God doesn’t
sleep or dream like we humans do, but still the entire Bible is all about God’s
great dream for humanity. Now we are using dream in the sense of longing, wish,
vision, plan or intention for days ahead. For us dreams and visions are about a
better reality than the one we live in. For God, who knows the end from the
beginning and is outside time and space, the dream or his vision is the
motivating, creative love at work throughout history. God’s dream is his
eternal purpose, what he has determined from eternity, the mystery of his will,
that which is governing everything he does and is centered on Christ, God’s
eternal Son (Eph 1:9-11; 3:5-11). This dream has been hidden from the beginning of time but now in the last days it has been made known
by the Holy Spirit to apostles and prophets and eventually all the covenant
community.

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Throughout the Bible we find that God reveals himself to people through dreams and visions. In fact, dreams and visions are used interchangeable in the Bible. The classic passage about this is Job 33:15–16, where we read this: “He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings.” And how often God spoke through dreams and visions! Daniel had dreams and visions in the night (Dan.2:19; 7:2,7,13). The apostle Paul also had a dream which he calls a vision in the night (Ap.gj.16,9; 18,9). As we go back through the Old Testament we find that God constantly spoke like this. Through these visions and dreams God told people to do certain things, or warned them of things which He was going to do, and the result was that they realised that God is. It was God, who gave them the vision or the dream or the warning or the prophecy, or whatever it was, and therefore they were revelations, they were proofs of the being of God.

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Covenant
leaders are humble and self-effacing because they understand that the way of
the cross is the only way that will produce lasting fruits.

Covenant
leaders are competent both technically and relationally. They understand that
otherwise they will fail. They major on their strengths and Spirit-given
ministry to excel in the anointing as well as working hard to develop their
relationally skills.

Fruitful
covenant leaders stimulate creativity, cause people to dream and empower them
to realise their full potential in Christ. They love to encourage people to
take initiative, and to liberate them to creative expressions of covenant life.

Covenant leaders
are prepared to take calculated risks to be able to lead the people of God
forward and defeat the enemy. They are not afraid of men or traditions. They
are pioneers in the Spirit and love to blaze a new trail and break up new
ground.

Covenant
leaders are trustworthy and trust building. They understand they need trust and
confidence of the people to be able to lead the covenant community according to
the divine pattern and eternal purpose of God.

Covenant
leaders must have courage and calm in the face of adversity and be able to
impart peace to the community in the midst of a storm. They must be men of
faith and vision who envision the covenant community to rise above the
circumstances to attain their destiny in God.

Covenant
leaders inspire the team of ministry gift with them, and they are constantly
recruiting new members to the leadership team. They understand that to develop
a covenant community you must constantly develop new leaders.

Covenant
leaders are inclusive and empowering in their entire framework of ministry in
the covenant community. They understand that one man alone can never achieve
his destiny or fulfil the purpose of God. They appreciate the contribution of
others and believe in the God-given abilities of others to do what they have
been called to do.

Covenant
leaders are patient and persevering in their ministry. Their understanding of
covenant enables them to long term commitment. They don’t easily give up, but
they trust in the power of the Word and the Spirit to produce what God wants in
the end.

Covenant
leaders have respect for and consideration of others. They have learnt to
listen to both advice and critique. They love to honour people because they see
in them the glory of their God.

Wisdom from heaven

But the
wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. It is also peace loving,
gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and
good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere. And those who are
peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness. James
3:17-18 NLT

Such wisdom
is the fruit of covenant living and fosters community!

Earthly wisdom

For
jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly,
un-spiritual, and motivated by the Devil. For wherever there is jealousy and
selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every kind of evil. James
3:15-16

Earthly
wisdom destroys community life!

The wisdom of the farming
community

Ploughing
must be followed by sowing

Cultivating
must be followed by planting

The
different seeds must be planted in each own section of the land – don’t mix it!

Don’t
thresh all the crops the same way!

Repeating
one activity is not sufficient!

We must
work systematically – in many ways and fields!

Don’t use
the same method on all situations

People must
be treated individually!

Look at Isaiah
28:23-29  and discover some  amazing  truths:

They know
exactly what to do and when to do it. Their God is their teacher. Message

The farmer
knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding. NLT They

The Lord
Almighty is a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great wisdom. NLT

How did God
teach the farmer? How did the farmer come to know exactly what to do? This
wisdom has been gained, refined and accumulated in the farming community. In
the same way there is a tremendous wisdom accumulated in the covenant community
of God’s people!

The Church
Fathers, the saints, the great missionaries, and the poets of faith, represent
a wonderful treasure of spiritual insight and wisdom that we need to make use
of if we want to be wise people! Even among contemporary believers outside of
ourselves there is great wisdom and insight!

ScandinaviaIf we are
wise we may even learn from people we strongly disagree with! Among each
community of people there is a certain wisdom and insight that we may benefit
from! We need to be readers! The born again believers in Scandinavia used to be called The READERS because they were constantly reading the Bible and other books as well!

Hopefully
we will accumulate more wisdom and insight to pass on to the next generation
than we what we were given to start with! If we are working into foreign
cultures we need the wisdom of God to reach them. If we find other believers in
these cultures we will benefit enormously if we learn from their wisdom and
insight.

Today I will take up again my meditation on the covenant community. We are still on vacation, touring Ireland, and we are staying in family homes, B&B, and enjoy the atmosphere of the home.

People are
longing to be accepted for what they are and for belonging, – being a part of a
community. We are social beings – created in the image of the social Triune God.
It is not good for people to be alone. We are all created for community. True
friendship, fellowship and community are the hallmark of the covenant people of
God

God is
making originals not copies – we are not to be clones of anybody! God loves
variety – he loves a manifold expression of his wonderful nature and character.
Every human person is unique. Each person reflects a unique part of the glory
of God. What we can be together is greater than the sum of what each one of us
can do or be on our own.

In the covenant
community we are enlarged and complemented, and we find fulfilment in serving
one another – we belong! The purpose of God can only be fulfilled through a
corporate body of people.