Holding on to Your Dreams
Don’t ever lose your visions and dreams. I don’t care if it looks like they’re never going to come to pass. People who have lost their dreams and visions are people who have no purpose in life, and they are miserable people. Have you ever seen someone who has no goals, no dreams, no vision, and no purpose? Nobody he enjoys being around them because they’re miserable. You don’t “pal around” with people like that because they’ll pull you down to their level. And if you’re not careful, you’ll wind up just like them with “no reason to live.”
I) Jesus has a purpose for your life you have a dream or a destiny that God has given you, and you are expected to hold onto it.
A) Don’t give up even if it looks like your dreams are so far out of reach that there is no way they could ever come to pass.
1) God is not finish with you yet.
B) Turn to Acts 26:16.
1) When God gives you purpose, then He is also the one who will make it come to pass.
a) Your responsibility is to hold onto the dreams.
b) Even if you have blown it and made mistakes, had setbacks spiritually, and even let sin back into your life.
(i) Remember that God is a God of restoration.
2) Turn to Acts 3:19.
a) God wants to give us a time of refreshing. That’s what “THE SPIRIT OF REVIVAL” is - the time of refreshing, recovering from the effects of heat and re-capturing your divine destiny.
b) How do you catch the spirit of revival?
(i) In (Psalms 16:11) it says, “In His presence is the fullness of joy.”
c) First, you need to go before God and REPENT that your sins may be blotted out.
d) 2nd, you need to spend time in FELLOWSHIP AND PRAYER with the Father.
(i) Spending time with the Lord will produce JOY on the inside of you, and that joy will give you the strength you need to get back on your feet and go after the calling God has put on your life.
e) In (Nehemiah 8:10) it says, “For the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
3) As you begin to SPEND TIME in the PRESENCE OF THE LORD, you will be FULL OF HIS JOY. IF you are FULL OF HIS JOY, you will have THE STRENGTH OF GOD in your life, and WITH HIS STRENGTH, you will be ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSE and calling for your life.
4) On the other hand, if you aren’t spending time with God, you won’t have any joy, if you don’t have any joy, you won’t have any strength. And if you don’t have any strength, you’ll never fulfill your purpose and dreams.
a) That’s why it’s so important to catch the spirit of revival in your life again.
b) God wants to restore that joy in your life.
(i) Revival restores joy. Revival restores hope for the future. Revival restores the excitement in waiting for your dream and watching come to pass.
(ii) God wants you to have joy back in your life.
c) The spirit of revival will produce a force within you, which will cause you to be DETERMINED to fulfill your purpose and dreams.
5) BUT NOW THE QUESTION IS HOW DO WE GET THE SPIRIT OF REVIVAL?
a) It doesn’t come by running to Florida and sitting in meetings because you’ve heard revival has broken out there.
(i) It doesn’t come by running to Ohio because revival has broken out there.
(ii) It doesn’t come by running to Canada because you’ve heard revival has broken out there.
(iii) Revival doesn’t come by sitting in meetings or by running to this church or to that church.
b) Revival doesn’t come from the outside in. It begins first on the inside.
(i) The only way that you’re going to experience revival in your life is by you pressing in to the things of God.
(ii) You have to spend time with the Lord. You have to spend time in the Word. You have to spend time in prayer, praying in the Holy Ghost.
(iii) The only way the church is going to experience revival is by the church has a whole seeking God’s face and spending quality time in prayer.
c) The word “REVIVAL” comes from the Word “REVIVE.”
(i) Listen to the DEFINITION of the Word “REVIVE,” it means, “TO RESTORE TO CONSCIOUSNESS OR LIFE.”
(ii) Only by you spending time in the presence of God can you be restored to the God kind of life.
d) The SECOND DEFINITION to the word “REVIVE” is this, “TO RESTORE FROM DEPRESSION, INACTIVITY, OR UNUSED STATE: BRING BACK.”
(i) Again spending time in the presence of God is going to restore you from depression and replace it with the fullness of joy.
