Put Your Dream To The Test: 10 questions to help you see and seize your dream

Gear Up

At some point in the next 15 minutes I’m going to ask everyone to write down or share with the group a Dream God has given you. So, I know it’s almost dinner time and coming back from a fun afternoon, but we have an opportunity to go below 60 meters and take a deep dive, but we’ve got to get the right gear on. I hope the next few minutes will help you feel geared up and ready for the dive. We will have discussion the second 1/2 of this session.

When someone says you’re 1 in a million, they haven’t done the math very well.

Just to be alive you had to compete with approximately 100,000,000 other swimmers. You won that race. So if someone say’s you’re 1 in a million you’re actually 1 in 1e+14

So in all of those numbers we still say that there is no one like you. You are unique. You are the only person like you. We can sometimes get super excited about that, but that has nothing to do with us and more to do with the power and creativity of God. So God has made each of us unique, and to go a step farther He’s given us each a unique dream. So, once again, His creativity needs to be celebrated.

So He’s creative enough to create all of this, but what about making it all happen?

I’d like to define a dream using 2 definitions I’ve found.

A dream is an inspiring picture of the future that energizes your mind, will, and emotions, empowering you to do everything you can to achieve it. A dream worth pursuing is a picture and blueprint of a person’s purpose and potential.

Sharon Hull says, “A dream is the seed of possibility planted in the soul of a human being, which calls him to pursue a unique path to the realization of his purpose.”

Very Quickly I’d like to go through 5 things that can get in the way of a dream.

SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DISCOURAGED FROM DREAMING BY OTHERS

Four Monkeys Experiment

Ordination

2. SOME PEOPLE ARE HINDERED BY PAST DISAPPOINTMENTS AND HURTS

Disappointment is the gap that exists between expectation and reality.

Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister asserted, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

3. SOME PEOPLE GET IN THE HABIT OF SETTLING FOR AVERAGE

You can’t reach for a dream and remain safely mediocre at the same time. The two are incompatible.

Mediocrity isn’t a societal problem, it’s a personal problem.

4. SOME PEOPLE LACK THE CONFIDENCE NEEDED TO PURSUE THEIR DREAMS

O was told I was stupid or an idiot daily until I was 15. I looked at a picture of my family and told Lindsay that I only loved 3 of the people in the picture.

5. SOME PEOPLE LACK THE IMAGINATION TO DREAM

Einstein called his imagination a “holy curiosity.”

I want my crayons back

So as we dive in to actually walk through some of our dreams I want to present a perspective for us to do this from. We live at a midpoint in our lives. Batters on calls it So Far So God and The Best Is Yet To Come. So today we know we have gotten to this point because of God and the best ahead of us will be the same way. It will be because of God. His Promises and miracles will come to pass. His promises are still before us and as we dream we are dreaming towards the Promises He has for us.

So lets take a couple minutes to put some of our dreams out there.

10 questions

The Ownership Question

Is my dream really my dream?

The Clarity Question

Do I clearly see my dream?

The Reality Question

Am I depending on factors within my control to achieve my dreams?

The Passion Question

Does my dream compel me to follow it?

The Pathway Question

Do I have a strategy to reach my dream?

The People Question

Have I included the people I need to realize my dream?

The Cost Question

Am I willing to pay the cost for my dream?

The Tenacity Question

Am I moving closer to my dream?

The Fulfillment Question

Does working toward my dream bring satisfaction?

The Significance Question

Does my dream benefit others?