Turning dreams into results

I struggle to dream.  I am not talking about when we go to sleep at night and dreams come, well, I struggle with that too, but I am talking about the preferred future dreaming.  Think about your future, what do you want your life to be like in the next 20 years? Is that too far? What about 10 years?  Still too long?  What about 5 years? One year? A month? Next week?

What are you thinking about? What do you want to change or do differently?  What are you looking forward to? What are you planning and purposing to do?

Once you have that idea in place, what are you willing to do to get it accomplished? What are you willing to sacrifice?  The most difficult thing to do when you dream of a preferred future is to take the first steps to get it done.  So often, we are crippled by taking the first step that we don’t even start to make progress to our dream.

We need to get to a point where we cannot stand our current situation to allow our dreams to come to fruition.  We need to be willing to risk to see the dream develop.  What would it take to get you to that situation?

The people of Israel got to that position more than once throughout their history, just read the book of Judges.  They found themselves in a position where they were in captivity, needed to be set free and were dreaming big, not for their own glory, but for God’s.  In Psalm 126 we read:

1 When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion,

    we were like men who dreamed.

2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,

    our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

    "The Lord has done great things for them."

3 The Lord has done great things for us,

    and we are filled with joy.

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,

    like streams in the Negev.

5 Those who sow in tears

    will reap with songs of joy.

6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

They took the pain of captivity with them into the fields, remembering those that were lost in the capture and captivity.  They remembered the work of God to free them from the atrocities of slavery.  They cried out for God to move, prayed for Him to forgive and set them free, and waited for Him to act.  In the tears of sowing, they had hope for the harvest.

They dreamed of the harvest that God would have for them, while He healed their wounds.  Are you ready to dream of what God would have for you in the next weeks, months, or years?  Are you willing to let God work through your pains to do something that will bring healing and hope?  Are you ready to point to Him as the doer of great things?  Will you have joy anticipating what God will do?