When God's dreams for you turn to reality
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How can you discern the difference between a God-given dream and a fantasy? Here is a simple, maybe even simplistic, guideline: If it is all about you, it is a fantasy. If it honors God and serves others, it may be a God dream.
Think back to Joseph's dreams and how he reported them when he was seventeen years old. Read aloud Joseph's simple statements and hear how they sounded like teenage fantasies (Genesis 37). Like many of God's instructions to us from day to day, Joseph, his brothers, and their father could not foresee all the details ahead that would turn those dreams into reality.
Joseph provides dream coaching for us. Look at his life from the perspective of his teenage years and flash forward to his commanding position in Egypt without pausing for what happened in between, and it appears as though everything happened just as Little Joe said it would.
Look at his life from his commanding position in Egypt back to his teenage dreams, and you see how it took time and challenges to develop those dreams. Reality is less like an iPhone snapshot and more like a Polaroid.
If you have a dream you believe God has placed in your heart, listen to it carefully, develop it wisely, steward it appropriately.
Listen to what God says through his word and through his daily direction of your steps. Where God is leading most often is closely connected to where you have been. What has he led you through to where you are? What are your top ten high points? What are your top ten hard times? What do they tell you about the path God has laid before you?
If you were to draw six simple sketches of your life story that best declare God's direction for your life to this point, what stories would they tell?
When God's dreams for you begin to turn into reality, make sure to keep them focused on others. There is always the temptation to make yourself a hero. Remember how God blessed Abraham to be a blessing to every people group in the whole world (Genesis 12:1-3; 17:1-9)? He wants to bless you to be a blessing as well. The more God blesses you and places in your hands, the more you are to overflow with goodness and grace to others.
My friend Dave Rhodes says, "The longer you are the hero, the harder it is to become a heromaker." Joseph was infinitely blessed by God. He shared his blessings with his brothers, his father, and the rest of the extended family. The family prospered and expanded greatly in the following years.
- What dream do you think God has given you?
- Where are you in the story?
- Who can help you develop your dream?
- How will you manage the blessings of your dreams by serving others?
- How will you become a heromaker?
 | 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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