Bella is our family dog, and she rarely likes to be alone.

Her favorite place to be is curled up either on a lap or next to a leg.

When she snuggles up next to any of us, the response from all of us is the same: we start telling this little fluffy thing how much we love her!

Her loyalty — her consistent presence — grows the love we have for her.

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18:24‬ ‭NIV)

Get some friends like Bella (make sure that they don’t all have fur).

Start with Jesus.

His — and their — loyalty will only cause your love for him — and them — to grow.

Think about the last time you felt stirred to try something new. Do you remember the excitement that you felt? The way you smiled as you considered all the ways that new venture could change you and others around you?

When we have a dream, we always see it in its best-case scenario. So, why don’t more of those world-changing dreams come true? The perfection that we see in our minds kills the potential.

Rarely does the reality match the dream at the beginning. The boy who dreams of hitting the winning shot in the NBA championship has to learn how to dribble. The young girl who dreams of starting her own global brand has to learn how to organize. The parents who dream of raising a future president have to learn how to change a diaper.

Beginnings look nothing like endings, and if we compare our beginnings to other people’s endings, our dreams will never even get off the ground.

If God’s given you a dream, then He’s also giving you the power to achieve it. Every dream has the potential to become a reality as long as we don’t allow our need for perfection to kill it.

Photo by Christian Joudrey on Unsplash

There is a principle that most of us recognize as true, and yet live as if it isn’t.

If you want more, you’ll probably need to choose less.

Want more financially? You’re probably going to need to live on less so that you can increase your savings, or have less free time so you can work a few more hours.

Want more relationally? You’re probably going to need to give up some things you could do alone to invest in the relationships you’re developing with others.

Want more spiritually? Well, that’s actually where this principle began.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:24-25‬ ‭NLT, emphasis mine)

If we want to go up, we’ll need to give up first. Jesus promised us an abundant life, not necessarily a life of abundance. There’s a huge difference between the two, and many will never live lives full of the things that matter most because they’ve settled for a life packed full of lesser things.

Paul said that everything looked like garbage when it was compared to knowing Jesus.

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ… (‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:7-8‬ ‭NLT, emphasis mine)

Do you want more of Christ’s power to be active in your life? More revelation of His goodness and grace toward you? More of His authority moving through you and affecting the atmosphere around you? Do you want to see strongholds break and demons tremble when you speak His word? Do you want to read the Bible and weep at the very thought that the creator of the universe wrote to us about Himself?

None of that comes to a life packed to the brim with dollar store junk. We don’t get that level of depth by playing in the sandbox. That walk comes to the burning ones who have seen it all, and seen Him, and chosen to empty themselves so that He might fill them. And fill us, He will!

Photo by Phil Coffman on Unsplash