God Plants Dreams In Our Hearts
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. -- Romans 5:5
What are your hopes and dreams? What have you given up on? Where has hope died? What dreams have you lost along your life’s journey?
Many of us have secret dreams that reside deep inside of us. Or we have dreams that we believe are lost forever. We tell ourselves they don’t matter anymore. We are determined to be content where we are. But there’s an ache deep inside us for what will never be.
Lisa Harper, in her women’s Bible study on Malachi, suggests that we create a top 10 list of all those dreams we’ve almost stopped hoping for. Think about it. Really. Take a few minutes and consider your dreams -- or what’s left of them.
Yeah. What’s left of them. Because somewhere along the days of your life you have likely lost a few dreams. Some are gone because they simply ceased to be your dreams anymore. Others are gone because people and circumstances destroyed your faith in their possibilities.
I always smile when I think of childhood dreams that seem so silly now. A boy we adored and wanted forever. A career that never was right for us. A fantasy life that could never be real and would be boring if it was. We don’t want those dreams anymore.
But there are the lost dreams, the ones that reside deep in our hearts, but that we never allow to surface. We wouldn’t dare share them, not anymore anyway, because they are too fragile to withstand the glare of naysayers who sometimes surround us.
Harper suggests praying over those secret dreams and asking God to show us which ones might actually be our longing for the gifts God wants to give us. Perhaps our dreams involve special talents, given up for more practical concerns. Perhaps our dreams involve lifestyle changes that will lead us to greater fulfillment and God’s real calling on our lives.
God doesn’t plant dreams in our hearts without a reason. What we need to discern is whether those dreams are from God or merely a trap the evil one has set to lead us away from our real purpose. That’s why we need to pray and listen for God’s voice.
God loves us beyond anything we could ever imagine. He wants good things for us. And He plants seeds within our hearts that allow us to dream beyond what is obvious and reach for His perfect plan for our lives. Don’t give up on those dreams before taking them to your Father and asking Him to reveal His will to you.
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