I teach Leadership. And one of the concepts I teach my students is about gifts and talents. God gives each and every one of us different gifts. In order to pursue a dream, one must have the gift to do so in the first place.
It is a scary to think about the dream, I feel, God has placed inside of my heart and utilize my gift to "arise and be all that I dreamed." I feel God is leading me to sing in the church. I feel through my gift that God has given me, God will be able to move people towards Him. And I feel this is true for everyone. Everyone has different gifts.
Being that I am fearful of singing in front of a crowd, I cannot fathom God wanting me to sing in front a big group of people. So, being that I cannot fathom this, or understand it, I try to reason with God.
How in the world will I do such a thing? And who is to say I'm really THAT good or inspirational? Is this God speaking or is this all inside of my head? And seriously. Seriously? Seriously! However...
My faith IS growing. And people can SEE my growth. But I still question things I don't understand or know.
I DO know, everything has led me to this point. Everything had to happen this way so I could be led right here and right to this moment.
It is in the moments when I am on my 1 1/2 drive into work, that I sometimes hear the song "Arise" by Flyleaf. It truely motivates me to move from my comfortable expectations to higher expectations that will glorify God.
This song not only inspires us to be all that we dreamed, but to leave behind all of our fears and allow Christ to eliminate the demons in our heads. Eliminating the demons and fears will allow us to boldly follow Christ and become all that we have dreamed.
The "pages in the Book" could be the Bibical account of a man, who was possessed by demons, crosses paths with Jesus. As Jesus is about to cast the demons out of the man, the demons beg Jesus to cast them into the swine they see nearby. Even the demons acknowledge the power of God and beg for his mercy. The swine, then filled with the demon spirits, run into the water and drown. Instead of the people being gracious that the demons had been cast away from this man, they were angry because of losing a herd of swine, which was thier income.
Even after we are rescued, we still want what was left behind. We battle between our old and new self. Am I ready to let go of materialistic or earthly things to follow Christ? To follow HIS dream and plan for my life? Or will I allow the battles and the demons behind the battles to defeat me?
The battles can make us weary. And we want to hear songs about the end of the world because it is only then, the "hammer and needles for You" will end. The suffering will end. We believe, and "there is hope left in us yet" that Christ WILL return again. And it is this HOPE that allows us to endure the suffering. So as a Believer, it is my obligation to "arise and be all that I dreamed", because it is through me and my gifts that God will tell people, "Stand in the sun, we'll dry your eyes. Hold on to the world we are fighting for, there is hope left in us yet. Arise and be all that you dreamed."
I can only be all that I am supposed to be by allowing God to save me from myself. We have to let go of our demons and fears. Let them go. Let them rest in swine. If we don't allow God to rescue us, we will miss oppurtunities to utilize our inner gifts.
This will take Time. This will take courage. Strength. Faith. It is scary to leave behind what we know to be comfortable expectations for ourselves.
This also reminds me of the Biblical account of the man lying on his mat because he was paralyzed. It is frightning to think if he hadn't risen to walk when Jesus told him to, he would have never known what he was capable of doing for Christ.
Change is scary. But NOT changing is paralyzing.
So I arise. I am becoming all that I dreamed.
Reference:
Luke 8:33~Then the demons came out of the man and into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
Mark 5:11-14
Matthew 8:28-32
Mark 3:11
What song really inspires you? What are your gifts?
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