Awaken To Your Dream - Daily Devotional March 19th, 2010

Bible Reading - Exodus 30, John 9, Proverbs 6, Galatians 5

Awaken To Your Dream

I believe deep down inside of every person there is a dream and a desire. Maybe it's the dream of success, or the dream of being married one day. Maybe it's the dream you had as a young child to be a ballerina or fire fighter. Or maybe it's the dream to get out of debt or change a certain habit you have in your life. Maybe it is the dream of being a great mom or a great dad. There are no small dreams or silly dreams in life, there are only dreams.

The problem with life is that it has a way of burying our dreams as we get busy with this thing or that thing. We get consumed with making money so we can buy a car or a house or God forbid another pair of shoes. Then we want more or better cars, homes and shoes so we need a better job or we need to get a second job. But then we get accustom to working all these new hours that even when we have what we think we want it becomes a way of life. We get consumed with details and fiances and business and money and more and more and more.... Until one day we fall asleep on our death bed still dreaming but never living out the dream.

When this happens we may have the cars and the homes and look really good with all our colorful clothes and shoes but we are nothing more than an empty shell because we never fulfilled the potential that was inside of us or the dream that made our heart beat as a little child. We are nothing more than a beautiful porcelain carousel going around and around in circles on a destination that leads us right back to where we started, the beginning. When you go to a carnival the children look so cute as they are riding around on those beautifully painted horses with big smiles on their face waving their hand around in the air yelling, "Yehaw!!!" But each time they pass by me I can't help but wonder do they know they are on a fake horse just riding around in circles?

The tragedy is that this is the way most people live their lives. They start out with a great dream but the older they get the more the dream lessens and then they get content with just looking good as they ride around in circles on a destination to nowhere. It is time that you awaken to your dream, a dream that is so vivid, so real, so inspiring that you will not fall asleep one day as dreamer ending up right back at the beginning where you started. It is time to awaken to your dream and the reason why God has put so much potential inside of you.

I believe that the greatest robber of your dream is not laziness but it is being busy with so many other things that you give your dream no attention at all or at least not the attention it needs in order to be fulfilled. Proverbs 6:9-11 says, "How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man". The question purposed in this verse is how long will you lie there sleeping? It is time to awaken to your dream. In this verse people are called lazy, restful and paints a picture that people lack the desire to get on with what they need to get on with. When I look at society today I see people that are frantically running around looking very busy. They are busy working, busy partying (trust me I live downtown and I see that people have time to party). They are even busy playing mindless video games and watching movies or TV. So people are busy but they are not busy with the right thing. People are not giving their time to the dream that is in them and therefore it is getting snatched away from them as if they are getting robbed.

You have a choice in life. You can either remain a dreamer all your life or you can awaken to your dream and see it played out in front of you the way God intended. Here are a few thoughts to help you awaken to your dream. You must understand that your dream will not just happen on it's own and that is why Proverbs says "awake", because you must begin to work towards the dream that God has put in your heart.
1) Get around like minded people - Church is a good place to start
2) Serve other people's dreams like Joseph did in the Bible and as you do God will continue to develop your's and bring other people along to serve it.
3) Stay focused on God as He is the giver of dreams and the one who fulfills them.
4) Share your dreams only with those who can help you fulfill your dream
5) Go cliff diving - Take that leap of faith and jump into your dream. The only thing that could happen is you could fail but once you do you get back up and find a another cliff to jump off of.

God spoke to me when I was 6 years old that I would be a pastor. Although my dad was a pastor I did not know much about it except that I needed to read my Bible and draw lines in it (highlight key verses). At the age of 6 I grabbed my Bible and a red highlighter and started drawing in the column breaks of my Bible thinking I was highlighting key verses. What was I doing? - I was doing what I knew to do at the age of 6 to move towards my dream. It was not until 29 years later that I would finally step into that dream but I was a youth pastor, young adult pastor and a school of ministry pastor along the way. I went to college and got a degree, I did an internship and I even served in a church for 2 years full time without taking a salary. All of this was me awakening to my dream so that Urban could be birthed in San Diego. I know one thing for sure as I sit here right now typing this devotional, I am glad that I heard at the age of 6 the voice of God speaking to me, "awake"!

It is time you awaken to the things that matter. It is time you stop being so busy with meaningless tasks. It is time you stop being a sluggard when it comes to your dream. It is time to awaken to you dream!

Tomorrows Bible Reading - Exodus 31, John 10, Proverbs 7, Galatians 6

Dream Big
Ben