April 21, 2021

Several years ago, I worked in a day care center. As I was serving some preschoolers their lunch, one boy asked for more food. In the spirit of teaching good manners, I said, “What’s the magic words?”…thinking that he would say, “Please.” Instead, he responded with a mangled version of “Abra cadabra”. So I said, through a laugh, “Yes, those are magic words, but I was looking for ‘please’.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just say some magic words when we pray to God and the things we dream about would happen? I am a dreamer…always have been. I had many plans for my life when I was in my twenties. Too many dreams for one person to have. But I did my best to listen to what God wanted of me at each stage in my life and do what He asked. It didn’t always make sense, but I know His hand was guiding me. Through that I feel extremely blessed to see many of those dreams for my life come to be a reality. Not always in the way that I thought they would, but enough to feel that those dreams had been fulfilled. Many of those dreams were only meant to last for a season.

But being the dreamer that I am…there’s always another dream (or two) waiting in the wings. So what do you do when those dreams look like they will never ever come true? I have one of those that I can’t ever see happening. I’ve come to be content with the fact that this one dream may not happen. I’ve realize that this one thing is God’s to give not mine to pursue. So how do you live with that desire of your heart when you believe it will never happen?

Well, we can look to what God says in His Word…
Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord established his steps.”
Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

We can make plans but God’s will…His plans will prevail. But he also says…
John 14:14 “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

That’s amazing that we can ask him for anything, but what if it’s not what His will is for you?
1 John 5:14-15 says “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

We can still ask him for our dreams but if it’s not of His will…He may say no. Keep in mind that you can have hope. Proverbs 13:12 says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” You can ask God to show you what His dreams are for you!! How much better are His dreams for you!

So there are no magic words, only seeking God with your dreams. Then have hope that He will fulfill those dreams or change them to be what He wants them to be.