(March 7, 2010)

You cannot be living your dream and living your fears at the same time. If you are focusing on the what-ifs, you aren't focused on your destiny. We are going to encourage you to make a choice: Be a person who walks in fear or be a person who walks in the dream.

God takes our dreams and weaves it into the fabric of our spirit, then he weaves the collective dreams of those in our church and covers our communities and our world with them. The last part of our Dreamweaver series is overcoming fear. Fear is an evil taskmaster. If you get consumed by fear, you will pay a very high price.

Henry only has a sixth grade education. He had a dream to build a major company despite his limitations. Even though he would have been justified to be fearful in working to embrace and activate his dream, Henry would go ahead and face the risk fearlessly. He developed a V-shaped engine when he was told by engineers that he couldn't do it. He developed an automobile company that became the most successful in history: Ford Motor Company.

Why aren't you boldly pursuing your dream? It could be because you have a degree of fear that stops you. We've all had butterflies, we have a shaky voice, we sweat...these are logical and these are healthy fears that are protective mechanisms that our body is programmed to feel. But, we're talking about people who take fear to an unhealthy level. There are well-placed fears and misplaced fears. We are referring to misplaced fears, of course.

All of the events of our past has formed your belief system. When we replay the memories continually, we respond to people and situations with fear. Many people "record" their lives until they get to be 18 years old or so, then they "rewind" and "press play" after age 18, yielding reactionary responses that promote fear. Fear can easily convert to shame. Shame will push you further and further away from your dream. It's the cycle of fear that costs people.

Fear allows people to believe that they can't achieve their dreams because they don't deserve them. It's mainly because they are chained to the past. Who chained them? Themselves! They are paralyzed and are not allowing themselves to move forward. Procrastination will lead to people accepting mediocraty. If I never make an attempt, I can never lose, right? This is paralyzing.

The two biggest fears are: the fear of rejection and the fear of failure. The fear of rejection leads us to try to fulfill a role and perform with a mask on. The fear of failure lead to people asking themselves constantly What if I fail? So, they don't try. If they try and fail, they will feel shame. Shame is too painful.

1. Find the events that caused these fears and root them out of your life. Most people are not willing to do this or allow God to do this. It's comfortable in their misery.

2. Maintain a Biblical perspective. Find out what God says about you. What does God say about fear? Don't check with your friends and family...check the Bible for answers.

3. Focus on the dream. Worry is fear that has unpacked it's bags and signed a long-term lease in your life. You have to evict that worry, fear and shame. Reject the rejection. Admit your fears and then work to evict them.

- Jon Bruney
(credit to Dr. Mark Cherona)