What dreams does God have for your life? Now, my question was not “Does God have dreams for your life?” Because God’s Word teaches us that God as our creator, does have a plan and a dream for your life. Some people think that you can do whatever you want with your life, as long as you don’t do anything bad. They believe that you are in charge of the course of your life. You can live life according to your plans and desires, but you will miss God’s best. God’s dream and plan for your life envisions the best possible life you can have. Your best life is a life following God’s dream and influencing others for God. Your best life is a life seeking the expansion of God’s kingdom on this earth.
So let’s come back to my initial question “What dreams does God have for your life?” The Bible will give you the general parameters of God’s dreams for you. But you’re going to need to hear from God directly to get the specifics. God’s got a dream for your life and He wants to tell you about it. Ask Him and He will. God’s dream for your life is going to face challenges. In our current message series, we’re looking at the life of Joseph, as he follows his God-given dreams.
Last week, we learned from Joseph’s first challenge to his dreams. God had shown Joseph that he would be a leader over his brothers, indeed over his whole family. Yet, his brothers, whom he was supposed to lead, intended to kill him, but instead sold him as a slave to Egypt. The challenge to Joseph’s dream last week was of external circumstances and people who were trying to stop his dreams.
Today, my message is entitled “Resisting Temptation.” External circumstances or people can’t stop God’s dreams for your life. It may appear that they do for a time, but as you continue to follow God, you will see His dreams fulfilled. Today we’re going to talk about internal challenges to your God-given dream. In many ways, these challenges are more serious, because you can stop God’s dreams for your life by giving in to temptation. Although nobody else can mess up God’s dreams for your life, you can and many people do mess up God’s dreams for their lives. Now, God is a God of second chances, but it’s so much better to get it right the first time. So let’s think about what temptation is all about for a minute.
James 1:13-15 (NIV) When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
First of all, God is not the source of temptation and we shouldn’t blame him for it. Secondly, although Satan is the source of temptation, we mustn’t blame him either if we fall into temptation. Temptation lures us away from God’s dream for our lives by showing us a false dream. When we decide to follow that dream, rather than God’s dream, we sin and reap the consequences. Since we want to keep God’s dream for our life alive, we must learn to resist temptation.