Faith Legacy, Dreams Are the Most Beautiful

My father and mother realized their big dreams in life through the inheritance of family faith. Over the past 66 years, they have grown together with their dreams. Are you also willing to cry out to the Lord so that our dreams and His plan for our lives can meet in eternity...

good news and great news

I have good news and great news. Which one do you want to hear?

The good news is that when you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, you will receive eternal life and become a child of your Heavenly Father.

The great news is that this eternal life and sonship do not need to wait until death, but begin the moment you believe in the Lord. During your lifetime, the Heavenly Father will always accompany, renew, and shape you in good times and bad times, successes and setbacks, so that In many life situations and life cycles, we grow up and mature step by step from ignorance and inexperience, until our dreams and God's plan for our lives happily meet and fully fit together in eternity, and will be This kind of belief is passed down from generation to generation!

Even though things in the world are constantly changing and there are constant natural and man-made disasters, do you have better and bigger dreams for all the relationships and challenges in life? When we look back on the journey, can we witness how the dream was sublimated into a vision and implemented into a mission in the long and arduous but fleeting years?

Speaking of dreams, who is the most famous “dreamer” in the Bible? ...Yes, it's Joseph.

This reminds me of the seven-character quatrain written by the poet Li Bai more than 1,300 years ago: "The white emperor's speech is among the colorful clouds, and the thousands of miles of rivers and mountains are returned in one day; the apes on both sides of the bank can't stop crying, and the light boat has passed the Ten Thousand Mountains." This poem is very similar to that of 3,800 years ago. , dreamer Joseph who lived in the land of Canaan, how could it be related?

From Genesis chapter 37 to the end of chapter 50, except for chapter 38, everything is related to Joseph. In chapter 38, we branch off to talk about the scandal of the third brother Judah, perhaps to compare it with the character of Joseph in chapter 39. This shows how important Joseph is.

Let’s look at the relationship between Joseph and his father Jacob. From the colorful clothes that Jacob specially made for Joseph, it can be seen that in Jacob's mind, this 11th son is as precious and noble as a prince, worthy of deliberate support and cultivation, and deserves special promotion and treatment.

However, what the loving father did not expect was that under his wings, and many years later in another time and space, Joseph was indeed as noble as a prince, and indeed received support, cultivation, promotion, and special treatment. It is just in the way of Jehovah, being carved and tempered in the chains of slaves and in the dark prison.

What life lessons can we learn from Joseph’s different stages of growth?

The prince in dream prophecy

The first stage of Joseph's life can be said to be "the prince in the dream prophecy." From this we learn: God’s dreams must be greater than your own current situation.

The boy who was favored by his father in a small nomadic family had two dreams in a warm and comfortable tent: ten brothers' sheaves surrounded his sheaves and bowed down; not only were the 11 stars representing his brothers arrayed towards him Bow down, even the sun and moon, which represent his parents, bow down to him!

Yes, God’s dreams must transcend your own current situation.

There are several other dreamers in the Bible.

• When Jacob fled his homeland with nothing, he had a "dream of the ladder to heaven" in the wilderness of Bethel and received the promise that "all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants";

• When King Solomon came to the throne, he felt that he was young and ignorant and his kingdom was unstable, but he dreamed in Gibeon that God promised to give him wisdom, wealth, and honor;

• Peter, who clung to tradition, led the church to open the door to the gospel to Gentiles because of the "daydream" he saw in Joppa;

• Paul, who had just entered the foreign missionary field, saw a vision in Troas and heard the call of Macedonia, which opened the door to the gospel in Europe.

My father, Elder Su Tongzhong, is a dreamer. When he was 15, 18, and 31 years old, he had dreams that transcended his reality at that time, and he remembered them clearly for the rest of his life after waking up. What's even more amazing is that he can also interpret dreams by himself, and then rely on faith to realize his dreams.

The first one is a dream about health care; I dreamed that I was standing on a high platform and leading hundreds of people to do aerobics. He believed that God wanted him to work hard to stay healthy and enjoy a long life so that he could serve Him longer. At that time, he was a new believer and a 15-year-old middle school student.

