Discover Your Dream, Pt 1: Get Deep

To discover your dream, you have to get deep.

If you are anything like the rest of us, you’ve probably ingested a lot of “dream” chasing content. “Follow your dreams.” “Dream big.” But perhaps pursuing your dreams and “your passion” has yielded more doubt than satisfaction. It has for me, too and here’s why:

God’s Divine Design

I’m passionate about music, and in my dreams I can sing like Sarah Brightman. (Yeah, I know, but we’re talking about dreams, remember?) But no matter how much I dream, how hard I believe, no matter how many voice lessons, practices or performances, I simply don’t have Sarah’s particularly shaped vocal chords. I can barely croak out “Mary Had A Little Lamb” let alone her pitch perfect Ava Maria. That’s not low self esteem, it’s reality. Though it’s my desire, it’s not God’s divine design.

Courtesy of Crestock.com

That’s the rub; we fail to fulfill our dreams because they’re “me” dreams instead of God dreams. [Tweet “We fail to fulfill our dreams because they’re “me” dreams instead of God dreams.”]

Consider a famous dreamer named Joseph. (Genesis 37:5-9) God gave Joseph a series of dreams where all his brothers and even the sun, moon, and stars bowed down to honor him. It was quite a dream sequence, especially since Joseph was the second youngest of 12 brothers. I’m sure as the “pesky little brother,” Joseph enjoyed these dreams.

Perhaps he pictured himself tall and wise, wearing the mantle of “Family Patriarch.” Maybe he even imagined himself wrapped in the royal robe of a chieftain — a real stretch as a foreigner in his corner of Canaan. Joseph’s circumstances made the fulfillment of a position of influence in any sphere look pretty far fetched.

But the dreams God gave Joseph were bigger than Joseph.

They were seeded at the intersection of God’s creativity and His sovereign design. And they accomplished God’s plans for His people. As Joseph’s life unfurled, the Divine roots behind his dreams were evident, for who else could establish Joseph as Prime Minister of the greatest kingdom of his time? (Genesis 39)

Courtesy of Crestock.com

Talk about far fetched! But then, it was a God dream . . .

Within each of us, God has planted the divine seed of a dream, but we must get deep to discover it. Within each of us, God has planted the divine seed of a dream. Click To Tweet

Finding God’s Dream

Getting started:

1. Get alone with God. (Pray, pray, pray! Consider your dreams from God’s perspective. Are they God-centered or “me” centered?)
2. Take inventory. (What is your “design”? How did God wire you?)
   1. What are your God-given gifts and talents? (What are you naturally good at? What is your spiritual gift?)
   2. What are you passionate about? What has energized and excited you even since you were a child?
3. Get deep. (Think outside the box. Don’t focus on what God has done in the past or may be doing with others, what could He do with you now? Ephesians 3:20)
   • In what unexpected, creative ways could God use your natural “design” to advance His kingdom plan?

As you pray, look for evidence of a Divinely inspired dream:

• Does it require dependence on God for its fulfillment, power, and impact?
• Does it elevate advancing God’s kingdom over personal fulfillment?
• Does it leave me wide-eyed in wonder and giddy with delight?
• Does it glorify God, not me?

God’s dreams for our lives are beyond what we imagine. God's dreams for our lives are beyond what we imagine. Click To Tweet God created Joseph as a gifted administrator and creatively used that design to make Joseph’s dreams a stunning reality.

And God can do the same with you and me. (Jeremiah 33:3)

What has God taught you in your own faith journey about pursuing dreams?

My next post will take us a step closer to our God-given dreams in part two of this series, “Discover Your Dream: Get Going.”