When Genesis says that ‘Joseph had a dream’, the writer meant it quite literally. Joseph was sleeping and dreamed about fields of grain, which was one of the first steps in his journey towards God’s will. The moments that we hear God in crystal-clear ways like prophetic dreams are amazing, and can spur us on to chase His plan wholeheartedly. We have to remember though, that God can give us incredible dreams and goals in less obvious ways. If we’re not sure whether our life plan has been given to us by God, or whether we even have a life plan at all, we need to take a step back. We should spend some time analysing ourselves – what are our strengths and weaknesses? The things that we love to do? The connections that we have around us. We can ask God to use those things to reveal His plan for us. For a lot of us, God gives us dreams by shaping our life and letting us discover our passion and calling naturally. Proverbs 16:9 says: ‘We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it’ (MSG). God directs our steps. He’s in the day-to-day, building our future. We shouldn’t think we’ve missed the boat because the next step hasn’t been revealed to us in an epic way. It’s up to us to be prepared. Dreams take sacrifice and hard work. Look at Joseph. ‘Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more’ (Genesis 37:5 NIV). He had to trade in any chance of his brothers liking him to follow God’s plan, but he overcame real hardships and achieved incredible things for God’s kingdom because of that.

What Now?

Get together with a friend and pray over what you think your God-given dream or goal might be.