As a two and three-year old I used to gather all my stuffed animals together and stand up on box and begin to “preach” to them. My Mom called me her “little preacher boy.” As a child God put within my imagination the dream of being a preacher.
As a teenager I began to pursue my divine-daring dream to one day being a preacher. I recognized God’s call upon my life. While my friends in high school questioned the direction for their lives, I had a path laid out in front of me to attend Evangel College and then enter full-time ministry.
Unfortunately I found a detour in the road I had chosen. Instead of completing college in 4 years and seeing my dream fulfilled, God entered me into the “school of hard knocks.” While I was in my first year of college at Evangel, the Lord told me that His plan would be fulfilled “IN HIS TIME.” God set my schedule. Little did I realize then that it would be another 8½ years before the dream God had put in my heart as a child and developed as a teenager would finally become a reality.
Chasing or running after a divine-daring dream is a PROCESS, pursuing your God-given dream TAKES TIME. Wouldn’t it be great if the Lord gave us His dream for our lives, and we woke up in the morning and found that all our dreams had came true? Unfortunately that isn’t reality; that’s fantasy! When God gives us a dream it takes time.
Last week we began our 50-day spiritual adventure, “Daring to Dream Again; Overcoming Boundaries that Hold You Back.” As we looked at the life of Gideon, we saw that in order to pursue our dreams we need to let God heal our painful past. Unforseen tragedy, the circumstances of life, failure, or weariness have caused many dreams to come to a premature end. A painful past blinds the imagination; hope is lost, and you lose your ability to dream.
God wants us to dream again; He wants to open the eyes of our imagination! However, the miracle of resurrected dreams is impossible unless we are willing to cooperate with God. Only as we take the three steps that God called Gideon to take can we be set free from our painful past as to dream again.
Step 1: Embrace your God-given identity. A Gideon perspective says, “I’m a nobody”, but God sees us differently. In God’s sight Gideon was a mighty warrior. Like Gideon we must let go of our false identity and embrace our God-given identity.
Step 2: Live out your God-given identity. If we are going to see our dreams realized, it requires ACTION. Dreams will not come true by accident; God calls us beyond our own excuses to obedience. We must move forward in faith living out our new identity as we pursue a God-given dream.
Step 3: Acknowledge God’s presence in our lives. God promised Gideon that He would be with Him. God is not uninvolved in our lives; He is with us always empowering us to run after our dream.
Because it takes time for our dreams to be fulfilled, we often find ourselves wondering, “Is God Even There?” When your dreams are delayed, “Is God Even There?” How will you answer that question? How can you know He is there?
Why is it important for us to acknowledge God’s presence in our lives? Why do we need to know that He is there?
When we know that God’s presence is with us, that God is working in our lives, then we can hold onto our dreams. Believing that God is involved in our daily lives keeps the dream alive because we know that God is working on our behalf to accomplish the dream.
If you struggle to find God with you each day then in time your dreams will fade. When we lose sight of God’s activity in our lives and have to rely upon human energy, then we often see our dreams as impossibilities that we can never attain.
DAVID WAS GIVEN A SPIRIT-INSPIRED DREAM TO BE THE KING, but it didn’t happen automatically; it took time. Along the way David ran into many obstacles and detours that had the potential to be dream killers, but the God-given dream remained alive in David because he continually acknowledged God’s presence in His life.
The dream to be king did not begin with David; it was birthed in the heart of Samuel. Look with me at 1 Samuel 16.
+ 1 Samuel 16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king." (NIV)
Samuel received God’s dream for a new king to take Saul’s place; God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be the new king . God showed Samuel that He had chosen an new king for the nation of Israel, but Samuel did not live to see another king take the place of Saul. Samuel died while the vision for a new king was still only a dream. But the dream would live on in David. This teaches us an important principle about God-given dreams.
A divine-daring dream is to be shared because it is bigger than you are. As God makes His dream known, the time will come when God shows you who He wants you to share the dream with. You can’t do it alone. God makes big dreams possible because He will bring you together with others who share the same dream.
God has given Samuel a dream that one of the Son’s of Jesse would be the next king over Israel, so he sets out for Bethlehem to share the dream. Let’s pick up the story in verse 6.
