by Annagail Lynes
A few weeks ago, the Gilbert Police in Arizona, approximately fifty-miles from my home, uncovered a plot to massacre the students and faculty of Gilbert High School.
Six students planned a Columbine-like shooting spree, master-minded by a young woman. Altogether four females and two males drafted the plan to slaughter their classmates and teachers. The plot went awry when one of the girls received disciplinary action for another offense. Inside her pocket was a note explaining the details.
Why would people want to kill their classmates and teachers? To want the headlines to read “School Dies,” “Dozens Killed,” “Blood Everywhere?” They lost hope that their lives would get better. They lost hope in achieving the dreams buried deep within them. These six students’ plan may have failed, but God’s plan for you will never fail. He has promised you hope and a future, according to Jeremiah 29:11.
God loved you so much that when you were in your mother’s womb, He spoke destiny over your life. He sanctified you and set you apart for His purpose. He chose you to play a specific role in history.
He carefully created you with the exact talents, abilities and personality needed to carry out that task. You are the only one with the exact combination to accomplish the task God assigned you. Think of the magnitude of that! You are the only one alive, dead and yet to be born who can fulfill that assignment.
We all have a destiny. We just have to find out what it is.
When people think of doing God’s work, images of feeding hungry children in Africa come to mind. Missionary work is definitely God’s work, but not all of us receive calls to the mission field.
Somehow we believe that God’s plan for our lives is in direct conflict with our dreams and goals. Not if you are a Born-Again Christian. When you asked Jesus into your heart, you became a new creation. Old things passed away, and God started planting seeds of purpose in your heart.
Those seeds will grow until they turn to driving passion. Everything you do will pale in comparison to fulfilling your dream. You will have hope, that little flicker of light in your heart that tells you everything will turn out all right, that flicker that gets you through the dark times when there is no reason in the natural to hope.
When I was younger, I used to flip-flop on what I wanted to be when I grew up. One day I wanted to be a ballerina. The next day, I wanted to be a lawyer. Even in high school, I couldn’t decide. In elementary school, I would create newsletters on a portable typewriter. When I was in junior high, I began writing short stories. In high school, I wrote a fanzine with my friends that we sold at science fiction conventions. Writing drove my life. It was the only constant. The constant that kept me hoping, dreaming of a better life.
What is the constant in your life? What is the one thing about which you have been dreaming? How long have you had that dream? A vision that you have been dreaming for years is almost always planted by God.
What about the dreams we invent on our own? Usually when we learn everything involved, we give up before we start. If we do achieve that dream, it isn’t as satisfying as we thought.
Above all, does your dream fall in line with the Word of God? The Bible is God’s written instructions to us. His written Will. To know whether something is God’s Will, we must go to His Word. If it involves killing, stealing, kidnapping or breaking the Ten Commandments, it is not God’s Will.
What about the things that aren’t that clear cut? In that situation, you have to rely on prayer, praying in the Spirit and peace. Don’t go any further with a dream until you feel the peace of God.
“And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts–deciding and settling with finality all questions that rise in your minds…” (Colossians 3:15).
With your dream in mind, get quiet before God. How do you feel deep down about acting on your dream?
Do you feel peace? Not peace in your head but from your heart. Pour your heart out before God and ask for His Will and guidance concerning your dream.
Remember: God has placed you on this Earth for a purpose. Until you fulfill your assignment, you will never truly be happy. So schedule time to talk with God about your dream today.
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