By Brenda J. Davis
Several years ago, God sent me a special friend—even before I asked for one. When we first became acquainted, Roz and I were attending the same church in Virginia.
Roz is not only a fierce intercessor and one of the godliest women I’ve ever met, she is also a professional Christian counselor. She was the answer to one of my unspoken prayers for a number of reasons.
I was in my early 40s, coping with seminary and graduate school demands and battling chronic illness. I was hundreds of miles away from my family, facing major surgery.
Roz, who barely knew me at the time, opened her home to me while I was recuperating. Her incredible family surrounded me, prayed for me, fed me and saw me restored to health—and hope.
Both Roz and I have long since moved away from Virginia. I miss the closeness we shared when she was just a few blocks away. But in 2004 when I needed her, the Lord sent her halfway across the country for a different purpose, just so she could stop by and set me straight on her way back home.
Five minutes into our talk she strongly suggested that I read Bruce Wilkinson’s The Dream Giver (Multnomah). A modern parable, the book tells the story of Ordinary, who leaves the land of Familiar in order to pursue his Big Dream. Reading it according to Roz’s careful instructions gave me a new perspective on how God uses us to answer the prayers of others.
Various passages in the Bible refer to the fact that God responded to mankind’s need for deliverance by sending a human deliverer (see Judges 3:9).
Some cries for help are never uttered aloud. They are too desperate for words, but God hears and answers them in spite of that fact.
An example of this is the work done by Heidi and Rolland Baker among the children of Mozambique. It is a striking demonstration of the fact that God visits the hearts of His people with big dreams in order to reach those who are crying out in their need.
Vision is about more than personal success. Purpose is more than individual fulfillment. God’s dreams, when embraced by His people and allowed to flow out through their lives, will bring both, but more importantly, they will express His desire for oppressed people everywhere to know love, freedom and deliverance.
This is what Ordinary discovered in The Dream Giver. His Big Dream was directly connected to the needs of others.
God will manifest His dream through your life by making you the answer to someone’s prayers. Allowing Him to do so is a costly way to live, but it is clearly the pathway to reaching Moses’ loftiest goal (see Exodus 33:18) and our own—experiencing the fullness of His glory.
