship where we can say “I see what moves Him and I allow what moves Him to move me : The primary mission(things of heaven invading earth)”

 

Submission to that primary mission is when we get commissioned. And that is where strength and authority comes from. Its not ‘we dream independent of Him’, but ‘we dream because of Him’ 

Let your heart be so touched by His heart and start dreaming of things that you never thought you’d dream about. 

 

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The Warning : 

Isaiah 55:9 – For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

What would it look like, to have that God whose thoughts are so high above ours affect our thoughts? 

 

All desires are of the Father but whatever we have communion with, will deposit seeds in us which will affect our desires and that becomes our father of desires. The origin of desire, is whatever attitude or spirit we have communion/fellowship with. 

 

Eg. Proverbs 22:24(NIV) says : “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered” Why? Because if you have fellowship with that spirit you will reproduce its fruit. Same goes with any other spirit that can control us. 

 

Much of what happens in life is a result of interaction. Have communion with the right influence. 

 

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The REWARD : 

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us – Ephesians 3:20

 

This is what God desires : 

People at the end of their lives who say, way more than I could imagine happened in my life and I know there’s no one I can thank but God; it was absolutely Grace. And he so far surpassed everything I could have dreamt of and He so far surpassed everything I could have wanted for my family and for me. When it comes to the end of life, let our faces say, I live intoxicated with the joy of God because I’ve seen things fulfilled that I dint even have the nerve to pray for. 

 

What does God dream about? “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?- Luke 18:8” 

God wants poverty erased from the face of the earth. He wants the sick people healed. God wants His kingdom to invade this earth we live in. He wants us to defend those who can’t defend themselves, He wants us to help fulfil the secret dreams of the people around us who cannot do it on their own, He wants us to stand for those who cannot stand for themselves. Let us not permit anything here on earth that is not in heaven. That is what God dreams about and in doing that you fulfill your dreams and far more. Are you willing to, in faith catch that master plan and align your dreams to that? 

You get your dreams fulfilled by serving in an other persons dream. You step into places of honor by forgetting about honor and giving honor to someone else. And what you need, give what you have away, the way you get breakthrough is by generosity. It is God’s heart’s desire to fulfill your heart’s dreams. It is His heart’s desire to make you ridiculously happy.

 

Matthew 6:33 : Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.(NLT)

Luke 9:24 : For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

 

Anything we can dream of in this world is too small a dream when heaven steps in. Start co-labouring with God and dream for the unseen.

 

Blessings,

Joel. 

 

 

Note : There are references and excerpts from Bill Johnson’s “dreaming with God” and from “archive.org” and google.com. All biblical references are from ‘bible.cc’