Pursuing Your Dreams

Pursuing Your Dreams

Matthew 25: 14-18 Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Good Afternoon,

It’s been a while since I took time out to blog and encourage each of you. Over the past few weeks I have been putting my thoughts on paper, in order to put what is written into action in my life. I know the importance of being obedient to God’s direction in my life and today I wanted to remain focused and determined to do His will and do it His way through this blog.

In today’s message I would like us to touch back on our dreams. I want us to get focused on the visions God has given us for His honor and His glory. Each of us was created for a purpose. We were born on purpose, with purpose and for a purpose.

What is your purpose?

What is the dream that God has placed on the inside of you?

What are the talents that you possess that God is waiting for you to step out on faith and allow yourself to be used according to His purpose for your life?

Instantly you should be able to answer the questions if you are being honest with yourself. I find that some times we know what God has placed in us to do or become but we limit ourselves to our own understanding and our ways. Hopefully as we journey forward we will step aside and allow God to have full control.

In the series “Dynamic Dreams” we learned that we need to write, work and measure our plan. In this series “Pursuing Your Dreams” I want to touch back on each one of those steps.

Writing the Plan

When we pursue our dreams, we need to organize our thoughts on paper. We need to carve out some time and just write all things that come to mind. We should list out our likes and dislikes, wants, needs and desires. We then need to identify areas of growth and development in order for the things that are written to become a living reality.

So much of our time is wasted in a day on things that allow us to waste more of our God given time. Just think for a moment how much do you write in emails, on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter?

How much time do we spend doing things that do not benefit us?

How do you spend your time?

How much of your time is spent living out your dream?

It’s time to identify where we spend most of our time, love and commitment and make it all come together for our purpose. It’s time to discover our differences and use them to our advantage in stepping higher in the will of God for our lives. It’s time that we take the first step towards pursuing our dream today and write out all the things we believe God has planted on the inside of us.

When I sat down to draft one of my books “Pursuing Your Dream”, I had to think about the ways that I was different. There are several books out that will encourage people to pursue their dream; I had to ask myself what would be different about my book? What would be different about the information I had to share? In order to answer those questions I had to examine who I AM says I am. I had to take note of all the things I believed that made me unique. I had to focus on my difference.

Once I discovered all of the things that were different about me. I was able to narrow my plan to focus solely on the area where my heart is and that is to encourage others in need, despite the cost. I realized that no one else has walked my journey but me. Anything that I would place on the inside of my books would be from my walk and unique. I learned a while ago that when we discover a problem, we are the ones with the solution. Daily I find new ways to bring increase to all that I do, especially for others.

In order for us to develop a plan that will benefit us along our journey we need to focus on our difference and connect our plan to our passion. I have learned that people will go above and beyond for things that they love.

What is it that you love to do?

How do you spend your free time?

If you could get more time, how would you spend it?

In Matthew 25 is a parable about 3 individuals who were given talents and 2 out of the 3 pleased the master. The other servant chose to do nothing, but hide his talent and displeased the master.

What are you hiding from the Master today?

What is it that God has been reminding you of daily?

What is that one thing that you do better than anyone else?

What is it that you always wanted to be when you grew up?

What are you beating yourself up about?

Are you saying I should have done this, or I would have done that, or I could have done this? If so I telling you today that you still have time. You don’t have to continue to give up. It’s time to step up! It’s not too late! The time is now!

I encourage you today to take the necessary steps forward to write out your plan. If you wanted to be a lawyer, a doctor, a model, a teacher, or an artist, the time to begin your journey is now! If you want to be married, a parent or even a better person, the time is now! This month we celebrate great African Americans who took steps of faith in pursuing their dreams. What if they just would have allowed fear, laziness, limitation, etc to stop them from moving forward? What life would we have today, if it had not been for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his dream?

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In John 5:1-14 we learn that Jesus heals a lame man. He had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

Today He is saying to you “Do you want to get well?”

In other words do you want your chance to get out of whatever it is that has you stuck?

Do you want your chance to live life more abundantly?

If you continue to sit around doing nothing, nothing will continue to happen for you!

Don’t allow your situation or circumstances to hinder you from pursuing your dream. The fact may be that you may have been a mess and feel invalid, but God has a different plan for your life.

The lame man replied to Jesus that no one would help him and Jesus said to him "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” It’s time to stop waiting on someone else to take interest in your dream. It’s your dream and that means it’s for you to seek God and make it happen. God is all that you need. He is waiting on you. It’s time we put in the work.

How will you respond when the master comes to evaluate your use of His talents?

I challenge you today to get up and pick up your mat and walk forward in pursuing your dreams. Daily we will touch on different ways in order for us to move forward. It’s time you approach each day with great expectation! God wants only the best for us.

Blessings,

Tennille L. Whittington

Prayer for Today

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Lord as I read Psalm 51:10 I stretch my hands to thee, Lord I ask that You create in me a pure heart, Lord I ask that You remove all things that caused me to have a hardened heart, Lord I ask that You renew me by diving in my mind and refreshing my thoughts with Your words, Lord I ask that you renew my heart to flow with Your Word, Lord I ask that You dive to the pit of my soul and settle as You renew a steadfast spirit within me, Lord I surrender my life today and I journey forward following your lead, stepping in Your footsteps towards my dream! Use me Lord I am available, I rest in You! In Jesus name, Amen