Those who are carrying a dream are rich for they own the future. Those who have lost their dream own nothing, even if they have a bank full of money. What would life be without dreams and visions?
Scientific research shows that human beings cannot live without hope. It became very visible in the concentrations camps during the war. The prisoners who didn’t have a hope, a dream or a vision of a future quickly deteriorated, but those who dreamed about the life after imprisonment had a strength that enabled them to endure great sufferings and hardships.

Throughout the Bible we meet ordinary people who are dreaming dreams from the heart of God and rise to action and do great exploits for God. Their vision was the motivation that released faith and courage to start a journey towards a goal far beyond their human condition. The dream carried them through life and helped them overcome great challenges and to solve unsolvable difficulties. Hope is one of the most important sources for vitality and courage to live for people. The dream helps people to cut the ties to that which binds us to the physical and corruptible, and shows that the spirit in people are more related to eternity than to the present world. Without dreams the heart stop beating, but when dreams are living in the heart, people are really living, even if they loose their life on the torture bench.
I love the story of Joseph. This young man may be one of the most famous dreamers in the Bible. Neither his brothers nor his parents were very happy about the dreams he had. They thought he had too big thoughts about himself. His dreams caused problems for him. When he in innocent joy told what he had dreamed his brothers got angry at him. One day they found the opportunity to get rid of him by selling him as a slave to some Arabs passing by. He was taken to Egypt and sold again. In Egypt he faced many difficulties. He had to face false accusations and was thrown into prison. He stayed there a long time. There was no signs of his dreams was going to be fulfilled.
But we know the story of how everything turned out for Joseph. In spite of great difficulties and bad living conditions he kept on to his dream and his faithfulness to the Lord that had spoken to him through what he dreamt. One day his faithfulness was rewarded. The dream was fulfilled and he became a great blessing to many people. Because he never gave up his hope, but held on to his dream, he saved the life of countless people. Those who was angry at him and wanted to hurt him, because they didn’t understand his dream, was also richly blessed when the dream was fulfilled.
The dream about the Promised Land caused millions of people to start on a journey from Egypt, through the Sinai desert to the land of Canaan. Many lost faith and perished during the long and difficult journey. Actually a whole generation died in the wilderness where they wandered for forty years. At last the day arrived when a new generation was ready to realize the dream and cross the Jordan to take possession of that which was promised. Not everyone who break up from their present situation to follow their dream have that enduring faith that enables them to experience what they are longing for. But even if they only succeeded in passing on their dream to a new generation, their departure was not in vain.
The prophets in the Old Testament are a mixture of different personalities. They came from many different backgrounds, had different style and behavior, but they had one thing in common, they imparted visions and dreams. They passed on hope to the depressed. They created faith in the discouraged. They caused weak people to rise as strong giants. They caused tyrants to tremble with fear by the thought of people could be caught by the dream the prophets preached and fleshed out in their lives.
I love spending time with these prophets. Their dream visions have a strange power in them. They are using images and metaphors that don’t belong to my digital day, but they are timeless and challenging. The prophets cause me to dream while I am fully awake. The dreams and the visions they impart find resonance deep in my heart, and creates new dreams and visions. These dreams have upheld me and given me courage and strength to endure adversity and hardships. The dreams of the prophets cause me to contemplate and meditate. The prophetic dreams water the imagination in my innermost being and help me to grasp that which lay on the heart of God. The prophetic visions help me to see things from God’s perspective. That is why the dream of the Kingdom of God and the vision of the Bride of Christ are the motivational force in my life.