Dreams, risk, and expecting.

Today, I watched a clip of a message given by Rick Warren about how God uses those who are willing to risk failure.

He said some things that were great reminders and a couple things that truly challenged me.

Reminder #1: Worse than failure is the fear of failure. Failure helps you learn.

“The fear of man brings a snare.” Proverbs 29:25

Challenge #1: God uses the person who dreams great dreams. Let the size of your God determine the size of your dream. 

Believing God is believing that what you want to attempt or accomplish cannot be done in the power of the flesh.

Reminder #2: Faith is in a dream.

Dreaming big dreams is fully trusting in the character of God. He desires good for you, He delights in you, He loves you, He will never leave you.

He then made this statement: “God uses me because I expect him to use me. Not because of who I am, but because of who Jesus is. Not because of what I’ve done, but because of what Jesus did.”

Challenge #2: What is God doing in your life right now? He’s doing exactly what you expect Him to do, no more, no less. 

Snap.

Hearing him say those words, I was prompted to ask myself, Do I expect things of God? If I’m honest with myself, I think I do but I do it timidly.

I expect Him to love and to be faithful, because I have knowledge of the person of God, and of the work of Jesus dying on the cross.

But I think He has more for me. I think He wants me to ask boldly, because in His goodness and love, He desires to help me, to have an intimate relationship with me, to work things if they align with His heart, and to use me, to do things with His Kingdom in mind.

Boldly and confidently… willing to risk failure… dreaming big dreams.