Imagination A Gift From God

Dare To Believe

Why is it so important to believe?

Ephesians 3:20 AMP
Now to Him who is able to (carry out His purpose and) do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think (infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams), according to His power that is at work within us,

What grabs my attention the most within this scripture, and what needs to be focused on is – More than all that we DARE ask or think (infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams).

That word Dare, just kept standing out to me in big bold letters, DARE…
Which really got me thinking more about that word dare. I began a new process of saying I need to dare myself to ask God for more in my life, it is something I find we all struggle to do at times or forget to do all together. I needed to dare myself to ask God, that I believe and that I've received His healings. I needed to dare myself to believe that God is a good and loving God, and He wants nothing but good things for us in this lifetime. I also needed to dare myself to believe that God is the Almighty God, that He will supply all my needs according to His riches, and His Glory that is at work within me. It is as simple as that, we just seem to find a way to complicate matters for ourselves in order not to believe, let alone dare ourselves to believe to this extent. My question was, how do we stop this from happening? Once I began to see it, once I began to visualize myself being a big thinker, only then could I begin to stretch myself to dare more for my life. To make it sound more simple. I had to learn to believe for the impossible to happen in and around my life. It annoyed me, why it took me this long to get that part right, and then keep that constant. This is a chapter in our journey with Christ that needs a lot of attention. I began to see God's power working in and around my life, only because I was daring myself to believe in more.

First step – Dare ourselves to learn to ask and think greatly with our lives.

Second step – Believing that God's power is at work within us.

The reason why this was so important to myself was because of how sin had such a big hold over me, like I have mentioned in previous chapters. Daring to overcome something was extremely hard for myself to do, as I struggled to see myself without those sins in my life. This is why certain circumstances don’t change overnight for us, we have to persevere through those moments, only then can great wonders start to happen. The reason things didn't change overnight for myself was because I never liked change. I wanted things to stay plain, to stay simple and that way I will always stay safe. Nothing could go wrong if you don’t take risks, it sounds like a good and safe way to think and live. I believe that this is just the same as being trapped in sin, because we stop anything good from ever happening all because we want to play it safe. It was only when I met my wife Michelle, that change started to happen around me. I began to change the way I thought, or should I say Michelle changed the way I thought. When I found the Lord again in my life, that's really when God changed the way I thought. Before that my life was simple, plain, boring and dull as I got older. I never took any risks whatsoever, I always played it safe – I thought I was playing it safe, what I was really doing was dying on the inside by killing all my hopes and my dreams.

When Michelle came into my life it was like a series of bombs that went off, because my life was plain and simple to remember. Michelle was the Michelin bomb from world war one, blowing up everything in a row that I thought was perfect within my simple world. Michelle always wanted to go out and see new places, all I wanted to do was stay in. Michelle liked to spend money, sometimes too much money, I preferred to save as I hated spending money. Michelle always wanted to move things around the house constantly, I liked things just the way they were. The point I’m making here is like I said, I really hated change! Michelle my Michelin bomb, who just kept blowing up one thing after another – In my mind it was world war one between Michelle and myself. We were at war with my emotions, Michelle sadly had to put up with myself for a while during this process. She never really did anything wrong, all she did was love me and wanted the best for her husband. This is why the life I was living needed blowing up. To put it in a better form of words, I needed a wake up call and this was it. I was caught up in so much sin that it made me kill every dream I ever had, this happened because I would do nothing. The definition meaning of the word Believe is, to accept that something is true especially without proof.

So when we believe, we learn to trust in something or be convinced by someone in order to believe. If it wasn’t for Michelle who believed in me first, who encouraged me in my hopes and dreams, I feel that they would have never come to pass. I always believe that God puts certain individuals in our lives to motivate and push us towards our goals. Whether that's our parents, our partners, work colleagues or even just close friends. We all need a certain someone in our lives that helps us in the positive. later on others came into my life who encouraged my hopes and dreams, but it was Michelle that God put into my life first. God knows what we need before we do, I believe that’s why He puts those right people around us to help us accomplish our goals to help us change our old ways by removing bad habits. If we don't accept that change from God, we allow and get around the wrong people that just corrupt our good ways, then they manipulate us to fulfill their needs. So instead of encouraging, they discourage our every thought and every action we want to make. People like this who manipulate do so by first making you question every step you make, until you get so confused you start to believe whatever they will say. We can't dare ourselves to believe in big things when we let others choose for us, instead of how God wants us to believe. I hated change for a long time, and had too many individuals that would manipulate myself.

I was left with a choice to make, was I going to accept change in my life allowing God to work through me or settle for my old ways, then watch my hopes and dreams fade away as others made my ideas their ideas. All we do in the end is watch our chances for change pass us by. We all seek change in our lives – so when it comes time for change, are we daring enough, are we willing enough to accept that change. For years I watched my hopes and dreams pass me by, this happened in my life twice. The first when I stepped away from God and into the world, the second time when I came back to God. I never expected this to happen again, being manipulated and my dreams twisted to suit others, especially by individuals who say they are followers of Christ. God is all knowing and He wants what is good for us, knowing what we need before we even need them. That's why we need to dare ourselves to believe that God will do great things in our lives. Not to hold onto the words of others, as this leaves us open and vulnerable to being deceived. Scripture is the key of how God helps us – when it comes to controlling individuals. When I finally saw the truth of peoples lies, I found myself being drawn to this scripture.

Matthew 6:7-8 NKJV
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Change is a part of who we are and we all go through a process of change at some point, which leads us to new and greater things. Daring to believe is always changing the way I saw God in my life first. As God changed the way I saw myself, I dared to believe in God’s ways to change and move away from sin, this was how God answered my prayers in so many areas. So my question is, when change presents itself to us, why not accept it then? When I tried to stay in my old incorrect ways, all it did was nothing for my hopes and dreams which I established earlier. All we do is just kill them off one by one. Which then slowly leads us to damaging other people's dreams, because of how others damage our hopes and dreams. Dream killers as I like to call them, are out to simply do one thing, manipulate and take what is yours to satisfy themselves. Sounds terrible I know, yet this is what happens.