February 17, 2025

Restoring the Dream

Most of today’s post is taken from my book DREAM, which I wrote in 2012.

You may not be aware of it, but you have a dreaming nature. You inherited this part of your make-up from your Creator. He created us in His image and likeness so our hearts could relate to His and in order that His dreaming heart could find millions of expressions. You were designed to dream, both for yourself and for God. You MUST dream. In fact, if you don’t dream with Him, He can’t experience all of His dreams, and you’ll never achieve your destiny.

A life without dreams is like a GPS without a satellite. The GPS might operate, but it would lead you nowhere. Likewise, without God-given dreams to guide you, you will travel life’s highway searching for a destination you’ll never find. Divinely inspired dreams, on the other hand, will guide you to the destiny God intended for you.

Your Designer dreamed dreams for you before you were even born, then skillfully wove them into your DNA as He created you, along with the ability to find and fulfill them. His ultimate destiny for you will be the sum of those dreams. The journey of life, then, is meant to be a dream quest. Finding and fulfilling what your Maker dreamed for you brings life’s ultimate satisfaction and should be life’s ultimate pursuit.

If you don’t discover those dreams, you’ll either waste your life running in wrong races and crossing wrong finish lines or, like many people, have no finish line at all. Some individuals stop running altogether, wandering through life as though it were a maze, hoping they will make the right turn and stumble upon the right exit. What a tragedy. Your Creator doesn’t intend for life to be a shot in the dark. You CAN find His plans and dreams for you and pursue them with confidence.

The Ultimate Gift is one of my favorite movies. It’s the story of Red Stevens, an older and extremely wealthy businessman who knew he was dying and was trying to decide where to leave his fortune. It seemed his children were money-hungry, self-indulgent, and irresponsible, as were his grandchildren.

All but one.

Jason seemed like all the rest, but Red had seen something else in him, buried under the outer layer of pain, laziness, and his party-driven lifestyle. Red knew that under this stained veneer was great strength and noble character. So he decided to leave his fortune to Jason - IF he passed a series of twelve tests, which Red personally presented posthumously by video. These were difficult, time-consuming tests, some of which were projects that took weeks. Jason would only learn of the next challenge after successfully finishing the previous one.

When presented with the proposal by Red’s executor, Jason at first resisted. The old man’s money could go to charity; he wasn’t going to play the game. But after much thought - and the fear of going broke! - he decided to give it a try, just to get the money. What he didn’t know was that each challenge was designed not only as a test but as a character builder and teaching tool - Red called them “gifts, a series of gifts.”

It is fascinating to watch the transformation in Jason. He learns the value of hard work, loyalty, giving, family, and several more important qualities needed for a successful and responsible life. Toward the end of the process, he sits down to see a video showing him his next assignment. Grandpa, though of course now gone, knew when making the videos that if, at this point in the process, they were still being shown to Jason by his wise and discerning business partner, Jason had passed the previous tests and could be trusted with the wealth.

Almost. 

When this latter video begins, Red says, “It’s time for you to learn to dream, Jason.” Like the grandson in the movie, I was riveted to the television. What a concept! I thought. The test of dreaming. Jason was given a very large sum of money, told to dream, and do whatever he wanted with it. And just in case you decide to watch the movie, that’s where I’ll stop.

The timing of watching this movie was perfect for me. I was in a season of reexamining my life, analyzing the past, and wrestling with the future. As part of this process I planned a week alone to think and pray. We were living in Colorado at that time. I had a cabin reserved for the week, but when I arrived, it just didn’t feel right. I decided to follow my instincts: This isn’t the place.

I called Ceci and asked her to check online for another location, preferably in Estes Park, Colorado. I would start driving in that direction. The place she found was more than perfect. The Americana-themed decor reminded me of my calling, and the altar and a Cross out back reminded me of Moriah, a special place of dreaming mentioned in Scripture (Genesis 22). Though I was unaware of it, God had planned that He and I would dream together in this place.

Perhaps you aren’t aware of Moriah and its rich biblical history. It is the mountain where Abraham took Isaac, at God’s instruction, to offer him as a sacrifice. God stopped him from doing so, of course. He had only wanted to paint a picture of Himself offering His Son on the altar of the cross centuries later. Moriah was the actual place where this would occur! There, on that momentous mountain, Abraham and God dreamed together. Abraham was told to envision the day he would have so many descendants they would be a great nation. God envisioned the day He would recapture His dream of family. And though Abraham didn’t yet understand it, the two dreams were intricately entwined. God would use this patriarch’s dream to recapture His. Messiah would come through the nation Abraham would birth. 

God had big dreams for another nation: America. Some people find it ludicrous to think Yahweh birthed America for His purpose, His dream. Indeed, some find the assertion heretical, screaming, “Christian nationalism! God would never create a nation for the primary purpose of announcing the good news that Abraham’s nation was used to birth. He no longer raises up and uses nations. He only uses individuals now.”

How ridiculous. He is Lord over the nations (Psalm 22:28). Acts 17:26 tells us He appoints the times and boundaries of nations; Daniel 2:21 informs us that He chooses rulers. Are we to believe that when raising up nations and leaders He never has His most important cause in mind: the redemption of the world through the sacrifice of His Son?! 

This destiny on America doesn’t suggest He loves us more than other people. God loves “the world,” every “whosoever,” on the planet (John 3:16). Nor does it imply that other nations don’t have important callings from God. For a nation to be chosen as an “evangelist to the world,” as Robert Hunt prayed over America at Cape Henry in 1607, doesn’t give us elite status, any more than a person called from their birth to be an evangelist does. Yes, it is a very high calling, but not a high status. God unquestionably raised up America to send the gospel to all the earth. This was His dream for us. 

The American Dream of living free and prospering through hard work is good. But it is not the ultimate gift God had in mind for us, any more than it was for Abraham. “I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee…and thou shalt be a blessing…and in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” He told Abraham. (Genesis 12:2-3)

Fallen human nature caused Americans to forget God’s dream as they pursued their own. He wants to unite the dreams again. As you pursue “the American Dream,” don’t forget His.

Pray with me:

Father, Your plan for America was very clear: to be a “nation evangelist” to the world. You gave us the liberty and prosperity to make this possible. Like Israel, we failed You, even rebelled from You, many times. But thankfully, Your mercy is greater than our sin; You redeem and restore. Just as You did many times with Israel, You are restoring America back to You and to this purpose. 

We will experience a revival that not only saves us, but also restores passion for our destiny. Evangelists will go forth from America’s shores by the thousands, and evangelism will go forth through the airwaves. Your Kingdom will come, Your will be done.

Let Your hammer fall where needed, Your fire burn what needs to be burned, and the rain of Holy Spirit fall on our land. Even now, we hear the sound of abundant rain. May Your dreams for Earth’s greatest harvest come true, and may we be a part of this.

Our decree:

We decree that God’s dream for the greatest of all harvests will be fulfilled, and America will achieve her role. 

Much of today’s post was taken from my book DREAM published by Bethany House (Baker Books).

Click on the link below to watch the full video.