Whenever people get a dream from God, it is very important to announce it to the world, says Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church.
"Just by telling other people, you're making a statement of faith, and other people will want to come along to be a part of it. You visualise the dream first, and then you verbalise the dream by saying, 'This is what I believe God wants to do in my life,'" he wrote on his website.
This is what he did back on March 30, 1980 when he gave his first sermon at Saddleback Church. He recalls standing up before 60 people and reading the "Saddleback dream."
"It included a statement of faith that Saddleback would become a church where the hurting can find acceptance and encouragement, where we would one day welcome 20,000 members into the fellowship of God's family as we equipped them for effective ministry, where we would send out members by the thousands on mission projects to every continent and start at least one new daughter church a year, and where we would worship and minister on a campus of at least 50 acres," shared Warren.
He was confident sharing those dreams in front of people because deep down, he knew for a fact that they would materialise and become a reality. Warren said that he might have been confident in God, but it does not mean that he did not have moments of fear or doubt. According to him, it just meant that his trust in God was stronger than his fear of failure.
Warren then shared three benefits of telling others about their dreams, and the first of these is that it gets people started. Once they've announced it, they are accountable to try and just get moving.
The next benefit is that it attracts support from other people. When he shared his dream, Warren said people wanted to get in on it. "A dream from God will attract people that you don't even know yet to help you," he said.
Lastly, by sharing the dream, God's power is released, and He will hold His people up the entire time.
