Pursuing Your Dream
When I was 17, still in the Catholic Church and devout, there came a day when a revelation seemed to light upon me. "I think I'd make a great pastor." Although the thought came with peace, the ramifications of what that means in the Catholic church (no wife, no kids) soon weighed heavy upon me. I still had peace though that if God was calling me then He had a way of fulfilling the dream that would satisfy me.
In my continued pursuit of God I left the Catholic church in 1981 not out of spite, I just found something that was filling my hunger in a pure way, Praise Fellowship Church under Pastor Van Gale. He taught like no priest I'd ever heard. The word made sense and was full of life-application.
In 1999 I had a very vivid dream. This dream pointed clearly to me being the next pastor at our church. I had been the worship leader there for over a decade at this point and my heart was still set on being a pastor.
There was difficulty at our church and in 2001 the Lord spoke clearly to me, "In order for me to do the next work I want to do in you, you must cut yourself completely free." We had to leave our beloved church home, not knowing what God had in store. We home-churched for 5 months, listening closely for His directions.
My wife kept praying that God would get us the best training available. We were willing to go anywhere in the world, literally. After 5 months God brought us to Living Word under Pastor Winston. He took us under his wing trained us up and after 4 years sent us back to our old church to pastor there. God had fulfilled the dream he gave me. I'm now walking in the promised land for my life. It has been a great blessing to be here and I believe the fruit of our work here will be abundant and global. I have a heart to reach whole nations for Him.
All of the path that He's taken me on has been filled with both great challenges and miraculous blessings. I'm not making my own way, I'm letting Him make it for me. But I've had to keep the dream He gave me in my heart and listen for His next steps all along the way.
Of course, like anyone, I've missed multiple opportunities where He wanted to bless me but I didn't cooperate with Him. Some of those dreams are dead, some still gasping for air. Its as I cooperate with Him that He's able to accomplish things through me.
I believe I'm blessed like this because I decided to give it all up into His hands and surrender completely to Him. Every time I've tried to come up with my own agenda and pursue it, regardless of His opinion, I've found dissatisfaction and great frustration. Hopefully I won't come up with anymore "brilliant" ideas that I "must" do.
He gives me great ideas, but His always come with heart-peace. I love the Lord and love working with Him.
See you next time
Love ya
Joe
In my continued pursuit of God I left the Catholic church in 1981 not out of spite, I just found something that was filling my hunger in a pure way, Praise Fellowship Church under Pastor Van Gale. He taught like no priest I'd ever heard. The word made sense and was full of life-application.
In 1999 I had a very vivid dream. This dream pointed clearly to me being the next pastor at our church. I had been the worship leader there for over a decade at this point and my heart was still set on being a pastor.
There was difficulty at our church and in 2001 the Lord spoke clearly to me, "In order for me to do the next work I want to do in you, you must cut yourself completely free." We had to leave our beloved church home, not knowing what God had in store. We home-churched for 5 months, listening closely for His directions.
My wife kept praying that God would get us the best training available. We were willing to go anywhere in the world, literally. After 5 months God brought us to Living Word under Pastor Winston. He took us under his wing trained us up and after 4 years sent us back to our old church to pastor there. God had fulfilled the dream he gave me. I'm now walking in the promised land for my life. It has been a great blessing to be here and I believe the fruit of our work here will be abundant and global. I have a heart to reach whole nations for Him.
All of the path that He's taken me on has been filled with both great challenges and miraculous blessings. I'm not making my own way, I'm letting Him make it for me. But I've had to keep the dream He gave me in my heart and listen for His next steps all along the way.
Of course, like anyone, I've missed multiple opportunities where He wanted to bless me but I didn't cooperate with Him. Some of those dreams are dead, some still gasping for air. Its as I cooperate with Him that He's able to accomplish things through me.
I believe I'm blessed like this because I decided to give it all up into His hands and surrender completely to Him. Every time I've tried to come up with my own agenda and pursue it, regardless of His opinion, I've found dissatisfaction and great frustration. Hopefully I won't come up with anymore "brilliant" ideas that I "must" do.
He gives me great ideas, but His always come with heart-peace. I love the Lord and love working with Him.
See you next time
Love ya
Joe