Hanging on to the Dream

Imagine you are one of 12 sons and a few daughters thrown in for good measure.  A big family with a great heritage, and a few really strange happenings as well.  Your family has big plans for the future and since birth you seem to have your Dad's favor.  When everyone else got K-Mart, you got Armani.  When your brothers ate Happy Meals, you got Steak.  While others worked the fields, you lay protected at home.  And your brothers grow angrier and angrier.  Now imagine that you've been sleeping, while they've been tending cattle and you walk into the kitchen, stretch your lanky arms out and with a big yawn say, "What ya'll been doing?"  Well with grunts and groans they inform you of what they think of your question and as they prepare to get back to work, you pipe up with, "Hey guys - I have a dream."

That's pretty much the story from the Bible of a man named Joseph.  Joseph shares his dream with his brothers (which probably wasn't the smartest thing he ever did), and explained how in his dream they were all going to be bowing down to him someday.  Well if they weren't angry enough, they certainly were boiling now.  Your dreams and your clothes and your preferred status put you in position few would want to be - in the crosshairs of 10 angry men.  They place him in a pit, fake his death, sell him into slavery aboard a transport to Egypt and are done with his dreams. . . or so they thought.

Joseph always amazed me - if anyone could have been fed up with God's dream in his life it was him.  Sold into slavery wasn't bad enough.  He digs out of the pit only to end up in prison accused of attempted rape.  Forgotten in prison, he still held on to the dream.  Finally the call from Pharoah comes and all of Joseph's dreaming and waiting pays off.  He is elevated to second in command of all Egypt and when famine hits, his brothers come and bow before him, fulfilling the dream he'd had so long ago as just a young teenager. 

God is great in that He births dreams within us, plans that He has for us that He gives us a glimpse of as we live our life for Him.  The only problem is that most of the time He doesn't reveal His schedule and how it relates to the dream.  He also doesn't share with us what it will take to bring that dream to reality.  He knows that if He showed us the complete picture, many would drop out of the dream fulfillment process and take an easier road BUT they would never fulfill the GREAT destiny that God had planned for them.  I wonder if Joseph would have so readily embraced the dream if he knew the price.  Nevertheless, if he does not embrace the dream of God, Israel as a nation probably dies of starvation before they ever become more than a single family. 

Habakkuk 2:3 says - "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."

Just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean that God has forgotten or you had a bad pizza.  It just means that the dream He's working on your behalf is not quite ready.  Like an amazing recipe, with all the ingredients, if one is missing, the completed product won't be as good.  So let the dream come to pass.  Don't give up, Don't give in.  Even if the path of the dream takes you through the pits and even into prison - it won't last forever - it is for an appointed time - God did not lie - wait for it - it will surely come!

I know it's been awhile.  I've been in a bit of desert place but I'm confident that He is bringing me out and through it all, the report of the Lord remains GREAT.  God bless you all - my wife keeps singing this song and so I close with its words - "Dream a dream if you dare to, dream a dream if you care to, dream a dream and prepare to see what the Father will do for you to make your dream come true. . ." Today I encourage you to hold on to your dream - the fulfillment is on the way!  Love you all!

Waiting In The Hall

It has been said, by many I'm sure, that when God closes a door, He opens another. While I'm confident of the truth contained in that statement, it is the period of time between the slam of one door and the whine of the hinge of the new one that requires the most patience and can create the most frustration. It is the period of time when you are waiting in the hall that will truly prepare you for the new opportunities that lie just on the other side of the soon to be opening door.

I've been thinking this week about the life of Joseph. An amazing man with an even more amazing story. God had an amazing plan in store for his life but in order to bring it to pass, he had to go through various steps of preparation along the way. Joseph knew he was destined for greatness. He knew that God had leadership in his future. He knew that he was intended to rule and reign but he didn't know when and he didn't know where. Joseph was so convinced of his future that he began to share his destiny with his brothers - only they didn't want to hear about it. Armed with a dream and a belief in his future, Joseph promptly finds himself thrown into a pit, sold into slavery and his obituary written and delivered to his father. SLAM! The door shuts.

Joseph arrives in a foreign land, forced to learn a language he has never spoken, but when he hears the squeak of the hinge of a new door beginning to open, he seems to understand that his time in the hallway has been well worth it. Joseph goes to work for Potiphar, the head of the Egyptian Secret Service and he thinks that he has arrived at his God-given destiny. Only the same deceptive spirit that he found amongst his brothers is still working in Egypt as he is falsely accused and unfairly imprisoned in an Egyptian jail. SLAM! The door shuts!

After spending a long time in solitary confinement, Joseph gets some new cell mates. A butler and a baker are brought to the prison to spend some time and Joseph can hear the door starting to open. These men are from the palace. They serve the Pharaoh. Surely these men will be able to not only hear his story but provide him with an audience with someone who has enough authority to overturn his conviction. Joseph interprets their dreams for them - one is destined for a return to his job and the other is gonna be executed . . . but Joseph will surely get out of prison after helping his new found friends. Only they forget about him. SLAM! The door shuts yet again.

Finally - God gives Pharaoh a dream that no one can interpret. His former cell mate remembers a time when he'd had a dream and Joseph had provided him an interpretation. He shares this information with Pharaoh and suddenly a new door begins to creak open - the door of destiny that Joseph had dreamed about so many years earlier. Joseph rises to second in command of all Egypt and he provides a economic and agricultural solution in the midst of famine. And the door swings WIDE open and Joseph realizes God's dream for his life.

As great as Joseph's destiny was - I would say it was the lessons learned in the pit and in the prison that truly prepared him for the palace. So many of us want God to open the door to the palace straight away but He knows ultimately what is best. He knows that we aren't prepared for the palace and so He leaves us out in the hall to teach us and to prove us and to prepare us for the pinnacle of our destiny. Sometimes, we have to be betrayed and placed in the pit. Sometimes, we may even be lied about and sent to prison. Sometimes, we may think we are prepared and yet we discover we've been forgotten about and left to remain in the hall a little longer. Don't let the frustration of the hall destroy you. Rather, just understand that the hall is designed to prepare you for the moment when the new door opens.

As you wait in the hall, what is God trying to teach you today? Is he teaching you patience. Maybe He's defining your character. Maybe He's purifying your heart. Perhaps He's perfecting your skills or enhancing your sensitivity to His spirit. Maybe he's just trying to make you more thankful. Whatever it is - don't allow the hall to become your coffin. Understand that you are only there for a time - and if you will just be patient, God's best is yet to come. He didn't birth a dream in you to allow it die in the pit or in the prison. He's got a place in the palace designed for you.

God bless each of you - during this week of Thanksgiving - take the time to count your blessings and be thankful for for His hand being at work in your life. God's best is just ahead and His doors are about to open. I hear the creak of the hinge and the turn of the knob. Just be patient - amazing things are in store. Love you all --- RP