If you’ve lost your fervor and vision, it’s time to wake up again
What do you want out of life? Do you have a dream for your life, your children, your finances or your marriage? Is there something you are hoping for: an idea, a goal, a plan or a vision? Whatever it is that you want, what is it going to take to reach it?
We need to be reaching toward our dreams all the time because God didn’t create us for passivity or to be static in life. So if you’ve got your life in park, you need to get it in drive and start moving toward the dreams God has put in your heart.
The things you want won’t just fall into your lap. You are going to have to reach out and grab them. You’re going to have to get a holy determination in you that says, “If anyone can have the life God wants them to have, then it’s going to be me!”
But you need to remember that you’re probably not going to get there overnight, so it’s important to find the balance between being content and striving toward those desires.
Paul said he learned to be content in all situations: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want”(Phil. 4:12, NIV). He never got upset about where he was, but at the same time he continued to look forward to what God had in store for him down the road.
I was good at looking forward. God gave me a big dream for my ministry, but early on, I didn’t fully understand the contentment part Paul was talking about—enjoying where you are until you get to where you’re going. So I spent many years allowing the dream God gave me to torment me instead of enjoying the journey.
Over time, I discovered that although it’s important to keep your God-given dreams in front of you (see Hab. 2:2-3), you also have to learn to be content so you won’t be miserable on the way to the fulfillment of your dreams. At the same time, we should never allow contentment to make us so comfortable that we forget about the vision.
God wants you to dream. He wants you to plan. He doesn’t want the demands and routines of life or things like fear to keep you from moving forward in life. So when those things come, we have to be ready to rise up against them.
Even something as simple as waking up every morning and saying, “Something good is going to happen to me today,” can put fear and other distractions in their place. That simple act has power because there is power in your words.
Proverbs 18:21 says our words have the power of life or death in them, so we need to focus our words on proclaiming the promises of God over our lives.
When you spiritually connect with God by proclaiming His promises, that’s when your dreams start being fulfilled.
You can be like Abraham and Sarah if you’ll just believe and press toward God’s best for you. They were old, and having a child seemed impossible, but God gave Abraham a vision that he would be the father of many nations.
Because Abraham believed God, that vision was fulfilled through Isaac and the many generations that followed. (Read Abraham’s story in Genesis 17-21.)
If you have a dream that seems impossible, start saying, “I will have everything God says I can have. I will do everything God says I can do. I will be everything God says I can be.” Because with God, all things are possible!
Maybe it’s time for you to make a new commitment to start going after your dreams. I encourage you to decide right now to stir up your faith, shake off any fear, remember who you are in Christ and make a decision to trust God to do the impossible every day you get out of bed. Then you’ll enjoy the journey, one day at a time, to the fulfillment of your dreams!
Joyce Meyer is a New York Times best-selling author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries, Inc. She has authored nearly 100 books, including Battlefield of the Mind and Change Your Words, Change Your Life. She hosts the Enjoying Everyday Life radio and TV programs. For more information, visit joycemeyer.org. To read past columns in Charisma by Joyce, visit charismamag.com/meyer.
