How to Live Your Dream Now

Are you suffering from the heart sickness of a dream deferred? If so, the resurrection of your hope is at hand. Resurrection is not limited to the Easter season; it can be an everyday experience as in the motto coined by my former Brooklyn church St. Paul Community Baptist Church: “Resurrection is a Lifestyle – LIVE IT!” Each time you endure and persevere through another year, you are an overcomer, who has been given an opportunity to live another day and contribute to making a difference with your life. With each new day, you have a chance to begin again, continue on, tap into your creative force and realize your divine self. If your dreams have been held captive by fears and insecurities too long, apply the following principles for your liberation and success. Now is the time and this is the season to resurrect your dreams and make them live!

• Know And Embrace Yourself. Know that you have been born with at least one gift, talent or ability, and blessed with unlimited potential. Step into your future with hope for the peace, prosperity and security that is yours. If you can believe and look for it wholeheartedly, you will find it. Everything you need to make your dream a reality is already within you.
  
  (Psalm 139:13-16, MSG) Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you,The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.
  
  (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV) For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
  
  
  
• Know And Embrace Your Dream. When you have a constant and strong desire or interest that has been rooted in your heart and thoughts, embrace it. If it has followed you into each New Year, acknowledge it as your dream, your heart’s desire, and determine to pursue it to see what the end is going to be. Put forth 100% effort. In doing so, you will extinguish any regrets of never trying or ever knowing if your dream could be realized.
  
  (Ephesians 4:7-16, ) But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is,
  
  He climbed the high mountain,
  He captured the enemy and seized the booty,
  He handed it all out in gifts to the people.
  
  Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
  
  (Psalm 37:4-5, AMP) Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.
  
  Your dreams and your gifts are deposited in you by God to do a work and be a blessing to others. People are waiting for you. Know and embrace your dream.
  
  
  
• Know What You Have To Work With. The wisdom that you need is available. Use what you have, learn what to do, and do what you know. Tap into your inner strength and sound mind, utilize the power and authority you possess, accept God’s unconditional love and hold Him accountable to His faithful promises. Take advantage of the diverse and abundant resources that will be more readily available than ever before. Your thoughts will become clearer and your direction ordered, with each step you take toward your plan.
  
  (Proverb 16:3, NIV) Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
  
  (Proverbs 3:5-6, AMP) Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.
  
  Turn within, tap into your inner power, seek and listen to God’s direction. Know what you have to work with.

• Counter The Negative With The Positive. Do not accept a person’s put downs or ridicules of you or your dream, even if they are only “joking.” Negative words that are planted in our minds have a tendency to sprout up like weeds, choking our creativity with self-doubt and fear. Feed your mind with good things to inspire, enhance, and facilitate growth. Do not share your dream with everyone, share only with people you know will be genuinely supportive and encouraging.
  
  (2 Corinthians 10:4-5, NIV) The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
  
  Verbally confront people immediately when they make negative or untrue statements to you; state that you do not receive that remark, it is not true, and no longer acceptable. Then make a statement that is true and positive about you or your dream. Counter the negative with the positive.
  
  
  
• Affirm Yourself Daily. Practice speaking positive “I” statements that will build up your self-esteem and encourage you to keep striving until you accomplish your goal: “I can do it,” My service(s) is needed,” and “I am gifted, unique, and special”. Call yourself by whatever profession you have chosen: “I am an inspirational speaker, Christian writer, Coach, Healer and encourager.” The more you speak it, the more you will think it. Then, it will begin to take root in your mind, grow in your heart, and blossom into a visualization that you can confidently feel and believe, as it becomes who you are.
  
  (Proverbs 18:20-21, CEV). Make your words good— you will be glad you did. Words can bring death or life! Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say.
  
  (Philippians 4:8-9, MSG) Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
  
  You are what you think. Think good thoughts and affirm yourself daily.
  
  
  
• Do It In The Face Of Fear. Face your fears and do it anyway, task by task, and day by day. Work your plan, believe in yourself, your dream, the power within you, and expect to see and receive ripe fruit from your labor. Make positive “I” statements out of all the principles and speak them daily: 1) “I will do everything in my power to make my dream a reality.” 2) “I have a divine purpose and I will work my plan until it is fulfilled.” 3) “All that I need is readily available within me and within my grasp.” 4) I will not let myself, anything, or anyone hinder me from achieving my greatness." 5) “I am anointed and appointed to succeed in my creative ministry.” 6) “I will overcome my fears with each victorious step of faith forward.”
  
  (Philippians 4:13, AMP) I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].
  
  (2 Timothy 1:7, AMP) For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of a calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
  
  Fear is not of God. Walk in faith and Do it in the face of fear.
  
  

I believe that living your dream is relative to one’s personal thoughts and actions. Some people harbor doomsday thoughts and give up before they begin. They expect the worse because they have already created their end. Others think it is life as usual, taking it for granted. They exist one day to the next, not taking any risks, until their time is up. Then there are those of us, who choose to believe that the opportunity of a lifetime is at hand to fulfill our divine destinies. Now is the time and season when the shift has occurred, the field is wide open and the prospects are great for resurrecting your dreams, making them a reality and living them abundantly. How? Know and embrace yourself & your dream; Know what you have to work with; Counter the negative with the positive; Affirm yourself daily; and Do it in the face of fear.

Be blessed,

Jo Anne Meekins

Inspired4U Blog