Bucket List - Sky Diving 9-3-17 #OhYeah

Mark one off of my bucket list! I'll definitely be doing this again! (Who's in?) I believe that throughout the Scriptures, we are encouraged to follow our God birthed dreams & live life to the fullest. I also believe that when you've been through challenges that were UNJUST & survived the UGLY...you can face bigger challenges with confidence that GOD is your defender, vindicator & protector! :) It's a place of CONFIDENCE in God. When you can declare what Job said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him." Job 13:15 - God HAS me in every situation & I will trust His sovereign hand...no matter what! We've all faced intimidating circumstances. However, when you stare your intimidator in the eye & declare that "Greater is He that is you"...you've overcome the fear, control & deception that was designed to take you out! The Apostle Paul said, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13) Friends, it is God who gives us the STRENGTH! When we learn to BE CONTENT in every situation...we have tapped into the SECRET! High or low...God is with us. #YouGotThis

Who Stole Your Dream?

God loves DREAMERS!  He's the giver of new ones and the mender of broken ones!

Every DREAM moves you closer to God's perspective.  When you begin seeing things the way He does, it raises you above your LIMITATIONS; from where you are to where He wants you to be.  When that happens, you're now seeing your dreams as COMPLETED rather than DELETED!

We can all DREAM...
but not everyone has 

the courage to act on their DREAMS!  

James tells us that faith without works is dead. (James 2:17)  What's true about faith is also true about DREAMS.  Every DREAM that lacks DILIGENCE is DEAD!  Your DREAM is going to require DETERMINATION and DEDICATION!

The children of Israel DREAMED of The Promised Land, but the only way to get there was through the wilderness.

It's in the wilderness that you learn FIVE THINGS:

1. How to TRUST God for what you NEED!
2. DISCOVER God's POWER in "Red Sea situations!"
3. How to be LED, READ, BLED and FED!
4. How to keep your EYES on your DESTINY in forward PURSUIT!
5. REFUSE to be like those who MURMUR, COMPLAIN and never MAKE IT!

If it's your DREAM, no one can steal it!

• You can't BLAME someone for TAKING it...cause it's not theirs to take.
• You won't ABANDON it!
• You won't FORGET about it!

The thing about your DREAM is...it BELONGS to you!  It BURNS so hot within you that you find yourself pursuing it with relentless passion that is fueled even more by the RESISTANCE and DISCOURAGEMENT of others.

When it's your DREAM, you'll learn to throw every negative word, reaction and doubting look into the furnace that DRIVES your train down the tracks in the DIRECTION of what CONSUMES you!  You'll WORK on it every day, regardless of the NOISE and the barking DOGS around you.  In time there will be nothing left of the NAYSAYERS who are creeping around you like a pack of hyenas.

DREAMERS who POUT go WITHOUT!

• Can you imagine Abraham Lincoln curled up in a fetal position on the couch, with his momma stroking his head, crying "they stole my dream?"  NO.
• Can you imagine missionary David Livingstone running around trying to convince his peers that someone tried to steal his dream? NO.

Your DREAMS are yours and yours alone!  No one can take them from you, if you don't let them. If you don't fulfill them, no one ever will!

Is there a DREAM in your heart?  You're never too old or too young to pursue it, no matter how far fetched it may seem!  Remember...Noah started building the ark at five hundred!

Your DREAMS are like your children; they're you're offspring.  They're the joy of your future. Protect them!  Feed them!  Encourage them to grow, for as long as you have a DREAM - you'll never be old!

God has a DREAM for you, and if you seek Him, He'll reveal it to you!

Do You Have a Dream?

God has placed DESIRES deep within us.  When we walk according to His will and have a heart that follows after Him, He puts DESIRES, THOUGHTS and DREAMS in our heart.

I believe we all have something that we want to see accomplished in our life.  However, sometimes those dreams get blurred by the circumstances of life.  They get PUSHED down, STEPPED on and SIDESTEPPED to the point that we think we'll never be able to accomplish it.

However, don't forget, it was God that put those dreams and desires in your heart! If He put them there, then He wants to see them come to pass!  That's why He has given us PURPOSE!  

