I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I prayed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
And they turn your dreams to shame
And still I dream he'd come to me
That we would live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream, I dreamed
English words by: Herbert Kretzmer
These are the words of the song from the production of Les Miserables.
God created you to dream, to have a vision, purpose for your life, a destiny that only you can fulfil! To often we allow life to delay or sabotage our dreams, so they fall to the ground or live in the recesses of our minds. We rehearse the ‘what if’s’. The ‘coulda, shoulda, woulda’!
Children have an inbuilt inexhaustible vivid imagination that can turn and everyday ordinary object or item of clothing and make it extraordinary. No child dreams of being insignificant! I love watching my grandchildren act out their role as a super hero (now we have dressing up costumes that make the ‘pretend’ play more real). Fighting for justice and destroying the bad guys. They have all the moves and facial expressions and they know the script! Ive watched my granddaughters put on a performance where they are the pop icon complete with accents. A friend recently shared with me that she remembered as a child that she would blow up balloons and tie them on her back as air tanks and go deep sea diving into her bedroom carpet!
What did you dream of as a child? Did you dream of becoming a doctor, astronaut, nurse, fireman, footballer, actor a policeman or a millionaire?
The list is endless. My youngest daughter once said that when she grew up that she wanted to be a robber! Thankfully she changed her mind!
“Refuse to be average let your heart soar as high as it will”. A W Tozer
To fulfil a dream ,first you need to have one, then you need the right people around you to inspire and help you achieve your dream. You can’t be lazy and expect others to do the work! My son in law was a professional premier league football player, it wasn’t his hobby and he didn’t become one over night. It started as a dream when he was a child, with a love and talent for the game. His parents were instrumental in him achieving his dream. They took him to games so his talent could improve, this took time, energy and money. As a child he was dependent on the support and help of his parents. They believed in him, but without this help and guidance he may not have fulfilled his dream. And now my daughter is taking one of their sons to play in football teams so that he might fulfil his dream of being a professional football player.
A parent should be a child’s biggest fan. People in authority have a tremendous privilege and responsibility towards those in their care; to encourage and not dampen the dream in those hearts. You may not ‘see’ greatness in another individual, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there! Your negative words can pour cold water on those seeds just like words of encouragement can add fuel to the fire that has been sown in a heart.
The Father, speaks of you as ‘the apple of his eye’. He gave you the dream and wants to help you fulfil it. ‘ Take delight in the Lord and he will give you your hearts desires’. God is your biggest fan!
Have you fulfilled your dream or is it locked away in the attic?
I don’t remember having a specific dream as a child, but the moment I became a born again christian, I came alive! I began to understand what being a christian was all about. I had an insatiable desire to read the Bible. I liked sleep, so it was amazing to me that I was a wake around 5.30am, I’d go down stairs to the kitchen, make myself a coffee and worship, read and pray and my capacity to dream began to change. That dream wasn’t always when I was sleeping, but it was a dream that began to grow on the inside of me that I was aware of while awake! I didn’t feel at all equipped for it, I was new believer, hungry for God and wanting to take in everything that I was seeing and hearing. I would go to church every Sunday with a fire in my heart that maybe this would be the day that Holy Spirit would sweep in Just like I’d been reading about in the bible!
I began to dream about preaching. Fear and excitement would grip me. I could think of a thousand reasons why I was disqualified, not least because at that time women did very little in the church in the way of preaching. We could make the tea, work with children, all good and necessary but rarely did women speak or lead communion. This was so problematic for me as I came from a professional background where there was more equality! Thank God that I didn’t attend a church where hat wearing for women was compulsory.I’m not sure that I would have remained saved!
The church that I was attending would gather people at the front to begin worship whilst others were arriving.So often the Lord would tell me to put my hand on a particular person and I would know instinctively who that was. It became a battle as only the elders were allowed to pray with folks. I would feel my being propelled to that individual and the next thing I would hear was a thud as they fell to the ground. I had my eyes tightly closed and within myself I would be saying ‘it wasn’t me’. I was afraid of being told off and in all honesty I didn’t really know what I was doing. God was doing things with the people that I touched and in a way I was learning to be obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The Pastor never stopped me, he acknowledged it silently but we never discussed it, which led me to feeling insecure in knowing ‘my’ place in the church. I didn’t have any formal theological training, I hadn’t attended bible school and besides I had a young family to consider. The Holy Spirit continued my spiritual education as the dream of having a place where believers could gather and experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit grew bigger in my heart!
There was this amazing monthly meeting in my city called ‘power to the people’. You had to go early to get a seat, there was always a queue at the door! Even in the depths of winter with all the snow nothing would stop me from going! The one month we were late arriving we had to sit upstairs in the balcony. I was having a grumble to the lord when he said to me, ‘watch and learn, I will teach you how to flow with my spirit.’ So that night the Holy Spirit began to develop my training teaching me how the leader became aware of where the Holy Spirit was moving, who He was on and how to handle it and how to flow with Him during a service. Holy Spirit taught me so much in those meetings. I would watch Benny Hinn on TV and watched how he prayed for people and I would try it out and be amazed at what the Holy Spirit did. He was encouraging me, to take risks and exercise my faith. When the Holy Spirit is moving through you its amazing how the fear of man is strangely absent! I was being trained to fulfil my dream of having a place where believers could grow and experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and fulfil their God given destinies. In all honesty I hadn’t connected what I was experiencing would lead to me starting a church!
Your dream is just as important to God as mine was. God doesn’t force a dream upon you. I believe that he is bringing out the gold, the gifts that are already there. What you don’t have to fulfil your dream isn’t the issue. The issue is, will you allow the Holy Spirit to be the major share holder in your dream, the CEO , your senior partner. Whatever you are involved with work wise, is part of establishing the Kingdom of God here on the earth.
‘There is no such thing as secular employment for the believer. Once we are born again, everything about us is redeemed for Kingdom purposes. It is all spiritual. It is either a legitimate Kingdom expression, or we shouldn’t be in involved at all’. Bill Johnson, Dreaming with God.
When God awakens a dream in your heart, you won’t be able to let it go. You will chase it until God’s purpose has been fulfilled. I couldn’t let let go of the dream that God gave me, I tried to ignore it, doubted it, fought it, but finally when I embraced it I was at peace! It wasn’t all plain sailing or without cost. There were many tears and heartache and some of the heartache was self inflicted. Would I do somethings differently? You bet, hindsight is a wonderful thing!, but its those valley experiences that teaches us the most and about ourselves. When we allowHoly Spirit into those experiences they become stepping stones, not stumbling blocks!
A prayer that you might consider praying:
Father God I’m sorry that I’ve left my dream in the attic. Forgive me for allowing life and others chock my dream. Will you please resurrect it and help me to fulfil it. I chose to forgive those of whom I allowed to kill my dream and forgive me of any judgements that I’ve made towards them. Thank you father God that it’s never too late to start over! Amen
Or
Holy Spirit please give me a dream that goes way beyond my natural ability and a passion to fulfil it. I want to leave a legacy that will continue through my family and bless the community that I live in, touching and encouraging others to dream big also. Amen
‘You’re never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream’. C S Lewis
‘Now to Him who is able to ( carry out his purpose and end) do superabundantly more than all we dare ask or think (infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes or dreams) according to His power that is at work within us’. Eph 3:20 MSG
Next week I’ll be looking at the dream of Joseph and others.
Let me know your dreams and comments through the live chats!
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