YOUR GREATEST DREAM FOR 2023 IS ALREADY TOO SMALL!

YOUR GREATEST DREAM FOR 2023 IS ALREADY TOO SMALL!

Do you have hopes and aspirations for 2023 that seem just a dream? Things that seem just that little bit too big to become a reality.

Personally, I am a realist.  Not that I don’t have dreams of great things, I do, but I tend towards a need to make sure they can be achieved.  My background in mechanical engineering and my 14 years in the British military had trained my mind and my expectations to look at the reality of the basic principles of any system before I considered the possibilities going forward.

Imagine therefore my challenge as a young Christian, way back in January 1979 (at the age of 34 by the way), when I began to read scripture and discovered such passages as the one in Ephesians 3:20-21:-

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

 Now don’t misunderstand me, the fact that I claim to be a realist does not mean that I don’t dream of great things. How else do we get new inventions, records get broken, continents discovered, space explored and the myriad of other human achievements that have become our “everyday” experience of life in the 21^st century.

“Application creates Realisation” or, in other words, a “dream” becomes a reality through “application and effort”.  A young boy may dream of playing football for England but unless he “applies” himself to training and skills, his dream will be just that, a dream, a vapour that blows away with time and settles into the subconscious along with all the other disappointments and failures. No doubt, dear friend, you can think of so many more examples, perhaps in your own life. I know as I look back over my life, that although I have achieved some considerable successes, there are certainly some aspects where a lack of “application” produced little return on my potential. Our scripture on the other hand, takes the limits off our human endeavour. Faith in Jesus lifts us into a dimension of possibility that is beyond the expectations of our imagination. Faith says that “whatever is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).

Now please do not misinterpret the scripture here. This does not mean that we can jump off Blackpool tower without a parachute, or swim the Atlantic ocean.  No, no, and thrice times no! It does mean however that whatever God calls us to do, no matter how much beyond our human abilities, becomes achievable through the power of God working through us.

Through the Great Commission of Matthew 28, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit as in Acts 2, true and committed followers of Jesus are granted both authority and power  in the name of Jesus.  Authority being the permission to act, and power being the ability to perform.

 As I look forward into 2023 I must continually and consciously expect more than I can imagine.

I must be realistic about my own limitations, but even more than that, I must be realistic about God’s possibilities through me. I must allow my expectations for 2023 to be informed by God’s Word and the leading of God’s Spirit rather than the circumstances that surround me.

It is wise to prepare for what we expect and so my current preparation involves pressing into God’s purpose for healing the sick.  At a time when the NHS is under great stress and challenge, it is my belief Christians are called to step up and step out in our God given commission to “heal the sick”.

 At the beginning of the year the Holy Spirit gave me direction from Matthew 13:52:- “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” To that end I am immersing myself in the Word of God and also reviewing all my past teaching sessions on healing. I am building up my faith and expectation from the treasures of revelation I already have, and also seeking the Lord for fresh and new.

My expectation for 2023 is that there will be a HEALING EXPLOSION not only in our own ministry here at LSM, but also throughout the  church across the United Kingdom.

 Dear friends, even as I wrote that last sentence I heard the Holy Spirit say to me “ GEOFF – YOUR GREATEST DREAM FOR 2023 IS ALREADY TOO SMALL!

 Be blessed to be a blessing

Geoff