“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and will bring you back from captivity.” Jeremiah 29:11-13
God has always had a plan for you. God’s dream is for all men and women to have a relationship with Him.
1Timothy 2:3-6 says, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.”
God wants all people to be saved! He wants us to understand this eternal truth, and then seek Him out with all our hearts. God says that He will allow Himself to be found by those who seek Him with all their hearts. Once you find God and become a Christian, he then starts to unveil His amazing plans for your life. We must decide to make His dream our dream. This takes humility. We come to understand that God knows best for our lives. 1 John 5:3 says, “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” God has had a dream for you for a very long time. In Ephesians 1:4-5 we read, “For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.”
Dreamers Are Refined by Trial!
Luke 4:1-2 tells us, “Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” The devil continues to try and tempt Jesus in many different ways. Sometimes we can think that when we are led by God’s spirit, He will lead us only beside “quiet waters” like it says in Psalm 23:2. This is not always true. God’s spirit led Jesus into the desert for a long and difficult time of testing. When you are facing challenging trials in your life, first see if there is any sin you need to repent of. If there is no obvious sin, then ask God for strength to get through the trial. Don’t ask God, “Why is this happening to me?” Instead, remember WHO God is! 1 Peter 1:6-7 tells us to “rejoice” about our inheritance in Heaven. “… though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Trials refine our faith and define God’s dream!
Dreamers Stay the Course!
“All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” Luke 4:28-30.
Many people were angered by Jesus’ message of God’s dream, including some of His family members. But Jesus loved His Father in Heaven above all else. He loved the truth above all friendships. As disciples you will be faced with different kinds of situations where your faith will be challenged and tested. Will you be like Jesus — walk through the crowd and go on your way? Or will your faith be stopped in its tracks because of fear of not being accepted? Will a certain relationship keep you from staying the course? Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from living as a sold out faithful disciple for God! Dreamers stay the course!
Keep the Awe in the Dream!
Hebrews 12:28-29 says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’ “
The Greek word for awe is “eulabeia”. Translated it literally means “Godly fear”, “a reasonable shunning” or “fear, anxiety, dread.” When we live our lives for God, do we have a sense of who God really is? We should be so incredibly humbled and honored that the God of the universe has called us to walk in a relationship with Him, and live out His dream of evangelizing the lost with Him. Do you realize that God has allowed us to be used in changing the eternal destination of people we meet. Share the truth about Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection for all our sins. Keep the awe in the dream!
The Time for the Dream is NOW!
2 Corinthians 6:1-2 reads, “As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” This scripture says it all. THE TIME FOR THE DREAM IS NOW!
Life is short, then we get to go to Heaven!
Love, your brother in Christ,
Chris Chloupek
