What's Your Dream?

Allow me to ask you a question. Have you ever had a vision? I’m not talking about the “I saw an angel standing at the foot of my bed” vision. I’m talking about the type of vision when you allow yourself to view your life, your church, and your ministry years down the road. If you answered this question “no” then you should.

The scriptures teach us that “where there is no vision, the people perish.” God wants His children to have a vision or a dream. The fact is when people and churches quit dreaming they quit evolving. Just think if Thomas Edison hadn’t been a dreamer then we would not have electricity. If Alexander Graham Bell had not been a dreamer then we would not have telephones. If Martin Luther King had not had a dream, then we would still be living in a world divided by segregation.

The same is true in the church. Throughout the history of the church we read of men like Martin Luther, Jonathon Edwards and Billy Graham who all had a dream to see the church grow and change. So, that brings me back to my question, what about you? What about your dreams?

I would like to challenge each of you to take a few moments and prayerfully consider what God wants from you. Where do you want to be in your walk with God three, five or ten years from now? Will you be doing the same things in the same way, or will you being doing more, accomplishing more? What about your church? What will your church look like in three, five or ten years?

While you consider these things, let me suggest an exercise that will help. I would like for you to take a piece of paper and draw a straight line. At one end make a mark and write “birth”. If you would like you can put your birthday next to the mark that says birth. On the other end of the line make a mark and write “death.” We don’t know the day we will die so don’t write a date there. Next, I want you to consider where you are on this line and make a third mark. So my line may look something like this:

Once this is done I would like for you to look at the line between your current life and death. This space represents the rest of your life. Now ask yourself the question “What can I do to make the rest of my life a success?” You can’t go back and change the left segment of that line, but you can change the right.

Let me encourage you to dream big when you are dreaming. A young boy was out one night with his bb gun when his friend asks him, “What are you doing?” The young boy replied “I’m shooting at the moon.” His friend mockingly said “Don’t you know your never reach it.” The young man replied “Well I’m getting closer than you are.” It cost you no more to dream big. One preacher said that if your dreams are not impossible in your eyes, then they may be insulting in God’s eyes. Dream big!

Lastly let me give you a word of warning. Any time someone has a dream, someone else will come by and try to squash that dream. The fact is that some people just don’t like it when you try to grow. Joseph’s brothers hated him because of his dreams. Christ was hated because of His vision of the church. This is very disappointing. You get all excited, you are ready to move forward for God and then someone comes along and tries to squash your enthusiasm. Don’t let it happen. Joseph didn’t let his brothers stop him from trusting God. Christ did not let the hypocrites stop Him from accomplishing His goal at Calvary.

I challenge you to get alone with God, let Him give you a godly vision, and then get busy. It might amaze you what God has in store for your life.