Pursue: Chase your Dreams
In part 1 of this series, we’ve learned that the process of moving forward is to build a dream, a vision, a plan for your life this year. Your vision or dream answers the question:
“What could my life look like in the future? What do I see myself doing this year?”
Now in this lesson, I challenge you to pursue your dream, your plan. But you have to answer the nagging question: “Why?” Why do I need to pursue my dream? This speaks of your purpose. Your purpose is about meaning and motivation. It’s the reason behind your decisions and actions. Why am I pursuing this goal? Is it for profit? For self-improvement? For God’s glory? Your purpose gives you the strength to move forward even when times are tough. Purpose stabilizes your life. With a clear purpose, you persevere because you know there’s a reason, a cause.
Do you ever end the day or the year asking yourself, “what was all that for? What did I really accomplish? What difference did I truly make?
“When you find your purpose, you will stop changing things that will never satisfy you. Instead, you will find the joy in pursuing the next step God has for you.” —Dr. David Jeremiah
When we talk about purpose and having the driving force to pursue our dreams, no other character in the Bible comes closer than Joseph. He is truly a dream. His life was like a rollercoaster rider with so many turns and twists, but because he knew His God and His purpose for his life, he chased his dream and reached it.
Today, let us retell Joseph’s story and learn 5 principles on how we can pursue our God-given dreams.
How to Pursue Your Dreams
1. Reveal your dream to people close to you. (Gen. 37:5-11)
(5) Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. (6) He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: (7) We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
(8) His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
(9) Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
(10) When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” (11) His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
You can’t remain silent when God puts a dream/vision in your heart, especially when this dream/vision is too wonderful to contain. Tell people about what God has impressed in your heart. You start from the people closest to you.
But there’s a warning. These people might not be able to see or understand what God has impressed in your heart.
Notice how the Bible repeats the phrase “hated him all the more”. Often times even though our dreams for the Lord may be so great, they may not have others’ approval.
Reflection: What similar situation have you experienced, where you were excited about a great plan or a God-given goal but was met with opposition? How did it make you feel?
2. Remain faithful in all circumstances. (Gen. 39:1-6; 21-23)
It seems that Joseph’s dream turns into a disaster. The next thing we find in Joseph’s life were a series of detours.
What are detours?
Detours are diversions from our journey, bypasses around our goals, indirect routes to our destination, deviations from our plans. These detours almost always end up taking a long way around and taking lots more of our time than we expected or wanted. But we can learn from Joseph’s life that God uses our detours in life to bring us closer to our dreams!
Joseph was…
Rejected and stripped off by his brothers (Gen. 37:23-24)
Sold into slavery by the Midianites (Gen. 37:28)
Now, it would appear that Joseph is getting nowhere near his dream and that things are getting worst as he continues to move forward. But this is God’s way of actually bringing him closer not farther from his dreams.
In chapter 39, Joseph is now in Egypt as a slave to an Egyptian official, the captain of the guard, who bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
Gen. 39:
(2) The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. (3) When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, (4) Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. (5) From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. (6) So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
Later Joseph was unjustly sent to jail. But even there, Joseph remained faithful to God and to the warden.
Gen. 39:
(20) But while Joseph was there in the prison, (21) the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. (22) So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.
Notice Joseph’s life. The cliche “Life is not fair” is epitomized in Joseph’s life. He was just repeatedly treated unfairly. But no matter how bad things are happening in his life, he remained faithful and dependable and good-mannered. He never allowed his bad circumstance to make him bad, instead, he remained good. And so God took notice of that and He blessed him and prospered him.
The bottom line? Joseph based his choices, not on life’s fairness, but on his faith in God. Notice this phrase is repeated again and again in this chapter.
“The LORD was with Joseph,” “The LORD was with him.”
Brethren, when we choose to be faithful no matter what circumstances, God can use our “setbacks” into “set-up” to catapult us towards the realization of our God-given dreams.
A faithful person will always view his life experiences, the good, the bad, and the bitter through the lens of God’s plan, even the detours. Because what we consider to be “detours” aren’t always detours in God’s overarching plan for our lives. Amen?
Again, Why would God allow all these detours as we pursue our dreams?
“Because God cares more about the development of the dreamer than He cares about the fulfilment of the dream.” —Phil Tuttle
In pursuing our dreams, God wants us to mature, He wants us to develop our character.
In God’s overarching plan for our life, God is not only trying to get us to places, people, and positions but also moulding us to become the different kind of Person that He wants us to be. A person like His Son Jesus in character, attitude, and mentality.
This is the reason why we may have certain detours and disappointments in our life so that we can be developed to be able to handle the realization of our dreams.
God is probably waiting for you to mature to be able to handle your dreams. It is certainly the case for Joseph, as a young boy, he lived a life of being the favourite son, the centre of attention, and immature, but as a Governor, he needs to learn how to serve, to lead, to manage, to handle stress and to make right and godly choices.
3. Refuse to compromise your faith. (Gen. 39:6-9)
In our passionate pursuit to reach our dreams, it is so easy to rush things and look for shortcuts.
Gen. 39:
(6) Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, (7) and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”
Now Joseph’s situation made him so vulnerable to temptation and to compromise his faith.
He was lonely and isolated from family and friends.
His righteousness brought little rewards.
He was both hardworking and handsome.
The offer was perpetual and persistent.
But notice how Joseph responded to the situation.
(8) But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.
Joseph refused to betray those who trusted him like Potiphar (v.8).
(9) No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
Joseph focused on what he had rather than what he could not have.
Joseph recognized that all sin is ultimately against God. (v.9)
(10) And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
Joseph established clear boundaries.
(11) One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. (12) She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
Joseph knew when to resist and when to run.
Joseph was a man of discipline. He remained faithful to the Lord when he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife. He was committed to his values and did not exchange them for anything less.
His disciplined life brought him to prison unjustly. Because he refused to compromise his faith, he got locked down. But Joseph chose to cling to God in spite of his circumstances.
In our pursuit to chase our dreams, we must learn to say No to certain things and perhaps to many things along the way that may keep us from moving forward. Without discipline, there is no success.
4. Resist becoming bitter or unforgiving (Gen. 50:15)
Joseph’s heart has been deeply wounded over and over. Joseph had all the reasons (or right) to become bitter and unforgiving.
Joseph was…
Rejected by his brothers
Sold into slavery by the Midianites
Falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife
Unjustly imprisoned by Potiphar
Forgotten by the chief cupbearer
And now, at last, Joseph is the one with all the power and authority. Finally, he is the one in control. The table turns. He has the upper hand in this situation. But Joseph chose to forgive.
(15) When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”
Joseph’s brothers were full of guilt and were afraid Joseph would seek revenge.
(16) So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died:
(17) ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
(18) His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
Could Joseph really have forgiven them for all the evil they have done?
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
To their surprise, Joseph not only forgave them but reassured them, offering to care for them and their families. Joseph’s forgiveness was complete. He demonstrated how God graciously accepts us even though we don’t deserve it. Because God forgives us even when we have ignored or rejected Him, we should graciously forgive others.
5. Recognize God’s overall purpose in your dream. (Gen. 45:7-8; 50:19-20)
Gen. 45:
(5) And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.
Gen. 50
(20) You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Joseph recognized that God is sovereign and able to transform evil acts into good results.
Joseph discovered how his personal story fits into God’s epic story.
Joseph’s pursuit of his dream teaches us that God has a bigger story than ours. He has a bigger plan that ours.
(Rom. 8:28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.