GIVING LIFE TO YOUR DREAMS - If we want the dream God put in us, we must maintain expectation that it will come to pass. We have to keep our focus on God and determined to expect from Him. You aren't taking matters into your own hands, trying to do what only God can do - you are waiting physically, but you are active spiritually, seeking His face and putting your trust in Him. To really live the dream God has for us we need to "die to self." What are some things we must die to? Things like our plan, our timing, our way, our reputation, getting credit for what we do, the need to be in control and the need to be right. If you will give your life to God like Christ laid down His life for you, God will do amazing things in you and through you. God has amazing plans for our lives. He created us to have goals and dreams, to continually reach for more in our life in Christ. When God gives you a dream, it's like becoming pregnant: you conceive (think or imagine) a vision or idea of the "new thing" He's planned for you. Then, after conception, you go through a season of “pregnancy” — a time of growth and preparation for your dream to become reality. In the beginning, when you’re making plans to live out your dream, it’s exciting and easy to be enthusiastic about the process. But those emotions can’t be the driving force of your determination because they will subside over time. This is why many people abort their dreams before they reach full-term.

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Giving Life to Your Dreams

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If we want the dream God put in us, we must maintain expectation that it will come to pass. We have to keep our focus on God and determined to expect from Him. You aren't taking matters into your own hands, trying to do what only God can do - you are waiting physically, but you are active spiritually, seeking His face and putting your trust in Him. To really live the dream God has for us we need to "die to self." What are some things we must die to? Things like our plan, our timing, our way, our reputation, getting credit for what we do, the need to be in control and the need to be right. If you will give your life to God like Christ laid down His life for you, God will do amazing things in you and through you.

by Joyce Meyer

“For a dream comes with much business and painful effort …” -  Ecclesiastes 5:3 AMPC

God has amazing plans for our lives.

He created us to have goals and dreams, to continually reach for more in our life in Christ. 

When God gives you a dream, it's like becoming pregnant: you conceive (think or imagine) a vision or idea of the "new thing" He's planned for you.

Then, after conception, you go through a season of “pregnancy” — a time of growth and preparation for your dream to become reality. 

In the beginning, when you’re making plans to live out your dream, it’s exciting and easy to be enthusiastic about the process.

But those emotions can’t be the driving force of your determination because they will subside over time.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 AMPC says, “For a dream comes with much business and painful effort.” 

This is why many people abort their dreams before they reach full-term.

God plants a seed (dream) in them and they become pregnant.

But when they find out it will take effort, be costly, inconvenient or uncomfortable to complete their preparation for the birth, they decide it wasn't really God's will after all and go and do something else.

I want to encourage you to go through the hard part because if you give up, you will never be completely satisfied.

There will be a part of you that doesn't feel settled or fulfilled.

So how do we successfully make it through preparation and give birth to our God-given dreams?

Here are three keys to help you get there. 

1. Put Your Expectation in God

When a woman is pregnant, we say she's "expecting."

In the same way, if we want to reach full-term and not give up or abort the dream God put in us, we must maintain expectation that it will come to pass.

We have to be determined to keep our focus, be aggressive and talk to God about it, preferably every day.

If we don’t, then our enemy, the devil, is more likely to kill, steal and destroy the plans God has for us (see John 10:10).

It's easy to fall into a passive attitude that says, "Well, we'll just see what happens…"

But we must resist becoming a "wait and see" kind of person. Instead, we need to be focused on God and determined to expect from Him, like David did.

In Psalm 27:13 (AMP), he said, “I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

Waiting on God is not a static, passive place where you're doing nothing.

It's a time in your life when you aren't taking matters into your own hands, trying to do what only God can do.

You are waiting physically, but you are active spiritually, seeking His face and putting your trust in Him.

2. Maintain a Good Attitude

It doesn’t help anyone or anything if you have a bad attitude. In fact, if you murmur and complain, people are probably tired of hearing it.

And if we're honest about it, we're like this because we want others to feel sorry for us, which doesn't do any good.

I know this from personal experience. I used to be very negative and feel sorry for myself a lot.

I would complain to my husband, Dave, but he would say, "Joyce, you just want me to feel sorry for you, and I'm not going to do it because it won't do you any good."

At the time, it made me so mad, but I'm glad he responded to me this way because he was right.

Eventually I learned the truth that no matter what is going on in my life, I can choose to have a good attitude.

And if you have a good attitude, God will give you favor with people and in your circumstances.

While we can't always choose our circumstances, we can choose how we react to them.

3. Living the Dream

So often our dreams are about us — what we want for our life or what's good for us. But Jesus, our example of how to live, gave His life not for His benefit but for ours.

Shortly before He was crucified, He was in a garden praying and He said, "Not My will but Yours be done" (see Luke 22).

He came from the glory of heaven to earth to give us life. Everything He did was for us.

To really live the dream God has for us, we need to let go of selfishness, or "die to self."

