The Source: Where Do Our Dreams Come From?

I’ve met so many people (myself included) who let their dreams die, simply because they did not know where they came from – are they from God?  From our own imaginations?  From the enemy?  From bad pizza or indigestion?  Sometimes, this can be a hard question to answer, because quite often they are all the same dream.  A dream from God can become twisted with pride, thinking that we can accomplish the dream by our own strength and for our own glory.  Then, quickly, the devil peeks his head in and tells us this dream is a fake, a fraud, a symbol of our pride, something that could never happen – or even worse, he convinces us that we truly can accomplish it on our own and encourages us to make fools of ourselves and the world by chasing after it without God’s help.

But the true test of our dreams lies in our motives.  I was talking with a young woman who told me of her dream to reach millions and millions of people with the Gospel of Christ.  “When I lay hands on them and pray for them,” she said, “they all get healed.  But is this dream wrong?  Isn’t it prideful to think those things?”

We often confuse God’s calling on our lives with pride.  But every good father wants the best for his children, and even more so our Heavenly Father.  God wants for His children (that’s you and me) to succeed.  It is us who turn Him away, and say, “No, I shouldn’t have that.  I’m not supposed to want those good things, because if I did, that would make me greedy and prideful.  Sorry, Lord.  Thanks, but no thanks.”

We miss out on so many dreams from God, simply because we fear what we would do with them.  But is reaching millions of people for God an issue of pride?  Is seeing people healed through your prayers an issue of pride?  The real question is, does this dream in your heart bring glory to you or does it bring glory to God?

If you are seeking your dreams (even reaching people with the Gospel) so that you might get noticed, or so people would love you and acclaim your good works to all the world, that’s pride.  But if you genuinely want to see your dreams come true because you’ve caught onto God’s vision for your life, then don’t deny the opportunity for them to come true.

Sometimes, however, your dreams can be from God and you can still have the wrong motives.  That’s a lesson I’ve had to overcome many times.  Especially in ministry, when you hold a microphone, when you lead the band, when a private conversation brings healing and transformation to another, when you’re seen by and have influence over so many, it’s easy to get caught up in thinking that it’s all about you.  But as someone in a place of authority, I’ve come to realize the humility that comes with such responsibility. 

God has rarely, if ever, called someone who already had what they needed.  If so, they would have had no reason to give God the glory.  And even from those who had (like Gideon, with his army of 32,000), God stripped away what they had, so that there would be no question as to where the victory came from.

So dreams of God will glorify God, and let God then exalt the humble as He chooses, but there’s still another way to tell if a dream is of God or if it is from somewhere else… God’s dreams will always be bigger than you.

Continue to Dream Big ->