Dr. Mike Murphy
“If you can dream it, you can do it!” Walt Disney
“Hope is a waking dream.” Aristotle
“The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.” William Shakespeare
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” William Arthur Ward
“Nothing happens until we first dream.” Carl Sundberg
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.” Harriet Tubman
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis
It is often said, “This world was built on dreams.” I would have to disagree with this popular quote, This world is not built on dreams, but by the One who gives us those dreams. From the Patriarchs to the Apostles, we have read of the Lord speaking to us through dreams, Revealing His plan and purpose for this world and for our lives. Often in dreams, He has shown us the hope of tomorrow, and He has declared to us the reality of today.
Through a dream, the Lord reminded Abraham of his future. His promise of a son, and His promise to those many descendants who would follow(Genesis 15:1). He confirmed that covenant and blessing with Jacob also through a dream.(Genesis 28:10-17). Through a dream, God showed Samuel a young shepherd boy. A boy who would be made king, and through whose lineage would come the King of Kings(1 Samuel 3). Through a dream, God gave the son of that shepherd boy wisdom(1 King 3:5). In a dream, the Lord showed Daniel a vision. A vision of the future history of this world, and the events that would define man. Zacharias was given a dream of a son, a son who would grow to be ‘one crying in the wilderness’(Luke 1:5-25). At the time of Jesus’ trial, the wife of Pilate had a dream of a righteous Man, and warned her husband against persecuting Him(Matthew 27:19). In a dream, a Roman centurion named Cornelius was ordered to send for Peter, and the Good News was brought to the Gentile world(Acts 10:1-48).
As the Holy Spirit fell on the people, Peter quoted the words of the prophet Joel. Words that hold the purpose of today, and the promises of tomorrow. “In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.’”(Acts 2:17). We see in this verse the Lord’s great desire to never leave us blind, His desire to communicate with us by all means. His Words speak to us. His Voice leads us. And His Spirit guides us.
As the spotlight of my time on this stage begins to dim, my dreams for each of you do not fade. I dream that many of you will find your way to that stage. With a loud and clear voice, you will proclaim the Truth to the audience in front of you, and His love and His purpose will be known. In the days ahead, the stage may not always be pleasant. The audience may not always cheer at the words you speak. Others may, and will, try to take that stage from you, speaking words that do not hold true to the script. But stand strong in the middle of that stage, and speak loud so that all may hear.
My dreams show me that the coming days may not be easy ones for the Church. Days of which the preparation to harvest the field will take place. A time that the wheat and the tare will be separated, with each no longer mingled together, making it easy for all to identify each. A harvest that will not come easy. The tare, or the weeds, have rooted themselves deep into the soil of this world, and will not be plucked out easily. A day in which all will be made clear, and each that make up this Church will once and for all have to decide, are they wheat or are they chaff. Before that day when the wheat is lifted out, and the chaff is left behind, this Church may see some turbulent days. Days that may challenge you, days that may seem often as nightmares instead of dreams. But hold tightly to those dreams that the Lord has for you!
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11). Never give up on the dreams that the Lord has for you. In those dreams you will find your hope, and in those dreams you will find your future. In those dreams are plans beyond all you could begin to imagine. Extraordinary things that the Lord is calling each of you to. Plans that He can use to change the lives of those around you. Plans that will open doors you did not even know were there. Doors that will open your life to places you could not have imagined, to accomplishments for His glory you never thought you were capable of achieving. In His plans you are not just capable, you are able!
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but where dreams come true, there is life and joy.” (Proverbs 13:12). Dream to do great things for the Kingdom of God! Dream to fulfill all the Lord desires for your life. In those desires you will find His joy, you will find His love, and you will find His purpose. The Lord desires so much for you, far more than you are capable of desiring for yourself. But His desire does not begin in your dreams of tomorrow, they begin in His dreams of you today. Pray the Lord will make obvious all the opportunities He gives you each day, and do not let those opportunities pass you by. As I have often said, the opportunities you let pass today, is the blessing you will not know tomorrow. I dream of a life for each of you that are filled with these blessings!
“It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools will not turn from evil to attain them.” (Proverbs 13:19). Trust what the Lord has in mind for you, making the dreams He shows you a reality. Do not let the words this world will tell you of tomorrow, stop you from seeing the dreams the Lord has for you today. In those dreams the Lord has for you can be found wisdom, not the nightmare of a fool’s heart. Let that wisdom lead you to boldly proclaim His Word, not to take the foolish path of cowering in corners. His Word tells us, “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.”(Jeremiah 23:24). I pray the Lord will never find you hiding, more afraid of what the world might say than proclaiming to all what our Lord can do. The Lord desires for you courage, the courage to stand firmly in the middle of that room, facing this world with His Truth in one hand, and His Word in the other. Do not face this world with fear, but with confidence. Three hundred and sixty-six times we find in the Bible the Lord telling us “Fear Not”. A constant reminder for every day, of every year. I pray in these approaching days, each of you will be free of the fears that restrict you, and confident in His hand to guide you!
I pray the Lord will fill your life with the dreams He has for you. That His desires will become your desires. That His wants will become your wants. That His needs will become your needs. That His dreams for you, will become the reality that guide you each day. That the dreams He gives you of tomorrow, will be found in all your words and actions today. Take pride in being a dreamer, when you dream each day for the Lord. Embrace and remember yesterday, live for God today, and help fulfill His dream of tomorrow! Dream big, dream extraordinarily, dream for the Lord!
Praying that each of your days and nights will be filled with visions of the Lord’s dream for each of you!