What are some things we must die to?

Things like our plan, our timing, our way, our reputation, getting credit for what we do, the need to be in control and the need to be right.

If you will give your life to God like Christ laid down His life for you, God will do amazing things in you and through you.

It's not easy but the reward on the other side is so worth it — the fulfillment of your God-given dream

Joyce Meyer Ministries is a Christian non-profit organization based in Fenton, Missouri. We employ more than 800 people in 14 offices around the world, including approximately 500 in our world headquarters. We are financially supported by contributions from friends and partners of the ministry.

https://joycemeyer.org/everydayanswers/ea-teachings/giving-life-to-your-dreams

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Dream BIG!

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The 

Impossible 

Dream

from MAN OF LA MANCHA

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https://puricarechronicles.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-impossible-dream-mitch-leigh-and.html

THE SOUNDS OF SUMMER - when we are distracted by the world around us — or when we see loved ones suffer, or we face personal obstacles that might shake us — we need to remember the many plain statements in God’s word, and have confidence that as long as we do our part, our circumstances will turn out just as God wants them to, even if right now we cannot imagine how this will be possible - The sounds of summer are an affirmation of a promise God made long ago — a promise that can help us keep our bearings, even when circumstances seem to go awry in ways that leave us doubting and confused. God knew that we would need to get our bearing from time to time. And soon after the Great Flood — the greatest catastrophe the world had ever seen — He made a promise: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” God assures us that there will come a new season. Although difficulties may come and obstacles may arise, His plan is ever unfolding. Yes, God has a plan, and He is working to bring about the best He can in our lives. With these wonderful promises in mind, we can be prepared for the unexpected, the unthinkable, the upheavals and disruptions that we would prefer never to face, yet which can happen when we least expect.

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The Sounds Of Summer

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when we are distracted by the world around us — or when we see loved ones suffer, or we face personal obstacles that might shake us — we need to remember the many plain statements in God’s word, and have confidence that as long as we do our part, our circumstances will turn out just as God wants them to, even if right now we cannot imagine how this will be possible

J. Davy Crockett III

When activity is buzzing all around you, how can you keep your focus?

The sound of the cicadas was deafening as I walked along the path on a summer Sabbath morning, enjoying the breeze and collecting my thoughts after a busy and eventful week.

There was so much to think about, and to make sense of from a biblical point of view. Yet those cicadas were humming away so noisily that it was hard to concentrate!

As I walked along, though, it dawned on me that the sounds of summer are an affirmation of a promise God made long ago — a promise that can help us keep our bearings, even when circumstances seem to go awry in ways that leave us doubting and confused.

God knew that we would need to get our bearing from time to time.

And soon after the Great Flood — the greatest catastrophe the world had ever seen — He made a promise: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).

God assures us that there will come a new season.

Although difficulties may come and obstacles may arise, His plan is ever unfolding.

The Psalmist understood this when he wrote: “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:11).

In a similar vein, the prophet Isaiah recounts these powerful words given by God: “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:9–10).

Yes, God has a plan, and He is working to bring about the best He can in our lives.

We also read of this in the New Testament.

Paul wrote these words that can be very reassuring in times of trouble: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

So, when we are distracted by the world around us — or when we see loved ones suffer, or we face personal obstacles that might shake us — we need to remember the many plain statements in God’s word, and have confidence that as long as we do our part, our circumstances will turn out just as God wants them to, even if right now we cannot imagine how this will be possible.

As Paul so eloquently wrote: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (verses 38–39).

With these wonderful promises in mind, we can be prepared for the unexpected, the unthinkable, the upheavals and disruptions that we would prefer never to face, yet which can happen when we least expect.

Through it all, God will provide the strength, the guidance and the answers that we need. We can follow in the footsteps of Paul, who reassured us: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

When you hear the sounds of summer — or of fall, winter or spring — be encouraged and remember the promises of our loving God.

With His help and guidance, we can and will make it through the difficult seasons that are sure to be ahead of us.

So, take a walk. Meditate on the things of God (verse 8).

And know that a time is soon coming when the whole world will be under His firm and benevolent, loving rule.

Tomorrow’s World proclaims to the world the good news of Jesus Christ’s coming Kingdom (Matthew 24:14; Mark 16:15), and blows a bold “warning trumpet” of God’s impending judgment, calling for repentance and spiritual change (Matthew 24:21; Isaiah 58:1; Ezekiel 33).  We teach and practice original Christianity as taught and practiced by Jesus Christ and the original Apostles.  Tomorrow’s World makes plain the Bible’s answers to the most important questions: Does God exist and how can we worship Him? Why were you born? What happens after death? What does the future hold? Tomorrow’s World provides real insight into the underlying causes behind today’s news headlines, but explains what will happen in the future, based on Bible prophecy.

