Live Free with Josh Howerton - Pursuing Dreams Wisely | Ep. 129 | Thursday August 3, 2023

Episode Date: August 3, 2023

Pursuing God can impact the way we think about His will and purpose for our lives. Pastor Mike discusses the principle of delighting in the Lord and making Him your primary passion, so you can trust that He's giving you the green light to pursue the dreams and desires He has placed in your heart. Let God’s guidance lead you in the pursuit of your dreams and desires. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.combe. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. A welcome to the Daily Drive podcast. My name is Mike and super grateful that you would tune in today. We've been talking for a while now about discovering and living in God's will for our lives.

And yesterday we left off with the verse from Psalm 37 that says, Delight yourself in the Lord. And he will give you the desires of your heart. And I promise you that I give you one more simple principle that could radically change the way we all think about the will of God for our lives. Here's the principle. if you are pursuing his person, then go wisely pursue your passions. It's the principle that says,

if that's true about you, if you are delighting in the Lord, if you are making him your primary passion, then you can believe this, that God is going to give you the green light, go ahead to pursue whatever passions are running deep in the currents of your heart. If you are pursuing his person,

then go wisely pursue your passions. You see, God has made us. He puts something in us. us. He put unique gifts, talents, aptitudes, personality in each one of us. He's put ideas in us. He's put visions in us. He's put visions in us. He's put desires in us. He is built into you, a passion, and he's wired you up for things that only you could really do the way that you could do them. And somewhere deep within us, God has stamped a unique passion that honors and brings glory to him. And as we delight in him, he starts to bring to the surface those dreams and those passions,

that unique giftedness, and he reveals to us how they all match up. And he says, listen, if you're making me the delight of your life, that your passion is to know me, then you have the freedom to pursue those desires that I put in your heart and chase after the dreams that I've birthed in you. That's the principle. If you're pursuing his person, then go wisely pursue your passions. Now, there's a couple of dangers here. Some of you're going to run out the door today and say, That's all I needed to hear, man. I got some passions, and I'm going to go pursue them. Whoa, look out.

See, maybe you've been so consumed by the questions of what do I do next, and where do I go next, that you're going to hit your knees for about maybe 30 seconds and say, okay, God, here I am, just want to know you, just want to spend some time with you, just want to delight in you for a few minutes, spend some time worship at you. Okay, that was great. Got to go, pursue these passions later. And you're going to run out bypassing, making God the delight of your heart. And if you do that, you'll wind up in the Sahara Desert without a canteen or a compass, lost and desperately thirsty.

I've been there. Remember we said that delighting myself and the Lord is saying, my one desire is you. Delighting myself and the Lord is saying, clarify my desires, rearrange all the desires of my heart. Delighting myself and the Lord is saying, your desires and my desires are one and the same. I just want to know your heart. I want to do the A part of that verse before I would ever expect the B part. Now, there's also a danger besides just bypassing A so you can get on with B. It's the danger that we will just unwisely pursue the passions of our heart,

that we will look in the wrong places for advice and direction as we pursue those passions. People say, I'm a little confused right now. I'm waiting for a little direction here. I need a sign. I'm trying to hear a voice. So maybe that voice or maybe that sign is going to come to me through like my horoscope. And so you've got people all over the world today reading something really insightful like, be careful in relationships because someone you haven't seen will pass by today.

You go, hey, that happened 3,000 times on the highway, on the way to work today. Or it might say, avoid bad investments, this is not a good financial cycle for you. And you're thinking, you're telling me, I just put 83 bucks of gas in my truck. I mean, who writes these things? Some will read your palm, they'll read your tarot cards, as they read your read your roll. wallet, they'll look deeply into your eyes or into their crystal ball or wherever they'll look, and they'll say, I can give you advice on your career and on your relationships. I can help you find the purpose of your life. And people flock to that stuff. And so God says to you and me,

the key is to wisely pursue those passions. And remember, I promise to guide you and lead you as you walk through your life. You don't need crystals and cards. You don't need to break open a fortune cookie or search your Sagittarian stars, let my wisdom guide you. So I want to give you some of the ways that God gives us guidance, ways to discern where he might be leading us. When you do get to a crossroads and you're wondering about a decision you need to make, when it really is, like this job or that job, this school or that school, here or there, him or her, it's been my experience that God has at least four ways of helping us navigate those decisions and have peace that we really are following his leadership. I think God leads us through the filter of his word, the presence of his spirit,

the counsel of close spiritual companions, and the convergence of circumstances. Come back tomorrow and we'll start unpacking those. And just let me leave you with our verse today. Delight yourself from the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Praying that as you wisely pursue your passions today, that you'll pursue him first. See you next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m.

and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe. slash daily drive.