THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM, “Trust” #4 | Mac Hammond
Recap
Pastor Mac taught the fourth message in his series, “The Impossible Dream.” We are called to dream the impossible dream. Or you could say God’s dream for us, because for us, it’s an impossibility. But nothing is impossible for God. That’s why it’s called the impossible dream. Pastor Mac said, “I feel like that this particular subject is something that will do as much to move your life forward in God while you’re on this earth as anything possibly could.”
Dive Deeper
God has a dream for every member in the body of Christ… or you could call it His plan or will for you. Something the Bible calls a “high calling of God” for you. Pastor Mac says, “We’ll never make progress toward it until we begin the process of dreaming about it.”
The impossible dream is not talking about fantasy. Fantasy is taking something that has no truth in it and pretending it’s reality. The Word of God is filled with truth. His Word is not fantasy. It’s truth. So it’s not fantasy to embrace His promises for us.
The Word reveals things that are God’s will for us. The Word together with God’s spoken word for our lives melded together then makes up His dream for our lives.
The word dream is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as a “pattern of thought or mental imagery that stimulates the intellect and stirs the emotion.”
The Word talks about dreams a great deal; however, it uses other words like “vision” to describe a dream.
Habakkuk 2:2 says, “And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.” This verse tells us that whatever vision we may have, it must be clear before it can generate direction and/or momentum.
The phrase “he may run” means you’ve got momentum and direction to your dream/vision.
First definition is mental sight.
The Hebrew word rendered vision in this passage is defined very simply as “mental sight.” In other words, it’s not talking about natural visual acuity. It’s mental sight. That’s the first definition.
Second definition is imagination.
The second definition is “imagination.” God said about the people building the Tower of Babel, “…nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do,” (Gen. 11:6). Pastor Mac said when he read that verse, “a light went off inside of me: when we learn how to use our imagination properly, it will generate an irresistible momentum in our lives in a given direction.”
You can use your imagination for something that is vain or empty.
Psalm 2:1 says, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” This is where we get the terminology “vain imagination.” The unsaved people were using their imagination on something that was empty and worthless and vain. This use of imagination will not produce good fruit.
You can use your imagination for something that will be bring forth good fruit.
Psalm 1:2 says, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season…” If you meditate on the Word of God, you’ll be like a tree planted by the water bringing forth good fruit in his life. The word “meditate” is the same word translated as “imagine” in Psalm 2:1.
The word “meditate” means to mull over, to think about, to consider, to focus upon. Meditate is your ability to mentally image what the future may bring.
You use your imagination for the future. You don’t need to imagine the past. And you don’t need to imagine the present.
How this affects you personally is that its ability to drive your life in a particular direction is based on the pictures you are painting on the canvas of your mind, in your imagination, your mental sight, how you see your life unfolding in the months and years ahead.
Depending on how you use your imagination, you could be like a tree planted by rivers of living water. Or you could be someone that uses your imagination on something that is vain and empty, producing no positive fruit.
Let’s see the word imagination in 1st Peter 1:13: “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind.” The “loins of your mind” is referring to your imagination.
Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” This verse is telling us that God gave us the ability to rationally understand what’s best for us.
The key is to start with the right premise, which is the Word of God. And then your rational capacity will lead you to valid conclusions and you can make decisions for life and blessing instead of death and cursing.
The quality of your life right now has to do with how many of the decisions you made were for life and blessing or death and cursing. Your logical capacity enables you to know that answer. But this is not the creative part of your mind.
The phrase “loins of your mind” refers to our creative capacity. Just like our Father who created us, we’re also creators. According to the Word of God, you can create today the world you step into tomorrow.
God is a creator. You’re made in His image and likeness. That means the part of you that is creative is your imagination. We are to gird up the loins of our minds, the creative capacity of our imagination. That means gird up, get it ready, make it work to create.
Read About It
Habakkuk 2:2; “The Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it.”
Psalm 2:1, “Why do the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing?”
1st Peter 1:13, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind.”
Discussion Questions
What is the difference between a fantasy and a God-given dream?
Name two ways you can use your imagination.
God has a dream for every one of His children. Do you know what His dream is for you?