Fight For Your Dream Series

For Eleazar, it was the rest of the army retreating.

Destiny isn’t revealed on sunny days. It’s usually revealed on snowy days.

Destiny isn’t revealed when everything is going your way. Destiny is revealed when everybody else retreats.

Destiny isn’t just revealed in your natural gifts and abilities. It’s also revealed in the compensatory skills you have to work extra hard to cultivate.

With that as a backdrop, let’s look at Eleazar’s story:

Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammin for battle. Then the Israelites retreated, but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. (2 Samuel 23:9-10, NIV)

Now we’re ready to talk about five ways to fight for your dream.

#1: Define Success

If you succeed at the wrong thing, you’ve failed. If you fail at the right thing, you’ve succeeded. I’d rather fail at the right thing than succeed at the wrong thing.

Stephen Covey said that most people are so busy climbing the ladder of success that they fail to realize it’s leaning against the wrong wall. So before you go after your dream, you’d better make sure it’s the right one. You’ve got to define success before you get started.

Here’s my definition: Success is when those who know you best respect you most. At the end of the day, I want to be famous in my home.

There is a line in the lion chaser’s manifesto that says, “Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Run to the roar!” You don’t die when your heart stops beating. You die when your heart stops skipping a beat in pursuit of the dream God has given you.

You need to choose your battles wisely. But I would juxtapose that with this: You need to know what battlefield you’re willing to die on. Every one of David’s mighty men was willing to take a bullet. Why? Because they had a clearly defined goal—to crown David king.

I’ve given a few definitions of faith before:

• Faith is the willingness to look foolish.

• Faith is the process of unlearning our fears.

• Faith is taking the first step before God reveals the second step.

Let me give you one more. I think it’s the best biblical definition. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Fighting for your dream starts there. You’ve got to know what you’re fighting for. And Jesus is the best example. Hebrews 12:2 says, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame.” How do you endure nine-inch nails through your hands and feet? And not just endure it but scorn it? Jesus did it because He had a clear vision of His end goal—you. Your salvation was the joy that was set before Him, and evidently you are worth the cross to Christ.