"May Your Dreams Come True" by David Nelson

Posted: 2008-02-23 18:10:38

May Your Dreams Come True      by David Nelson    2-21-08 

It is a recurring theme in movies, books, and most importantly in the Scriptures, where we see a person waiting for “their time” to come and then the Lord (sometimes suddenly) launches them into their destiny. What I mean by “their time” is the period of their life that they were created for and destined by God to fulfill. What is your dream for how the Lord will yet use you?

Think about Moses living to be about 120 years old. The first 40 years (preparation), the next 40 years a shepherd in the wilderness (feeling, I’m sure, some disappointment, regrets, or wondering, “Is there more I am to do?” Maybe Moses had an unfulfilled dream in his heart till he was 80, “Does God still want to use me, could the dreams and vision deep in my heart still be ahead of me? I still feel there must be more ahead for me?” Then suddenly, one day, a burning bush. And Moses was launched into the last 40 years of his life that was his destiny. Quite an adventure he had ahead wouldn’t you say?

Think about Joseph, 17 years old, the dreams he had, sold as a slave by his brothers, almost murdered by his brothers. Then 13 years later, still in slavery and in prison. I’m sure he thought about his dreams. “Does the Lord still have good goals ahead for me, will I still accomplish the dreams deep in my heart?” Then suddenly, one night, the Pharaoh had his own troubling dream (did not the Lord know ahead of time the exact night and date Pharaoh’s dream would come?) Come quickly out of your prison, out of your waiting and wondering time. Take off your old clothes, get shaved and presentable, your time has come Joseph, you are now entering a new chapter of your life, your new adventure and the fulfilling of your destiny.

Think about Gideon of the Old Testament and Saul (Paul) of the New Testament. Gideon was threshing out wheat in a wine press. He was hiding his doings so that his enemies (the Midianites) who were coming into the land wouldn’t get his food. Many others were hiding in dens and caves of the mountains also. I’m sure Gideon was discouraged (and maybe a little angry and bitter) when he said to his visitor (really an angel or the Lord Himself), “You say the Lord is with me and I am a mighty man of valor? If the Lord is with us why have all these bad things befallen us? Where are his miracles of old that we have been told about? But now the Lord has forsaken us,” that seems clear. “Also I am the least in my father’s house.”

Gideon needed some coaxing to believe that he had something great to do for the Lord, though I am sure he also had dreams deep in his heart as to his destiny and how he would or could be used for the Lord. Then suddenly, when fire rose up out of the rock and consumed Gideon’s present of a delicious meal for his visitor, then Gideon was launched into his new adventures with the Lord.

Saul of Tarsus became Paul suddenly on the road to Damascus when he entered the new chapter of his life he was destined to fulfill. There was a preparation time for Paul and I’m sure a burning desire in his heart to be used by the Lord greatly but into what? He had not been fully launched into his destiny as yet when he was Saul of Tarsus but now he was to be Paul the Apostle.

Now I would like to paint another picture for you. Imagine an older cowboy or a former hero of the “Old West” who has seen better days. He is sitting alone in a social setting in a public establishment at a table thinking about his past. In his day, he had great skills admired by everyone. He had already accomplished some great things in his life but not everything he had dreamed of had come to pass as he had hoped. Now he wondered, is there still more for me to do? Are all my days to accomplish great things behind me or are the dreams I feel in my heart for all I could have been or still desire to be, could these great things still be ahead? Like Moses and Joseph and Gideon and Paul who searched their own hearts, appreciating their past accomplishments but wondering and hoping that they still could accomplish what they were born to do. There were dreams deep in their hearts that God had put there that there was much more ahead if they could just believe that God would or could still use them greatly. And so, the former western hero sat, wondering if he was too old, wondering if his skills and gifts were still sharp enough to be used for God’s glory, was there a greater destiny for him, and if so, when and how would it ever come? If a great need arose for his town to need a hero again, how much coaxing would it take to get him to arise to the greatest adventure of his life that God had in store for him?

This is a time now for each one of us. This is the time that the Lord has chosen for us to be in. All the dreams and the vision deep in your heart have been smoldering. Your dreams may seem broken at times, many disappointments, or what others may see as failures, or the times of waiting for your dreams to come true have passed like water under the bridge. You know God has given you the skills and the gifts, you have seen them, and others have seen glimpses of them. Your gifts may be much greater than you know, you might be one in a thousand or one in a million with rare skills to be used by the Lord in this hour. You have a smoldering fire down deep inside (your dreams) that haven’t completely gone out. Who will coax you out of “retirement” like Moses and Gideon were? Who believes that you can do great things again or even a new and greater adventure, the challenge of your life, greater than anything done before? It is the Lord who will come suddenly, He knows what He can do with you, even what He will do with you, and what He has always planned for you to do. The dreams have been growing in you like a baby into its birth maturity in your womb. The Lord has put those growing dreams in you. Will you miss your destiny? Will you miss doing what God has for you to do? No, you are reading this. You are looking to Him and hoping in Him and He is the Author and Finisher of us. You just need someone to stir up the fire, stir up the smoldering embers. You just need to believe that God has a good plan for you and that He will fulfill all that He has planned for you. Suddenly God will come to you. The hour is now, there are things ahead we do not fully fathom. He is making us ready for this hour. He has need of thee. Just look up, take His hand, He sees you, He is working His plan out (He has been all along), you will be part of it, He’s stirring you up, He’s teaching you things to prepare you, get ready for the greatest hour, trust Him for your dreams (they are His dreams) to come true.

In the Mean Time, This is My Constant Desire and Prayer

In the mean time (as we look for the restoring of all things), as we are growing in the Lord each day and seeking to do His will every day, there is one prayer request that I am calling out to the Lord constantly. Lord, what is your will for me each day? Lord, I want so much to hear you say one day, “Well done, my good and faithful servant….” Lord, if I have any idols, I want them to fall and be broken and scattered in the dust. I want to say they are nothing to me and you (Lord) are everything. Lord, I want to be enthralled with you (intimacy with you in prayer and in all my daily walk), I want to get your work assignments to be done each day (what projects do you have for me today?). I want everything I do now that is not of you to become as ashes, as dung, as a toy that I’m no longer interested in. As a small candle at night so are my desires in the dark, but when you come to me more and more fully it will be like the sun coming up and it will be so light with your desires and your things that the candle of my desires will be nothing now. Lord, make my trivial pursuits each day fall away, let your greater light come. Remove all that is base and worldly from us (or give us strength to throw it all out), teach me how to forsake all and reject all that is not of you. Come suddenly and launch me. Your dream has been growing in me like a baby in the womb. Deliver it out. Let it birth out. Let it start to come out and please keep it moving out into the open. 

I am willing to talk with anyone about what the Lord has been saying to me, for I believe He has been saying similar things to others all around the world. Sometimes what I feel inside burns like a mighty furnace but sometimes my dreams are just smoldering coals that need to be stirred a bit by the encouragement of others, so then the fire flares up again.

Disappointments and much time waiting for the fulfillment of things in my heart takes a toll at times, who else out there has seen the same things? Who sees clearly what is wrong and what is needed? Who has some more pieces of the puzzle, how can we sharpen one another? Can we work together to bring these things out that the Lord has been showing us? So much needs to be restored to the Church and revived in the Church. So let us be together in this exciting time. What exciting things the Lord has ahead for all of us.

I would like to meet with others to seek the Lord, pray for revival, and make places for the Lord to come and dwell in our midst and be our King. When we come together we will hear from each one what the Lord has been saying to each and what manifestations of the Spirit will come forth through the members of His Body.