God gives us power when we make the right choices. When we choose to do it God?s way we have additional power in our lives. Today we?re going to look at the Awesome Power of Faith.

The Bible tells us there?s a direct connection between faith and power. That the more faith you put in God, the more you let God steer and drive your life, the more power and the more blessing you?re going to have in it. Jesus illustrated this in Matthew 13. He?d gone to Nazareth, His home town. It says ?Jesus was unable to do many miracles there because of their disbelief.? Matt. 13:58 (CEB). Notice the connection between faith and power.

In the Bible Abraham is called the father of faith. Why is he the father of faith? ?Abraham didn?t hesitate with a lack of faith in God?s promise, but he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God.? Rom. 4:20 (CEB)

Would you like to have more of God?s power in your life? Or are you satisfied with your power? You own energy. Being tired. Wiped out. Fatigued. God never meant for you to go through life just on your own power. It?s like having a laptop unplugged. The battery eventually is going to drain. You?ve got ?this? much of a battery. You can either run through life on your power, which means you?re going to be tired all the time. Or you can plug into God?s power and have enormous amounts of energy that you never thought possible.

What?s the secret? It?s getting more faith.

Today we?re going to look at four ways that you grow in faith. These are just four of maybe hundreds. We could spend an entire year on this subject. But here are four ways that you can grow in faith so that God?s power can be more evident in your life. And God?s blessing will be more evident in your life. Whatever you want God to bless you need to trust Him for ? a relationship, a job, whatever.

Let?s look at four ways?

Faith is choosing and believing God?s dream for my life.

It all starts with a dream. It all starts with vision, an idea. What does God want to do in my life? Proverbs 29:18, ?When there?s no vision, the people get out of control, but whoever obeys instruction is happy.? Where the church has no vision, the people go to another parish. Everybody wants to know where it?s going. The same applies in your life. Dreaming about what God wants you to do with your life is an act of faith. God gives you the ability to dream, to create, to imagine. Until you get a dream, nothing becomes reality.

Dreaming means you need to put your trust in God. You can?t ask anyone else to do that for you. You have to decide. You trust God as much as you choose. It?s your choice. You can trust God a little or trust God a lot. It?s totally your choice.

How do you get God?s dream for your life? You do three things ? the next three verses on your worksheet.

First, Ephesians 3:20. ?Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us.?

God says ?Think of the biggest dream you can think of for your life. Guess what? I can top that. I can do something bigger in your life than the biggest thing you could dream of.?

Circle the phrase ?we could ask.? Here?s the first characteristic of dreamers that God blesses. Dreamers ask. If you want God?s blessing on your life this year, you must dare to ask for it. You must say, ?God, this is my dream and I’m daring to ask for it.? So what do you do? You ask first, ?God, what?s your dream for my life? What do you want me to do?? Then you ask yourself, ?What have I always dreamed of doing?? What is your dream? If you want God?s blessing on your life, first you take the risk and dare to ask.

Second, you believe God?s promises. The Bible says ?I am the?Lord, the God of all living things! Is anything too hard for me??

The answer is obviously no. Nothing is impossible with God. Today?s impossibility is tomorrow?s possibility. It?s tomorrow?s miracle. Just because you?ve got a dream you think is impossible, so what? A lot of things that are impossible become possible when you do it. Never let an impossible situation intimidate you. Let it motivate you to pray more, to believe more, to trust more, to experience more, to learn more, to grow more. That?s how you grow. Just because your dream seems ?impossible? doesn?t mean you shouldn?t go after it. God is the God of the impossible. That?s where faith works. Faith always works in the realm of the impossible.

Three, you dream big. God says ?Just ask me, and I will make the nations your possessions; the far corners of the earth will be your property.? Ps. 2:8 (CEB)

God?s saying ask me for the world. That?s about as big as you can get. Ask me for the world. I?ll give you the nations. God says, ask me and I?ll give you the nations.

Let me just say this. When you begin to dream and you say, ?Ok, God. I’m going to take a step of faith this year. I’m going to go after my dream. First, I’m going to pray and say, what?s your dream for my life? Then I’m going to think, what have I always wanted to do? What would I attempt if I knew I couldn?t fail? Then I’m going to believe God?s promises and I’m going to dream big.?

The question is how big should my dream be? You say, ?Ok, I’m supposed to dream big. I’m supposed to dare to ask. I’m supposed to believe the promises. I’m supposed to dream big. How big should my dream be?? You ask yourself two questions.

The first question is, how much time do I have to give to it? If it?s a dream you?ve got a year on, it better not be a very big goal. If it?s a dream you can say, I can give the rest of my life to this, you can really dream big.

