A few days ago, a friend of mine posted an inspirational picture with text on Facebook. It was a quote by Earl Nightingale that read, “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” Then, I read a newsletter by Tommy Barnett. I would like to share part of it with you: A challenge: Dream a dream so big only God can fulfill it. Dreams are not merely the nightly thoughts you experience as the brain sorts out the day's events. They are the goals and visions that fire your heart and saturate your soul with joy at the very thought of them. They are those continuing visions of what you want your life to be at its highest level of fulfillment--what you want to do, how you want to do it, what kind of person you want to become in the process.
Your destiny and reason for living are wrapped up tightly in your dreams and desires, like the genetic information inside a seed. That dream in your heart contains your spiritual "DNA," the very blueprint for who you are. Your dream did not even originate with you. It resides within you, but God put it there. He is the source of your dream. When people dream without God, they find it hollow and unsatisfying. Every person must come to Jesus for his or her dream to make sense. In fact, without Jesus, you might follow a dream for your life that God never put in your heart.
Not every dream is from God. There is such a thing as godless dreams. But when your dream is God's dream, it's unstoppable. The most common and most crucial question is, "How do I know which dreams in my heart are from God?" Here is the answer. You will know it's God's dream if: 1) It is bigger than you, 2) You can't let it go, 3) You would be willing to give everything for it, 4) It will last forever, 5) It meets a need nobody else has met, 6) It brings glory to God.
The first test you can apply to your dream is: "Is it too big for me to fulfill without God's help?" If you can do it without His help, you are not dreaming big enough. If it's much bigger than you, you are on the right track. The Bible promises that all things are possible with God. Does your dream go beyond you enough to qualify for God's help? Your dream should be so big that it takes your breath away, makes you temporarily weak in the knees, and makes you cry out to God for help and guidance. Are you dreaming big enough?
