Dreams don’t just come true. You make your dreams come true.
Last week I began a series about How to begin living your dream. I followed this with a post unpacking the power of a dream when it’s from God. Today’s message is simple: If you want your dream to come true, then you need to be true to your dream.
A dream isn’t handed to you on a silver platter. They don’t just happen. When your dream is from God, then going after your dream is about faithfulness to Jesus. When God’s dream for you becomes your dream for you, you need to do everything in your power to make your dreams come true. It’s why you’re here, why you’ve been put on this earth.
God shared it with you because he wants you to partner with him. To do his will on earth as it is in heaven.
Make Your Dreams Come True: Prayer
When your dream is from God, you don’t just think about it. You don’t just wish for it and daydream fluffy thoughts about it. You pray about it. You pray specific, audacious prayers. You ask God to open doors, to prepare the path, to prepare you. “Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
To make your dreams come true, your passion must become prayer.
Make Your Dreams Come True: Focus
To make your dreams come true, prayer is vital. But for the dream to come true, it has to take on flesh, and that begins with you.
There are a thousand good ways to spend your time, sweat, energy, and money. But to say yes to your dream you have to say no to other things. Every single day. A God-worthy dream isn’t just one of many cool things in your life; it’s the driving force of your life, the pursuit that requires your best thinking, your freshest energy, your most focused effort.
To say “yes” to your dream, you may have to say “no” to staying up late playing video games, or “no” to that extra hour of sleep in the morning so you can get up and work. You may have to say “no” to that new toy so you can say “yes” to that investment toward your dream. You may have to say “no” to half an hour of down time and give it to your dream instead. When you say “yes” to lesser things, you’re saying “no” to your dream.
To make your dreams come true, sentiment must become sacrifice.
Make Your Dreams Come True: Investments
Nolan Buschnel says, “Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference.” Amen.
If you want your dreams to come true, you need to invest in them every single day. A day off is a delayed dream. Sabbath and rest are important, but far too often we slack off and blame God for not doing our job. So a writer must write every day. A student must learn every single day. A philanthropist must either save money or give it away, every single day. No one, not even God, can do your work for you.
I like to think of our partnership with God like the day Jesus fed a massive crowd with a little boy’s lunch. The kid offered five buns and two sardines to Jesus. Jesus took what he had and multiplied it with supernatural results. It was a miracle, a dream come true. Awesome!
Well, guess what? You and me are that kid. God wants to make your dreams come true, but he wants your loaves and fish. Five loaves, two fish. Not a loaf, not three loaves, not four. Five. Not one fish, two fish. He wants everything we’ve got, everything within our power—so he can use it to do everything that’s within his power.
To make your dreams come true, your ideas must become investments.
Are you waiting for your dream to “happen to you,” or are you doing, praying, sacrificing, and investing what you can to make them come true?