The other question you ask yourself is: What am I really shaped to do? Spiritual gifts, heart, your abilities, your personality, your experiences. The five things that make you you. But you need to look at yourself and be honest and say, what is my heart? What do I love to do? What am I gifted to do? What are my abilities? Just be honest. You must be optimistic and realistic at the same time.

I want you to write ? No Small Dreams. I want to challenge you to dream great dreams for God. It?s your first step in the walk of faith. And it pleases God.

So step one in really getting God?s blessing in your life is living by faith. And how do you do that? You get God?s dream for my life.

Second step ? Faith is being willing to risk failure.

?People are trapped by their fear of others; those who trust the?Lord?are secure.? Prov. 29:25 (CEB)

?Each person should test their own work and be happy with doing a good job and not compare themselves with others.? Gal. 6:4 (CEB)

Once I get a dream, I?ve got to take some risks to go after it. Faith is being willing to risk failure to go after the dream that God has put in your mind and in your heart. You cannot go after a dream without taking some kind of risks. If there?s no risks involved it?s not a dream from God because God wants you to live by faith. It?ll be so big that you can?t do it on your own.

The Bible says in Acts 15:15 ?These people have devoted their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.? That?s why God blessed them. Have you ever had to take any risks for the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you ever risked anything for God? Behold the turtle! He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out! Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb because that?s where the fruit is. Don?t be afraid to rock the boat if Jesus is in the boat. You go ahead and take that risk.

Failure is no big deal. So what? You just get up and do it again. That?s how you learn. We never call it a failure anyway. We call it an experiment. Or we call it an education. Because now we know what doesn?t work. I want you making new mistakes every week because you?re trying. You?re not going to get fired for that. It just means you?re taking risks. You?re growing in faith. That?s how we learn what works.

There?s a great example in the Bible, in the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel was written when the Jewish nation of Israel had been uprooted and taken captive over to Iraq. For seventy years all the Jews lived in Babylon. They were held captive there. The guy who was king at the time was a guy name Nebuchadnezzar. He made a rule that said, ?When I ring the bell [they had this big statue made of him] everybody?s to bow down and worship this statue because I’m god.? The Jews said, we?re not going to do that. We only obey the real God, not some phony idol. There were particularly three guys who refused to do it. Three young men, all in their twenties or maybe late teens. Their names were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. (When I was a kid I thought the preacher was talking about apartments ? my shack, your shack or a bungalow. But they?re actually real people.)

Nebuchadnezzar brought these guys and goes, ?All right boys! I hear you?re not bowing down to the statue. If you don?t bow down we?re going to throw you into this big fiery furnace.? I don’t know if they heated the palace with it or not. We?re going to throw you in there and you?re going to be a crispy critter. They said, we?re not going to do it. This was their response ??If our God?the one we serve?is able to rescue us from the furnace of flaming fire and from your power, Your Majesty, then let him rescue us. [That?s faith. He?s able to do it and we believe he?s going to do it.] But if he doesn?t, know this for certain, Your Majesty: we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you?ve set up.? Daniel 3:17-18 (CEB)

Faith, real faith, does not demand a guarantee of a miracle. It says, we believe God wants us to do this; we believe God will bail us out because we?re going to do this and God will make us successful and God will protect us. But even if he does not, because it?s not part of the plan, we?re still going to do the right thing.

Faith does not demand a miracle. Faith says like, ?I believe God wants me to go start this business. I?ve prayed about it. I?ve sought advice. It?s not just my idea. I?ve talked to godly counsel. I think it?s a good thing. So I’m going to go out and start it. Even if it bombs it?s ok because even the bombing is part of God?s plan. It?s not my plan. My plan is for it to be a success.? In other words, they?re saying we?re willing to make our plans and to go God?s way and if it doesn?t work out we?re willing to risk failure. In fact we?re willing to give our lives for it. That is faith.

Faith is willing to fail even if it?s part of God?s plan. ?I’m going to do this, God, but if it doesn?t work out it?s ok. I’m still trusting you. You know I’m doing it in faith.? God will honor that faith even if it didn?t work out the way you intended it to work out. God is more interested in growing your faith than he is in what we do in life.

These guys, they?re getting ready to be thrown into this fiery furnace. Do you think they were scared? Of course they were. They were scared to death. But they went ahead and did it because as we know courage is not the absence of fear. It is moving ahead in spite of your fear. If you don?t have any fear it?s not courage. You don?t need courage for things you?re not afraid of. Courage is when you do something and you?re scared to death to do it.

So how do you get rid of the fear of failure? How do you eliminate the fear of failure? Well, we are going to spend the month of April focusing on failure! Stay tuned until then?

Until then, let us remember??all things are possible with God.? You haven?t really believed God until you?ve tried something that can?t be done on your own energy and power.

Faith is expecting God to bless and to use me.

