Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt
It’s fun to dream. I’m not talking about sleeping dreams. I mean dreams of things we desire in our heart—imaginations of what we desire to accomplish and about what we hope our future will look like. Dreams help propel our hearts, our outlook, and energize our motivation with a greater sense of direction and focus. It’s only when dreams never seem to come true that we become afraid and put up walls to serious dreaming because we can’t take the disappointment. Proverbs 13:12 TLB says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy.” 
Proverbs 13:19 NLT echoes this truth that dreams are good. It says, “It is pleasant to see dreams come true…” I’ve separated the first half of that verse from the second so you could momentarily focus on each half. It is pleasant to see dreams come true! But, this verse finishes revealing why dreams often don’t come true. “… but fools will not turn from evil to attain them.”
People pursue dreams for many reasons—the majority of them
having to do with making themselves happy. That’s where the problem lies. Mark 8:36-37 NKJV says, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?”
Some of the greatest man made inventions, scientific breakthroughs, and medical discoveries happened because of people looking to help other people—not themselves. That was my desire when I created and patented the very first commercial infant changing table you now see world-wide on public bathroom walls. Parents needed a place to change their infant and that was my dream—to give that to them.
When the love of God is the motivation for your dreams and life, and your life is set, fueled, and focused on building a better life for those God’s placed in your sphere of life—not just yourself or your family, then you have God’s help on your side. 1 John 4:10-11 (NIV) says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” When that kind of love is fueling you, then you have God promises to bless you in what He leads you in.
Deuteronomy 8:18 NKJV reveals God’s purpose behind our success—the establishment of His covenant which is us representing Jesus in this earth. “But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it is He that gives you power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant which He swore unto your fathers, as it is this day.” 
Proverbs 13:19 NKJV says, “…a dream accomplished is sweet to the soul! For some people, in order for their dreams to come true, they will need to take classes or lessons, or get coaching and then practice what will help them succeed in their dreams. When I retired from 35 years of pastoring in 2017, I immediately began to pursue an unfulfilled dream. I went back to school. I enrolled in the University of Minnesota’s Master Gardening program and became a master gardener which is a highly volunteer program designed to be a blessing to others. It had been a dream I knew I wanted to pursue when the time came. It was sweet to my soul!
Some need to quit wasting so much time thinking and step out and pursue what it is you truly want to do. Others will have to begin reading a book and studying or take some classes. Others need to take technology skills in order to pursue the dream that stirs in their heart. There are so many people that have let themselves slip into life’s unprofitable time-wasters that they’ve become the fool mentioned in Proverbs 13:19. “…fools that will not turn from evil (or the unprofitable) to attain them (their dreams.)”
Don’t let the devil steal your dreams and joy with unprofitable time wasters or practices. Begin to pray and ask God for the grace to prioritize that which would help make your dreams come true, and to hate and despise the time wasters and unprofitable things in your life. He’ll help you because He shapes the desires of your heart when your heart is desirous for Him! And as your do pursue your dreams, ask Him to help you be a light for Him along the way, acknowledging and glorify Him at every step!
Psalms 37:4 (NLT) “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.”
In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
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Published by Pastor Tim Burt
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