Sunflowers. Photo by Diane Yuhas.
Got dreams?
Something wonderful and good and godly? You’ve longed for its fulfillment as far back as you can remember. Maybe it’s a family, a marriage partner or a child of your own? Perhaps you dream of health and healing, deliverance, or the power and opportunity to change a piece of the world?
You pray about your dream again and again, yet your prayers seem to fall on deaf ears. You’ve journaled about it, cried about it, given it up to God and taken it back again. You’ve tried to bargain with God, but He’s not buying. You persevere in prayer, yet He remains maddeningly silent. You’re frustrated, angry, and despairing. You feel like you’ve done your part, so why won’t He do his?
“With God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).
You know God is able. But there are no magic words that will force His hand to do your will.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Do you believe that? I mean, really believe that He works ALL THINGS for our good? Even when He seemingly denies your heart’s desire? There are those things He gives you and those He does not.
“Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10).
Can you pray that with contentment? What if He leaves your dream in the dustbin and never brings it to pass? Or, what if He does, but takes it away again a short time later? Can you proclaim the following with your whole heart?
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
THIS is the stuff of faith. God requires that we trust and obey no matter what. Do not cling to any dream or desire, but cling to Christ alone. A life of surrender may or may not include the stuff of our dreams. You must be willing to live without it. Trust God to give you what you need. Persevere in prayer, but be willing to hear Him say no. Then get up and go live, fully live, the life He gives you.
Father, create in us a clean heart that desires Christ above all else. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
