Dream Again!

I love the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. He was a young man who had a God-given dream. Being youthful and with a touch of arrogance he boasted to his brothers about how he’d dreamed his brothers would all bow down to him. Certainly not the wisest course of action, with his brothers being so deeply jealous of him that he nearly lost his life. But not quite, because then Joseph started on the plan that God had for Joseph’s dream to come true. Instead of killing Joseph they sold him to traders, who took him to Egypt, a long way from home.

In those dark days and years that followed in Joseph’s life I wonder what he thought about his dream. I wonder if the dream would have been a very long lost memory of another time for Joseph. I wonder if he ever despised the dream, knowing that telling his brothers about it was what had landed him in Egypt in the first place. Or I wonder if he still believed it would come true, even in his darkest hours sitting in a stinking rotten jail with no sign of hope.

Dreams can be an important part of our lives. Dreams and the gift of interpreting dreams were certainly the defining part of Joseph’s life and story. We may not have had anything quite as dramatic as Joseph, but we may still have a dream or passion which we know is from God, and we deeply long to see happen in our lives. Maybe we’ve even told our family or friends about our dream and how we can’t wait for it to happen.

Then something strange seemed to happen - everything that we were dreaming starts to go wrong. It’s like the complete opposite of our dream starts unfolding. This may not be just for days or weeks; it could even go on for years. We may become so flattened over the course of time that if we were challenged about following our dream, we catch ourselves realising that we can’t even remember what our dream was.

If this is for you today I pray you’ll take heart from Joseph’s story. Joseph’s dream had to undergo severe testing before it came to pass. We often quickly gloss over the length of time it took for him to be reconciled with his brothers, but it was years, and Joseph didn’t have the benefit of reading the Bible to know how the story would unfold!

If you had a dream some years ago and your dream has seemingly died, the Holy Spirit wants you to call it to mind today. It’s time to dream again! I’m praying with you for the Holy Spirit to breathe new life into that dream. Where the testing period you’ve gone through has been so difficult, I’m praying for that to be released, and that you’ll find fresh hope through Jesus.

The day for Joseph surely did come where his dream came true, and he stood before his brothers, and they all bowed down to him. Though it’s been tough for you, I urge you to never give up on your dream. Let’s bring our dreams today to the dream-giver and dream-fulfiller - Jesus.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, I had a dream so many years ago that I believed to be from You, but it hasn’t happened. Actually the opposite has happened. I’ve had so many mixed feelings over the years towards my dream. Forgive me for the times where I’ve given up on the dream, or even forgotten it, because remembering it was too painful. I bring my dream to You, Jesus, the One who is the dream-giver and the dream-fulfiller. Out of the ashes would You fulfil my dream. I dare to dream again today, and trust You with the outcome. In Your name I pray, Amen.