There have been numerous times I have had dreams which I believe God has formed in me – and seeing them become a reality has always provided so much joy. But to be honest, in the early stages of these dreams, I’ve not always been sure whether they are from God or simply the result of an overactive imagination. This is because they have often formed as a quiet, internal idea somewhere in the recesses of my inner being and could so easily have been written off. They haven’t been accompanied by angelic visitations or appeared as vivid, high-definition videos playing out in my sleep – but instead they have been thoughts which have begun to captivate my thinking and stir my faith. Before I share a simple way that I have learnt to process such ‘dreams’ I will give a quick summary of some principles regarding God given dreams and visions.

• God gives dreams! – Proverbs 29:18 (ESV) says ‘Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint’. God has often revealed His plans and purposes ahead of time to His people and these revelations have given understanding, context and focus to His people. Without an understanding of the prophetic purposes of God we are likely to wander in an ‘unrestrained’ or ‘unfocused’ way.

• If you have breath you have purpose! – Someone once said ‘If our memories are greater than our dreams then we’ve already begun to die’. The ‘abundant life’ Jesus came to bring (John 10:10) involves us being invited into His prophetic purposes. We don’t just remember the day of our salvation but we walk forward in its adventure, working with the Holy Spirit in implementing His purposes in the earth.

• Gods word measures our dreams! – God will never give a revelation that contradicts the bible and His word remains the measure of all prophetic invitations. Gods word also gives us a clear macro story – that we are to love God with everything and go to all the world to make Jesus loving disciples. We should never ‘sit around’ saying God hasn’t asked us to do anything – Gods word clearly says we have.

I believe the Holy Spirit is looking for His people to open their hearts to God inspired revelatory ideas and His church is meant to be a place that incubates these dreams.

It is my experience that people can hide their dreams for the following reasons:

1. We are unsure if it is a God idea

2. We feel inadequate. ‘Why me?’ is an intimidating question we often ask ourselves

3. We fear criticism. ‘Why you?’ is a question we often fear others asking us

4. We fear failure if it doesn’t work out as we hope

Fear is a terrible bully and we must stand up against it. I have had to face up to each of these 4 issues every time I’ve had a dream and you will probably need to do so as well.

So after putting the ‘bully’ in it’s place, how do we then process our dreams? I’ve developed a 5 step plan which has proven really helpful.

5 Steps For Turning A Dream Into Reality

I’m going to use an acronym of the word DREAM for these 5 steps. There are no set timelines given to each of them, but follow them through with a desire to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and I believe He will direct you:

D – Dare to Share

Unshared dreams will likely stay hidden. We need to find people we can trust, people who will give us godly counsel. People who will share honestly and either help us see the folly of our daft ideas or encourage us about the possibilities

R – Recruit a Team

One of the first things Jesus did at the start of His earthly ministry was recruit a team. Every dream needs a team – you can’t do it by yourself so begin to look for those who can get involved.

E – Establish a Plan

Too many people think ‘if it is Gods will then it will just happen’. The reality is, God is looking for you to steward the dream with a plan and think through how this could happen. You will probably list a number of needs that go beyond your resources when you make a plan which will help you focus your next actions

A – Ask for Miracles

If you don’t need a few miracles to see your dream become a reality then it is probably more of an idea than a vision. Dreams usually involve a need for miracles and we serve a God who specialises in these. Take these needs to God in prayer: Pray righteous, Pray often, Pray surrendered, Pray believing

M – Move out in Faith

Great plans, great teams, great prayers but NO action will mean nothing. We have to step out and move by faith.

If churches can incubate dreams, leaders encourage them, and each member rise up to fulfil them, I have no doubt that the days ahead will be very special indeed.

So what are your dreams?

Go on… Dare to share, Recruit a team, Establish a plan, Ask for miracles and Move out in faith.

I would love to know how you get on…