When Dreams Are Not Happening The Way It Should

[ Preached by Pastor Kenneth Chin at FairStival Kuala Lumpur Conference, Acts Church Malaysia – 5 June 2016 ]

If you really believe that a dream, either a project, church plant, album or ministry is from God, then it is worth fighting for.

After an impactful time sharing our resources and developing our passion for His inspired work together with various partners and delegates of FairStival 2016, Pastor Kenneth closed the final session of the conference with a final encouragement for all heroes to take home along with their revived hearts.  

Pastor chose to share the struggles and insights he gained in the ministries that he built out of the dreams that God placed in his heart.

What do you do when things are not going the way it should?

1.  PRAY

When things do not go our way, pray, because we cannot compromise the vision that God had placed in our heart.

2. DEPEND ON THE HOLY SPIRIT

A life-changing ministry goes back to the people whose hearts are serious about going another level with the Lord, not based on how skillful they are. When we start the journey of the dream, we have to start with the right team. Many are called but few are chosen. It is the choice we make that make us chosen.

And as leaders of His ministries, we must remember that the real leader is Jesus. When we are challenged to deal with difficult people or situation, we have to rely on the Holy Spirit to deal with it.

3. BUILD AND REBUILD THE TEAM

After you have prayed and depended on the Holy Spirit, but yet it still did not go the way you dream, then, rebuild the team.

If you only want to be liked, do not be a leader. A leader should not be chosen only because he is nice. God will call us to say things and do things that others may not like. There might have ten people in your team, six may will like you, three will not know what to do with you, and one will hate your guts! Do not focus on that one who hate you but channel your energy to win the three instead, because you probably cannot get through to that one at all.

If you can empower your team to believe and agree with the vision, the ministry will grow because there is power in agreement.

4. COMMUNICATE

Just because a team exists, it does not mean they are communicating. You must start communicating clearly, bring it to a heart-to-heart conversation and make sure the team understands. Effective communication can make doubters into believers.

People are hungry for leadership. They want to follow leaders but at most time, they do not get encouraged. Let us start a culture of appreciating different ones in our ministries. Lead by inspiration, not by intimidation.

5. TRAIN AND EQUIP

2 Timothy 2:2 says, “Commit these to faithful men who can commit to others”.

The whole team needs to know what they are committing to. Most movements have books and in the writings are the recordings of the visions and directions. These resources help make clear to the team what is being passed down.

When a movement stops, people will probably forget the vision. How can our faithful men commit to others if it is not clear?

6. SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE

Just because God has called us, the calling does not excuse us to take excellence for granted. Treat God’s business as if it is your business. If it is your business, will you still run it the way you are running your ministry now? Always check with God, “Is this the best that I can do for You?” and be ready and flexible to change how you have been running His vision.

7. PERCEPTION

If all the pointers mentioned above are in check and things are still not doing well, then consider the perception we have. It is not just changing ourselves but remembering who we are and rediscovering what God has called us to do and who God has called us to be.

In Matthew 16:13, Jesus asked His disciples who they think He is. Many times, when things go wrong, we can forget who we are and begin to do things that we should not be doing. If we realized that we have changed our course that has come about because of pressure and stress, let us come back to the heart of worship and live for the one and only God!