Paul Tripp: It's not wrong for you to dream as long as you remember who you are, and who God is, and what life is about. You are a creature; God is Creator; life is about pleasing Him; life is about relationship to Him; life is about worship of Him; life is all about His glory.

Kate Crowley: From Paul Tripp Ministries, this is Right Here, Right Now, connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

Male Actor: Come on, Sally. It's not that bad. It could've been much worse.

Female Actress: What are you talking about? This is the worst, most embarrassing thing I have ever faced. Do you have any idea what I did for that company? Do you have any idea where they'd be without me?

Male Actor: Sally, it's not like you have been fired. All he did was transfer you to a different department.

Female Actress: Matt, you are not that dumb. Come on! You know exactly what they are doing to me. They moved a major piece of the business out of my control. I think they are afraid of me. I think I am being punished for my success. I'm not going to let them do this to me.

Male Actor: I've been your friend for a long time, Sally, and I've never seen you lose it like this. It's a job. You have to put this whole thing in perspective.

Female Actress: A job! That job has been my life. I eat, drink, and sleep that job. Matt, I had dreams of where that job would take me. Now they are all gone, every last one of them.

Male Actor: But your life is bigger than that job. You have more going on in your life than your career. You have to get perspective.

Female Actress: Here's perspective for you. I don't think I can go to work on Monday. I don't think I can walk by the offices of all those people who now know what has happened to me. I don't think I can face my boss without wanting to punch him in the nose. I don't think I can do it. I just don't think I have it in me.

Music: "It's a Dream" by Neil Young

In the morning when I wake up and listen to the sound
Of the birds outside on the roof
I try to ignore what the paper says
And I try not to read all the news
And I'll hold you if you had a bad dream
And I hope it never comes true
'Cause you and I been through so many things together
And the sun starts climbing the roof
It's a dream
Only a dream
And it's fading now
Fading away
It's only a dream
Just a memory without anywhere to stay

Kate Crowley: This is Right Here, Right Now with Paul Tripp. How can you face your broken dreams? That's today's topic on this new radio outreach from Paul Tripp Ministries.

Tell your friends that Paul is here each weekday at 11 A.M. on WFIL. His goal is to remind you every day that there really is help in Jesus Christ, right here, right now.

For more information and a complete list of resources by Paul, go to www.paultrippministries.org. That is all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, www.paultrippministries.org. Right now, more on "Imagination," as Right Here, Right Now continues.

You and Sally Are a Lot Alike

Paul Tripp: You know, you and I are a lot like Sally. Don't divorce yourself from Sally; don't move too far away from her; you and Sally are good friends. We dream, and before we know it, our dreams have kidnapped our hearts and taken us hostage just like Sally. In some way, in this fallen world, our dreams always disappoint us, just like Sally.

That sweet dream of a perfect, white-picket-fence marriage turns out to be a life in a row home in the city with a husband whose job consumes his time and his energy. The dream has disappointed.

That dream of the ultimate career ends up in a dead-end job that quickly bored you with people who very easily drive you crazy. That dream has disappointed you.

The hope of a perfect family has given way to the sad reality that you're all just a bunch of sinners, and the life in your family is more chaotic and more fraught with mundane, daily, little difficulties than you ever imagined in your pristine, perfect family dream; the dream has disappointed you.

Those projects that you dream you'd complete stare you in the face every day, undone because you've lived under the tyranny of the urgent. That dream, of all those projects done, has disappointed you. You made the money that you dreamed you'd make, but when you did it, it did not do for you what you dreamed it would do.

You see, we all face, sometime in our lives, those emotion-laden moments when we are forced to face the fact that our dreams either die or disappoint us. They either die, or they disappoint us. You see, you and I set ourselves up for disaster when we allow our dreams to capture our hearts because our dreams can't be our savior; our dreams cannot be our messiah; they cannot give us what we crave that they would give us. They either die or they disappoint.

Have you been setting yourself up? Are you setting yourself up now? Are you investing so heavily in a dream that you will be crushed if you don't get it? And are you judging God by His willingness to deliver that dream to you? And if He does not, will you judge Him as being unfaithful?

Have you set yourself up? Are you setting yourself up now? Are you heading for a disaster? Are you banking on the dream that you can't control and that God hasn't promised you? Have you put your hope in what you cannot control and what is sure to disappoint? Are you setting yourself up for a fall without even knowing it? In some way, in this fallen world, our dreams always die or always disappoint us. We cannot rely on our dreams.

