The famous words of Reverend Martin Luther King easily spill off our lips … I have a dream… Everyone knows that the courageous civil rights crusader had a mission bigger than himself that he was working towards. Part of the power of his statement and speech is that not only was the idea inspirational, forward thinking and audacious but it was attainable. Why? Because he believed and so did those who marched with him.

We all dream. Whether its the sleeping kind or the day kind, dreams invade our conscious and unconscious thoughts all the time. The question is do they invade our reality? Do your dreams come true? Or maybe a better way to say it is … are you doing your part to make them come true?

Dreams are a gift from God just as the talents, abilities and people are that He gave to us to help fulfill those dreams. How do we get our dreams to materialize in front of us? It always starts with belief. We often hear the phrase “hopes and dreams” in relation to things that have yet to happen. The Bible talks about this:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Most of us have dreams that are not seen. It’s time to start believing. God has placed things in our hearts that we have only toyed with up to this point or blatantly ignored in some cases. These are the dreams that we are afraid to share with others because of incredulous looks we would surely get if we dared speak of them. The dreams that God gives are ones that make your head hurt when you try to figure out how it could ever happen. It’s our responsibility to believe in the unspeakable dreams.

In our belief there needs to be prayer. The apparent paradox in prayer is the idea that I need to pray to God for something that He gave to me in the first place. God is looking for our desire, our desperation and our dependence on him. No one wants to give a gift that is not wanted. Do your outrageous dreams regularly make it into your talks with your Father?

Belief in your dream is not blabbing the details to any passerby and hoping for a thumbs up. It is about taking a step toward the dream in faithful obedience. God is always looking at the seemingly insignificant details in the dream-to-reality journey. He wants your dream to come true more than you do. But even more than that He wants you ready for it when it comes. Stepping into your dream unprepared will quickly turn it into a nightmare. God knows that. So he waits. He waits for us to do the “little” things He told us to do.

Sometimes dreams die. The good news is Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He is all about bringing dead things back to life. It’s time to resuscitate the dreams God once gave us. Other dreams are small. The only limits on God are the ones we put on Him. Let God be big in you and your dreams will grow in magnitude.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Ephesians 3:20

These are not just our hopes and dreams. These are God’s dreams he has chosen to put in us. He wants to use us to preach good news to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, and proclaim liberty to the captives. He’s looking for dreamers that take action and believers that bring hope. So those that once had no hope can begin to dream.

Its never too late to start dreaming. If you’ve been guilty of stifling your dreams, no worries. God is still waiting expectantly. He is on the edge of His seat. He is ready to make your dreams come true. Are you?