Are you living God's Dream for You?

1 Chronicles 4:10
"And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying,
Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed,
and enlarge my coast,
and that Thine hand might be with me,
and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil,
that it may not grieve me!

Wilkinson, the author of the Prayer of Jabez was at Northridge High School auditorium on April 20, from 1:00-8:00 pm. I went to the second service, starting at 5:00 pm. We baptized around 8 young adults Sunday morning, a very meaningful service. It was a beautiful afternoon so Norm and I golfed with Carlin Yoder, whose dream is to be Senator Carlin Yoder.

Wilkinson challenged us to pursue our "dream," whether that was a job or a position. He also said he feels that Pastors exist to "equip believers to do the ministry," whether at work or at church. I remembered my son, Tim said the same thing several months ago. I was reminded that when we "live for the weekend" we are probably not doing God's business during the week.

But then he took us through 7 stages all of us need to go through in order to reach God's dream for us. He said we will probably repeat these stages with every new dream. I took a few notes and want to write these down, lest I forget them.

Stage 1: Identify what it is God wants you to do. What do you have a passion for?

Stage 2: Fear. You will all hit the wall of fear when you leave your Comfort Zone. You won't know how to do it. Don't try to figure it all out. You have to know what you want to do, not "how" you want to do it. You may be scared, but tell yourself that fear is normal. You are leaving the "land of the familiar" and your "comfort zone." Parent's and friend's comfort zone overlap yours. Your world shakes their comfortable world. If you tell them your dream, they will say, "You can't do that." They don't want you shaking everything up.

Stage 3. Border Bullies.
For teenagers, this is often the parents. People will try to discourage you. Suppose they don't go along with your dream. "What will they think if I fail?" Fear of men will discourage you.

Stage 4 Graveyard of your Dream
Squelching your dream and making it "reality" size will begin to take place. It has got to be okay to be rejected for awhile.

Stage 5 Wasteland and Desert
You expect the money to come in to do the dream, and the money doesn't come. You lose courage and begin to think nothing is going to happen. God seems to close the doors. This is where people decide they made a mistake. It feels like wasted time. God is doing something you don't understand. In Wasteland he changes you so you can face your fears about your dream. He helps you break through your fear of people. But now Wasteland lasts too long..... As time passes you begin to feel it isn't fair. God starts throwing too many hard balls at you. The truth is, you did something right. We always default to "what did I do to deserve this?" The preparation is always in the "desert." Most people don't realize you go through this process with every new dream. The testing of your faith produces patience. Let patience have its good works. Don't short circuit it. Mature and complete, lacking nothing. He will test you in the places you are weakest.

You will grow angry at God, because you will know it is not fair. You won't get to control how it starts or ends. It ends when God says "he/she is ready." When the weight and heaviness are lifted, you will start feeling optimistic for no reason. Every part of your life feels empty. It is here that Most people give up all or part of their dream. They often are happy with "half a dream." Or some people squash it to a size they can manage without God's help.

5. Sanctuary Mountain
God invites you to stop thinking about rewards. "He maketh me to lie down in green pasture. He restores my soul." You must stop striving and just rest in God. As you get stronger, God invites you further up the mountain. You will feel estrangement between you and God. You will feel a dryness in your soul. You reach for the Bible to fill the dryness. The Bible will begin to feed you and God will show you your dark areas. When that happens, you will begin to trust Him. He will then invite you to the Top of the mountain, where he will show you your dream as you look over the Valley. God will whisper into your ear, "Give me your dream."

"I have suffered too much to give up my dream." You wrestle with the invitation to give God your dream.

"You want your dream more than you want me. Give me your Dream."

You hold on to your dream. God then takes you to:

6. Valley of the Grants
Real threats, not imagined, not by friends and families. You slug it out and you will lose. You will realize that it is not your Dream. It is God's. You will be bewildered, empty, because you no longer own the dream. God then gives back your dream and says, "We will do this Dream together."

Grants are opportunities God gives you. When God does a miracle, God becomes praised. David ran to his Goliath and God did the conquering through David. Grants are the greatest opportunity to give God the glory. "It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord."

7. Mountain Top
God than takes you back to the Mountain top, and you give Him your dream. You are now Pottery in His hand, to reach the Dream He called you to in the first place. You no longer need to receive "glory" for what He does through you. You are not as excited about your dream as you were in the beginning, but now you begin to see God's miracles and you are just the vessel he uses to bring His kingdom to earth.

Wilkinson challenged us by saying that he believes God expects big things out of the people he blesses. God gives people money so they can bless His work and bring the lost to Himself. But God also wants us to ask for His blessing, when we are committed to do God's work. He believes that we are "saved by grace" but that our "works" will be rewarded when we get to Heaven, not on earth.

And then he said, we will repeat these steps with every new Dream. These steps prepare us to become "one" with God's dreams for us.

Exa. A young mother who was a waitress always had a dream to become a nurse. But when she became a single mom with young children she gave up her dream. Is that God's purpose for this young mother who would be happier being a nurse?

Recently I returned to a dream I had 25 years ago, to become a Certified Foot Reflexologist. Feel free to share a dream you have not yet fulfilled and why you haven't?