+ 1 Samuel 16:6-13 6When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD." 7But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." . . . 10Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The LORD has not chosen these." 11So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" "There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep." Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives." 12So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one." 13So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. (NIV)
When Samuel came to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be king no one bothered to think of David; he was the youngest and had a job as a shepherd. David was considered to young and had not receive the stature and position that his brothers had received. Jesse thought he would just leave David out in the field with the sheep; surely one of his older brothers would be the one chosen to be king.
Surprise, God doesn’t look at things the way we do. God had a new identity for David. Others only saw a shepherd, but God saw a king. David was anointed to be the king of Israel; he was given a dream, a God-sized dream bigger than he could have ever imagined.
The Spirit of the Lord was upon David. Soon David would begin to move up the ladder; he was called into Saul’s aid to play the harp bringing comfort to Saul’s tormented soul. David gained great popularity with the people after he killed Goliath; they sang, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7 NIV).
Unfortunately for David, that is when Saul grew more and more jealous of him. On one occasion while David was playing the harp for the king, Saul hurled a spear at David to kill him. Circumstances for David turned from bad to worse; he soon found himself fleeing for his life. David was a man on the run. What would ever happen to the God-given dream to be king. In the midst of running from Saul, it would have been easy for David to forget about the dream. Who has time to dream when someone wants to kill you?
Someone has said, “When the going get tough, the tough get going.” However, during difficult times we are confronted with a choice. Will we keep our dream before us, or will we lose sight of our dreams and succumb to life’s hardships and trials? Will we pursue our dream, or will we give up in the face of conflict?
In hard times many find it easier to just give up and quit. What is it that may have caused your dreams to become a nightmare which you are trying to escape?
▸ Is there too little money at the end of your month? Are the creditors calling and making threats?
▸ Has your boss come down hard on you? Are there rumors about layoffs and down-sizing?
▸ Has your marriage hit the rocks? Are you living with lies and deception in your house? Has your spouse left home and filed for divorce?
▸ Are you having difficulty at school? Have you given up on completing your education?
▸ Have you been a victim of abuse or neglect? Are you unable to trust people for fear of being hurt again?
David didn’t lose sight of his God-given dreams; he trusted God to bring the dream to fulfillment. David understood that it took time for a dream to be realized, but more importantly, David knew it was up to God to make it happen.
In 1 Samuel 24 David was again on the run from Saul and was hiding out in a cave. By chance Saul picked the cave David was hiding in to use as his “rest stop” to relieve himself. When those who were with David saw what Saul was doing they told David that the Lord had delivered his enemy into his hands, but David would not harm Saul. David snuck up to where Saul was and cut off a corner of his robe, then after Saul returned to his men David called out to Saul saying,
“Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn’t true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave, and some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ’I will never harm him—he is the Lord’s anointed one.’ Look, my father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.” (1 Samuel 24:9-11 NLT)
David wrote the 57th Psalm in response to what happened with Saul at the cave in the wilderness.
+ Psalm 57:6-7 6My enemies have set a trap for me. I am weary from distress. They have dug a deep pit in my path, but they themselves have fallen into it. 7My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises! (NLT)
David knew that God was working to fulfill his dream. David could trust the Lord to place him on Israel’s throne, and he overcame the obstacles that would keep him from acknowledging God’s presence in his life.
What are the obstacles that keep us from seeing what God is doing in our lives? What prevents us from daily acknowledging God’s presence with us?
1. We fail to acknowledge God’s presence in our lives through a LOSS OF FELLOWSHIP with God.
+ 2 John 1:9 For if you wander beyond the teaching of Christ, you will not have fellowship with God. But if you continue in the teaching of Christ, you will have fellowship with both the Father and the Son. (NLT)
Sin breaks our fellowship with God. Remember our Christian faith is not a religion, it is a relationship with the living God through Christ Jesus. Fellowship with God is the condition of our relationship with Him; it describes how you and I are getting along with God.
? – Is your relationship with God like that of a loving father and his child? Can you run into God’s arms of love? Do you sense His pleasure in your life?
? – Is your relationship with God a close and intimate friendship? Can you share your secret thoughts with God? Is your life open to Him with nothing to hide?