If we personally have no purpose, we will be a miserable person who is simply existing and unmotivated.  

God gave us PURPOSE so that we could reach for higher heights!  No wonder Paul told Timothy to "stir up the gift of God that was in him." (2 Timothy 1:6)

Instead of waiting on God...God is waiting on us!

God is waiting on us to STIR UP our God-given desires!  God desires to fulfill the desires He gave us.  We are told to "Delight ourselves in the Lord and He shall give us the desires of our heart." (Psalm 37:4)  Literally, God is wanting to grant us the secret petitions of our heart.

Many times...TIME has a way of LESSENING and WEAKENING our dream.  Our dream starts to look like it's too far away and will never come to pass.  But we must get those thoughts out of our mind and STIR UP THE GIFT (cultivate the dream) that is already in us!

Today, I hope your heart is being stirred to remember the dreams that are already in you!  If so, I encourage you to FEED the dream and WATER the dream...believing that it will come to pass!

Psalm 145:19 "He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him; he also will hear their cry, and will save them."

Start by...

1. Looking Ahead

• Write your vision down. (Habakkuk 2:2)
• Keep the vision in front of you.
• Set some goals.
• Stretch for it!

2. Looking Within

• See yourself as God sees you.
• Every dream starts with a picture. (Proverbs 23:7)
• Words create pictures. Get God's Word inside of you and it will paint the picture of how God sees you!
• See yourself doing what God has called you to do even if it seems unnatural. (i.e. Gideon, Moses)

Do not let the fear of FAILURE stop you from chasing your dreams!

• Abraham Lincoln was defeated 10 times in a row.
• In 27 years, he never won a political race.
• He had a nervous breakdown between one of his campaigns.
• BUT HE NEVER GAVE UP REACHING FOR HIS DREAM!
• The first race he won was in 1860 - the Presidency of the United States!

Matthew 19:26 "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

By all scientific data, the bumblebee can't fly.  It's not supposed to fly.  It's body is too big for it's wings.  However, the bumblebee can't understand scientific data.  When God told the bumblebee to fly...it just flew!  It defied the laws of nature!

That's what we have to realize when we're searching for our dreams, holding to our dreams and believing they'll come to reality!  Even if it doesn't seem natural...remember...if we trust God, He can do the SUPERNATURAL and He can cause our dreams to come to pass!

Water Your Dreams With Your Tears

Everyone is born with a thirst to achieve something great! It is our tear-stained struggle that ultimately quenches this thirst.

If I've learned anything in life, I've learned that it's not my family's TEARS or my friend's TEARS that water my dreams...it's my TEARS and my TEARS alone.  No matter how many people help me or hold my hand and cry with me...they can't cry for me. The good news is that there will be a harvest at the end of your TEARS!  

Psalm 126:5 "They that sow in TEARS shall reap in joy."

Can you cry too many TEARS? It's possible that you can overwater your promise by staying stuck in your sorrow.  A certain amount of TEARS is necessary during the time of sowing. However, when it's harvest time, you can't let the devil keep you in a weeping state. TEARS are for the sower but JOY is for the harvester!

When it's harvest time, there will be JOY because you've sacrificed, cried your TEARS and given your all...now it's time to reap the benefits of your labor!  Go ahead and LAUGH, SMILE and DANCE for JOY!

Psalm 126:6 "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

Your crying season had a purpose (Ecclesiastes 3:1). God allowed it to produce your promise through predetermined principles!  His Word outlines the principles He expects us to hold to while passing through the sowing season.

Psalm 1:2 "But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
and in his law doth he meditate day and night."

During the SOWING SEASON, you must learn to meditate on the Word (principles) while you're waiting.  If you can recognize what season you're in, you can prepare for it before it comes. When the season is completed you'll produce fruit that is mature.  This can be a difficult test to pass. However, fruit that isn't ripe remains unpalatable for consumption.  Even restaurant menus have a notation that says certain items can be served only when their fruit is in season.

Psalm 1:3 "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

We must wait until the season produces fruit IN us that is ready for consumption at the Kings table.  Ultimately, our harvest will be a blessing to us and others when we pass THROUGH the sowing season and reap our harvest!