One of the real challenges that stands as a mountain before a person is the delay of their dreams. It is difficult for people to deal with time, they expect solutions instantly. They want it now, not five minutes from now!
This time expectation is most acute and unique to American society. They are inventors of fast food because it is believed that fast is always better! Now, let me help you understand time. God has no time frame that controls Him. The whole spectrum of time is always laid before Him, so He does not experience time as a limiter.
Faith is what He has given us to enter into the reality that He lives in.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith is the quality of a human being that allows us to see and be happy about our answer now. We are not waiting for the physical manifestation to be happy, or fulfilled, or confident. We enjoy what we believe as if we had the things we believe for now in our possession. What does this do for us?
It puts eternity into our heart!
What we have received as our inheritance from God is ours right now. Get happy about it and you will see it!
Scripture: Hebrews 11:1
For nearly a year, Magda Herzberger struggled to survive the daily terrors and psychological torture in three of Adolph Hitler’s concentration camps. According to the Grand Canyon University interview, though forced to “gather corpses,” she resisted the draw of suicide and instead relied on God for the hope to outlive the Nazi death machine.
Growing up in the home of a respected international businessman, Magda was exposed to music, sports and languages, learning German, French, and Latin. She was cultivating her dream to go to medical school when the Nazis swept across Romania.
She vividly recalls the day the Hungarian Secret Police knocked at the door and began collecting families at gunpoint. As her family was being trucked away, her father arrived home and willingly joined them. She remembers her father’s warm tears falling on her head, as they were being transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She can still hear the dreadful cries and hopeless whispers of strangers packed into train cars without food or even a toilet for the terrifying journey.
Magda said, “Regardless of what I experienced in those camps, and all those terrible things, I’m still a loving and forgiving person.” I would ask, how can it be possible to remain a loving and forgiving person after being kidnapped, tormented, imprisoned and forced to watch mass murder? As she prayed in her silent moments in the camp, Magda knew in her heart that God could help her make it out alive. She said, “I think my great trust in God was my source of survival.”
What is hope? Hope is the picture of the future or the thing desired. The dictionary says, “it is a wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment.” Robert H. Schuller, said, “Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.”
For Magda, her hope in God—her confidence that He would help her stay strong through the storm—gave her strength for her journey. I want to encourage someone today, do not allow anyone or anything to steal your hope! Magda Herzberger went on to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor, and today at age 89 she is still sharing her story of hope in the midst of tragedy. You can experience that same hope today!
Let’s continue looking at two more ideas to cultivate your environment for a creative miracle:
#3 Cultivate your faith! Faith often defies logic and requires that we trust like a child. Faith is not foolish or arrogant, nor does it tempt God. Faith believes that God is not a man that He should lie. Therefore, faith takes God at His word.
The Holy Scriptures say that without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.
#4 Cultivate an awareness of Christ’s presence. Multitudes of people live in environments where they lack work, proper health care and money. In this environment the creative compassion of Christ shines!
Jesus was not just an ordinary man with healing power, He was God in human flesh. He was our model for life! He showed us how we can do the works that He does. Just like the little lad, bring what you have to Jesus and let HIM multiply it!
Scripture: Hebrews 11:6
Only one miracle is recorded in all four gospels authored by Jesus’ closest associates. The miracle of the five loaves and two fish is called a Creative Miracle. Five thousand men and their wives and children were fed from a young boy’s lunch. When Jesus saw that His vast audience was hungry, He told His disciples to feed them. The perplexed disciples timidly offered the one creative idea before them—a young lad’s lunch. How do we cultivate the environment for a creative miracle? Over the next two days we will look at 4 ideas to get you started:
#1 Cultivate your curiosity! How? Curiosity is defined as a desire to learn; a spirit of inquiry and an interest in others. I believe this miracle appears in all four Gospels for two reasons: first, a child with very little to offer took interest in others. Second, these gospel writers participated in the miracle themselves. As Jesus multiplied the lad’s lunch, their curiosity and interest compelled the disciples to participate in God’s creative miracle! Could it be that simple curiosity is the creative pathway to your miracle?
#2 Cultivate a lifestyle of participation. Allow yourself to get involved with God’s creative process. In this account, a seemingly insignificant child solved a crisis for 5,000 men plus their wives and children. A young boy with only his lunch! Could it be that this kingdom belongs to the children, as the Bible says, because children have the potential to receive all the possibilities that God offers?
Scripture: Matthew 14:15-18, Mark 6:35-44, Luke 9:12-17, John 6:5-13
I remember one of our events just north of the Arctic Circle in the city of Murmansk. A hockey rink had been secured for our conference. The main speaker had only one request—that we never put him on a platform that didn’t allow seating directly in front. When I arrived at the venue just hours before our opening, I was horrified to find that not one chair had been placed in front of the platform!
I had less than 2 hours to find seating, and the owner of the stadium was not in the mood to help. Glancing at the platform, I saw dozens of risers stacked to the side. Seeing my solution, I directed the workers to distribute the risers across the open floor. The audience quickly filled them up just before the speaker arrived.
