Realize Your Kingdom Dream
by Erik Rees
On August 28, 1963, standing on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech. That dream changed a man, who changed a city, which changed a state, which changed a nation. All these amazing things began with an ordinary man who was connected to God and who allowed God’s voice to lead him. God wants to do the same with you. Your Kingdom Dream is the foundation of your Kingdom Purpose.

Are you living your Kingdom Dream, or are you just living? Bruce Wilkinson says in his book, The Dream Giver, “No matter where I travel in the world—whether among hard-charging Manhattan urbanites or villagers in South Africa—I have yet to find a person who didn’t have a dream. They may not be able to describe it. They may have forgotten it. They may no longer believe in it. But it’s there.”

I could line up hundreds of people who feel they have a dream deep inside of them. It may be so deep inside that it’s actually buried, but, as Wilkinson said, “it’s there.” Some people are afraid to accept their dream, scared to fulfill it. Others are eager to seize it. God wants us to seize it. Once we do, he can expand it to be everything he wants it to be.

And God’s Dream for you is far more wonderful than you realize. The Bible says that God “is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes” (Ephesians 3:20, TLB).

When you truly grasp what this verse is saying, you will be awed to the point of speechless gratitude. God is shouting at us: “Dream big! Think out of the box! Come up with the largest Kingdom Dream you can, and I will multiply it far beyond your wildest imagination!” God’s plan and desire is to produce an amazingly abundant harvest of fruit from your little tree. It is up to you, however, to give his vision room to grow.

It seems every significant accomplishment for God starts off as an idea in one person’s mind—a dream, a vision, or a goal.

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins challenges his readers to set a BHAG—a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal.” Jim writes: “A BHAG engages people—it reaches out and grabs them in the gut. It is tangible, energizing, highly focused. People ‘get it’ right away; it takes little or no explanation. For example, the 1960s moon mission didn’t need a committee to spend endless hours wordsmithing the goal into a verbose, impossible-to-remember ‘mission statement.’ The goal itself—the mountain to climb—was so easy to grasp, so compelling in its own right, that it could be said one hundred different ways, yet be easily understood by everyone. When an expedition sets out to climb Mount Everest, it doesn’t need a three-page mission statement to explain what Mount Everest is. Most corporate statements we’ve seen do little to provoke forward movement because they do not contain the powerful mechanism of a BHAG.”

Catching a God-sized vision gives the Lord an opportunity to do something amazing in you and through you.

Chip Ingram outlines what a God-sized vision is in his book, Holy Ambition: “Vision is getting the big picture. Vision is a God-given burden to see what a person, a place or a situation could become if the grace of God and the power of God were unleashed on them. That’s all a vision is. It doesn’t mean your brain works differently from other people. It just means that something happens inside of you and you see things differently. Vision most often crystallizes around some burden or need, and as a result you see single moms or abused kids or a workplace situation or something in your home that needs to be and can be changed. Vision goes right by the ‘how’ for a moment and sees the goal accomplished. That’s vision!”

“We can see how this worked in Nehemiah’s life,” Chip continues. “When Nehemiah prayed, he asked God, ‘What do you want me to do?’ You don’t just jump out and do something foolish. You get a word from God. You claim promises from Scriptures. You let God work in you.”

Chip concludes, “Chapter 1 of Nehemiah begins with an individual. All great movements do. When God does something great, He starts with one person who has an idea, a dream, a vision. So the real question isn’t, ‘What can one person do?’ but ‘Am I willing to be the one person God uses to make a difference in my world?’”

The Bible says, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). When we get with God, our dreams and desires will be for him—that’s why he grants them. Getting with God is not optional for someone who wants God’s blessing over every area of life.

Your Kingdom Dream is your message to share with the world on the Master’s behalf. Rick Warren calls it your “life message.” He says: “Your Life Message includes sharing your godly passions. God is a passionate God. He passionately loves some things and passionately hates other things. As you grow closer to him, he will give you a passion for something he cares about deeply so you can be a spokesman for him in the world. It may be a passion about a problem, a purpose, a principle, or a group of people. Whatever it is, you will feel compelled to speak up about it and do what you can to make a difference.”

So the question becomes, “What dream, vision, or message do you feel God nudging you to achieve for him that you couldn’t fulfill without him?”

Don’t start worrying about your finances or your fears. Give yourself permission to dream risky dreams, because, as the Bible says, “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). If God is leading you to do something for him, don’t you think he will take care of the details? Don’t be distracted by the “problems.” Your role is to seize the dream God has laid on your heart—and trust him to make the impossible possible.

A word of caution: God does not define “big” the way most of us do. Society says big is about quantity—having the biggest title, the largest bank account, the biggest house. God, however, defines “big” by quality, not quantity. Quality is seen by God in our strong connection with him, our deep devotion to his purposes, our relentless faith, and our clear conviction to serve him in our generation.

The truth is, there is only one Mother Teresa, one Rick Warren, one Billy Graham. But there are millions of servants—people like you and me—created by God to fulfill their Kingdom Purpose through the expression of their unique S.H.A.P.E.

From S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life by Erik Rees