The Cost of Dreams
Genesis 37:6, “He(Joseph) said to them, ‘Listen to this dream I had…”
Many people, even a lot of non-Christians, know the story of Joseph. A few years ago there was a musical made about him. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat I never saw this presentation because I’m not a fan of musicals.(I think Mary Poppins was the last musical I saw.) However, I feel pretty confident in saying that the producers, directors and actors did not worry much about Biblical accuracy. I say this because of how distorted from the truth most Bible stories are after Hollywood or Broadway get a hold of them. But this does show that there is a general interest in public about religous matters.
Joseph was a dreamer. He knew that God had Big Plans for him. As a boy Joseph was his father’s favorite; the Bible says that this was because Joseph was born in his father’s(Jacob’s) old age. I don’t know how old his father was, but the birth of Joseph came as a real surprise to Jacob. Many times God has a way of surprising people who are close to Him. Kind of like a reward to them for being faithful to Him. This was the case, I believe, with Joseph; God rewarded Jacob with this unexpected gift because of his faithfulness. There is a GREAT REWARD waiting,in the future, for all who remain faithful to God! I’m not a REWARD ORIENTED CHRISTIAN, but I believe you will also be rewarded by God in other ways throughout life as you are faithful to Him.
Joseph had a dream that he would one day be great. He shared his dream with his family, and this caused his brothers to hate him even more. Many times when we get a vision, or dream, from God about the glorious future that is ahead of us people will resent us. They might say that we are making ourselves out to be “somebody” when we are really “nobodies”, but there are no such things as “nobodies”; everybody is a “somebody”. I mean the King of this Universe came to this earth and died for ME and YOU. That means that YOU are somebody very important! When God gives you a dream then hold on to it no matter what others say, and no matter what you have to go through. I can not even imagine what Joseph went through(click this link to read the Biblical story), but because Joseph remained faithful to God; and held onto His dream, and God brought it to pass!
Think about the life of Jesus; He had a dream from God, Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” The dream that God gave Jesus cost Him His life, but God was faithful and we are now saved because of the dream Jesus had.
When God gives you a dream, it may at times seem to be costing you more than you can give, but if you you hold to His dream; and stay faithful to God the end result will ALWAYS be more glorious than you can imagine!
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Father, I thank You for the dreams that You give, and I ask that You help me keep Your dreams in my mind when the hard times come because I know that Your end result is greater than I can understand. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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The above image can be found at:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/945220.Joseph_the_Dreamer
Yes, You Can Ministry 