The owner of the stadium was so impressed with our innovative thinking that by the next morning he had filled the floor with hundreds of chairs free of charge! His comment was, “if these people wanted seating this badly, I was determined to give them the best!”
Remember: Sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution!
If you look on the outside of my passport you will see that I am an American citizen; however, when you look inside, it becomes obvious that I am a citizen of the world. And frankly, I have earned each nation stamp, as each culture has indelibly etched its image upon my soul! Whether I experienced success or failure, often in many of these nations a sudden crisis brought out my highest level of creativity! I am a richly woven tapestry of possibility thinking! And you can be too!
First, SPEND TIME WITH CREATIVE PEOPLE. Whether you are at home, school or busy at the office, spend time with “creatives.” These unique souls have practiced the art of turning chaos into beauty, and problems into possibilities. Maya Angelou says, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
Second, LOOK FOR THE OBVIOUS. As the old saying goes…sometimes the answer is right under your nose. In other words, you don’t always need a creative idea—sometimes you just need to choose the most practical or obvious solution.
Third, BE UNREASONABLE. Always give yourself a minute to think! Think beyond what you consider logical!
Fourth, PRACTICE MENTAL AGILITY. Being open to spontaneous thought is key to cultivating creativity. I dare you to break free from the rigidity of common thinking and everyday expectation! INNOVATION IS INSPIRING!
Fifth, SEE PROBLEMS AS OPPORTUNITIES! Creativity is fueled when you replace the word problem with opportunity! ‘Opportunity’ is that moment when you decide that no opposition, poverty, or weakness can hold you back!
Discovery is a powerful word that opens up vast opportunity. Children have no limits on their curiosity or willingness to try out new things. In fact, their openness is so great that it could cause personal injury or peril. As we grow older, we seem to lose the ‘YES’ in life – words like routine, institution, insurance, protection, and safety become commonplace in our vocabulary.
I remember moving to Russia and finding a society that was based on the word “NO.” How could it be that this dynamic, creative society was cloaked in such negative expectation? Yet, for many of us today, regardless of our society, we allow the phrases “No, you can’t,” “No, you shouldn’t,” “No, that’s not right,” “No, it’s not possible,” to control our destinies!
Let’s realize today that Christ takes the parentheses off of life. He puts a plus on our future because He says, All things are possible, only believe!
Scriptures: Luke 8:50, Mark 10:27 (paraphrased)
Recently, I was moved by a letter I received from a family whose daughter is seeking higher education. An everyday person just like you, she had lost sight of her dream. In the mundane routine of life, she had lost hope. What do you do when it seems like hope is lost or when it seems that your dream is a thousand miles away?
You can develop Creativity habits essential to cultivating the dream that is in your heart! How?
- Create your own Inspiration Book using bright and beautiful pictures! Gather pictures from magazines, advertisements or the newspaper. Paste the images on a dream-board or in a book—let them speak new possibilities to your heart. Their symbolism can expand your horizons.
- Momentarily change your surroundings! If you are facing discouragement on the pathway to your dream you may need inspiration! Use a simple change in environment to stimulate your curiosity and increase productivity in thought. Do this throughout your day!
- Rely upon the creativity of others! Contrary to popular opinion, most thoughts are not original but they are a conglomeration of all that we have heard, read and seen!
- Speak out or write out your thoughts! Get into the habit of capturing your thoughts throughout the day! This is one of the best ways to stimulate the creative process!
- Allow a sense of urgency to motivate your creativity! Don’t wait for tomorrow! Procrastination never brings out the best in life, it simply eats away at your life. Today, set some immediate deadlines!
We find people today are looking for more than a job. They are looking for a life of meaning and a work they can commit themselves to. At a young age with a certain degree of success and friendship, I had a question in my mind: “Is this all there is?” What I found was beyond my wildest dreams! A life without limits was being offered to me! This same life is offered to every person. Today people are chasing after jobs and are glad to have one, but security is not satisfaction.
The good news is that every job is a joy if you see it tied to something bigger and significant for your quest of life. Jesus came into this earth from the Father and Creator of all things. He said you can have life like My Father and I have life. You can let go of your limitations and enter a place where the source of all things is not limited by economy or government or education or country.
Jesus opened the door when He said: “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” Mark 11:22 NLT
The possibility stands before you. Go for it!
Thomas Edison overcame adversity many times in his life. A classic example of this occurred in 1914, when a fire ravaged the phonograph factory at his West Orange, New Jersey complex. The 67 year-old Edison lost approximately $5 million that night – the equivalent of $75 million today. His son Charles raced to his father’s side, thinking the sight of the blazing factory would be too devastating for him. Instead, Charles was amazed to see his father smiling. He told his son, “Go get your mother! She’ll never have a chance to see anything like this again in her entire life!” Edison then called a meeting with his key staff members and immediately began organizing the recovery campaign. He urged his team to focus on rebuilding the phonograph factories in a way that “took advantage of the latest improvements in factory design.”
Edison’s response to the fire demonstrates his irrepressibly optimistic nature. As biographer Dr. Paul Israel describes it, “Where others might see disaster and failure, he was always optimistically looking for opportunities and seeing the possibility of new directions for improvements.”
