OK, today we start to look at how to hear from God and start seeing HIS dream for your life. Some practical suggestions on how do you build your dream.
#1. Pray for wisdom. James 1:5 says, "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God." So you say, "Lord, what is Your will, Your plan? What do You want me to do?"
#2. Stretch your imagination.
Ephesians 3:20 says, “With God’s power working in us, He can do much much more than we imagine or think.” I love that verse so much! This verse is a challenge! God is saying, "I dare you to outdream Me. I dare you to have a bigger imagination than I can meet." God's saying, "Let the Holy Spirit expand your vision and force yourself to think in new ways." How do you do that?
Read books, travel, read Christian biographies – hang out with big dreamers! That's a tremendous way to expand your vision. The two hardest tasks in life are thinking bigger than you've ever thought before and getting started. Next week we're going to talk about how to get started. It starts with a vision. Pray for wisdom. Stretch your imagination.
#3. Establish a goal
Philippians 3. The famous passage where Paul says I press toward the mark. I set my goal for the high calling of Christ. I focus my vision. I have a goal. You need to write it down. If it's not written down, it's not a clear goal. It needs to be clear, it needs to be specific. It needs to be written down with a date on it.
#4. Visualize the results.
Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith is the evidence of things not seen." Visualize the results. Get a picture in your mind, take a photograph, paint a picture, get something that you can imagine and you see it completed and you visualize it in advance. Paint in all the details and imagine it happening and make it as real as possible.
#5. Commit your dream to God's care.
Psalm 37:4-5 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Trust also in Him. He will do it." Commit it to God. You say, "Lord, this is my desire. This is my dream. But I want to give it to You." Let God do a great work in your life.
What's God's dream for your life? Jeremiah 29:11 says, "`I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. `Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future you hope for.'"
I challenge you to see God in a different way. I challenge you to begin to see yourself in a new way. When you see God in a new way and you see yourself in a new way, you're going to start to see your problems in a new way. You're going to start to see your spouse in a new way. You're going to start to see opportunities that have been there all along, but through fatigue or failure or fear or listening to family and friends, you've missed them. The dream you were made to fulfill begins by opening your life up to Jesus Christ as your Lord, as your manager. God wants to do so much in your life, more than you've ever imagined. He sees your potential if you're totally committed to Him.
I invite you to follow me in a prayer today. Say something like this in your heart, "Lord, would You help stretch my imagination? Would You expand my vision? Would You help me to see my potential? Jesus Christ, as much as I know how, I open my life up to You and I ask You to come in and be the manager of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be." Maybe you've already prayed that prayer in the past and you'd say, "Lord, I want to recommit myself to you this morning. Help me to find Your dream for my life. Help me not to be afraid. Help me to think in new ways, bigger ways than I've ever thought before." Some of you say, "Jesus Christ, I ask You to forgive me for the sins in my life including small thinking. Thank You for loving me and dying on the cross for me. Make me the kind of person that You want me to be."
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