Great Dreams Require Great Faith
By Rick Warren
“‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
Dreaming plays an essential role in developing your faith and helping you become the kind of person God made you to be. There’s an important connection between dreaming and believing, between your imagination and your growth. Without a dream, you get stuck. But with God-inspired dreams, you have almost limitless possibilities.
Your dreams profoundly shape your identity, your happiness, your achievements, and your fulfillment. But God-inspired dreaming offers far more than just these benefits. Dreaming has eternal implications too.
Dreaming is always the first step in the process God uses to change your life for the better. Everything starts as a dream!
In many ways, a great dream is a statement of faith. You’re saying, “I believe that things can change and can be different, and I believe that God will enable me to accomplish it.” When you trust God, it always makes him happy.
The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV).
Dreaming is the step that gets the ball rolling. It is a catalyst for personal change. And it’s those internal changes that God is most concerned about; they prepare you for life with him in eternity.
So first, God gives you a dream for your life. Then, you have to make a decision about it. The third stage is delay, where you wait for God to work in his time. The next stage is difficulty, where God tests you. Then, you might reach a dead end, which will make you want to give up. But in the end, God always brings you to deliverance, the final stage of his six phases of faith.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at this process that God uses to grow your faith and develop your character. This faith-building process is illustrated over and over in the lives of people in the Bible. And it will be repeated over and over in your life as God moves you toward spiritual and emotional maturity.
You will find no greater fulfillment than when you’re doing what God created you to do. Pursuing God’s dream for your life won’t be easy, and it won’t be quick—but it will be worth it.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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