(ii) And by you spending time in God’s presence no longer will you feel worthless and without purpose but God will replace that with His goals, plans and dreams in your live.
(iii) Spend time with God and get revival in your life.
e) You know when you come into church and the pastor preaches a message that really ministers to you and you get all fired up from that message. But shortly after you leave the service the kids start fighting or somebody cuts you off on the street and you lose that zeal that you’d had that came through the message.
(i) That zeal that you’d had which came through the message was God igniting the flame of revival.
(ii) But now it’s up to you to fan that flame and get it to grow instead of letting Satan throw a bucket of cold water on that flame.
(a) In (Mark 4:15) it says, “The word is sown; but Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.”
II) Fire is a consuming force that when ignited, it will intensify and grow.
A) As we allow God to ignite within us His vision, purpose, and dreams for our life, it will begin to intensify and grow until it completely consumes are very being.
1) As with fire, your dreams need ignition and fuel to burn.
a) God will ignite a dream in your heart, but YOU must continually add the fuel of the Word of God to your dream in order to keep it burning.
b) There will be opportunities for other people, the enemy, and even yourself to try to throw cold water on your dreams, but you must continually protect and feed your dreams until it comes to pass.
2) Turn to Proverbs 29:18.
a) People without a vision are nonproductive.
b) There’s nothing more tragic than to let go of your vision and have no drive, no motivation and no fire.
c) When you spend time in God’s Word and realize that God has called you for a purpose, there is a zeal or a fire that burns on the inside of you.
(i) Just knowing that God thinks so much of you that he called you to fulfill his calling should excite you.
3) Some people have the attitude of “Well I’ve tried this or that and nothing happens.”
a) That’s not an excuse to give up.
b) The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
(i) We need to constantly refresh ourselves in the scriptures, adding fuel to the fire.
B) God will ignite that fire on the inside of you but you need to add the fuel of the Word of God to keep that fire burning.
1) But in order for you to be CONSUMED WITH THE FIRE of God you need to LET THE WIND TAKE HOLD OF THAT FIRE.
a) Have you ever seen on the news the brush fires in Southern California?
b) What happens when the Santa Ana winds are in effect?
(i) It’s a wildfire, a fire that cannot be stopped, and all consuming fire, and a fire that cannot be put out.
2) You need to have the GREAT AND MIGHTY RUSHING WIND OF THE HOLY GHOST to keep that fire on the inside of you burning.
C) In order for your dream or the vision that God has given you to come to pass you have to remain on fire.
1) FIRST of all, YOU HAVE TO REPENT from your sins and shortcomings. Let God reignite that fire by coming to church and sitting under the Word of God.
a) SECOND you have to HAVE THE FUEL OF THE WORD OF GOD TO KEEP THAT FIRE BURNING.
b) 3rd, you have to SPEND TIME IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN PRAYER AND IN WORSHIP so that you’ll get the direction for the fire.
c) FORTH, you need to GET THE WIND OF THE HOLY GHOST to keep that fire burning so that it cannot be quenched and you do that BY PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST.
D) It’s easy to become relaxed and not go after anything, but you have to hunger for more of God’s Word and hunger for your dreams to be fulfilled.
1) God responds to hunger.
2) Jesus said, “When you are hungry and thirsty, you shall be filled.”
E) Sometimes people say, “Well I'm TOO OLD now to see my dreams fulfilled and my vision to come to pass.”
1) You’re never to old. Moses was 80 years old before he stepped into the calling that God had for him.
2) You can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens you.
a) When the FIRE AND ANOINTING of God comes upon you, you’ll be equipped with SUPERNATURAL ABILITY and SUPERNATURAL STRENGTH to accomplish what he’s called you to do and to cause your DREAMS to BECOME a REALITY.
b) God is waiting for you to get that fire back in your life, but will you let him?
c) If so, hold onto that vision or that dream and don’t let it go and press into the things of God, and God will begin to make your dreams realities.
WOLCC Sunday, February 07, 1999 from Jerry Savelle’s book entitled “Don’t Let Go of Your Dreams.” Chapters 1 and 2.