The Word is WORTH digging into to find hope, encouragement and direction to get to where we want to be in life! I’ve often had people, specifically mom’s, come to me and say, “Do you still have a Quiet Time in the morning even with four kids?” And my response, “Absolutely!” The Word, spending time with the Holy Spirit, asking and listening for direction for my day gives me CONFIDENCE for my day! Helps me know I’m not just going through life spinning my wheels. It also gives me CONFIDENCE that by spending daily, consistent time with the Lord and in His Word, I WILL NOT MISS IT! I WILL NOT miss the direction He has for my life. I will NOT miss it! I give the Holy Spirit opportunity every day (ok… almost every day, let’s be real, there is an occasional day I may miss!), to speak to me as I quiet myself to listen. I give Him opportunity to direct me in His Word, where He can then speak to my heart through the Word of God! And, WOW! Let me just say, this weekend as I was at a business conference, I woke up Sunday morning and had a game-changing Quiet Time. I sat in the bay window, overlooking the Ohio River and the WORD spoke to me! The WORD directed me in HOW to reach my next goal in life! THE WORD ANSWERED QUESTIONS that my brain could not answer! The WORD was the changing point! Read the following passage, and we’ll dive into HOW TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR DREAMS & GOALS GODS WAY….
Luke 18:1-8 – Also [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up). 2 He said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither reverenced and feared God nor respected or considered man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Protect and defend and give me justice against my adversary. 4 And for a time he would not; but later he said to himself, Though I have neither reverence or fear for God nor respect or consideration for man, 5 Yet because this widow continues to bother me, I will defend and protect and avenge her, lest she give me intolerable annoyance and wear me out by her continual coming or at the last she come and rail on me or assault me or strangle me. 6 Then the Lord said, LISTEN TO WHAT THE UNJUST JUDGE SAYS! 7 And will not [our just] God defend and protect and avenge His elect (His chosen ones), who cry to Him DAY AND NIGHT? Will He defer them and delay help on their behalf? 8 I tell you, HE WILL defend and protect and avenge them SPEEDILY. However, when the Son of Man comes, WILL HE FIND [PERSISTENCE in] FAITH on the earth?
After reading this passage, the ball is in your court! Let me package this for you in how it could apply.
Jesus is talking here, and telling us a parable in how to pray. That when we are praying we should not give up or grow weary or lose hope, but we should PERSIST. I know, I know, maybe in your exhaustion you think, “But I’ve been pursuing this dream for 10 years now, and it doesn’t look like I’m any closer to it than when I started. My spirit is exhausted. My faith is hanging by a thread. I just want my dream to come to pass.” Friend, I hear ya! I hear ya! I HAVE GOOD NEWS and a GOOD PLAN from JESUS HIMSELF!!!
Remember, Jesus is talking in this parable, trying to TEACH us through a story how to pray. Back in the Luke passage, this widow is looking for the judge to avenge her, to answer her. What does she do to get the attention of the judge? She keeps coming back! At FIRST he did nothing, but when he saw that she was continually coming, he sighed a great sigh of annoyance! I can see it now, he blows his breath out and says, “Ahhhhhhhhh, FINE! I will help her. She keeps bothering me, interrupting my breakfast and my dinner every day. Every day, day in, day out, I hear her voice asking for this same thing. FINE! I will just do it!”
Have you been given a dream? Is there a desire in your heart that you crave and long for? Friend, let’s do what the widow did and WATCH as OUR GOD AVENGES OUR DREAM! That desire of our heart, let’s watch HIM AVENGE our dream! Look at verse 7, “…will not our JUST God avenge HIS CHOSEN ONES, SPEEDILY, who cry to Him day and night?” The answer friend is YES! He will avenge you and SPEEDILY! But the BIG QUESTION IS found in verse 8, (my paraphrase), “WILL WE do our part and BE PERSISTENT IN OUR FAITH?”
What does this look like? I’ll tell you what it looks like for me with one of my business dreams.
In the morning (and again at night) sometime before, during or after my Quiet Time, it looks and sounds like this, “THANK YOU LORD for our Diamondship! Thank you for the right people getting in our business NOW! Thank you for 6 platinum and above legs NOW! NOW NOW NOW! Thank you Lord that FAITH IS NOW! Thank you for our Diamondship coming NOW! THANK YOU for a radically changed business now! Thank you that our answer will be, THE LORD BUILT OUR HOUSE! THE LORD BUILT OUR BUSINESS! THE LORD BROUGHT THE RIGHT PEOPLE! Thank you Lord for doing it NOW! NOW FATHER! Thank you for doing it NOW! Thank you for our growth NOW! Thank you that Tyler is a stay at home dad NOW! Thank you that we are able to HELP PEOPLE NOW with their finances and their marriages and their health. Thank you that NOW the RIGHT people are attracted to us for us to help them NOW! Thank you that we are in the right place at right time NOW!”
My friend, that is an abbreviated version of what it looks like for me. You plug in YOUR DREAM, YOUR GOAL, YOUR DESIRE, and MORNING AND NIGHT, GET IT! Get aggressive! Like the widow, GET ANNOYING! My plan? I’m going to take action and do my part during the day, but I’m adding ONE KEY GAME-CHANGING COMPONENT. I’m going to ANNOY God so much by my repeated THANKING of my dream coming NOW (because Faith is NOW), He will bring it to pass SPEEDILY just so I’ll be quiet! 🙂
Friend, GO GET IT! GO GET IT! Get after it! And as you walk in your REALIZED DREAM, You will be able SHOUT from the MOUNTAIN-TOPS, IT IS BECAUSE OF GOD! HE gets the glory and honor! THANK YOU JESUS!