60 Seconds – Dreamers

Norman Vincent Peale challenged us, “Become a dreamer. Go back to the greatest dream you ever had. Dreams are completely identified with possibilities. If there are no dreams, there are no possibilities, there are no dreams. It is a basic unity. To have possibilities, you must have dreams.”

The root for dream is chalam, and is used over one hundred times in the Old Testament. One meaning is “to receive a message of God under divine inspiration.” It is the word used by Joseph’s brothers when they referred to him in Genesis 37:19 as “this dreamer.” Joseph’s divine message from God to his heart enabled him to persevere until the dream God gave him came to pass.

In Revelation 3:11, we are admonished, “Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” The Message renders this, “Keep a tight grip on what you have.” The passing of time, difficulty, disappointments, people, etc., can all contribute to giving up on the dreams God has given us. If not cautious, one can lose their reward.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe challenged, “Dream no small dreams, for they have no power to move the hearts of men.” Paul, while standing before King Agrippa, told him of his Damascus Road experience, and the mandate from Christ that he received, “to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.” He then stated that he had not been “disobedient to the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:18 and19). Later, he was able to write to Timothy, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). His vision and dream that God put in his heart, is still moving the hearts of men two thousand years later.

God spoke to the heart of George Mueller about the horrible conditions of orphans in England and gave him a dream of caring for them. By faith in God, he established orphans’ houses in Bristol, loving, feeding, clothing, and educating thousands of children. The dream God placed in his heart not only impacted generations of orphans, a city, and a nation, but also the world of the nineteenth century.

Remember, “If you can dream it, you can do it!” (Walt Disney)