When we think of great dreamers, we think of people like George Lucas, Elon Musk, or Walt Disney. Anyone who’s seen a Star Wars movie, read about electric cars, or visited Disney World knows that great accomplishments begin with one person’s larger-than-life imagination.

Walt Disney’s dream began with cartoon sketches, two failed companies, and a borrowed book on animation. In time, he brought beloved characters to life, created classic films, and built Disney World, Disneyland, and Epcot. He created “the happiest place on earth” and became known as the man who made dreams come true.

Disney’s public persona was “Uncle Walt,” a smiling man who kindly signed autographs in a tweed jacket while puttering down Main Street in a fringe-topped car driven by Mickey Mouse. But behind the scenes, the real Walt Disney was a demanding, hard-charging man of a million ideas who exasperated family and colleagues. His life was a whirlwind of visionary projects that exhausted his associates and changed our world.

When Disney was diagnosed with lung cancer, he was still planning movies, developing theme parks, and mulling over his newest idea—an “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow,” or EPCOT. As he lay on his deathbed with his brother Roy sitting nearby, Walt looked up at the hospital ceiling tiles, raised his finger, and traced his plans for Epcot by pointing to them. Every fourth tile represented a square mile, he told his brother. Using that mental map, he suggested routes for his envisioned highways and monorails.1

Having said all that, I believe Walt Disney’s dreams were too small. Believe it or not, you and I can dream bigger dreams than Disney ever conceived. It’s one thing to invest one’s life in a magic kingdom but quite another to play a part in the kingdom of God. As followers of Christ, we can cultivate a dream for our lives that outlasts the world, transforms time, changes eternity, and advances His cause and His kingdom for His glory.

In fact, that’s the story of the Bible. The Bible is filled with people who saw what life could look like in God’s kingdom and then moved forward in faith. Abraham dreamed of a great nation when he was yet childless. Moses envisioned a free people when the Israelites were still making bricks without straw. Joshua envisioned an occupied land; Samson, a defeated enemy; David, a temple on a hill. Nehemiah built miles of reconstructed walls in his prayers before a single stone was laid. Daniel glimpsed a future kingdom; Peter, an established church; Paul, a global mission.

All these stories—the dreams of men and women of God thousands of years ago—still inspire, guide, and affect us more than we know. And they remind us God wants to do the same with you and me. The Lord’s dreams for us are just as real, and the process of finding and fulfilling them hasn’t changed.

That’s what this book is about. How do you stay focused on tomorrow, letting go of the past and moving forward to the future? What’s the role of prayer? How do you figure out the next step? What’s the risk? And what’s waiting for you at the end of it all? In these pages I want to share with you these things—and more. I’ve never been content to hang up my boots and neither should you. There’s always more out in front of us. Always a reason to look forward to tomorrow.

Typically, it all starts with a dream. That’s the first step in this process of moving forward.

When I talk about a dream, I’m not describing a self-made vision of your life apart from God’s will. And I’m not using the word as the ancient prophets did when they had supernatural visions of inspired revelation. I’m not talking about seeing heavenly creatures or having apocalyptic dreams. Instead, I’m talking about envisioning the next step or stage of your life. A dream or a vision is simply a picture of what you feel God wants you to do next.

What about you? What’s your dream? Can you envision God’s next step for your life? What does He want to do through you this year, in the coming years, and in the remaining time He gives you in this life?

The Power of a Dream

The Bible says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18 KJV). Without a blueprint, you can’t build a house; and without an idea of what kind of house you want, a blueprint can’t be drawn. The same is true when it comes to making plans for the future. If you don’t have a clear idea about where you want to go—and why you want to go there—it’s difficult to sustain forward momentum.

Without a dream, we float through life without ever catching the current. Many of us fill the majority of our hours with diversions and only a few with dreams. But our world is shaped by determined dreamers, by men and women of vision. Like them, you need a dream to achieve your goal.

David Jeremiah, Forward: Discovering God’s Presence and Purpose in Your Tomorrow (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2020), xii–xvi.

We have just released a new Bible Study on the book Forward, by David Jeremiah

These lessons are available on Amazon, as well as a part of Good Questions Have Groups Talking Subscription Service. Like Netflix for Bible Lessons, one low subscription gives you access to all our lessons--thousands of them. For a medium-sized church, lessons are as little as $10 per teacher per year.

Each lesson consists of 20 or so ready-to-use questions that get groups talking. Answers are provided in the form of quotes from respected authors such as John Piper, Max Lucado and Beth Moore.

These lessons will save you time as well as provide deep insights from some of the great writers and thinkers from today and generations past.  I also include quotes from the same commentaries that your pastor uses in sermon preparation.

Ultimately, the goal is to create conversations that change lives.