It's Monday again and you're getting back to the grind.  In the midst of your morning rush - getting the kids ready for school, prepping for that ten o'clock meeting, traffic jams and the lunch you forgot on the kitchen counter - your dream lay quietly in wait.  It's not so quiet though is it?  Because every time it stirs in your soul, your mind begins to race and you get excited about all the great and endless possibilities!  For that moment, your spirit is more alive than it has ever been.   Now quickly, before what appears to be your only reality sets in for the kill, let's learn how to relive that moment of excitement over and over again until you see your dream come alive.  Welcome to Dream Building 101!

In order to take your dream from whimsical to reality, there are some essentials you will need on your journey: faith in the power of God, courage, patience, tenacity, and very essential, a plan of action.  Although we list these separately, they are all one tied to the other, and you cannot prove success without possessing them all.

We start first with and end always with God, for He is the beginning and the end of all things.  And, as you've already learned, He is the creator of your dream.   From the very first thoughts of your dream until the point it manifests, you must rely solely on your faith in God's ability to do what seems to be impossible.  Yes, even for you.  Take for instance, the story of Nehemiah and how he desired to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem.  Before he took any action, he first sought God for His help through prayer and fasting.  This very action tells us that he first believed God could and God would give life to his dream.  If you read on in the story, you will learn that Nehemiah's dream came true.  If you read on with understanding, you will learn that Nehemiah faced several obstacles in pursuing his dream, but he possessed all the necessary essentials and so proved successful.

Courage is an important essential because on the journey to living your dream, you too will face many obstacles.  The first obstacle is boldly coming out of your comfort zone.  Be it sacrificing your leisure time to go back to school for that degree, or quitting your day gig in order to give your dream its well deserved 110%; have the courage to step out boldly from what is familiar and comforting to you.  If you want a new harvest you'll have to plant a new seed.  Nehemiah too had to obtain and exercise courage for his endeavor.  Praying unreservedly to God to grant him favor, he put aside his fears and went before the king to obtain permission to leave his post and go after his dream.

Patience and tenacity work as one.  You must be tenacious and diligent in achieving your end result.  Very well, as you work your plan of action and those many obstacles arise, you will need a patient spirit to help you run the course and move only in God's time.  Some us want what we want when we want it resolving falsely on the premise that success will come by doing as little as possible just because we have God on our side.  Procrastination and laziness will kill your dream faster than you can imagine.  Building a dream is hard work, bottom line.  Accept that for what it is and believe you have what it takes to get the job done!  The Word of God tells us, "The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied (Pro 13:4 NIV)."  And, ". . . if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently (Rom 8:25 NIV)."   

In this last piece of our lesson, we will discuss your plan of action.  Take your ideas and epiphanies from your mind to paper.  You must develop a calculated plan of action to help you stay the course.  What should you do first?  Refer to your plan.  How will you get this and that accomplished?  It's in your plan.  What possessed you to do this in the first place?  Reread your plan!   Every dream starts first with a vision, which is usually what you see as your end result; and so you must consistently and persistently visualize yourself living your dream.  Your plan will assist in keeping you on track, organized and walking firmly in it. 

As you begin to actualize your dream, one goal at a time, keep putting one foot in front of the other, stepping courageously toward your dream with faith, steadfastness and a posture of endurance.  In Habakkuk 2:2 it reads, "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. (ESV)"   The 'he' in this scripture, as it relates to our topic, is YOU!  So get on your mark and get set to go where you never believed you could go! 

You will do well to run hard and run fast with your vision, but always remember that in order to run in true success you must run with God!