i recently watched a video of mike bickle sharing about the history of the international house of prayer (IHOP). for years before IHOP started he had a sign on the wall at his church that read "24/7 prayer in the spirit of the tabernacle of david." they'd received a clear prophetic word that they were called to do that someday, but they didn't really know what that meant. people would read the sign and ask about it, and mike would say, "we know we're called to do it, but we don't really know what it means or what it'll look like." years later, after IHOP had been going for 4-5 years, people started coming to mike and saying, "you're living your dream! i saw that sign on your wall all those years ago, and now you're doing it!"
mike would say, "no, IHOP is not my dream. it's my assignment, and i'm thankful for it. but it's not my dream. my dream is what happens between me and God in the secret place, it's being as close to Him as any human can possibly be. so if IHOP succeeds, my dream isn't helped. and if IHOP fails, my dream isn't hurt." (To watch the video, see "Prophetic History Session 1" at http://www.ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?ID=1000047932.)
mike's dream statement struck me hard. i had to ask myself, "how would i respond if the ministry i'd poured myself into fell apart? would i feel hurt, disappointed, rejected, depressed, purposeless, angry...?" honestly, i don't think i would ride ministry crisis as smoothly as mike bickle. but i want to. i want my dream to truly be that one thing.
"One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple" (Ps. 27:4).
it is so easy to find our identity in what we do or dream of doing for God. it is so easy to let that be the driving force in our lives, rather than intimacy. but only when we stop taking ourselves and our assignments so seriously (it's not that we don't work hard, but just that we don't become so self-important) will we be able to truly lean in and behold the uncreated One.
