A Sign Among Us - Chapter 10 - Dreams

We need goals in our lives. We need short-term, mid-term and long-term goals. 'If we aim for nothing, we are sure to get just that.' We need financial goals. We need personal goals. We need goals at work, with our family and with our spiritual lives.

Your Church probably has a goal or should have a goal or a mission statement. Shouldn't you have goals or even a mission statement for yout life? This chapter is about our goals. I want to get you thinking about your spiritual goals. I pray this chapter will be or benefit to you.

'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.' Isaiah 55:8-11

I mentioned your church should have a goal or Mission Statement. Ours does and it didn't just happen over night. Leaders of our church had to pray for wisdom. They prayed for the Lord to reveal His plan for our Church. Pastot has told us from the pulpit the amount of counsel, the amount of thought and the amount of prayer that went into the development and the setting of that Goal.

Childhood Dreams

Remember the goals you had as a child? Remember the places you were going to visit? Remember the jobs you were going to have? Remember how much money you were going to make when you grew up? Remember where you were going to live? You could call them dreams.

What was your dream? What were your dreams as a child, as a teenager, as an adult? I said I wanted to talk to you about goals. I also want to talk to you about setting goals. You know what else I want to talk about? I want to help you remember the goals you previously set and either forgot about or the world, or someone, stepped on.

What did we read, '...So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it...' You had a goal. Did the Lord give it to you? Was it the word of God going forth? Did He point you in a direction and you are no longer pointed that way? Remember what happened to Jonah? Remember what our verse said? If it was the word of the Lord it will not return void. It will prosper in the things whereto he sent it.

I Used To Have Goals

As for me I had goals. I knew where I was going to go to college. I knew what I was going to do for a living and on and on and on ... I knew I needed goals. So I set them, then slowly one at a time I didn't hit my goals. I didn't go to the school I wanted to. I didn't get the job I wanted, I didn't make what I wanted to make financially...I'm a quick learner. I learned that I did not want to be a looder. I'm not going to set a goal only to fail.

I'm not going to set goals. There, problem solved. But, remember what I said earlier? 'If we aim for nothing, we are sure to get just that ... nothing.' Well there I was a few years later with no goals. No financial goals. No personal goals. No goals at work. No goals with my family and no goals in my spiritual life. Then there I was with depression. Wondering why my finances were not better than they were a year previous. Wondering why I wasn't any further along at work than I was a year previous. Still wondering why my walk with the Lord had not grown in over a year. I was in a bad spot. I was so worried about failing that I was crippled to do nothing. No initiative at home, no initiative at work and none with the Lord.

Focus

I went to counseling. I needed help. I was messed up. A fellow Christian pointed me in the direction of a counselor they trusted. I met with him. It was Thursday evening, at about five o'clock. 'So Jeff, tell me a little about yourself.' That went on for about 50 minutes. 'O.K. Jeff, we'll meet again next week this same time. I walked out in the parking lot. I didn't feel any better. Well maybe next week I will.

Next week. 'So Jeff, last week you told me about this thing, please go on.' The questions would come, and I would politely and respectfully answer them. O.K. Jeff, we'll meet again next week this same time.' I walked out in the parking lot. I didn't feel any better. Maybe I should keep my $15.00 co-pay in my pocket next week.

But, next week I went back. 'So Jeff, what do you think of these meetings? Are they what you thought they would be?' I was waiting for this chance to speak, 'No. I come in here and talk about myself. I talk about my past, my present and my feelings. I thought I was going to come in here, tell you my problems and you would tell me how to fix them. This seems like a waste of time to be honest.'

'I know how you feel Jeff. Here's what I think about these meetings. We talk. I ask questions. If I think there is something in there I go deeper. If not I go in a different direction.' He continued, 'By us talking you will actually start to put things together. You will actually find most of the answers yourself. I am just here to help you stay focused and help you set goals and watch you achieve them.'

Wow. Focus. Goals. Achieve. That's what I want us to get thinking about here, our goals, your goals. I said we were going to talk about short term, mid term and long term goals.

Short Term Goals - Our Spiritual Life

Short term means right now. Today, or maybe even tomorrow morning. I am going to be at church at 8:55 in the morning. I am going to read my Bible tonight, before I go to bed. I am going to hold my wife's hand in bed and do our prayers aloud together. I'm going to tell the kids how awesome they are.

O.K., that's good. Those are things we can do and are going to do. They are good goals. What is holding us back? I know for me, I set the same goals. I am going to pray aloud with my wife every night. Then what happens, a day goes by, an evening goes by and for some reason, no audible prayers. Next day what's the point I'm alread a loser. I said I was going to pray every evening and I didn't last night, what is the point. We get held back, what holds us back? What holds you back?

Story of the Impala

An impala is a small deer like creature. They are found in places like the Serengeti. They stand less than three feet tall at the shoulders. You may have seen them before on the Discovery Channel. You can watch them running along in the desert then all of a sudden one will spring up in the air. The impala has the ability to jump approximately fourteen feet in the air and about twenty feet forward. Imagine that, being able to jump almost five times your hight or being able to jump that far forward. Well this creature that the Lord created can.

You can find these amazing creatures in zoos. You find yourself walking around. You look in and see these cute little deer. You could say, 'Deer, I see them all the time.' Then you read the sign that tells you where this animal comes from, and it tells you what they are capable of.

You look around, there is no impressively tall fence, there is no clear glass bubble containing these creatures. You look around the perimiter and all you see is a short barricade, a brick wall about four feet tall with a pretty vine growing on it. What did the zookeeper do? Did they clip these creature's wings?

You ask the zookeeper, 'Why does this amazing animal stay in its prison? I read the sign, I know what it is capable of, why doesn't it escape. Why doesn't the impala use the natural abilities that the Lord has given it? It is capable of jumping fourteen feet in the air and twenty feet forward. What did they do to these animals?

The zookeeper explained, 'The impala will not jump where it can not see.' This creature that the Lord created with all this ability is held prisoner. It is held prisoner by its own fear of the unknown, of its fear of potential failure.

We have to be careful with the goals we set for ourselves. Are we setting ourselves up for the big fall? My goal was to pray with my wife every night. Every night means all, so that's not a very good short-term goal, is it? I am going to pray with my wife tonight. That's a goal I can do. That's a hurdle that can be overcome. What is your brick wall right now? What is in your field of vision? You are capable of the jump. ou are smarter than the impala. The Lord gave you His word. What did He tell you to do? What wall did He tell you to jump over?

Remember his word 'will not return void.' If He told you to jump over that wall, you are going to jump over that wall. Will you be better equipped to jump over that wall tomorrow? Next week? Next year? I challenge you to jump.

What did we read earlier? '...my word...shall no return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it...' and what has the Lord previously revealed to you? '...I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it...'

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