God has phenomenal plans for you life. However, He doesn’t distribute manuals detailing the plans He has for each one of us. Instead, He plants His plans and purposes in our hearts in seed form. These seeds are in the form of dreams and desires.
When God given dreams are alive on the inside, they motivate us to pursue our purpose. So dreams are an important part of us fulfilling our God-given destiny. To get the best of 2019, make sure hope is alive on the inside.
How do we know if our dream is from God?
The enemy wants to divert us from our dreams so he loves to make us doubt that they are from God. We wonder if they have just come from our own imaginations. As a result, we shy away.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” This is true at two levels. Yes when we seek His kingdom first, He will add these things to us. However that’s not where it ends.
This verse also says that when you are delighting in the Lord, He will plant the right desires on the inside. That can help you work out if your dream is from God. When you are in His presence, does the desire diminish or does it grow?
If you have dreams on the inside that won’t go away, that’s a pretty good sign that they are part of God’s plan for your life.
Dormant dreams
As I was praying, I heard the Lord say, “It’s time to dust off the dormant dreams of your life.” God wants you to go back to those forgotten desires and start to believe again.
There are other ways that the enemy tries to extinguish our burning desires and I want to mention three:
1. Disappointment – perhaps you believed that it would all have happened by now? You had your hopes fixed on God fulfilling His promises at a certain time and in a particular way. When that didn’t happen, you felt crushed.
2. Delay – maybe you are weary of waiting. You have trusted and believed, you have carried on in faith for what feels like far too long and you are fed up of waiting. The dream that once inspired now hurts. How long will I have to wait?
3. Derision – it could be that you shared your dreams with people that didn’t share your vision. Maybe they mocked you or doubted your ability. Or perhaps you stepped out in faith and got horribly hurt.
When stuff happens that dampens our desires, all too often we distance ourselves from the dream. Hope deferred makes the heart sick (Pr 13:12). We feel discouraged or disappointed so we relegate the dream to the dumpster.
I believe it’s time to go back to those God-given desires. If you got hurt or felt let down, pour out your heart in prayer before the Lord. Then go back to those dreams and start to trust again. Remember, your job is believing and obeying. His responsibility is to make it happen.
If you realise that you’re feeling disappointed or discouraged, I want to encourage you to do 30 Day Detox for your Soul. And make sure you come to the next Healed for Life event near you. We have an event in London on January 26 and an event in Miami on February 3. Join us: your future depends on you keeping your heart whole.