? – Or has your friendship with God become more casual? Has the hectic pace of life separated you from the Lord? Do you have a hard time fitting God into your daily or weekly schedule?
? – Is God a stranger to you? Have you never entered into a friendship with God? Or have you walked way from God through continual sin?
If your relationship with God is not what it should be, God can and will restore your fellowship with Him if only you are willing to ask Him to. Confess your sin to God; tell Him you are sorry, and let Him forgive you.
God chose David to be king because his heart was open to God. David loved God and desired to have an intimate relationship with the Lord.
Later in David’s life, after he had become the king, David’s fellowship with God was broken through sin, but David knew the love of God and was quick to run back to Him. David sought the Lord’s forgiveness in order to renew his close relationship with God.
+ Psalm 51:1, 4, 10-12 1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgression. . . 4Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. . . 10Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. (NIV)
2. God is also not acknowledged in our daily lives because of ROUTINE.
Has your life fallen into the rut? Is each day just more of the same? When life seems to be on “autopilot” we need to be careful not to lose sight of God. We need to individually discover that God is with us even in the routine of life. Instead of the treadmill of life being an obstacle, we need to decide to include God in our routine.
I believe that David made a conscious decision not to lose sight of God early in his life. Working as a shepherd David understood the daily grind, but David found God with him in the midst of his routine. As David was on the job he discovered, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quit waters, he restores my soul.”
The 23rd Psalm, from which so many of us find comfort and strength, was born out of David’s routine of life. Just as David discovered God in the daily grind so can you.
3. Another obstacle to seeing what God is doing in our daily lives is BURNOUT.
When you are tired and worn out, it is easy to lose sight of God. When the candle has been burning on both ends, or even worse it’s burning in the middle too, we can often find ourselves wondering if God even cares. When we are working hard with little or no reward for our efforts; has God forsaken us?
I believe David knew the feeling. In 1 Chronicles 19, David’s ambassadors to the Ammonites are humiliated and sent back to David. Soon the Ammonites have moved out for battle against Israel with 32,000 chariots as well the troops of their allies. David soon found that his army was surrounded.
When the nation goes to war, the king doesn’t sleep well. I believe David experience the anxiety that comes with burnout. Listen to what he wrote to the Lord at this time.
+ Psalm 60:1, 5, 10-12 1You have rejected us, O God, and burst forth upon us; you have been angry, NOW RESTORE US! . . . 5Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered. . . 10Is it not you, O God, you who have rejected us and no longer go out with our armies? 11 Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. 12With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. (NIV)
David felt separated from God, even that God had rejected him. But David didn’t act upon his feelings; David held onto his faith in God. David is honest with God about his feelings, but has faith to ask God to restore himself and the nation. “God we don’t need the help of men; we need You! Help us Lord!”
God responded to David’s faith and brought them victory over the Ammonites. When you are tired and burned out don’t give into to how you feel. Come honestly to God with faith and He will restore you also.
4. We lose sight of God’s presence in our lives because of SECULARISM or WORLDLINESS.
It is sometimes easy for us to compartmentalize our lives. We have our “God box” that we pull out on Sundays, but when we are at work we have entered the marketplace and God just doesn’t seem to fit in there. It’s like trying to put a square peg into a round hole.
Our money still says, “In God We Trust”, but our nation has move far from the faith that our founding fathers had in God. Separation of church and state is the motto of our secular society. Unfortunately many of us within the church have bought into that lie.
I think David understood something that we all need to learn: You either trust God with all of your life, or you don’t trust Him at all. David didn’t buy into the secularism of his day.
+ Psalm 20:7-8 7Some nations boast of their armies and weapons, but we boast in the Lord our God. 8Those nations will fall down and collapse, but we will rise up and stand firm. (NLT)
David trusted God in everything; he didn’t compartmentalize his life. Neither should we.
+ John 17:15-16 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. (NIV)
We are to live IN THE WORLD, but we must remember WE ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD. When we separate God from the biggest part of our lives and only have time for Him once or twice a week is it any wonder we have a hard time believing that God is involved in our daily lives? We will lose sight of God if we think like those in the world.
