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listening to God before he began
his ministry. That was his seminary
education. He said: "God, what is the
overarching, all-consuming passion
of my life? What will I do until I die?"
Once he discovered his dream, he
lived an extraordinary life.
2. Review your gifts and talents.
Romans 12:6 says we each have
gifts. God gave you the gifts you
have; you didn't choose them. Fulfillment
comes when you use those
gifts for Him in service of your dream.
Your gifts are the key to discovering
God's will in your life.
Desire points us to our dreams. God
uses desire to accomplish what
He wants on this earth. How did
He make sure the world was populated?
He gave men and women
a desire for each other to produce
children. How did He make sure
we cared for our bodies? He made
us thirsty and made two-thirds
of the planet water. He made us
hungry and caused food to grow
all around us.
God speaks to us through desires.
Many Christians have come
to think that their motives and
desires are corrupt and untrustworthy,
but the Bible says that if
any man is in Christ Jesus, he is
a new creature. Old things pass
away, and all things become new
(see 2 Cor. 5:17). That includes
our desires! The Bible says you
can have the mind of Christ within
you. So what does it say about your
desires? It says your desires, when
you become a new creature, are
changed. That's why God can say, "I
want to give you the desires of your
heart."
3. Review your experience.
We pay attention not only to our
desires and talents, but also to our
past history. This is a powerful thing.
Romans 8:28 says, " ... All things work
together for good. ... " God uses all
things.
God can use your desires and talents
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to serve your larger goals. Even
if it's a skill you don't particularly
enjoy, you may find it opens doors
for you at key times. Not everything
in our past is bound to be good.
Some people reading this may have
lingering pain in their lives. Some
went through a divorce, grew up
with angry parents or struggled
with alcohol. Some had abortions,
filed for bankruptcy or endured
hurts that cannot be easily explained.
But each of these problems falls
into the category of "all things." God
wants to integrate your hurts and
difficulties into your life message.
He never wastes circumstances,
even bad ones. Before you became
a believer, God was working to redeem
the problems you faced. Not
all things are good, but all things
will work for the good of those who
love Him and are called according
to His purpose (see Rom. 8:28).
Second Corinthians 1:4 says God
helps us in our troubles so we can
help others who have troubles,
using the same help we ourselves
have received from God. When you
grasp that, it will change the way
you view your life circumstances, and
it will help you discover your dream.
4. Decide what's really important in life.
Paul wrote, "All things are lawful for
me, but not all things are helpful ... "
(1 Cor. 10:23). Some things are not
wrong, but they're just not necessary.
They waste time. We might not have
time to pursue every dream, so we
must choose to spend time on what's
important. Successful people learn to
eliminate nonessentials, those things
that won't matter 10 years from now.
Invest your life in those things that will
outlast you.
5. Begin to explore different avenues.
6. Journal your dream.
Once you are able to define your
dream, write it down. Habakkuk 2:2
says, "Then the Lord answered me
and said: 'Write the vision and make it
plain on tablets, that he may run who
reads it.'" If you want to move ahead in
your dream, you must write it down--
inscribe it indelibly.
That shows resolve, definition and
form. It is not enough to have an idea
of what you want to do; you must have
a plan for implementing it. Dreams
do not come true by fantasizing--you
have to write them down and let them
become a guiding force in your life.
It has been said, "No individual has
the right to come into the world and
go out of it without leaving behind
him distinct and legitimate reasons for
having passed through it." But most
people have lost their dream.
It seems impractical in this world to
believe you were born for something
great. Somehow it becomes more
important to have a steady job, pay the
mortgage, keep things moving forward
with the least amount of disruption
and the highest possibility for what our
society calls "success." But the fulfillment
of your dream has little to do with
what our society considers success-
-it's much bigger than that. Are you
dreaming big enough?
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