https://www.tomorrowsworld.org/magazines/2014/july-august/the-sounds-of-summer

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THE GOD OF A SECOND CHANCE - be faithful in times of testing - align your life with God’s will – He has so much bigger and more beautiful plans than we could have imagined - "All things work together for good to those who love God" - Sold by his brothers into slavery, taken to a foreign land, unfairly accused and imprisoned, and with little hope or expectation of ever seeing his family again, Joseph was in what seemed an impossible situation. Despite all that, the Bible says, "The Lord was with him." God allowed the testing to build character in Joseph. Joseph went through years of waiting and suffering before he saw God's plan in it all. God used Joseph to save Egypt, the surrounding nations, and Joseph's own family. God's plans and purposes are so much bigger and greater than our own. At the end of his story, Joseph says, "You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day." That same truth is reconfirmed in the book of Romans in the New Testament. "All things work together for good to those who love God." God is indeed, the God of second chances.

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The God of a Second Chance

be faithful in times of testing - align your life with God’s will – He has so much bigger and more beautiful plans than we could have imagined

Terry Meeuwsen

"All things work together for good to those who love God" Romans 8:28 (NKJV).

I began working in television in Milwaukee in 1978.

While I'd never set out to do talk TV, I felt at home from the beginning, and being in the public eye gave me many opportunities to share my faith.

Because it was fairly common knowledge in the community that I was a Christian, the publicity of going through a divorce was difficult.

That winter, I went home at the end of each day to a cold, silent house.

Emotionally depressed and grieved, I would then climb into bed with my hat, coat, and boots still on and sleep till morning.

I'm not sure when that heavy veil of grief and emptiness began to lift.

But sometime that spring, I became aware of the sweet smell of the wet earth beginning to thaw, the songs of promise that were being sung with such abandon from every nest and perch.

I began to move on. I had no intention of dating and no interest in pursuing a new relationship.

Though I loved children, I had accepted that there would be none in my first marriage.

I was in my 30s, and the prospect of marriage and a family seemed remote and unlikely. Yet God had other plans.

I met Andy Friedrich at a retirement celebration for a coworker.

He had gone through a divorce a number of years before that, and after much floundering and searching, a friend had led him to Christ.

But no one had discipled him, so he had little knowledge of the Scriptures and wasn't in a church or study group of any kind.

Initially we met to talk about the Lord. In time, I grudgingly conceded to a date, but not without apprehension.

Even though Andy was ready for a relationship, I was still gun-shy — so he simply waited.

With tenderness and kindness and an incredible amount of patience, he broke down any barriers I'd put up.

He was faithful, trustworthy, and committed to the Lord and to me. We were married a little more than a year after we'd begun dating.

The Lord used Andy in many ways to help heal old wounds in me. He offered both of us a new beginning, a clean slate, a hope, and a future.

And I'm now a mom — not one, not two, but seven children, each a precious, unique gift from the Lord.

God has surely given me more than I could hope for or ask.

The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is one of my favorites.

Sold by his brothers into slavery, taken to a foreign land, unfairly accused and imprisoned, and with little hope or expectation of ever seeing his family again,

Joseph was in what seemed an impossible situation. Despite all that, the Bible says, "The Lord was with him."

God allowed the testing to build character in Joseph.

Joseph went through years of waiting and suffering before he saw God's plan in it all.

God used Joseph to save Egypt, the surrounding nations, and Joseph's own family. God's plans and purposes are so much bigger and greater than our own.

At the end of his story, Joseph says,

"You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day" Genesis 50:20 (NKJV)

That same truth is reconfirmed in the book of Romans in the New Testament.

"All things work together for good to those who love God" Romans 8:28 (NKJV).

God is indeed, the God of second chances.

Thank You, Lord for the constant message of restoration that runs throughout Your Word.

Thank You for the glimpse of Your handiwork that is so much bigger and more beautiful than I could have imagined.

Help me to be faithful in times of testing. Align my life with Your will. Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.

Excerpted with permission from Near to the Heart of God, by Terry Meeuwsen

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Terry Meeuwsen was born and raised in the Green Bay area of Wisconsin, where she grew up the oldest of four siblings.  Gifted from a young age, Terry developed her God-given vocal talent, eventually joining the New Christy Minstrels for two years before turning her attention to a larger stage.  Terry was crowned Miss America 1973 and she used her new platform to share her faith.

Winning the Miss America crown helped Terry launch a career in broadcasting that would ultimately bring her to the Christian Broadcasting Network. Since 1993, Terry has been the warm, engaging personality greeting The 700 Club guests on weekday mornings. Serving as co-host with Pat and Gordon Robertson, the trio has shared the love of God with millions of viewers from the CBN studios in Virginia Beach, VA over the last 23 years.

Terry is also an accomplished author, with four titles to her name, including The God Adventure, a story of God’s power and purpose in her life.

https://www1.cbn.com/devotions/the-god-of-a-second-chance