We have looked at Dreaming Big and Dream Killers now it’s time to look at Dream excuses. These are the excuses that come from our own hearts as we try to pursue our dreams. Here are a few.

1. “I’m not good at (Insert skill here.)” - When God called Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt Moses’ response was “I’m not good at public speaking”(paraphrase). God replied “I made your stinking mouth, I’ll make sure you can speak.”(Once again a paraphrase) Moses whined some more and eventually God said “Fine, I’ll send you brother with you to do all the talking, but you are still going.” So in the end Moses excuse was pointless.
2. “I don’t have enough (insert resource here)” - Whether it’s time, money, space, people, or whatever, God is bigger then any resource that you need. The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand went something like this. Disciples - “Jesus, send these people home so they can eat, we don’t have enough food for them.” Jesus - “How much food do you have?” D - “Five loafs of bread, and two fish, that’s not even enough for us to eat!” J - “Father Bless this food, amen. Here you go hand it out.” God can use the small amount of resources you have if you ask Him to bless it and trust His plan.
3. “I’m not good enough for this” - Simply put none of us are. Peter denied Christ. Paul murdered Christians. David was and adulterer and murderer. Noah was a drunk. If you feel unworthy then you are in good company.  Embrace it, be open about it, and trust God to make up for it.
4. “I’m comfortable where I am” - I can’t think of a specific example of this one, but I think it is the underlying issue in all of our excuses. We don’t want to get uncomfortable.

What excuses have you used? What excuses are using to delay a dream God has given you right now? Move past those excuses and into God plan for you

Check out this post from Gary Lamb, on “Thoughts Keeping Him Up”. It contains thoughts that are keeping him awake at night as they prepare to launch their first satellite campus. Here a few good ones.

• What is the bottom line cost we can launch campuses for without compromising our vision, style, and excellence?
• How quickly can I launch campuses?
• How important is the role of campus pastor?
• How do you duplicate the buzz and energy of our main campus?

Check out his post for more of his thoughts and questions about it.

In continuing my thoughts on dreaming big, i wanted to talk about a few types of dream killers(people). You see whenever someone has a big dream there inevitably will be dream killers trying stop that dream from coming true. Here are a few of the big ones.

1. The Comfortable - These are the people who are in your life who are comfortable where they are at and know that your dream would upset their routine.
2. The Jealous - These people are the ones who have forgotten their dream or gave up on it. They are bound and determined to keep anyone else from achieving a dream so they can feel better about not achieving theirs.
3. The Rivals - These are people who have a similar dream to yours. They are similar to the jealous except their motivation is to be the only one succeeding at the dream. They may not be a rival in your eyes, but in their eyes you are a rival
4. The Doubters(a.k.a. The Skeptics) - They are the ones that don’t think it is possible to achieve your dream. Whether it is something they see lacking in you, your plan, or just the validity of the dream in general, they don’t hesitate to point it out to you.

How do you deal with these people when they stand in between you and your dream? What are some other types of dream killers(people).

Read #5 - #3 here, and #2 here

#1 Trust Him

This is the biggest thing that I am learning. I think it will always be the toughest thing to learn, and I have a feeling that it will be a lifelong lesson in trust. No matter what change will always be going on. There will always be issues to deal with. I will always have kids to worry about. Because of this I will always have a need to trust God.

I will always need to trust His plans. I will always need to trust His Love. I will always need to trust His protection. In short I will always need to trust Him.

So knowing this why is it so hard for me to do? I wish I knew, but then again if I knew I wouldn’t need to trust His power in my life. If I knew I would probably presume that I could trust Him on my own. Man, I need His help to even be able to trust Him.

I guess it’s just one of those things. I am learning more and more to give up, because in giving up I leave it to Him. That is the only way I can get by in this life. I spent a few years of my life trying to do it on my own and it didn’t work. The only way to survive this life and thrive for Him is to stop trying and trust His Word, His Will, and His Love.

To read #5 through #3 click here.

#2 Failure
It sounds a little weird, I know, but God is desperately trying to teach me how to fail. That is the only explanation I have for the fact that I seem to do it a lot. (And I mean a lot) I am convinced that God would rather use people who have learned to fail and fail on a grand scale then those that are only successful. I know that it is not His desire to see us fail, but I also know that He seems to teach me more through my failures then my success many times.

As the famous quote goes:

“Show me a man who has never failed,
I’ll show you a man who has never tried.”

I have never thought of my self as a great person, but I have never thought of myself as a failure either. That is what God is teaching me. I am. A big one at that. If I start to think of myself as anything other than that, then what need do I have for the power of Christ in my life.

I look back at the “heroes” of the Bible and think, “Wow, God had his pick of the whole world and chose these guys?” I mean go back through and look at the people He uses to affect His will throughout the Bible. Liars, prostitutes, cheaters, drunks, adulterers, murderers, cowards, and I could go on and on. The point is I am no better then these people. I just have to come to grips with that and admit it in order for Him to use me.

I AM A FAILURE!

Are you?

#5 Compassion
Yes I hate to say it but I can be an un-compassionate person every now and then, ok, ok, quite frequently. I do not always have the kind and caring thoughts when I come across situations or people. In fact sometimes my thoughts are down right mean. But that is not what God wants for me or my thought life.

#4 Patience
I have 6 kids, patience is something I need…. desperately. Unfortunately for my family it is something I struggle with. God is working on me though. I know one of these days he will perfect His patience in me. It is just simply a matter of how much I fight to hold on to my selfishness and anger. I am learning to give that junk up for His patience and peace.

#3 Purity
Well I am a man (surprise, surprise), so purity is a struggle for me. It has been a struggle in my life since I was young. I finally learned a few years ago that I can’t become pure. I can only rely on Jesus blood to purify me and keep me pure. It is a daily battle between my flesh and God’s will. Most days God’s will wins out, but every now and then my flesh sucker punches me when I am not looking. I am learning to deal with those days and instead of trying to recover from the punch and fight my flesh, I am learning to turn tail and run the other way, right into Jesus’ loving and forgiving arms.

#2 and #1 in the next few days.

Life is a constant state of learing. What is God wanting you to learn.