If you dominate in any skill or area of life, sometimes your dreams and ideas will be hated.
From the beginning of time, dreamers have always been:
- Hated
- Attacked
- Plotted against
- Sold out (betrayed)
- Thrown into pits
- Falsely accused and
- Forgotten about.
Can you identify with tests? Have you faced a test of rejection and pressure recently and questioned if you should still continue?
Every dream thought, every lesson taught, must be tested.
You cannot help anyone or practice and be an authority in any area where you have not been tested.
The recession is testing the world's resolve, determination and faith. You are reading an article from a former welfare, food stamp, WIC and Coinstar recipient (you know, that little green machine that takes coins stuck between couches and turns them into cash.)
Being on welfare taught me how to overcome the lifestyle I didn't want to live the rest of my life. I had to make a decision in a very difficult season that my current address would no longer be my destiny. But I pursued my dream 100% only after I was fired on a job.
It's funny how some of the people that fired, demoted, attacked or criticized us, helped make us what we are in life today.
When I lost everything, I honestly thought it was over; finished--the end. But the end of a thing is better than the beginning; and the end of a bad thing always signifies the start of something greater and brand new.
Isaiah once wrote, "O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, even purposes planned of old [and fulfilled] in faithfulness and truth. For You have made a city a heap, a fortified city a ruin, a palace of aliens without a city [is no more a city]; it will never be rebuilt. Therefore [many] a strong people will glorify You, [many] a city of terrible and ruthless nations will [reverently] fear You." (Isa. 25:1)
You cannot fulfill a dream without a plan.
God does (fulfills) what He plans, faithfully; even things planned and spoken a long time ago.
God told Jacob in Genesis 28, "I will give you the land on which you are lying (that doesn't belong to you yet.)"
He continued in verse 15 & 18: "And behold, I am with you and will keep (watch over you with care, take notice of) you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done all of which I have told you. And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had put under his head, and he set it up for a pillar (a monument to the vision in his dream) and he poured oil on its top [in dedication].
Jacob was broke, homeless, abandoned and in danger (with a hit on his life.) Then he dreamed. Jacob's dream was such a turning point and catalyst in his life, that early (the next day), he wanted to build something to commemorate the dream.
What have you built to honor the dream God put in your heart years ago?
One of the biggest mistakes we make in life is to dream and never wake up (do nothing with it.)
A few of my favorite "dream" quotes are:
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." -Henry David Thoreau
"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do." -Pope John XXIII
"Failure & set-backs are necessary components to life-shattering success." - Author Unknown
But what happens when your dreams don't line up with the expectation of relatives and friends?
What do you do when the shoes of your predecessor don't fit, because they are too small?
If you can dare conceive it, God is trying to instill through you a greater dream, desire, plan and righteousness (leadership) for the next generation.
But don't put trust in your dreams.
Don't think your goals are immune to destruction. Only God fulfills the dreams of our heart. RIGHT NOW, He is watching us to see if our mouth is causing our body to sin or prosper.
King Solomon wrote: "Do not allow your mouth to cause your body to sin, and do not say before the messenger [the priest] that it was an error or mistake. Why should God be [made] angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For in a multitude of dreams there is futility and worthlessness, and ruin in a flood of words. But [reverently] fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is]." (Eccl. 5:6-8)
Today:
- What does your dream job, business or life look like (If money was not an option, what would you be doing?)
- What lacking skill, habit, authority or piece of knowledge is holding you back from fulfilling it?
- What dreams have you helped others fulfill through your expertise, influence, time and knowledge?
- What practical workshop does your skill and qualifications enable you to fill seats in (To help others get gainfully employed?)
What attracts you to a prospective employer or client?
A distinguished advertisement, a website, their passion, mission statement, industry position/expertise; the promise of a paycheck and benefits, their value in the marketplace or to humanity?
