Freedom; Our Dream!

July 31, 2025

Freedom; Our Dream!

The prayers we utter just before we die reflect most honestly what lies deep in our heart, soul, and mind. 

The superficial and the artificial as well as the shallow and the hollow no longer matter near as much.  In those weeks or days or moments before death comes, we often see what matters most and what motivates most is expressed in our prayers.

As we are about to be set free to live eternally with Jesus in heaven, our faith and our hope and our dreams become more obvious and more clear. 

It was the night before Jesus would be tortured and executed, that He engages in a time of prayer.  The setting is an olive tree grove near a small town.  The focus is God’s dream for Jesus’ life. 

The prayers of Jesus are so intense that He sweats sweat and He sweats blood.  His soul is in anguish when He considers what will happen in the next 24 hours.  Jesus desperately wants to live out God’s dream for His life as well as His own dream for His life.  And yet, Jesus asks if there is another path to the fulfillment of God’s dream.

In Matthew 26:38-39 Jesus says; “Then he said to them (the disciples), ‘My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’  And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want but what you want.’”

+Will it be Jesus’ will or the Father’s will?

+Will it be Jesus’ way or the Father’s way?

+Will Jesus choose the path or will the Father choose the path?

+Will Jesus choose the timing or will the Father choose the timing?

Just a bit later, Jesus prays again.  In Matthew 26:42 Jesus prays; “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  Hours before Jesus is to be executed, Jesus prays.  In His prayer, Jesus fully surrenders to the Father’s will, the Father’s way, and the Father’s dream. 

When Jesus dies, He experiences freedom to be and to do all that His Father in Heaven hoped and dreamed for Him.

When the dream for my life aligns with God’s dream for my life, there is freedom.  I have the freedom to choose the Father’s way, freedom to trust Jesus’ provision, and freedom to obey the Spirit’s leading.  I have the freedom to agree with the Father’s timing, freedom to put my faith in Jesus’ presence, and freedom to rely on the Spirit’s power.

Jesus has the freedom to choose His will or the Father’s will.  When death comes near, Jesus prays for direction and eventually chooses the Father’s will!  Jesus has the freedom to choose His way or the Father’s way.  When death is knocking on the door, Jesus chooses the Father’s way!

When I was young, I chased after my dream for several years.  My dream was not a bad dream.  However, the dream was not the dream Jesus had for my life.  When I finally surrendered my will to chase after Jesus’ dream for me, the Spirit gave me peace and joy I had never experienced before.  That peace was the assurance of the Holy Spirit that I was following God’s will and Jesus’ dream for my life.

Even though I am retired now, I still pray a prayer very similar to the one Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  My prayer is;

“Lord, not my will or way or dream, but Your will, Your way, and Your dream for me…whatever it is, whatever it takes, wherever it leads!”

I invite you to pray that prayer for your life three times a day for the next seven days.  Listen carefully to Jesus’ voice and the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

It matters not whether you are 16 years old, 36 years old, 56 years old, or 76 years old, the Father has a will for your life, Jesus has a dream for your life, and the Holy Spirit has a direction for your life.  Pray and listen.  Then, trust and obey!

In Matthew 26:42 we hear; “Again he went away for the second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.’”  How far are you willing to go to follow Jesus’ example?

Your act of surrender and your prayers asking for discernment and clarity about what is next in God’s dream for you can be filled with deep anguish as well as great joy. 

When your prayer is aligned with God’s dream, there is also freedom to be all that God created you to be.  That alignment of wills/dreams will begin to shift your perspective, your paradigm, and your life.  When that shift happens, your heart will take more and more delight in the Lord God!

Take Delight In The Lord!

Doug