Music: "Stuck In A Moment" U2

I'm not afraid
Of anything in this world
There's nothing you can throw at me
That I haven't already heard
I'm just trying to find
A decent melody
A song that I can sing
In my own company
I never thought you were a fool
But darling look at you
You gotta stand up straight
Carry your own weight
These tears are going nowhere baby
You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment
And now you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better
Now you're stuck in a moment
And you can't get out of it

The Week You Wished You Were King

Paul Tripp: You know, that there is sometime during every week where we all wish we were the king of the universe. There is a time in every week when you wish you were sovereign. There's probably a time during every week where you wish you were in absolute control of everything that is.

Think about it. As we exercise our imaginations, we tend to pretend that we are sovereign and that the world will operate according to the rules of our imagination, but it never does; it never, ever does.

Think about it. This is what fantasy is about. You see, when I fantasize, I rise to the throne of creator; I create worlds of my own making that will do my sovereign bidding. I mean, whoever fantasizes people saying, "No?" Whoever happily fantasizes obstacles and difficulties?

We fantasize worlds that live according to our sovereign, created order. And if we could control the world and guarantee the possession of our dreams, you know what? We would still be disappointed because what we're asking our dreams to do for us is something they can never do.

Now, I want you to hear what I'm about to say. Your dreams will never give you true identity; your dreams cannot give you lasting, personal security; your dreams will not give you the inner sense of well-being that you seek; your dreams will not provide for you consistent motivation and courage in times of difficulty; your dreams will never fill your heart with real faith, and real hope, and real love.

Think about it. Identity, security, hope, purpose, well-being, motivation, courage, faith, hope, love... dreams can never, ever, ever deliver those things to us. Those things are never found horizontally. You can search, and you can look throughout this created world; you will never find those things horizontally. Those things are only ever found vertically. Those things can only be found in the Lord.

And you see, when you look for identity in your dream, you've replaced the Lord. When you look for security in your dream, you've replaced the Lord. When you look for hope in your dream, you've replaced the Lord. When you look for meaning and purpose in your dream, you've replaced the Lord. When you look for that fundamental inner sense of well-being, you've replaced the Lord. That's the danger of the dream...is that without even knowing it, we ask the dream to do what only God can do for us, and when we do, we have replaced Him.

No, we don't quit going to church, and no, we don't quit singing hymns, and we keep participating in the men's ministry, and the women's ministry, and the small group, and the short-term mission field, but those things are actually on the exterior of our lives; they're in the interior of our hearts. What really makes us tick, what really we're living for is something other than God's dream for us. We now have a replacement god that rules our hearts, and we worship at his feet every day. What a profoundly scary thing. But we all do it; we all do it again, and again, and again. It is what sin is about.

Now hear this, because it's very important. When our dreams fail us, rather than being disappointed with ourselves for having let our dreams control us, we tend to be disappointed with God, and we tend to wonder why He doesn't love us more. Rather than seeing the failure of a dream as a good thing because that failure releases us from the dream's captivity, we tend to be disappointed with God. We tend to question His faithfulness, and His goodness, and His love. And rather than move toward Him in our disappointment, we move away from Him.

Because of this, I think it is real important for us, today, to consider three very important dream principles. In a real way, these aren't new things. These are things that I've been saying to you all along.

Here's principal one: You will dream. It's part of your humanity. You have been given the ability of desire; you have been given the ability to envision. Remember - "a dream is imagination, coupled with desire, and projected into the future. A dream is imagination, coupled with desire, and projected into the future." You will dream. That's the first principle.

The second principle: Your dreams will compete with the Lord for your imagination. It is real hard to hold your dreams down. It is real hard to keep them in one place. They grow, and they grow, and they acquire power and control. A desire becomes a demand, and a demand gets viewed as a need, and a need sets up my expectations, and my expectations lead to disappointment, and in my disappointment, I react in some way. You see, your dreams will compete with the Lord for your imagination. You will dream. Your dreams will compete with the Lord for your imagination.

But there's a third principle. Your dreams will either die or disappoint you. You live in a fallen world where things don't work right. You live in a broken world where things don't operate the way they're supposed to. You are not sovereign; God is. Your dreams can't do for you what you want them to.

I worked for two years for a very, very wealthy man. It quickly became clear to me that his wealth-driven dreams could not deliver what he was looking for. They could not satisfy the longing of his heart.

