The Dream of God’s Heart

Did you know that God has a dream in His heart for you?  He has desires and wants for your family, our city, and our nation.  This is a beautiful part of who God is. He is a God who thinks, loves, grieves, rejoices…and dreams.  

When I began to see this part of God’s nature, something changed in the way I saw and related to Him on the heart level.  Seeing this part of Him stirred up a desire in me to know His heart and not just His works. 

A few months ago I asked God this question - “Father, what is the dream of Your heart for our city?”  He spoke very clearly to me, “My dream for you is that you would know Me and take Me at My word.  That you would believe that you are loved and that I am only good.”

His answers always surprise me. 

I assumed that He would lay out some grandiose plan for county-wide peace and healing through strategic structure. But instead, He subtly drew all focus to the inward man.  And while I don’t believe that county-wide peace and healing are outside of the scope of His dream, God has chosen to fulfill all of His dreams in and through relationship.  He has structured His kingdom as a family, giving each one a seat at the table and a position of purpose.

When we worship, we are agreeing with who God is.

Most believers have come to see and agree with certain aspects of God’s nature. That He is sovereign, supreme above all others, all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal and self-sustaining.  But the confounding mystery of our God is that His foremost desire is to be known as Father.  The Son came into the world to reveal and lead us to the Father.  He came to break the curse of shame and blindness that held the sons and daughters of God captive and developed the mindsets of orphanhood in us.  

The orphan mindset causes us to self-protect, rely on our own limited knowledge and reasonings, and live in constant fear of rejection and unworthiness.  Through His death and resurrection, Jesus abolished the orphan spirit by opening back up the door to our Father’s house, reuniting us with our true Father in heaven.  In Galatians 4, the Apostle Paul summarizes Christ’s work in exactly this way… “when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

 So, if the dream of God’s heart is that we would know Him and take Him at His Word, then we must know Him as our Father.  “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1)  We must take Him at His word, trusting that as our Father and Creator, He alone knows who we are. “Thus says the Lord, who created you, and He who formed you: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.” (Is. 43:1) 

If His dream is that we would believe that we are loved and that He is only good, then we must begin really trusting what He has said. 

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). 

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17) 

The work of believers is to believe.  God’s dream for his creation for us to be a family that works together as one, partnering with Him to redeem the earth.  And though is a hard thing to fathom, the kingdom of heaven actually advances by love.  We must allow His Word and the Spirit to transform us through believing, so that we can say like John, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16)

If this causes a quickening in your Spirit, ask the Father to show you what is true.  Ask Him what the dreams of His heart are for you.  Ask Him how much He loves you and what He has in mind when He created you.  And as you hear what He says, believe.