strengthened and refined…

if the dream is GOD given, satan doesn’t want you to have it.  if it’s GOD given, GOD wants to test it so it can be strengthened and refined.  from both sides you’re going to get testing of the dream.  dreams will always face tests.  and joseph's faced them.

one is the test of denial.  you’ll face that.  you’ll have people who say, “that’s not GOD’s dream for your life.  where do you get that?”  the test of denial.  someone who just says, “that’s not true.” 

so why do people deny your dreams? 

for one, because they don’t have any dreams of their own.  there are some people who don’t have any dreams and people who do have dreams frighten them.  that’s why joseph’s brothers were so frightened.  they had no GOD given dreams and here’s somebody who did and they realized what that dream meant.  there are some people, when you share a GOD given dream, it scares them to death because they don’t have any dreams of their own. 

a second reason is there are some people who don’t want a GOD given dream.  it’s not that they don’t have a GOD given dream.  it’s that they don’t want a GOD given dream of their own.  the number one reason for this is disappointment. 

when you and i have been disappointed in a dream that we have and someone else comes along and shares a dream, our natural reaction to them is to put down their dream.  why?  because we’ve been hurt.  we’ve been disappointed.  it’s a natural feeling we have in our lives.  we’ve got to watch out for that. 

let’s say you are married and you really want a child but for some reason you can’t have one and you hear that someone else, their GOD given dream for a child had come into their lives, the natural reaction, honestly, is not to rejoice with them.  no. the natural reaction is, “they obviously aren’t as SPIRITual as we are, don’t pray as much as i do.  so why is GOD giving them this dream?”  this happens all the time.  so you and i need to be careful not to quench others dreams when this happens.  and we need to realize that other people who have been disappointed in life will try to quench our GOD given dream. 

that’s why denial comes in.  so often when you share a dream, instead of people being excited about it like you’d expect, they’ll try to quench it.  that’s test number one.

just a thought from the front porch…

you don't have to settle for second best…

habakkuk 3.6 (niv) says, HIS ways are eternal. listen GOD does not have a plan b for my life.

think of the biggest mistake you've ever made. then think of the biggest sin you've ever committed, that thing you regret the most. then think of the biggest disappointment you've ever had.

do you think GOD knew about those in advance before you ever did them? yes, HE did. and since HE knew those were going to come up anyway HE has woven that into HIS plan for your life. HE included them.

romans 8.28 (niv), all things work together for good. good or bad GOD can somehow turn them around and bring good out of them. they all fit into a plan. that means no matter what has happened in your life you're still on plan a. GOD has not changed HIS mind and GOD's purpose for your life has not changed.

all the time i hear people say, “i made this big mistake... so for now on i've just got to settle for second best.” but there's only one problem with that. the words second best are not found in the bible. you are still on plan a. GOD knows everything that's going to happen in your life and HE's fit it all in to work for good in your life. even the mistakes and sins you commit that are wrong and bad, GOD can teach you from those things. you can learn many, many good lessons.

so what is GOD's plan for my life? john 10.10 (tev) says that GOD's plan for your life is that you might have life. i have come that you might have life, JESUS said.

HE wants you to enjoy life. live it and not just exist. then in romans 8.30 (ncv) it says GOD's plan for your life is to become like JESUS CHRIST. GOD planned for them to become like HIS SON. you learn to think like HE thinks and feel like HE felt and act like HE acts. become like JESUS CHRIST.

it all begins with a relationship. romans 10.9 (tev), if you confess with your mouth that JESUS is LORD and believe that GOD raised HIM from the dead, you will be saved.

just a thought from the front porch…

a time to pray...

FATHER, you’ve promised to meet all our needs. but we often get in a hurry and we get impatient and we come up with our own plans. we try to dig our own wells. you offer us free, unlimited living water but instead we try to make our own plans and dig our own wells instead of trusting YOU. JESUS, i have no doubt that many people here on the front porch are having their faith tested in one of these ways. i pray that in the test they will turn to YOU instead of turning away from YOU.

would you just pray this in your heart, your mind, to GOD. ”FATHER, thank YOU that YOU want to meet all my needs. forgive me for all those times i’ve tried to meet them in my own way, on my own timetable. i ask YOUR help with the stresses in my life. help me to turn to YOU instead of to others or other things. i want to look to YOU and not others to be my SAVIOR and my HELPER. i want to put my hope and confidence in YOU. help me to see that my disappointments are a part of YOUR loving plan in my life.

