Escaping A Life Of Comfort Series

Last week we began the process of exploring our God given dreams as we move into the destiny He has planned for us before we were born. In fact, our dream governed how we were formed. As you began this week to explore your dream potential, ultimately, the dream God has given you will meet a major need, ultimately it will solve a problem. The dream is not dependant on others but it is dependent ultimately upon you. God has given you a dream and you do it. You have been made the way you are because God knew with the gifts, talents, abilities, environment, life experiences you have had or will have, make you perfect to fulfill the dream.

Did not John Milton, while yet a child dream of writing an epic poem that the world would not willingly let die? The nebulous dream of the child became the fixed ideal of the youth. In his studies, his travels, through the stormy years of manhood, the vision never left him. Blind and old, the poet realized the dream of the child; and the heroic strains of Paradise Lost continue to echo through the centuries.

What you need to do now is guard against delaying the dream, or diminishing the size of your God given dream. It’s easy to do. It looks like a mountain and you think it might be too hard to climb, but don’t reduce it, don’t distort it, don’t divorce yourself from the dream but get ready to break through to attain your dream.

You need to begin to design a plan but remember, the plan is not the dream, the plan is a means to get you to where your dream is. Hold to plan loosely, plans can and do change but hold onto the dream tightly, it will not change but only grow into the God design the Designer of the dream drew it to be.

You might be thinking, well, I tired and it did not work out. It is not the dream that did not work out, you just had a wrong plan for getting there. It’s time to draw a new plan.

A problem with many dreamers is they want everyone else to embrace, endorse, and finance their dream but they are not willing to put in the effort themselves. I have people tell me they have this dream and when I ask them what is it going to take to realize the dream, they don’t know. Who have they talked to that would know? Well, no one. You must be willing to take the first step, to pursue your dream with your resources before you try and tap everyone else. It is going to take a reallocation of your time. You only have so many hours in a day, use them wisely in the pursuit of your dream. Are you spending time gathering information that will take you to the next level? Are you making a personal investment of your treasure to make the dream come about? And are you moving more and more of your talent into the acquisition of your dream? If you are not in the forefront investing your resources, your time, treasure and talent to accomplish your dream, don’t expect anyone else to come on board.

Faithfully pursue your dream until the dream has been fulfilled, with all that you have. I am talking about commitment. When it gets hard, when the resources dry up, when help doesn’t appear to be on the way but the dream is still beating loudly within you. Pay the price others have paid by hanging in there, holding on, your dream may just be around the corner waiting for you to walk another block to see it materialize.

D. L. Moody once told of hearing the story of a man’s dream in which he imagined that when he died he was taken by the angels to a beautiful temple. After admiring it for a time he discovered that one little stone was left out. He said to the angel, “What is this stone left out for?”

The angel replied, “That was left out for you; but you wanted to do great things, and so there was no room left for you.” He was startled and awoke, and resolved that he would become a worker for God, and that man always worked faithfully after that. Let us make sure there is no stone left out because of being dreamless.

Last week I said there were 7 steps to the dream. We might also look at them as obstacles which have the potential of preventing you from moving forward into the acquisition of your dream. I want to talk tonight about the Comfort Zone. It can be a dream killer.

Again, much of the material I am presenting comes from Bruce Wilkinson, the author of the book The Dreamgiver. The timeless steps found in Scripture can lead us well as a guide to our dream, empowered by the Holy Spirit.