Imagine this scenario--someone hands you a blank check and tells you there is $1million in the account--and you can write the check for as much as you want...What would you do? What if you only filled it out for $100...when you could have had up to $1million! I know that might sound absolutely ridiculous...but what's even worse--that's exactly what we do to Jesus.
Jesus has everything--we can't even begin to realize how big He is and how much He has to offer us. We sell ourselves short. God wants us to dream big. That is God's heart for us--He can do anything and the problem is we dream to small.
Let's read Mark 11:24 and Mark 9:23 together. Mark 11:24 says, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 9:23 says, "Everything is possible for him who believes."
What if God gave you a blank check? What if He said, I will give you whatever you want? What would you ask for?
Our natural tendency is we think of temporal/physical/seen things. We are wired for wanting something for ourselves...God wants us to ask for things of His Kingdom-things that are unseen-things that are eternal. "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2Corinthians 4:18.
Do you remember how last week we talked about how God wants us to be World Changers? This week, lets look at one together. His name was Evan Roberts. He was saved at the age of 13 and at the age of 15 he began to dream big dreams. At this young age he had a vision of God hitting his country with revival. His country was Wales and this time in history Wales was very, very dark. The bars and the prisons were full. Evan Roberts dreamed a big dream, "What if God gave us 100,000 souls for Jesus?" Evan didn't just do good things for God--he prayed! He prayed for 11 years. Can you imagine this? From the age of 15 to the age of 26 he cried out to the Lord--not on things that are temporal--but things that are eternal. He cried out on behalf of his country! When he was 26 years old he went to what we would call a Christian conference with Seth Joshua and this man started praying "Bend us, Oh Lord, Bend us." The Holy Spirit spoke to Evan--he started praying for himself "Bend me, oh Lord, Bend me." He kept praying that prayer-and God gave him a deep burden for souls. He even had sweat and tears when he cried out with agonizing prayers.
Can you imagine that? Can you imagine putting sweat and tears into prayer for souls? I want to be like that, don't you? I want a burden for revival like that. I want a passion for Jesus to change this city. We must catch this vision. When we do, God will release a true burden in the hearts of your generation--and that is the beginning of revival. We must ask God to bend us to break us.
Here's the deal-we don't want just a cool youth group. We need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What we need is a prayer movement. At the age of 26 (remember this was following 11 years of agonizing prayer) Evan Roberts began speaking to teenagers and after a testimony of a young girl-revival broke out. History books talk about what happened during this time in Wales and they give all the credit to prayer. Sometimes there was no preaching, people just walked down the streets and people were convicted and converted. In Wales, the community was completely changed. The bars were closed, the crime rate dropped, the police lost their jobs, and judges wore white gloves. The revival swept through the country and over 100,000 souls were converted to Christ. This revival literally changed the world!
The world was changed because of one mans dreams.
Dream a dream bigger than you.
God gives you a blank check. How big are your dreams for your life? How big are your dreams for your friends? How big are your dreams for your school? How big are your prayers?
Evan prayed his dream. Begin to pray your dreams. Get to that place of burden.
Oh, Jesus-Bend us! Break us! May my heart break the way your heart breaks Jesus.
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine." Ephesians 3:20
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