5. Sometimes we chose to not recognize God’s presence in our lives because of FANATICISM.
Sometimes we judge what people say and do as excessive or inappropriate. We may even justifiably say, “I can’t see myself say that, or acting like they do.” Let’s just say, that before we are too quick to judge the actions of others as inappropriate we need to know what they have lived through. We might even surprise ourselves that should we ever experience similar things in our live we actually could respond in the same way they had.
Sometime after David became king, the Ark of the Covenant was brought back into Jerusalem. David led the parade and rejoice before the Lord; he took off his royal robes and danced with all his might. His wife Michal saw what David had done; she told him that she thought David had acted disgracefully.
+ 2 Samuel 6:21-22 21David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel-- I will celebrate before the LORD. 22I will become even more undignified than this." (NIV)
David didn’t concern himself with what other people thought of him; if they thought he was a fanatic that was okay with him. David was more concerned with God’s response; if the Lord was pleased with David’s worship then he would become even more undignified in the eyes of men.
Stop worrying about what others will think about you. Dance like David danced! Respond to the Lord in ways that please Him and you will have no trouble acknowledging God’s presence in your life.
Conclusion:
Remember no dream worth pursuing happens automatically. DREAMS TAKE TIME. If we are going to hold onto our dreams then we need to acknowledge God’s presence in our lives. We need to see how He is with us each day actively working in our lives.
As we strive to acknowledge God’s presence in our lives, each of us will encounter various obstacles. We all may come to times in our lives when we ask ourselves, “Is God even there?” Yes, God is right there with your every moment of everyday just waiting for you to find Him.
How can we be like David and overcome these obstacles? How can we acknowledge God’s presence in our lives keeping our dream alive?
We need to go on a daily GOD HUNT; we need to look for God’s love and activity in our lives everyday.
✎ For some of us going on a God Hunt would be like me going out in the woods deer hunting. I could be in the woods all day and never see a deer, while an experience hunter would have seen the four that walked right past me. Why is that? They know what to look for and I don’t have a clue!
So how do we go on a God Hunt and not miss seeing God? Look with me at page 19 of your Adult Adventure Journals (page 25 in the large print edition).
GO ON A DAILY GOD HUNT
David was a young man when the prophet Samuel anointed him for future leadership. As the years passed, someone less spiritually mature might have assumed God wasn’t interested in him any longer; David spent most of his time running for his life. Even so, he wrote about numerous ways God made his presence known, which kept the dream alive.
Does God ever seem far-removed from you? Most of us would admit there are days and weeks when we just don’t feel his presence. At other times, it’s amazing to see how God provides and protects. But if we’re not looking, we can miss these “sightings” or think of them as mere coincidence.
Here are four categories of God Hunt sightings to look for:
1. An obvious answer to prayer. God doesn’t always give us exactly what we want or expect, but he does respond to our requests.
2. Unexpected evidence of God’s care. We still get sick and have accidents, but God often works miracles of protection, such as the time you miss that traffic pileup because you forget your wallet and have to go back for it.
3. Unusual linkage or timing. You might discover that God stirred a person to pray for you at precisely the moment you were in trouble. These mini-miracles are more common than you might think.
4. Help to do God’s work in the world. You’re puzzling over how to teach your Sunday school class when a friend calls with a tale of woe. You comfort your friend with insights from your research for the lesson, and you use your friend’s story as the “hook” for your class.(Don’t limit God’s help to "church-work!)
We often fail to dream because we don’t realize how active God is. But if we see his hand protecting and directing and adjusting and tweaking our lives, it’s easier to dream along with him. From now until the end of this Adventure, watch for a God Hunt sighting every day. These are times when the Lord works in our daily world and we choose to recognize it to be him.
In the middle of your Adventure Journal you will find a place for you to record your God hunt sighting. I’ve done this now for almost the last month and everyday I’ve found some evidence of God’s activity in my life. I’ve found each of these four different God Hunt sighting, and some have even been a combination of two or three or even all four.
In the days ahead go on a God Hunt and discover for yourself how God keeps his promise to always be with you. As you personally record your God sightings you will be acknowledging God’s presence in your life, and in turn YOU WILL BE KEEPING YOUR DREAMS ALIVE!
