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I loved playing soccer when I was in my elementary and teen years. It probably didn’t hurt that every team Iever played on was really successful. I know they say it’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how you play the game. But if you win, it’s sure a lot more fun playing the game!
But even when you are winning, there are plenty of moments of momentary loss. You go for the steal with a slide tackle, and you miss. You attempt to score, and your kick sails wide to the right. You go for the header, and the other team beats you to the punch or gets the better of you. You attempt to defend, and you get burned.
If you’ve put everything on the line, when you miss, it can mean you end up on the ground looking silly or even a little wounded. Even more, there’s a tendency to sit there for a minute nursing your wounds. But when you’re on a winning team, the rest of the team has little patience for teammates who stay down while the rest of the team tries to make up for their missing presence. Goals aren’t scored by people nursing their wounds.
Bruised knees, wounded pride, momentary dazed feelings – whatever you’re feeling, your caring teammates have one encouragement… GET OVER IT! AND GET UP!
Granted, that’s not too compassionate or tender, but it has good results. Their press and the possibility of even further wounded pride infuses you with instant inspiration to get off your butt and get moving. A wound may create a temporary limp, but the opportunity to redeem yourself can quickly cause you to forget all about the pain.
In the pursuit of anything, the chance for wounding, dazed feelings, and momentary sense of loss is common. We can lust after the success of others. We can wonder how some seem to be so capable in their walk with Christ, so impactful in using their gifts, so peaceful in their approach toward life. If you talk to them, you find they are just people who allowed God to inspire them to get back up again, and through learning more of what it means to live in His strength kept on walking. Oddly enough, it’s those bruises God uses to bring ultimate impact [1 Peter 5:6-11].
Momentary losses can knock the wind out of you… especially if you have experienced a number of them. But aside from moments of serious wounding that require surgery, getting up is actually an act of faith – staying down an act of failure.
So in the journey of the dream, let me encourage you (inspire you to courage) to:
Focus on the coach, your champion Savior Hebrews 12:1-13
Pursue the prize, the kingdom win. Philippians 3:12-16
Join up with the team, His body. 1 Corinthians 12
And… Get off your butt! Pastor Phil 1:1 and Hebrews 12:3-7
… are you still sitting there?
Maybe you’d be glad to Go Kid! and Get Real! if you had something that you thought was big enough to dream about. What if you don’t know how to dream? What if everything you face in life seems pretty mundane, and you feel like you’d be making it up if you acted like there was some big dream you had in life?
What do you do? Does that mean you’re defective? Is your dreamer broken? Did God miss you when He was handing out the cool dreams, and you were left with blah?
No, actually you may find that you just never stopped to listen or you weren’t in the place that you could hear. Know this. The dreams based on your design are as close as the God, your Creator, who desires to live in and ignite what He has caused to dwell in you.
As you dare believe for your created intent, here’s what you can know about you:
God has a design for you. (Jeremiah 29:11)
It is ultimately about Him and not about you. (Matthew 6:33; 16:24, 25)
It is bigger than you are. (Psalm 2:8, 1 Corinthians 12:7)
He’s created you with just the right potential to fulfill that purpose. (Ephesians 4:7)
If you listen to Him, He will free you to the spacious life of your design. (Romans 8:6)
Being willing to do His will is an essential prerequisite for knowing it. (John 7:17)
The God who created you and set you apart for your purpose (who “sanctifies you”) is the power supply for accomplishing it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24)
A God-given dream is simply, “a compelling awareness of what could or should be, accompanied by a growing sense of responsibility to do something about it.” (The Dream Cycle, Steve More). Or, as Bill Hybels put it, it’s a “Holy Discontent” – a discontent with a need, an unfulfilled opportunity, or a lack in the world. And the cool thing is you don’t have to make it up. You’ve been designed with it already intact.
God has given everyone an ability, a gifting. You are no exception. And with every gifting, He gives a God-inspired dream. So go discover the God who created you. Let Him illuminate your heart and design.
As you do, read Psalm 37:1-7, and listen not only to His promise to give and fulfill the desires he placed within you, but listen to the attitude he calls you to while you pursue His design.
So go find God, and Get Dreaming!
