I was recently invited to a conference for women with Lynette Lewis. She is a young lady that is on fire for God, very fashion savy and just a blast to hang out with. She touched on how we all have DREAMS in our hearts. Weather they are short term or long term, they are dreams and who would be be if we didn't dream of something, or anticipate something in our lives to come. Lets face it, we are honest with ourselves, we all have dreams that we take before God. We entertain things in our minds that we hope or dream that God will bless us with. It may be a spouse or a house or children. It may be a dream to become a certain someone someday like a speaker or a teacher or an author. Some of us dream of a nice car or a dream job and some of us dream of making it big with singing, dancing, or photography. Some dream of living in other places of the world or traveling lots. There are so many types of dreams and we all have them. Some are larger than others and some are simple. Some dreams have a tendency to consume us and some are just a slight distant dream that we think "maybe someday". In any case, I think it is good to dream. It is good to keep our sites on something bigger, to anticipate with excitement about what is to come. This is what I believe our dreams are placed in our lives for, to give us HOPE.
The hardest part is that sometimes, our dreams just don't come true. Chalk it up to the fact that our world isn't perfect, or to the fact that some dreams take money and most dreams take energy and time. It is sad to think that sometimes we leave this life with unfulfilled dreams and desires. When that happens, or should we have known it was going to happen, we would have a hard time facing that and better yet, accepting it. Sometimes God says no, and to this day, I don't understand why. I was reading a devotional that said, "David heard the Lord's "no" and quietly accepted it without resentment. That's awfully hard to do. But we find in David's final recorded words a life-sized portrait of a man after God's own heart." This statement grabbed me right out of my seat.
Let me focus on this for a second. David was considered a man after God's own heart. He messed up and sinned just like me, but yet the Bible says he was a man after God's own heart. I think the part that struck me so was how he quietly accepted it WITHOUT resentment. Um, yeah, I am not so good at this. I hear God say no, and I am like a kid trying to find another angle. "well, what if I do this God, then will the answer be yes?" or "okay, God, I am a really good person and what I am asking for is from the desires of my heart, the ones You gave me, so why can't it be yes? I don't understand. What if I go to church and treat everyone really nice, then can I have this thing I desire?" I find myself doing this in the depths of my heart, pleading with God. Trying to make sense of it all. I look around and don't understand why God blessed someone else with something that I wanted so badly. Does it make sense? Is it fair? Why them and not me?
"After four decades of service to Israel, King David, old and perhaps stooped by the years, looked for the last time into the faces of his trusted followers. Many of them represented distinct memories in the old man's mind. Those who would carry on his legacy surrounded him, waiting to receive his last words of wisdom and instruction. What would the seventy-year-old king say?"
The devotional goes on to mention that he literally revealed his deepest desires and dreams of his heart. The Bible reference is (1 Chronicles 28:2). This was his biggest dream to build a temple to the Lord and he was going to die with his dreams unfulfilled in his lifetime.
Dreams are the hardest thing to let go of. Dreams die hard as said by the devotional. We can choose to do as David and focus on what blessings God has given us and what he has allowed us to do in our lifetime. For me, I am blessed to have the dreams of my childhood fulfilled. I have other dreams that I anticipate but I am choosing to be content in whatever my God has given me. This is a daily battle for me sometimes and yet, there are days it seems to be getting easier to do.
"But in his parting words, David chose to focus on what God had allowed him to do—to reign as king over Israel, to establish his son Solomon over the kingdom, and to pass the dream on to him (28:4–8). Then, in a beautiful prayer, an extemporaneous expression of worship to the Lord God, David praised the greatness of God, thanking Him for His many blessings, and then interceded for the people of Israel and for their new king, Solomon. Take some extra time to read David's prayer slowly and thoughtfully. It's found in 1 Chronicles 29:10–19"
I want to do this. I want to follow this prayer of David's heart. He chose to praise God with a GRATEFUL HEART. Not only did he chose to look forward and keep exalting our living GOD, but he did it with a grateful heart, even knowing some of his hugest dreams and desires of his heart never would be fulfilled in his lifetime. His dreams were not selfish, or even wrong, but they were just not in God's plans for his life. SO my question is how did he manage to not wallow in sadness of his unfulfilled dreams?
