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Transcript:
Hello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today we explore the topic “Dream Big” as we wrap up our series “Living a Courageous Life”. Over the course of this series, we have explored a variety of topics that are part of living life boldly and courageously in our walk with God. We have learned time and time again that with God, we can achieve things that would never be possible on our own.
Today, I would like to explore how we can pursue our hopes and dreams even as we walk with God. I have often mentioned the importance of seeking out God’s will for your life, but this does not mean we cannot have our own hopes and dreams. Today, I want to explore the idea that we can have hopes and dreams -and- we can dream BIG as we walk with God.
Let’s discuss 3 ways to dream big in our walk with God. Let’s learn how we can align the greatest desires of our hearts with God’s will for our lives and His perfected plans.
Before we dive in, let’s take a short break. I will be right back.
Welcome back. Let’s continue in our discussion of 3 ways to dream big -even- as we walk with God and seek His will for our lives.
#1 Align with God’s purpose for your life
One of the ways we can pursue our dreams is to reflect on how we show up in the world and God’s purpose for our lives. Finding our purpose is a journey that can take place over many months, years, or even decades. I can honestly say that I believe I am still discovering my purpose. We can ask God to lead and guide us to our purpose for our lives. I believe the more we surrender and yield to Him, the sooner we will learn of our purpose and the gifts God has planted within us.
If you are unsure of your purpose, reflect on your strengths and your skills. What would you say is unique about you? What types of activities give you great joy? What are the ways that you interact with others in your community?
It is likely that your dreams involve utilizing strengths that God has planted in you. Ask God to provide you with clarity and understanding of the gifts He has provided to you and the purpose that He has in store for you. Seek out ways to align your dreams with His purpose for you and prepare to be amazed!
#2 Dream boldly and trust God
One of the common themes I have spoken across many messages is to seek out God’s will for your life. I have shared that God and only God knows the perfected plans for you.
While I stand by this, I also want to share with you today that seeking out God’s will for your life does not mean that you cannot have or should not have your own desires and dreams. God wants us to dream boldly and seek out things in life that we truly desire.
That being said, I believe that the angle we should pursue is one where we can dream big, but maintain a willingness to yield to God’s will for us. I believe that the biggest dreams we can think of will pale in comparison to God’s perfect plan for us. Of course, our dreams may have very different objectives and goals than God’s plans, but I also believe that God is willing to help us achieve the goals and dreams that we desire that align with His will.
I believe the best thing we can do is dream boldly, but always maintain a posture that yields to God’s will. We can present our dreams to God, but in that request, we can be sincere in asking Him to help us achieve our goals only if they align with His plans for us.
#3 Embrace the journey
Life is a journey and our walk with God is no different. Often, our hopes and dreams are goals that can only take place over time. We learn, we grow, and we adapt as we seek out our dreams. Our walk with God is also a process of learning, growing, and adapting. As we grow closer to God we find ourselves letting go of things in our world that are not aligned with God. One of the things we learn as we grow closer to God is the importance of seeking out God’s will. In seeking out God’s will, we learn, one day at a time, of the importance of trusting God.
Trusting God is a journey in and of itself. Trusting God with our dreams requires a posture of faith. We must trust that God knows best over our own knowledge and wisdom.
Dreaming big and dreaming boldly truly requires an embrace of the journey to seek out God’s will. Seeking God’s will and guidance day by day in prayer and looking for signs that He is leading and guiding us is an exercise of patience and trust. If we truly seek to be on a path where we can pursue our dreams, let us also embrace the journey to walk with God, trusting His guidance step by step – day by day.
Wrap Up
In today’s episode, we explored 3 ways we can dream big, even as we walk with God. We learned of the importance of seeking out our purpose in life and aligning it with our dreams. God has planted gifts in all of us to prepare us for our purpose in life. The sooner we find our purpose, the sooner we can find ways to align that purpose with our hopes and dreams. We discussed the idea that we must not be afraid to dream boldly, but to have faith and trust in God in the process. We can and should have dreams, but let’s not forget that God always knows best. Let us find a posture that shares our desires, hopes, and dreams with God but does so in such a way that places trust in God’s wisdom above our own, yielding to God’s plans above our own. Lastly, we discussed the idea that it is important to embrace the journey of seeking out our dreams. Achieving our goals and dreams is rarely something that can occur overnight. We can align our journey and our walk with God with a posture of patience. We can continuously seek out God’s instruction in guidance, through petition and prayer.
God truly desires us to dream big and seek out our dreams. The world has a way of presenting dreams filled with material things, wealth, fame, and power, but we should keep our eyes on God to learn of the ways that our dreams can be aligned with His plans for us. We can place our trust first and foremost with the One who knows us better than we know ourselves. We can dream big, hand in hand with God’s will.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word: Dream Big