One great example of this was that this man had so many cars in his long, long driveway that there were no more places on his property for them. He kept buying the next car, hoping that the next car would provide for him the satisfaction that he sought, but it never did. Yet he kept wanting more because what he had, left him empty. He had been kidnapped by a dream that could not do what he wanted it to do.

Yes, you and I are dreamers. It's a wonderful and dangerous ability, and this side of heaven, our world of imagination is a spiritual war zone because we will dream, because our dreams will compete with the Lord for our imaginations. And because our dreams will either die or disappoint us, your world of dreaming is a war zone.

Music: "Blessed Be Your Name"

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name
Every blessing you pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name
Blessed be your name

Why We Love Control So Much

Paul Tripp: You can see it on the sidewalks, and in playgrounds, and in the backyard; we human beings love control, and we learn to take control very early. It's hard for us to accept that we're not ultimate. It's hard for us to face a world every morning where we are not sovereign.

You see, you'll never understand the place where your dreams should be in until you understand that you are not in the center of the universe, that life is not about your happiness. Life is not about your personal, temporal definition of pleasure or comfort.

Life is about God; it's about God's glory; it's about God's will; it's about God's plan and purpose; it's about God's kingdom; it's about God's plan of redemption; it's about His will in heaven and His will on earth. God is in the center of the universe, a place where you and I must never try to be.

So do you know why your dreams die? They die because there's a God. Nothing exists outside of the scope of His plan. He is the conductor, and everything lives under His careful orchestration. It's impossible to arrive at any situation or location before Him.

He is everywhere, controlling everything according to His wise plan and for the purposes of His glory. He's a God of wisdom and love. And as much as He has given us the ability to dream, the ability to imagine, the ability to decide, the ability to plan, our will is not ultimate; His is.

We are meant to live in loving, joyful, careful, submissive service of Him. That's the best, most wholesome place for any human being to be, but it's hard. It's hard to accept the fact that I'm not in control.

When I'm dealing with family difficulty, I want to be in control. When I'm dealing with financial stress, I want to be in control. When I'm facing a tough boss, I want to be in control. When I sit in traffic, I want to be in control.

It's hard to face the fact that God calls us to give up our delusions of control, our delusions of sufficiency, and our delusions of autonomy. It's not wrong for you to dream as long as you remember who you are, and who God is, and what life is about.

You are a creature. God is Creator. Life is about pleasing Him; life is about relationship to Him; life is about worship of Him; life is all about His glory. The glory that God wants you to live for is not the glory of your dream; the glory that He wants you to live for is the glory of His purpose, His plan, His honor in the universe. Many of your dreams will die, but thankfully all of His purposes will stand.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: Isn't it nice, isn't it comforting to know that the world you live in is not out of control? It's not careening into chaos. Sure, it's out of your control, and that's probably a good thing. It's nice to know that this world you live in is under the control of a God who knows just what you truly need.

He is the ultimate definition of everything that is wise, loving, true, and good. It's a good thing, as much as you and I hate to admit it, that the world is not under our control. You can rest assured that you are in a good place when you are letting God hold your dreams.

You see, as He controls your life, He's not asking you to be willing to accept something less than your dream. No, He's actually lovingly offering you much more, much more than you could have ever dreamed. What God wants for you and me is much better, much more beautiful than anything we would've ever had for ourselves.

Are you willing, right now, to open up your hands and hand your dream to the Lord? Are you willing to lay down that dream that competes with the Lord for control of your life? Are you willing to give up your attempts at sovereignty, and control, and place your life in the hands of a wise and loving God? You see, there's a God of grace, who in Jesus Christ, has provided all you need for this struggle. He alone has power to free your heart when it's been captured by a dream.

Kate Crowley: Jesus Christ, "Bigger Than All Of Your Dreams"...Paul Tripp with words of hope. This is Right Here, Right Now from Paul Tripp Ministries and the series: "Imagination."

Now, if you could use a little help in reshaping your dreams, go online and take a look at Lost in the Middle. It's Paul Tripp's newest book, and he explains how God provides a fresh perspective on life every day. That's Lost in the Middle.

Go to www.paultrippministries.org, all one word (paultripp) spelled T-R-I-P-P, www.paultrippministries.org. You can also listen to these programs online, or sign up for the daily podcast, and have the programs delivered to you so that you can listen any time.

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Tomorrow, Paul takes a deeper look at the "Power of Imagination." I'm Kate Crowley. Be sure and join us for more hope and encouragement from Paul Tripp Ministries tomorrow on Right Here, Right Now.