October 2005
Don’t Miss the Fun!
Not long ago, I talked with a pastor who was in the middle of a church building project. He and his congregation had prayed, saved, raised money and believed God for a brand new church building in order to reach more people for Jesus.
There was such excitement as they began this project together! But by the time I talked to him, “real life” had set in. Dealing with contractors and financial challenges and all the logistics of building a new building were wearing on him, and he looked like a candidate for a nervous breakdown.
My heart went out to him, but up out of my spirit came the words, “This is your dream coming true, don’t miss the fun!”
How many times do we set our hearts on something, pray and believe God, then find ourselves smack dab in the middle of the answer and learn that it’s work? Or we find that we’re still the same old “us” and we still have to get up every day, use our faith, and deal with challenging people and events?
I believe it’s important to realize that even when our dreams come true, we never arrive at the place where we will stop having to use our faith, or where life will become “easy.” That shouldn’t be our goal!
Being a Christian is not about lying around on flowery beds of ease! Life will always have its challenges. I feel bad for people who get to the place they’ve always dreamed of but miss the fun because circumstances still keep coming at them.
It happens to everyone. When you’re not married, you pray for a spouse - but then you get one and have to compromise in the daily affairs of life and learn to live with their idiosyncrasies. When you’ve longed to have children (the heritage of the Lord, according to Psalm 127:3) and then you have them, you have to learn to deal with diapers, the terrific twos, teenagers, and more!
Maybe you wanted a certain job, and then you got it - now comes the WORK! Maybe you always dreamed of moving to a certain place, and then you did - but when you got there you’re still YOU, and people are still PEOPLE, and bills are still BILLS!
Maybe you finally get to move into your dream house...but a house is still a house - there’s still maintenance and things that break down.
I guess what I’m trying to say is: don’t be disillusioned when your dreams come true and there’s still work to do! Don’t expect everything to be “peachy” but DO enjoy the fact that you’ve been blessed!
This may be news to you, but we never “arrive.” Even when our prayers are answered and our dreams come true, life is still very daily and there’s more to be lived. You still have to use your faith! The Bible says four times the just shall live by faith (Hab. 2:4, Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, Heb. 10:38).
Notice it does not say “as soon as you ‘arrive’ or finish this faith battle, you can stop using your faith.” No, you’re going to have to use your faith and believe God and resist the devil until the day you go to be with Jesus.
So don’t get stressed out when you get something you’ve wanted for a long time but you find out there are still adverse circumstances to overcome and victories to be contended for.
Instead, be thankful! Stay in love with Jesus and learn to enjoy every day! And when you find there’s work to be done and faith battles to be won in the midst of your answered prayer just remember: this is your dream coming true, don’t miss the fun!
