Prayer That Helps Dreams Come True!

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trainapaster.com. Share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is Rachel Torres, back with James for another encouraging prayer. Today, we're going to be talking about prayer and dreams. That's right. Not the dreams that you have when you're sleeping, but the ones you have when you're wide awake. Not daydreams, but those dreams about your life and its purpose and just what it is that God wants you to do in this world. Right. We were talking about this before the show, and you mentioned how important it is to get those dreams from God.

Why don't you explain that a little bit more about what you mean by that? The reason why it's so important is that scripture shows us this again and again. Proverbs 16 says, commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. David, who certainly saw his dreams come true and more, I think, wrote, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. And Jesus said about God in Matthew 633, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things, meaning our daily needs, will be given to you.

So, in all of this, you see a pattern. Our dreams really start with God. After all, he created us and every ability that we have, and he also plants desires in us for his purposes. So, you believe that God wants us to go to him with the desires of our hearts and seek out his direction for them?

I really do. And this is one of the thrilling things about walking with God in prayer, Rachel. He has things for us to do, plans for this world and for his kingdom that he wants to accomplish through us. And there's a joy in that. Years ago, there was a movie, Chariots of Fire, a true story about an Olympic gold medalist runner who became a missionary.

He was from Scotland, Eric Liddell. And in it, he said, God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure. So, God gives us the abilities and then joy in carrying them out. But to really be successful in this, we need to do them for him most of all. That's got to be where our hearts are at.

And that's really what it means to seek the kingdom first above all. Yeah, it sounds like you've seen this play out in your own life, haven't you? I really have, Rachel. I first really noticed this when I was in high school. I was on the speech team my senior year and I was getting a little bored with it. And I qualified for the state final tournament. Before I went, I'll never forget this, I was standing in the library at the school.

I could go to that spot today. And I remember praying, God, I'm tired of doing this just for me. I want to do this for you. I'm committing everything I do in this tournament to you. And I was really determined to carry that out.

So what happened? One of the greatest surprises of my life. You have to understand that I was from a small high school in a town of about 2800 people out in the middle of nowhere. But that year, I became the California state champion in informative speaking for every high school in California. And it was as if God was saying, I made you to do this and I want you to do it for me. That is so cool. It makes me think of the proverb you mentioned earlier, commit to the Lord whatever you do and he will establish your plans.

That's right. Things may not always turn out like that, but if we seek God in our dreams and let him lead us, he does everything well. And like Eric Little, we will know his pleasure and that's a beautiful thing. Again, he plants desires in us and if those desires are really from him and not just our own wills or our own sin nature, and that's the challenge, knowing which is which, but if those desires are from God, he will make a way. For example, when I was about 13 or 14, I remember reading some Christian devotional books and even then, something stirred within me and I thought, I want to write books like this someday. But that took a while to sort out because I had a lot of self in those dreams and I set them aside for a while and it really wasn't until I was in my 40s that I sensed God leading me and really driving me into this and then that dream was fulfilled. But it had to be reshaped. I had to be reshaped and molded by God for that to happen. Yeah. So, James, let's talk about prayer in all this. What role does it play? Well, God knows us better than we know ourselves and I think we often forget that.

I know I do. And he knows his plans and purposes for our lives and this doesn't mean that everything we do will result in our happiness because it's not about that. It's about something much bigger. It's about his kingdom. So, I think one of the best things we can do is ask, Lord, what do you want me to do for you? To place ourselves before him as his servants and say, Lord, what do you want me to be about? You know, look at the gifts he's given us and assess them. And, you know, he may have a desire that you bring before him and say, Lord, what about this?

And the cool thing is that we can do this at any age. You know, in the Old Testament, Joshua and Caleb were actually old guys when they finally went into the Promised Land for the second time. But God continued to use them and he made them strong and vital for his purposes. So, again, this really is about living life on purpose.

Yes, it is. Living for him, not for us. Katherine Marshall mentioned this in a book she wrote called Adventures in Prayer. She has a whole chapter on how prayer helps dreams come true.

And in it she asks, isn't there a danger of trying to use God and spiritual principles for selfish ends? And she basically concludes that our dreams have to pass through a series of tests to ensure that they are from him. And the only way that can happen is if we give them to him and give ourselves to him in that and ask him to lead our hearts in this. And as we do, he will show us and often change us and we may lose interest in what we really thought was a dream.

But then he'll lead us into something better. And the important thing is just that we stay close to him. And prayer, informed by his word, bathed in his word, but heartfelt, you know, continually going back to him with this is the way we're to see that happen. And we really don't want to miss what he has waiting for us.

That's exactly it. And we especially don't want to miss out on him because he is the ultimate desire of our hearts. I think Colossians 3.17 sums it up well.

And whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. So, let's wrap up with a prayer that we will. Lord, help us in this. You know our hearts.

You know how easily we turn to ourselves. And we want to be for you. We want to be for you in our dreams. We want to be for you, Lord, in our lives. So show us, lead us, help us to bring our desires before you and to say, what would you have me do, my Lord, my Savior, as we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.