also, i ask for YOUR help in keeping the commitments that i’ve made to other people and especially the commitments that i’ve made to YOU. i’m choosing on this day to give YOU first place in my thoughts and in my money and in my time. from this day forward. and i thank YOU in advance for promising to meet all my needs here and for the rewards YOU have in store for me in heaven. thank YOU that these tests are not in vain. in JESUS’ name. amen.”

just a thought from the front porch…

your acceptance makes the difference…

i love what emily kingsley says about disappointment and handling disappointment when your kids don’t turn out the way you thought they ought to turn out – particularly a handicapped child. but this has far more implication than just for parents.

she says, “i’m often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability. to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it and to imagine how it would feel. it’s like this:

when you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation to italy. you buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. you’re going to see the coliseum, the cistene chapel, the gondolas. you may learn some handy phrases in italian and it’s all very exciting. after several months of preparation and anticipation, the day finally arrives. you pack your bags and off you go to italy. several hours later, the plane lands. the stewardess comes in and says, “welcome to holland.” “holland?” you say. “i signed up for italy. i’m supposed to be in italy. all my life i’ve dreamed of going to italy.” but there’s been a change in the flight plans and they’ve landed in holland and there you must stay.

the important thing to remember is they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place filled with pestilence, famine and disease. it’s just a different place. so you must go out and buy new guidebooks and you must learn a whole new language and you must meet a whole new group of people that you would never have met before. it’s just a different place.

it’s slower paced than italy and it’s less flashy than italy. but after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you begin to look around and you begin to notice that holland has windmills. and holland has tulips. and holland even has rembrandts. but everyone you know is busy coming and going from italy and bragging about what a wonderful time they’ve had there. and for the rest of your life you’ll say, ‘yes, that’s where i was supposed to go. at least that’s what i had planned.’ and the pain of that experience will never, ever, ever go away. the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. but, if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to italy, you may never be free to enjoy that very special, very lovely thing about holland.”

that principle applies to a lot more than just being disappointed in a child. some of you on your wedding day stood at the altar and you thought you were going to italy. am i right? and you thought, “i am going to italy!” and today you think you went to bangladesh! and if the truth were known there’s some massive disappointment. you hide it. you put on the smiley face. but things haven’t turned out the way you intended them to be, the picture book story, fairy tale ending, happily ever after.

this is a people test! are you going to handle disappointment by complaining and griping and crying and grieving and worrying. or are you going to accept that GOD knows what’s best, that GOD loves you and knows what you need more than you do, and that even the disappointments in your life have a positive purpose whether you understand it or not. it’s a test. are you going to trust GOD with the things that disappoint your life?

isaiah 49.23b (ncv) says, anyone who trusts in ME will not be disappointed.

just a thought from the front porch…

life can be disappointing...

the people test is another test that GOD uses. GOD often uses people in your life to test and stretch and develop your faith. this test is "how will i handle disappointment?"

life is often disappointing. things don’t turn out the way we planned them. careers don’t turn out the way you plan them. marriages don’t turn out the way you plan them. plans don’t turn out the way you plan them! the fact is life is disappointing a lot of the time. but the most disappointing thing in life is people. why do we get disappointed by people in life?

you get disappointed by people when you expect them to meet a need in your life that only GOD HIMself can meet. when you turn to a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a father or a mother or a husband or a wife or a friend and you expect them to meet all your needs, you’re setting yourself up for massive, massive disappointment.

GOD never intended that for anybody! nobody could possibly meet all your needs. and when they let you down, you think, “what’s wrong with you?” the problem is you. you put an expectation on them that they couldn’t possibly fulfill.

this is a test! so many of you have thought in the past, “if only i could get married, then i would be fulfilled and satisfied…. if only my wife/my husband would change, then all my problems would be solved…. if only my children were different – like their children next door – then i would be so contented…. if i had just had different parents, life would have been a whole lot grander.”

your problem is not the people in your life. your problem is your response to the people in your life.

people are not the problem and they’re not the answer to the problem either. the answer to your insecurity is not another person. the answer to your inferiority is not another person. the answer to your worries and your fears is not another person. the answer to your depression and despair and discouragement is not another person. the answer to your sense of failure is not another person. and the answer to your meaninglessness in life, your lack of purpose and your boredom with life, your deep dissatisfaction is not another person.

the answer is GOD.

when you expect other people to be your savior, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

just a thought from the front porch…