2025 IS HERE! At the beginning of each year, I like to reflect on the previous year and take inventory of things I excelled in, as well as things I would do differently. However, the past cannot be changed. What we accomplished or did not accomplish in 2024 is forever in the history book of our lives. However, before us lies another year. We have a blank book to be written once again. How will your history book read this year?
I want to encourage you to rekindle the dreams that perhaps you had for many years. When we make God the center of our lives, I believe the thoughts and plans He planned for us are wrapped up in the dreams and desires that are in us. All my life, even as a young child, I dreamed of being married. Not only did I dream of being married but that dream was further enhanced by the fact that I dreamed I would marry a minister.
That dream was very important to me. I knew my destiny was wrapped up in it. I was so consumed with the dream, that as I was looking for a mate, I would never allow myself to get emotionally attached to someone who was not pursuing ministry. I stayed focused on the dream until it became a reality in my life.
What dreams have not been fulfilled in your life? It is time to kindle and rekindle those God-given dreams. The word kindle means “to stir up; arouse; to cause to glow; ignite.” Paul reminded Timothy in
“That is why I would remind you to stir up (rekindle the embers of, fan the flame of, and keep burning) the [gracious] gift of God, [the inner fire] that is in you by means of the laying on of my hands [with those of the elders at your ordination].”
One of the greatest dreamers in the Bible was Joseph. I love to read his story and have read it many times. I would encourage you to read the entire story in Genesis chapters 37, 39–50. Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. He made Joseph a coat of many colors. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than them, they hated him.
To make it even worse, Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He dreamed they were binding sheaves of grain in the field and their sheaves bowed down to his. Then he had another dream. This time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to him.
Of course, as you read the story of Joseph, you find that many good and bad things occurred before that dream became a reality in his life. In following your dreams, be careful with whom you share them. God may drop a dream in your heart, but very seldom does He give you the details of the dream. He does not tell you exactly how it will come to pass. Joseph would have been wiser to have kept his dreams to himself.
In my life, dreams have not come to pass as I expected them nor in the time frame I would have liked. Although I knew I would marry a minister, I had no idea the magnitude of the plan God had for my life. I did not expect my husband and I to eventually be the head of a worldwide ministry. Those thoughts would have frightened me. It was better that God did not reveal those things to me but allowed me to simply walk out the journey one step at a time.
In following the dreams God has for us, sometimes the road is not what we thought it would be. The enemy likes to throw stumbling blocks along the way. I encourage you not to allow the enemy to discourage you but make those stumbling blocks stepping stones.
God has placed dreams in your heart. You did not hear Him wrong. Though the ride has been a little rough, the Lord is saying, “Just hold on—it’s about to smooth out.”
Have a blessed New Year and always allow the Lord to be the center of your life.
Author
Lynette Hagin
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