The God of Resurrection

Dear friends,
I pray you all had a glorious Resurrection Day and that you are experiencing His life in you. I'd like to share a word of encouragement with you this morning. We have all had dreams and visions that have died. Some are so dead that we may have given up any hope or possibility of them coming to pass. As I was praying in preparation for my message this past Sunday, I felt strongly impressed of the Lord that He was resurrecting dreams and visions in the lives of His servants. Is there a dream that you have had that has died. If so, this word may be for you. These words were quickened in my spirit, "Remember Joseph."

The dream of every Hebrew girl was to be a wife and mother. Barrenness was considered a curse and a shame. When Sarai married Abram, I am sure that having children was her dream and expectation. Many years passed. Her husband responded to the call of God and obediently followed God's direction away from the house of his father. Later Abram would enter into covenant with God and God changed his and Sarai's names. God gave Abraham great promises concerning his descendants when he as yet had no child.

When the promise tarried Sarah tried to bring the fulfillment of God's promise through her handmaiden, Hagar and indeed a child was born, but he (Ishmael) was a product of the flesh and would bring grief to her. Trying to fulfill's God's plan man's way reduces our faith to dead religion. Approximately 24 years after the promise of a son God visited them. When God reiterated His promise to them Sarah laughed within herself. She did not laugh out loud, but still God asked the question," Why did Sarah laugh?" He also asked another question, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" What is our answer to Him? Circumstantially speaking, they were old. Not only were they old, but Paul makes it pretty clear in Romans that medically speaking, child-bearing for them was an impossibility.

And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb. Romans 4:19

It sounds like Abraham was impotent and Sarah had already gone through menopause. It was impossible for her to conceive, but God resurrected her womb and made Abraham alive as well. In fact, we know Abraham went on to father other children after Sarah was gone. Abraham was 100 and Sarah about 90 when Isaac was born. Look at what Sarah said when he was born: "God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me." Laughter was a sign of joy. In Psalms 126 it says: When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Sarah was joyful and when people heard about what God had done, it made them joyful, too.

I wish I could look back and see what Joseph must have been thinking at the different stops along the way. Did his faith waver when he was in a pit, probably hearing his brothers talking about killing him? Did his dream die when he was tied to a camel on the way to Egypt to be sold as a slave. What must he have thought as he was being auctioned off? What about when he was arrested and thrown in jail? What did he think after the butler forgot him and he languished in jail for another two years. I don't know what he was thinking, I only know how I may have responded. His dreams were dead, but at God's appointed time they were fulfilled. At God's set time Isaac was born. At David's worst moment, he was days from being king of Judah. I know I have shared these things before, but I believe there is a set time coming for many of you.
There are many concerned about our nation because we have forsaken God and they believe we are headed for bondage and judgement. They might ask," How can we be successful with things like they are?" Don't you find it encouraging that as slaves in the most powerful empires of their day that Joseph and Daniel both ascended to high levels of leadership in pagan cultures? We have a future and a hope. There is nothing too hard for the Lord.

Do you have God-given dreams that have died? Our God is the God of resurrection. Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." Our hope is in Him. Is anything too hard for the Lord? For promotion comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge; He puts down one and exalts another. Psalms 75:6,7
Be blessed,
Herb Dean