God's transformative dreams for you

David Bowman Feb. 1, 2024

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Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelites swear a solemn oath, saying, "God will certainly come to your aid; then you must take my bones with you from this place" (Exodus 13:19).

Joseph's final dream was coming true. It would still be forty years before the final period was placed on his story at his burial. Even so, his old bones were on the way home.

Some dreams are fulfilled quickly. Some take a little longer. God-sized, God-given dreams may even take longer than our lifetimes to complete.

Joseph's early dreams were all about himself as he and others understood them. His final dreams were all about others. This is one of the ways you know your dreams are God Dreams. His dreams endure longer than our lives. They extend God's goodness and grace for generations.

God's dreams for you are truly transformative. Little Joe and Old Joe are the same person with the same relatives but with very different worldviews and God views. Take a look back at your own journey. Remember your teenage imaginings. Those ideas were so unformed and unfinished. Yet there was a stirring of greatness and goodness then.

Assess your current life. What does where you are now make possible? What could God do with you, what does he want to do with you, to help people now and in the future know and experience him? Daily living in God's presence and communion expands our understanding of his purpose in these moments and will amplify his grace for longer than we will live.

I have an acquaintance who has led well for decades. He is in his eighties now and is as fruitful and effective, perhaps even more so, than at any other time in his life. He is preserving his life work in such a manner and with such a plan that people a hundred years from now will still be shaped by what God did in him and through him.

What's your plan for the first hundred years after you die?

Joseph has been dead and gone for thousands of years, and yet his story still bears fruit in our lives. God gives no small dreams.

God has a plan for your life that will outlive your life even if nobody knows the details or tells your story. Here are some simple prayers to help you understand what God wants for you:

* How do you want to use my life to declare your glory and goodness?

* What do you want me to do day by day to know you and experience you and to help others do the same?

* How can I live the kind of life that continues its good effect long after I am dead and gone?

* What needs to move to the forefront of my thoughts and plans?

God's answers to these questions most likely will not come quickly. They will come in God's perfect timing and with the required resources.

Live a life bigger than your life by dreaming with God and developing that dream all the days of your life.

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David Bowman, (DMin, PCC) is the Executive Director of Tarrant Baptist Association in Fort Worth, Texas. He also serves as a Multiplying Trainer for Future Church Co. Learn More »

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