Your relationship with Christ is a daily, lifelong journey, and along the way God will give you dreams, desires and hope for change in your life. Maybe you want to see a change in your family relationships, friendships, work situation or finances. Or you may be hoping and praying for changes to happen in your loved ones’ lives.
Whatever your hopes and dreams may be, God wants to help you fulfill His purposes in your life. But He usually won’t tell you when those things will come to pass because you have to go through a season of preparation to be ready for them.
I remember when God put His dream in my heart in 1976 to teach His Word all over the world. It seemed crazy because I was a nobody from nowhere with a 12th-grade education who almost failed English, and I hadn’t been to Bible college or seminary. But I knew in my heart that God wanted to use me to preach the gospel.
When God speaks something to your heart, as crazy as it may seem, you can believe it! You have a passion to do it, it’s on your mind a lot, and you will sacrifice anything to get it. From the day God revealed His call on my life, I have wanted to teach His Word more than anything else in the world.
It didn’t happen overnight. I had to go through years of preparation to be able to do what I’m doing today. It wasn’t easy because I wanted my ministry to grow so badly, and I couldn’t understand why it was taking so long. But during these years, I learned what it means to really trust God and know He will do the best thing for me at the right time.
The Bible is full of examples of people who had to wait for God to fulfill their dreams:
Moses wanted to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt, and he spent 40 years in the desert before he was ready.
Joseph spent 13 years in prison for something he didn’t do before God gave him favor with Pharaoh, who gave him a position of authority over all the land of Egypt.
David was anointed to be king 20 years before he sat on the throne.
God wants to give us opportunities to fulfill our destinies, and He will do so as we learn to trust His timing with a good attitude. People are often in a hurry to reach their goals, but God is not. I’ve discovered that being frustrated about how long I have to wait will never make God hurry. God knows what we need to go through to prepare us to walk in His plans. The best thing we can do during these times is learn to wait patiently.
Waiting patiently is not just waiting; it’s how we act while we’re waiting. The training or preparation we go through in the process of reaching our dream teaches us how to trust God and wait on His timing with a good attitude.
Psalm 31:14-15a (NIV) says, “I trust in you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands.” And Habakkuk 2:3 (AMP) says, “For the vision is yet for the appointed [future] time…. Even though it delays, wait [patiently] for it, because it will certainly come; it will not delay.”
These verses encourage us to be determined to trust God and wait on Him for His perfect timing. When it seems the dream He’s put in your heart is delayed, you can stir up your hope in Christ for change to happen, because God is faithful.
We will be tempted to try and make things happen in our own effort sometimes, but when we give into that temptation, we put off God’s answer even longer. Your journey may be long, but you can enjoy it if you’ll make up your mind to trust God. Don’t be moved emotionally and try to give birth to your dream prematurely.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV) tells us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” And verse 11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” The changes and breakthroughs we are praying for will certainly come as we wait on God. And they will be beautiful in the right time, but not outside of God’s timing.
Choose to live in the rest of God—peaceful in the midst of the storms of life and the seasons of waiting for change. Enjoy the freedom of not having to know everything or have everything figured out. Instead, replace frustration with trust that God is good, He knows what He’s doing, and He will do the best thing for you at the right time!
Joyce Meyer is a New York Times’ bestselling author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries Inc. She has written more than 100 books, including Battlefield of the Mind. She hosts the Enjoying Everyday Life radio and TV programs. For more information, visit joycemeyer.org.
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