How God Uses Dreams to Advance His Kingdom
by Joyce Dunaway @DunawayJoyce
As you pursue the dream God has placed in your heart, do you often feel like you’re not making progress—that you’re working but don’t see any results?
If God has called you to a specific task, He will give you the resources to accomplish it.
God often appeared to people in the Bible through dreams and visions. When Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau, God appeared to him in a dream.
He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.” (Genesis 28:12-13).
After presenting gifts to Jesus, the Wise Men were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod so they returned to their country by another route (Matthew 2:12).
When the Wise Men left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” (Matthew 2:13).
When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). It is through the presence of the Holy Spirit that God guides and leads us to His will for our lives.
Following are some ways we can help advance God’s kingdom by pursuing our dreams:
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CONFIRM HIS CALLING
Spend time with God in prayer and through reading His Word to make sure your dream journey is what God has placed in your heart. We often waste time going off on tangents of what we want to do instead of following God’s leading. The Lord will work out His plans for my life (Psalm 138:8).
TRUST HIS GUIDANCE
Trust that God’s plan is best. The Lord will guide you always (Isaiah 58:11). He is preparing your heart and working out the details so your efforts will produce fruit.
BE PATIENT WITH HIS TIMING
In the Bible, many characters tried to rush ahead of God to accomplish what He had promised them. For example, Sarah talked Abraham into having a child with a servant instead of waiting for God to give them an heir. The result was disastrous. We will make mistakes, but rushing ahead of God’s timing will not reap the best benefits. Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing (Psalm 37:34).
PRAY WITH EXPECTATION
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly (Psalm, 5:3). When we pray for specific things, God will answer. The answer may be yes, no, or wait. Also, God may answer in a way we don’t expect—often with something better than we imagined. We serve a big God who can do anything. When we pray desiring to do His will, He will use us in His Kingdom work.
I would love to hear how pursuing your dream has helped advance God’s Kingdom. Please share your comments in the section below.
