God's Dreamers

Matthew 1:18-25

New Living Translation (NLT)

 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
  As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
  All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
  "Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
      She will give birth to a son,
   and they will call him Immanuel,
      which means 'God is with us.'"
  When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

Thought for the Day
There are similarities between this Joseph, the husband of Mary and Joseph the son of Jacob. Besides their name, both bring their families to Egypt. Jacob's son brings his brothers and father and their families to Egypt in order to survive the famine. Mary's husband brings his wife and child to Egypt to avoid the wrath of Herod. But, more significantly, both of these Josephs are dreamers. Jacob's son has dreams of his brothers bowing down to him. And he understands dreams. He correctly interprets the dreams of Pharoah that predict the coming years of plenty and years of famine. Mary's husband has the dream that we read about in this passage and also has the dream that warns him of the danger to his family. And both of these men named Joseph were not afraid to follow their dreams. Joseph means "(God) shall add," and because they were willing to follow the dreams God gave them God did add.

What is it you dream of. Are your dreams from God, or do your dreams involve you adding to yourself? Allow God to guide your dreams for the future and you will dream of helping the least, guiding the lost, healing the hopeless. Follow the dreams God has for you and He will add to you all that you need. You too, will become a dreamer - a Joseph.




Today's ADVENTure
Imagine today what God may be dreaming for your life.