God loves you so much, and He has an amazing plan for your life! He’s put dreams and desires in your heart, and Psalm 37:4 (AMP) says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and petitions of your heart.”
But having a dream and actually seeing it through to the finish—giving birth to your dream—are two different things.
It’s easy to start something new. In the beginning, there’s a lot of excitement that motivates you. But when the excitement fades and you don’t really feel like doing what you need to do or it’s inconvenient, that’s when many people give up.
It’s sad to me that so many people never really reach their full potential in life because of this. And there’s an urgency in my heart to help people discover how to do their best so they can have the life of adventure God has for them.
God gives all of us gifts and talents to use. We have to be very careful not to compare ourselves with others and try to be like them or let jealousy take root in our hearts. God wants us to love one another and appreciate the differences He’s created in us so we can each fulfill His unique purpose and glorify Him in the world.
As believers in Christ Jesus, our No. 1 goal should be to be led by the Holy Spirit in every area of our lives. To be a God-pleaser, not a people- pleaser.
When you “delight yourself in the Lord” by spending time with Him in prayer and by studying His Word, the desires of your heart will line up with His will for your life. This is so important in helping us know how to follow God’s dream for our lives.
Sometimes we wonder why God doesn’t give us what we want or answer our prayers. Oftentimes, it’s because those prayers are for things that don’t make sense because we couldn’t handle them.
God gives us grace to use the abilities He’s given us, not what He’s give to someone else.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about a master who went on a journey and before he left, “he called his servants together and entrusted them with his possessions. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability” (vv. 14b-15a, AMP).
Just as the master did with his servants, God gives each of us talents, or gifts, “according to his own ability.” He does this because He doesn’t want us to be stressed-out all the time.
There’s a lot of stress in the world today. And much of it comes from people comparing and competing with each other to have certain lifestyles, wanting to be like someone else or have what they have because they think their worth and value come from what they do.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. My body has many different parts that do many different functions. My fingers can wear rings, and my eyes can enjoy looking at them. So, while my hand wears the rings, it can’t see them. And while my eyes can look at the rings and admire how pretty they are, they can’t wear rings.
But if one of my eyes was jealous and said, “I’m tired of looking at that ring. If God doesn’t give me a ring, then I don’t think He loves me as much as He loves the finger.” If God answered that prayer and said, “I don’t want you to feel bad, so I’ll give you a ring of your own,” then the eye would get what it wanted, but it wouldn’t be able to do its job.
You’d end up walking around with your head back, balancing that ring on your eye, and be crippled by what you thought you wanted because you were jealous.
That is a ridiculous example, but it makes the point that we should be very careful about wishing we could do what someone else does or have what they have. This attitude will just cause you to miss out on doing what God has planned for your life.
God loves you, and you are valuable because He loves you! He wants you to use your talents, gifts and abilities to show others how much He loves them and that there is hope in Christ for their lives. And He wants you to do this with pure motives—because you love Him, not to try to earn His love.
I want to encourage you to trust God and believe that He will give you what you need to make your God-given dream in life a reality. Whatever that may be, it’s important—you are important—and He wants you to fulfill your ultimate purpose with joy.
For more on this topic, order Joyce’s six-CD series, Discover Your Adventure. You can also contact us to receive our free magazine, Enjoying Everyday Life, by calling (800) 727-9673 or visiting joycemeyer.org.
Joyce Meyer is a New York Times’ bestselling author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries, Inc. She has authored more than 100 books, including Battlefield of the Mind and her brand-new biblical commentaries of Ephesians and James (FaithWords). She hosts the “Enjoying Everyday Life” radio and TV programs, which air on hundreds of stations worldwide. For more information, visit joycemeyer.org.
