In 1975 Gary Wright wrote about dreaming in his hit single “Dream Weaver”. Lines like “…driver take away my worries of today, and leave tomorrow behind… ‘cross the highways of fantasy, help me to forget today’s pain.” Still others like RFK and MLK sought through their speeches to inspire and share their dreams to bring change to our County, culture and world. The 4th definition in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary for the word dream is “strongly desired goal or purpose”. Everybody needs a dream. And I think that everyone at some point in their lives has dreams. Many of which we never act on because they’re more like, “what if’s” rather than “must be’s.” In fact, I believe God wired you to dream dreams. From Joseph to Daniel to Peter, the Bible is filled with stories of God giving his people great dreams. Peter quoted from the Old Testament as he preached for the first time in Jerusalem, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams(Acts 2:17 NLT).
Clearly, I’m not talking about the kind you have during the night after that extra bite of your late snack. I’m pursuing in these ponderings to provoke your imagination. So when you sit to dream or consider where you’re going, what are you dreaming of for yourself? For your family? Our congregation? Our Communities? You know, Jesus said something interesting in the parable of the farmer that I want use to illustrate what might be the two biggest factors impeding your dream life. He said…” The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced” (Matthew 13:22NLT). If God wired you to dream and you’re not dreaming much or you’ve forgotten what your dream was because of “life”. Maybe its time to recognize that the our cultural affluence has brought into our lives both more worries and more places/things to spend ourselves on rather than getting a dream from God and fully pursuing it. So bring a stop to the disorientation of 2018 and sit with your bible, pen, paper and ask the Holy Sprit to renewed your mind with dreams of God’s plans for you and the ones that through you will cause your family, congregation and community to flourish! The Bible says, “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ” (Romans 10:17NLT).
Pastor Mark
1Cor. 2:9