"Blessed are You, O LORD God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone." (29:10–12)
Then as I read further this morning, Something else jumped out at me as to David's attitude. He never once saw what God gave him through is life as really his own stuff. He saw the people under him (his kingdom) as God's. He saw the money and the throne and the lavish material possessions as GOD's. He seemed to always keep that mindset, which didn't allow for him to have an unhealthy love for money and material things. He was not a greedy man. Can I say that of myself? Can I really look at all God has given me and see it as his. What a challenge!!! I know my husband and kids are his but I still fear them getting hurt or losing them. What if I had the mindset that they really were HIS and when He decided it was time, it was? How do I get that sort of attitude about all in my life?
Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song that Micah and I sing alot and we love what it means. We even have made up our own word to fit the songs and we sing it when we are scared of what is coming in life, to remind us that it is all HIS. The songs lyrics are:
I walk the streets of London
And notice in the faces passing by
Something that makes me stop and listen
My heart grows heavy with the cry
Where is the hope for London?
You whisper and my heart begins to soar
As I'm reminded
That every street in London in Yours
Oh, yes it is
I walk the dirt roads of Uganda
I see the scars that war has left behind
Hope like the sun is fading
They're waiting for a cure no one can find
And I hear children's voices singing
Of a God who heals and rescues and restores
And I'm reminded
That every child in Africa is Yours
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
From the stars in the sky
To the depths of the ocean floor
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
You're the Maker and Keeper, Father and Ruler of everything
It's all Yours
And I walk the sidewalks of Nashville
Like Singapore, Manila and Shanghai
I rush by the beggar's hand and the wealthy man
And everywhere I look I realize
That just like the streets of London
For every man and woman, boy and girl
All of creation
This is our Father's world
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
From the stars in the sky
To the depths of the ocean floor
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
You're the Maker and Keeper, Father and Ruler of everything
It's all Yours, God (Ava's Yours God)
It's all Yours, God (Micah's Yours God)
It's all Yours, God (Christian is yours God)
It's all Yours, God (My life is your God)
The glory is Yours, God
All the honor is Yours, God
The power is Yours, God
The glory is Yours, God
You're the King of Kings
And Lord of Lords
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
From the stars in the sky (From the House that we live)
To the depths of the ocean floor (to the Health of our families)
And its all Yours, God, Yours, God
Everything is Yours
All the greatness and power, the glory and splendor and majesty
Everything is Yours
Yeah, it's all Yours
We are Yours
The glory and honor is Yours, everything is Yours
It's all Yours, God
My life is Yours, my heart is Yours
My hands and my feet are Yours
Every song that I sing
It's all Yours, all is Yours
All belongs to You
Our gifts are Yours, God
All our dreams are Yours, God
All our plans are Yours, God
The whole earth is Yours, God
Everything is Yours
So my point is if we can be 100% confidant that God, our LIVING GOD is truly in control of EVERYTHING we own and and want to own. EVERYTHING we love and hope to love. EVERYTHING we dream of and hope for. . then what do we have to fear. HE is in control of it all. IT is all HIS!!! And if we are serving Him and we are loving Him, then what do we have to lose. We are going to be blessed and victorious and we serve the ONE and TRUE LIVING GOD!!!! God's plans and dreams for our lives are so much better than anything we can do on our own. If we can remember to hold all of our possessions and dreams loosely and trust them all to God, we will win in the end. RIGHT? Maybe this very mentality will remind me and help me to cope with the answer "no" when I get it.
I leave you with this final closing statement taken from the devotional I read this morning. . . .
Though some dreams remain unfulfilled, a man or woman of God can respond to His "no" with praise, thanksgiving, and intercession . . . because when a dream dies, nothing of God's purposes die.
My devotional that I based this blog off of was the following website: http://www.insight.org/library/articles/bible-characters/when-god-says-no-pray.html
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