The Power of Dreams

by Ryan Romeo

In the church leadership world I’ve seen something that’s so pervasive that it’s almost passed as Biblical. I have seen this belief among Christians everywhere. The idea is this: God doesn’t care about your dreams. The philosophy says that God has different dreams for you than you do, and what he is asking of you and me is to “lay down our dreams” for him. Sacrifice them on the alter for his glory.

Now, on it’s surface this seems right. I mean, Jesus himself prayed, “Not my will but yours be done” when facing the cross. We can also all agree that the pursuit of God’s will above our own is crucial; so there are times when God redirects us to a new path. And we have to be people that say yes to Jesus, no matter the calling.

But…I’m talking about your dreams that have consistently stuck in your journey with Jesus. God-given dreams that keep you up at night. The dreams you can’t help but talk about with all your friends and family. The dreams that feel audacious and insurmountable, yet you can’t seem to put them down. The dreams that seem instinctively hard-wired in you.

These dreams are different. These dreams are to be pursued—not sacrificed.

Now, let’s state the obvious, if your dream involves pride, taking advantage of others—or really any sin in general—you need to stop reading. This blog isn’t for you.

But, if this is something you have prayed about often and is a dream seeped in the desire to glorify God with your gifts, then you need to hear this.

Jesus is the dream-giver. He wired you to be passionate about the things you are passionate about. He didn’t do this on accident. He didn’t make a mistake when he wired you. Your dreams matter to God.

Look at the life of David or Noah or Joseph—really take your pick of biblical characters with audacious visions or callings—and you will see a God who is more committed to dreams than we are. And the God who gives the dream is committed and faithful to seeing it through.

So when we “lay our dreams down” for God, we need to ask whether we are doing this because we know it’s sinful or because we are afraid.

Because fear often masquerades as humility.

If you’ve laid your dreams down because of fear, then the fruit will be a diminishment and repressing of the gifts and callings of God in your life. It will reduce the amount of glory you could be giving to God. Fear-based sacrifice isn’t spiritual. It isn’t humble. It’s burying your calling because of your fear of man or your fear of circumstances.

But God never does that. He never asks you to hide your gifts. He never invests in his children in a way that doesn’t yield fruit. He invested gifts into you, so that you will put them on display for his glory.

Visions and dreams are God’s investment in us. And the Parable of the Talents tells us that Jesus cares deeply about how you invest your giftings into his kingdom. He doesn’t want you fearfully bury them.

Take some time today. Pray about your dreams. Are there things God is asking you to pick back up? Forgotten passions he’s rekindling? If so, take a faith-filled step toward it today!