Following Your Dreams With God

God has placed unique passions and talents inside of each and every one of us. Even if you don’t know what your passion is right now, you can rest in the fact that God has a special plan for your life!

Your natural gifts and skills will align with the purpose God has for your life, but the enemy wants to confuse and discourage you. He will try to distract you from what God has for you. He will lie to you by telling you that you don’t have what it takes to accomplish the call God has on your life.

Satan will do whatever it takes to keep you off of God’s path for your life—but remember, you already have the victory! 

So how do you figure out what your calling is when there is a force trying to keep you from it? 

Where do you get the strength to keep pursuing the path God has called you to when you are discouraged and tired? 

And how do you follow your dream hand-in-hand with God?

Here are my five tips for fulfilling God’s purpose in your life!

 

1. Seek God to Discover Your Calling. 

The first step to fulfilling God’s purpose for your life is to determine what it is. It may change from season to season, but there is a path and a plan that He has for you. 

You can find His plan for your life by spending time with Him! Get involved in church, pray, seek God, and read His Word to get to know Him better. There may be things you need to get rid of in your life to hear Him more clearly as well. Maybe the music you listen to is not honoring God, or maybe a show you watch isn’t bad, but you spend so much time watching it instead of spending time with God that it is a distraction for you. 

Pay attention to what you allow to surround you, whether it’s the friends you hang out with, the music you listen to, the shows you watch, or your everyday thoughts. All of these things can either push you toward God or draw you away from Him. If you are trying to figure out what God wants you to do, make sure what you are listening to is pushing you toward Him. 

Once you have gotten rid of the distractions, seek God wholeheartedly to discover what He wants you to do. And I promise you that He will reveal it to you! 

God has a good plan for your life that He wants to see you accomplish. He will reveal it to you in the right timing, but often God will only give you bits and pieces to take the next step. If you don’t know the start from the finish, don’t be discouraged or be afraid to start. That’s where faith comes into play! Take the little bit of information God has given you, step out in faith, and begin to walk out what He is calling you to do. It may seem unconventional or confusing, but no matter what, God will always make a way when He has something for you to accomplish. 

 

2. Pray Continually. 

It’s one thing to say a quick prayer and ask God what to do with your life, but it’s another to pursue God about what to do. In order to pursue God, you must do so wholeheartedly and really make an effort to seek Him. Pursuing God requires you to throw off everything that would keep you from reaching Him. And in order to discover what His plan is for our lives, we must pursue Him first!

Saying a quick prayer and then doing what you’ve always intended to do is not following God’s plan. God’s plan isn’t going to feel safe, comfortable, or easy. It’s going to stretch and grow you like you never thought you could. 

I always told my children growing up, “Do it even if you have to do it afraid.” 

God’s plan for your life is going to be bigger than you. That’s why it’s so important to pray continually as we seek God’s plan. Only God can reveal to us what the next step is, so we have to go to Him for the answers. 

God doesn’t ever give us the whole plan from start to finish. We would get ahead of ourselves and mess it up! He doesn’t give us instructions and a toolbox to put our lives together. Instead, He gives us one piece at a time as we’re ready to handle it. He will always show up, but we have to be fully reliant upon Him throughout the process. 

 

3. Fight Discouragement with Encouragement. 

Satan will try to discourage you from reaching your destiny. But how do you combat his discouragement and lies? Go to God’s Word and stand on encouraging Scripture! 

The Bible is full of verses that tell us the truth about God’s good plan for our lives as believers. Here are a few of many verses to stand on when you feel discouraged: 

• “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT). 
• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT). 
• “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28, NLT). 
• “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5, NLT).
• “The Lord says, ‘I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you’” (Psalm 32:8, NLT).

These are just a few of the Scriptures that declare God’s good plan for your life. When the enemy tries to discourage you, stand on these verses, and remind yourself of what God says. Declare them as truth in your life!

Also, if you find yourself getting discouraged after a specific event, such as spending time with certain people or scrolling through social media, take a step back from those activities. Check your life to see if anything triggers the discouragement, and refocus your time toward encouraging things.

 

4. Don’t Compare Yourself. 

Comparison will steal your joy if you let it! 

We’ve all been told not to compare ourselves to someone else—I’m here to remind you of that and also to tell you not to compare where you are at to where you wish you were! 

Maybe your life is nothing like what you thought it would be at this age. Perhaps you imagined yourself as having accomplished more or having more structure by now. Let go of your timeline and refocus on God’s. His plan is better!

Do the best you can with what you’ve got, and trust that God will make a way with the rest.

 

5. Surround Yourself with the Right People. 

Who you surround yourself with matters. The people you spend the most time with will have an influence on your life, for better or for worse. Sometimes we can’t control who we are around. We can’t control a negative co-worker, but we can control the people we spend time with outside of work. 

Spend time with people who are headed in the direction you want to go. Don’t waste your time with people who are headed in a direction you don’t want to go, because you will ultimately end up on that same path. Instead, seek out friends who are pursuing God and living for Him!

God’s Plans For You Are Good! 

God wants to take you on an amazing adventure! He wants to use you to do big things for His Kingdom! 

In order for us to take part in God’s plan, we have to seek Him, pray, stay encouraged, stop comparing ourselves, and surround ourselves with the right people. When you follow God, He will make a way for you, and I promise, His way is best!