Dare to Dream

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"The Lord reigns; let the people tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; let the earth be moved! The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name- He is Holy" (Psalm 99:1-3).

Our beloved church was established by St. Mark, the apostle and evangelist, in the middle of the 1st century in Egypt. The Coptic Orthodox Church is the church under the See of Alexandria. The Egyptians spoke the Coptic language and Christianity was spread throughout the country. Thus the school of Alexandria became an important center for religious scholars.

In the 3rd century many Christians chose to live a monastic life in the desert, be dedicated to prayer and worshiping and live the life of celibacy.

During the ruling of the Byzantine, the Eastern Roman Empire tried to impose the terms of the Chalcedon council onto the Coptic church but many of the Egyptians refused. As a consequence, many where tortured and martyred. Yet despite many persecutions, the church continued to grow in its members.

Until the Muslim invasion of Egypt, the Egyptian population gradually converted from Christianity to Islam. By the 12th century, Egypt became a Muslim country.

"Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You, in the presence of the sons of men!" (Psalm 31:19).

Are you willing to dream?

Nothing is impossible when your dreams are given to you by God and waiting on Him to convert them into reality. Dreams are meant to give you a better life or encourage you to achieve greater things. Nothing will stop you as long you have faith and trust that nothing is impossible with God in the midst.

On a personal level, we may dream to pass the many obstacles and challenges that are blocking us from obtaining a deeper relationship with God such as sin, guilt, fear, etc. We may also dream to have our children walk in faith and love with Him. On a broad level, we may dream fro a prospering church where many people would be invited to participate in the Divine Liturgy.

God wants His children to dream and prosper and use all their gifts and talents for His glory. He does not want themto be lukewarm but expects them to follow His example, carry their cross, and offer their lives for the truth.

There are so many examples in the Holy Bible that teaches us about God's expectation from His true children.

"Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, 'Let no fruit grow on you ever again.' And immediately the fig tree withered away" (Matthew 21:18-19).

Although it was not the season for the fig to appear, Jesus knew that this fig tree will be fruitless. How? Fig trees have small knobs, the size of green almonds, growing along the leaves. These small knobs were eaten by the peasants and other hungry people. Leaving the tree fruitless when the time comes for harvest.

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them" (Matthew 25:14).

This is another example, the faithful servant and the foolish one. One servant brought forth all what he receives while the other servant went and dug a hole in the ground to hide what his master had given him and did nothing. Therefore the master said,

"For everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away" (Matthew 25:29).

This should make us realize that not doing anything is the same as wasting our life away because he overlooked the amazing talents that God have given to him to use for furthering His kingdom.

"And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 'I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.''" (Revelation 3:14-16).

In the book of the Revelation our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave us another example of a church or a person who is lukewarm, neither cold or hot. It is reveals that those who embrace the things of the world, which is superficial, hold little thought about the Lord's sacrifice on the Cross, and cannot recognize their need for the Lord Jesus Christ in order to maintain the righteous path.

God will reject any soul that is lukewarm for they cannot hide their faith from Him; He can see there is no hunger, no thirst, and no desire for His word. Yet He still asks them to take off their wickedness and repent; only then He will guide them, through His Holy Spirit.

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8).

Finally, God will do what is true and right every time to bring His children back home; so dare to dream about all the things that will be acceptable to God in order to grow spiritually in knowledge about His ways, benefit your children and others, and more importantly glorify God's name.