Welcome to the Paul Tripp podcast, where pastor and bestselling author Dr. Paul David Tripp connects the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

Today, we'll listen to the third episode in Paul's five-part series about imagination.

Here's Paul Tripp with his own testimony of a good dream that went bad because it became

a controlling dream.

I dreamed what it would be like. I really did. It wasn't that it was a bad or evil dream.

In fact, of the kinds of dreams I've dreamed, this one was pretty wholesome. It started out as a God's

kingdom vision. It was a great need in our community. And I dreamt of how we could meet that

need in a way that would honor God and help people. I could see it in my mind's eye. And the more I dreamed, the more

excited I got. And the more excited I got, the more I dreamed. The more my dreams became specific.

And the more specific it became, the more it influenced and controlled me. There was a crucial shift

that had taken place in the middle of the process. My dream was to start

a Christian school in our community that had such poor schools. And I was convinced that this would

be honoring to God and beneficial to the community. But somewhere in the middle of it all,

without me ever knowing it, my dream had become my dream.

I knew just what I wanted that school to be like.

I imagined every classroom and the kind of education that I wanted to go on there.

Somehow, it had ceased being a vision for God's honor and God's kingdom and become

my dream for my school. I had been kidnapped by my dream, and I didn't even know it. I no longer held my dream.

It held me.

You're like me.

There are probably dreams that hold you,

and you don't even know it.

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