?Then Jesus touched their eyes and said,??It will happen for you just as you have believed.?

Matt. 9:29 (CEB)

?Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don?t see.? Heb. 11:1 (CEB)

Paul expected God to bless him. In fact, in Philippians 1 he says this ?It is my expectation and hope that I won?t be put to shame in anything. Rather, I hope with daring courage that Christ?s greatness will be seen in my body, now as always, whether I live or die.? Phil. 1:20 (CEB). ?Paul says I expect God to bless me. So did David. David says,?but I have sure faith that I will experience the?Lord?s goodness in the land of the living!? Psalm 27:13 (CEB). If you go through the Bible you?ll find that everybody God uses, it?s because they expect him to use them. Everybody God blesses in a great way is because they expect God to bless them. Expecting God is an act of faith. ?Attitude means that you have to be with God, tuned in, expecting him to use you.

What should your response be to that? Look up here on the screen. 2 Corinthians 6:8 says, ?We serve God whether people honor us or despise us. Whether they slander us or they praise us.? We don?t really pay attention to either. As you?re running the race of life over in the stands there are people giving cheers and there are people giving jeers. They?re giving criticism or they?re giving compliments. What do you do? You don?t listen to either. You don?t pay much attention. You keep your eye on the goal and you keep moving forward because God says don?t worry about that. You will be criticized.

And if you get a big dream and you go after it and start taking risks and expect God to bless you, you?re still going to make dumb mistakes. You may be right in the center of God?s will but you?re a human being and you?re still going to do foolish stuff. That?s humbling. Humility is not denying your strengths, it?s being honest about your weaknesses.

So what you do is you get God?s dream. ?God, you put this dream in my heart. I?ve always wanted to do this and I think this is what you want me to do so I’m going to go after it and I’m going to go after it in faith. I’m even going to take some risks. I’m going to be willing to risk failure. Like those guys, even if it doesn?t work out I know you?re going to be pleased because I went after the dream you put in my heart. I’m going to keep on going at that.? That brings us to the last point.

Faith is never giving up.

It?s never giving up! When Jesus is at the wheel of your life you don?t have to worry about it. You don?t have to worry about rocking the boat when he?s in it.

This is so important ? faith is never giving up. We?re going to look at this, how do you keep on keeping on when every bone of your body says I want to quit. I want to let go. We?re going to look at the awesome power of fortitude, endurance. Faith is persistent. It?s diligent. It keeps on keeping on.

Great people are just ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of determination. Great people are just ordinary people who don?t quit. We have become a nation of quitters. We don?t want to do what?s consistent, we want to do what?s convenient. I want to do what?s comfortable. I want to do what?s popular. I don?t want to just keep on keeping on doing the right thing. I want to do the easy thing. When you?re coasting you?re always headed down hill. Great people never give up.

You know, the secret of success is just outlast your critics. They?re all going to die anyway. So don?t worry about it. Psalm 119:109 says this, ?Though my life is constantly in danger, [Some of you feel like that right now], I won?t forget your Instruction.? What?s the psalmist saying? Never doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light.

So what does it take to discourage you from going after your dream? One word like, ?I don?t think that?s a good idea,? from a friend or relative or family member. The Bible says this in Galatians 6:9 ?Let us not get tired of [doing good] doing what is right, for after a while [notice there?s a time delay there] we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don?t get discouraged and give up.?

God says, ?Just keep on keeping on.? I may not be real bright sometimes but I don?t know how to quit. I don?t know how to give up.

What I’m saying is this, God works in your life according to your faith. The Bible says ?Without faith it?s impossible to please God.? The Bible says, ?Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.? The Bible says, ?According to your faith it will be done unto you.? So what are you doing in faith? You need to ask yourself every day when you get up, ?God, what can I do today that will require faith?? That?s an important question. What can I do today that will require faith? Because that?s what?s going to please God.

There are a lot of things in your life you don?t have control over. You didn?t control who your parents were, when you were born, where you were born, what your race, nationality, background is. You didn?t control your natural gifts and talents. You didn?t decide how you look. There are a lot of things you don’t have control over. But the most important thing you have 100% control over. It?s this. How much you choose to believe God. God uses people who expect him to act. Who never give up. Who take risks in faith. Who get his dream and go after it. That?s the kind of person God uses. That?s your choice.

How do you grow in faith? You ask God ? ?Help me grow. Help me with my unbelief.? And you start reading this Word. You get into the Bible. A man came to Jesus, his child was sick. The father of the child cried out with tears ?Lord, I believe. Help me with my unbelief!? Then he brought the child to Jesus, Jesus said, ?Do you believe I can heal her?? He said, ?Lord, I believe! Help me with my unbelief!? Jesus said, ?that?s good enough!? And He heals the child.