Stop Wishing. Start Committing. Dream Again in 2025.
By Erik Kingsley · · Imagine Church, Pembroke Pines, FL
You've been here before. January rolls around, you feel it — that pull toward something new, something better. You write down a goal or two. Maybe you even mean it this time. And then February happens. And the goal is still on the notes app you haven't opened since the third week of the month.
That's not a discipline problem. That's not even a motivation problem. According to Pastor Erik Kingsley's message this past Sunday, it's a commitment problem — and underneath that, for a lot of people, it's a healing problem.
Here's what he said that stopped the room:
"It's not what you desire — it's what you're committed to."
He made it personal. He talked about wanting six-pack abs while also having eaten a few too many donuts. The laugh was real. But the point landed harder than the punchline: desire without commitment is just wishful thinking with a spiritual label on it.
Forget the Former Things — Actually
Before he got to the practical stuff, he went to Isaiah 43. And he didn't let anyone off easy with it.
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. Behold, I am doing a new thing." — Isaiah 43:18-19
He pointed out something most people skip over: dwelling in the past isn't just nostalgia. Sometimes it's the dream that didn't happen. The betrayal you're still replaying. The mistake you've made your permanent address. God isn't asking you to pretend those things didn't happen. He's asking you to stop setting up camp there.
A new season requires a new posture. And that posture starts with a decision — not a feeling.
Write It Down. Seriously.
Habakkuk 2:2-3 was the anchor of the whole message:
"Write the vision, make it plain, so that you may run with it."
Pastor Erik made a distinction that's easy to miss: vision isn't just a vague sense that God has something good ahead. Vision is a God-inspired picture of your future — specific enough to run toward, clear enough to recognize when you're drifting away from it.
He backed it up with research: people who write down their goals are 42% more likely to follow through on them. That's not a motivational poster stat. That's the difference between a dream that shapes your year and a dream that fades by February.
He walked the church through a framework called the WHOOP method — a five-part process for turning a vision into a plan:
- Wish — Define the specific goal. Not vague. Specific.
- Hope — Name the outcome. What does life look like when this happens?
- Obstacle — Identify what's going to try to stop you. Name it before it names you.
- Plan — Write the daily steps. What are you actually doing, and when?
- Pray — Bring all of it to God. Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. (Proverbs 16:3)
This isn't a self-help system with a Bible verse stapled to it. It's a framework that takes seriously both the spiritual and the practical — because God doesn't honor vague intentions any more than a contractor builds from a napkin sketch.
Vision Boards Aren't Cheesy — They're Biblical
He handed out vision boards to the whole church. And before anyone could internally roll their eyes, he made the case from Scripture. Abraham looked at the stars every night and remembered the promise. Every time he walked on the beach, the sand reminded him of what God said. That's not positive thinking — that's covenant memory. Keeping the vision in front of you so you don't forget what you're running toward.
The church is bringing those boards back on the last Sunday of the month to pray over them, bless them, and believe together that this year is different.
Here's What Nobody Talks About
This is where the message turned. And it turned hard.
Pastor Erik had been building toward vision and commitment for most of the message — and then he stopped and said something that reframed everything that came before it:
"You can't achieve all the things I'm talking about until you let go of the burdens you've been carrying."
He named it plainly. Some people in that room have been betrayed. Hurt. Stabbed in the back by someone they trusted. And they're still carrying it — not because they're weak, but because no one told them that unhealed wounds are dead weight on a mountain climb. You can have the clearest vision in the room and still not make it to the top if you're hauling 50 pounds of rocks on your back.
He brought it home with Psalm 147:3:
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
The altar call wasn't an emotional moment tacked onto the end of a motivational talk. It was the whole point. Because dreaming again isn't just a mindset shift — it requires the kind of healing that only God can do. The shattered glass of a life that didn't go the way it was supposed to. The wounds that have been quietly running the show while you've been trying to set goals over them.
He said it like this: God is here to put back together again the shattered glass of your life and create a new masterpiece. That's not a metaphor for self-improvement. That's a promise for people who are done pretending they're fine.
One Decision
The message closed where it started — with a single moment of choice.
"You are one decision away from changing your life."
Not one year of perfect habits. Not one personality overhaul. One decision. To follow Jesus. To write the vision. To lay the burden down. To stop wishing and start committing.
That decision doesn't require you to have it all figured out. Abraham didn't. Joseph didn't. Paul definitely didn't. What they had was a God who gave them a dream and the willingness to say yes to it — even when the path looked nothing like they expected.
What to Do With This
If this message is sitting with you, here are the actual next steps Pastor Erik gave:
- Build your vision board this week. Use magazine clippings, printed images, scriptures — whatever makes it real. Hang it somewhere you'll see it every day.
- Work through the WHOOP method for every major area of your life — health, relationships, finances, faith, work.
- Start reading your Bible daily. Not just on Sundays. Feed yourself. The vision God has for you is in the Word — you need to be in it.
- If you're carrying wounds — from betrayal, from loss, from your own mistakes — bring them to God. Not in a vague, someday kind of way. Today.
The full message is worth hearing in its entirety. You can listen on the podcast or watch it on YouTube once it's up. But don't just consume it — do something with it.
And if you've never been to Imagine Church, there is a seat for you this Sunday. Doors open at 9:30 AM. Service starts at 10. We're at the Holiday Inn in Pembroke Pines.
Come ready to dream again.