Believe It, Say It, See It...

As far as accomplishing your dream, when do you call it finished? When you decide on it, or when you see it realized?

Most people feel they are lying to themselves (and everyone else) if they talk as if their dream is true before it is manifested for all to see.

I heard an interview with internet mogul, Alex Mondossian. He described a day when he was broke and sitting on a park bench in L.A. On that bench, Alex decided to become wealthy. At the end of the interview, the interviewer, T. Harv Eker, asked him, "When did you actually become a millionaire?"

Alex answered the question in reference to time, but he added, "In reality, I became a millionaire that day on the park bench, when I made the decision."

Faith calls those things that are not, as though they were.

This reminds me of an experience I had with some friends of mine:

When I was a teenager, I was often invited to speak at elementary schools and other convocations on the subject of success, and goal achievement. I usually spoke to fairly small audiences (less than 2thousand people.) However, I had some good friends who were also motivators who had much bigger vision. I usually traveled with them to give them my support, although their audiences were often small as well.

One day as we set up for an audience of about 100, the leader of that group said, "Next time we come to this city, we'll pack out the coliseum."

I tried not to laugh.

He went on to coach his announcer in how to describe him for his entrance, and let's just say, the introduction was not modest. In fact, it also, seemed laughable.

About three years later, I was attending college in a different city, when this man's wife called me to say they were in my town, and I should come see them at their high school assembly. I did, and we had a blast, so she encouraged me to come to their evening meeting. She named the auditoreum and the time.

"Wow!" My eyebrows shot up with surprise when she mentioned the venue. "That's huge!" I said.

"Yes," she replied, "Things are going well."

Since the auditorium was the same place used in that town for major concerts, I figured there would be tons of seats. I did not head over particularly early, as I knew I could go straight back stage when I got there. However...

I never got there. As I approached the meeting place, there was so much traffic, that traffic cops had to turn me, and hundreds of others away. Packed out. I was stunned.

I drove back to my apartment, and as I did, I heard my friends' ad on the radio. It included the same inflated, laughable description of the group leader, but this time, I wasn't laughing. It had all come true.

When I got home, I threw myself on my bed, and prayed that whatever lesson I had just witnessed, would be indelibly imprinted on my heart. What was the lesson?

1. Faith sees ahead and "calls those things that are not as though they were."
2. It doesn't matter how many other people doubt your vision. It's what you say and believe about yourself that matters.
3. When you combine commitment and action to your dream, nothing is impossible.

Over the next 18 years or so, I would occasionally learn a few more lessons from this man. Some were inspiring, others downright devastating. Right now I want to focus on the inspiration.

All of us were created with seeds of greatness inside. Your greatness does not need to be in front of thousands of people to be mighty. You just need to know that whatever dream keeps burning inside of you, is definitely possible, and available. It is yours for the taking.

Can you imagine it? Can you feel it? What about the doubts - your doubts?

Here is one solution for handling doubts. I call it, "grabbing the pain."

When you think of your dream, and you sense a big objection, doubt or fear, don't try to run away from it. Instead, do just the opposite.

Remember, every single thing we are dealing with is energy. Your emotion is an energy. So if you feel it at all, close your eyes and try to get really "in touch" with that negative energy. Feel where it is in your body. Does it feel like it is in your belly, or outside of you? Can you picture it? Can you make it stronger? Try to let it get as big as possible, as strong as it can...and then, go find the center of it, and try to "grab it."

Yes, this can seem like a very abstract exercise! However, if you can grab it, here's what you'll probably notice:

The center has opened up, and the negative energy is gone. It's power to mess you up is over.

In fact, the entire energy may have just faded away. Try to make your dream as vivid and stressful as possible. Try to dream again, and feel that same big doubt. If you can't find the doubt, you have done well. It probably will not return on that exact same vision.

So, remember to believe in your dream, and give voice to it. Take a few minutes a day to experience how it feels for that dream to be a reality. Believe it and say it. Certainly, before long, you will see it with your eyes.

Biblical reference - Abraham, who was enabled to have that baby, Isaac when he was 100 years old. God changed his name to mean, "Father of many nations" years before it looked true.

Romans 4:17
As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed - the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.