I Want to Know … What is Your Dream?
Are you willing to lay hold of your dreams?
I'm not talking about a wish – a wish is usually only a passing thought that most people never act on. But a dream is something that captures your heart and spirit. It ignites your imagination and fills you with an unquenchable hope. It becomes something you can't easily set aside.
Dreams consume your thinking and fuel your excitement and passion. It can happen in a single moment, or it can captivate your thoughts for years. Sometimes when the dream is really big, you embrace it, and somehow it feels like the dream embraces you.
Our dreams are often about experiencing a better life, about achieving greater things … they are pictures we have of the future that reveal a part of our lives that will be greater than the past.
It takes courage to dream. Any time you dare to dream, there are risks involved. What if it never happens? What if it costs too much? What if people laugh at you?
It's hard to hold on to your dreams. It's hard to believe when the world and those around you give you no reason to press in and press on. I've been blessed to realize many dreams in my life and ministry, and I'm convinced that a dream only happens when two things take place:
1. You live with expectant faith that the dream will happen.
2. You refuse to let go of the dream - regardless of the circumstances in your life.
When God put the dream in my heart to acquire a sports arena as the location for Lakewood Church, I'll admit that even at first, I was unsure how it would happen. But I just kept believing God's Word. He encouraged me that with Him "nothing was impossible." As months went by, there were many times when the obstacles and problems outnumbered the possibilities for us to receive the promise He had given us.
But during these times, I went to God's Word and learned something from the life of David. In I Samuel 30:6, it says that David encouraged himself in the Lord.
So I made the decision that when circumstances or people said things that discouraged the dreams in my heart, I would go back to the Lord and stand on His promises. Beyond that, I would do everything I could to continually express hope, both verbally and in my actions, in what I believed God had in store for us.
I chose NOT to let go of the dream or give up, but to press on and praise God.
I know in my life, I would never have realized some of the amazing dreams that God has blessed me with if it had not been for the encouragement of my wife Victoria. When I begin to doubt or feel the pressure to let go of God's best, she is there to remind me of the faithfulness of God, and to speak words of hope, life and encouragement concerning my future.
I wish that everyone could have an encouraging voice like that in their life, but sometimes it's not always the case. In fact, sometimes those closest to you can actually be the biggest "unbelievers" of your dreams.
I believe that one thing God has called me to be is an encouraging voice in your life: What's the vision from God that’s captured your heart, that's lingered, that won't go away? Are you still holding on to it or have you let it go? If you have, the time has come to pick it back up again and reclaim your dream.
Let me encourage you: a dream doesn't always have to be something spectacular like winning an Olympic medal or becoming president.
What's the vision from God that's captured your heart, that's lingered, that won't go away? Are you still holding on to it or have you let it go? If you have, the time has come to pick it back up again and reclaim your dream.
In fact, some of the best dreams are seeing your child walk in right relationship with God or experiencing a restored marriage or having a job that that actually pays you to do what you love. Sometimes a dream is only a picture, an image that we don't fully understand and requires faith to believe in. God may give you a dream in pieces – asking you to believe. As you take small steps in faith, He'll fill in the gaps along the way.
This is what happened in Joseph's life in Genesis 37. God gave Joseph an unusual dream that he didn't fully understand, but Joseph immediately believed. And because of it, Joseph's brothers hated him and his father scolded him. No one believed Joseph, and for years and years his dream made his life really difficult. Betrayed and left for dead by his brothers, sold into slavery in a foreign land, alone and afraid, all Joseph had to hold on to was his dream and his faith in God. But Joseph would not let go of it, and little by little he began to see hints and clues that his dream was coming true.
The challenges you face will require you to make a similar choice – will you leave your pain in the past to follow your dreams, or will you let these hurts steal your hope of a better life?
As I said, seeing your dream come to pass may not be easy, but once it does, it is totally worth everything you have invested into it.
Dreaming and believing for better things in your life and the lives of those around you is contagious. When you get around someone with the courage to dream, it has an amazing impact on you.
As believers, we don't put our trust in circumstances or people. Our trust remains in the Lord. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think. This is what we are believing for, and I am confident that it will happen as we join hands and hearts to offer real hope to people … hope that can only be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Don't let anything hold you back. Don't let anyone keep you from dreaming. The dreams God has given you are treasures worth living for. They are worth the price, I promise!