Do You Have a God-Sized Dream?

By Alexandra Copeland

How well do you know your own heart? This is one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves, because the heart is the place where our dreams are stored. Many of us are either not in touch with this place or we lost the passion and desire for our dreams a long time ago. Then, there are those of us who placed our dreams on a shelf and haven’t taken them down because let’s face it, life happens. We’ve got families to take care of, bills to pay, and the responsibilities seem to increase the further along we go. In the back of our minds, we’re waiting for that life-changing opportunity to present itself. It’s the miracle we think we need to be able to switch gears and focus even the tiniest bit of energy on our dreams.

Exodus 13 gives us the record of the ‘Red Sea’ miracle that God performed for the Children of Israel. God worked through Moses to lead them out of captivity, where they had been slaves under the harsh rule of the Egyptians.  After Pharaoh finally let them go, Heavenly Father didn’t give them the shortest route to the Promised Land. God led His people through the long route. The reason for this is because they would have faced opposition on the short route, and this might have caused them to change their minds about the new life God had prepared for them.

Heavenly Father knows us so well. He’s our Creator, and it is awesome to see that despite our flaws He can still get us to a place of promise. The mindset of God’s people in Old Testament times mirrors our own. God has so much in store for us. He dreams a bigger, grander dream than the one we dream for ourselves, yet most of us struggle to believe this.

Hebrews 10:16(NLT) says, “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." Through the Holy Spirit that indwells us, God has placed His Word in our hearts and minds. As we read and study the written Word, our part in His plan for the universe gets activated. We begin to feel the call of destiny stirring in our souls. The sad thing is that often, this call is ignored because it is different from our own personal agendas. But actually, we were born with God’s purpose in our DNA. It is central to our identity, so when we ignore it, we’re ignoring the highest part of ourselves.

God wants us to keep the fuel for our dreams continuously burning, because it is the spice of life, but we must recognize that we can’t pursue it alone. Our dreams are limited in vision and scope, because we can’t see all the details the Father sees. He wants to transform the raw material of our dream to a God-sized dream, and a God-sized dream requires that Jesus Christ is totally in the driver’s seat. Even though we’re busy making life happen, there should always be room for the slice of creative brilliance that brings us utter fulfillment and joy. God gives us this. We may not be able to focus all our energy on the dream in our hearts, but God will help us. He’ll refine and fine-tune our dreams with His vision and do so in a way that creates healthy life balance. We don’t need to shelf our dreams and forget about them. If we give them over to Heavenly Father, be obedient to do what He says, and trust Him with our whole hearts, God will help us make them a reality. Be confident, for it is impossible for Him to fail!■ 

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.