The second dream was a missionary dream; I dreamed of wings growing on my back and flying into the old Ximen City Cave in Tainan, where I saw many neighbors and relatives struggling silently in the quagmire. He was anxious but helpless. He believed it was God calling him to work hard at evangelism. At that time, he had only believed in the Lord for three years and had not yet graduated from high school.

The third dream is a team dream; I dreamed of being on the battlefield of beach landing, bombing, shelling and machine gun fire. In the sky full of flames, he raised his command knife high and led the death squad to charge. He felt that God wanted him to cultivate, assemble, and lead a team for ministry. At that time, he was a young father with three young children, two boys and one girl.

After my mother got married, she took my father's dream as the couple's common vision and mission, and devoted herself to helping him realize these three dreams.

Indeed, the Lord’s grace is endless, and people have their duties. The above are all blessed people who have dreams and are able to realize them; they are also people who trust and obey wholeheartedly.

So, what are your dreams now and in your future life? Does this dream transcend the limitations of current subjective and objective conditions? If so, this is most likely a call from God. You must check it carefully, seek confirmation, and be prepared to perform your duties so that you can receive God's blessings.

The prince in trouble

Then Joseph entered the second stage: "a prince in trouble." The life lesson we have learned is: Dreams will definitely encounter unexpected big tests. Only by being able to resist temptation and learn diligently can our dreams come true.

Do you agree that the two major truths of life are: first, things may not always work out as you imagine; second, many things in life are beyond your control.

Joseph, the "prince" candidate in the dream prophecy, was thrown into a deep pit in the wilderness by his jealous brothers. This was an unprecedented experience! The dream of sheaves, the sun, moon and stars were all far away from him in an instant. This was just the prelude to his long tragic experience; it was also the opening ceremony of the specialized school tailor-made for him by Jehovah.

Joseph, who seems to be constantly falling into greater darkness, who knows that he is practicing the way of the future prime minister in a prison?

In the first three years of his 13-year slave career in a foreign country, he worked as the general manager of a wealthy family in the home of Potiphar, the captain of the Pharaoh's guard. However, the shrewd and capable young man Joseph was framed by his mistress.

God gave Joseph a dream to let him know that God had a great plan. But what happened next seemed to run counter to this plan. Seemingly constantly falling from one darkness into another greater darkness, God’s grace never ceases. During these 13 years of being a slave and a prisoner, God actually only did one thing: leading Joseph forward on the road to making his dream come true.

Next, he became the warden's confidential deputy; he was forgotten by the cupbearer for two full years; at the age of 30, he became the prime minister under one person and more than ten thousand people overnight; he was in charge of storage, operation and harvest, and probably the largest project in the world at that time. , the longest disaster relief project.

Where did he learn politics, economics, military affairs, the art of survival in officialdom, and how to get along with kings and ministers? Can one learn the role of steward in Potiphar's house alone? I think it's possible that I learned it during those ten years of unjust imprisonment. It can be seen that ordinary people are not eligible to enter the "Heavenly Prison" casually. Joseph's inmates were all the backbone of the country and social elites. Such a large group of people, no matter how high-ranking they were, were just prisoners after entering, and their status was equal to that of Joseph, who was a slave. Joseph also became the leader, in charge of all prisoners and affairs in the prison. The warden did not ask any questions, he had the final say in everything.

Does power corrupt? Joseph did not dominate, but instead cared and shepherded. Joseph visited the cupbearer and baker who had just been imprisoned, and saw that they were uneasy because of the strange dream, so he took the initiative to show concern and interpret the dream in detail. Just think about it, how could Joseph not have "friends all over the prison"? If he asked any inmate for advice, how could the other inmate tell him everything? It was truly the longest-standing and highest-level boarding school! The curriculum is diverse and practical, ensuring that all theories are refined and summarized through practice and reflection.

During these ten years, in addition to continuing to practice trust and waiting, Joseph also diligently studied all Egyptian knowledge. Unknowingly, he had mastered many skills and became a great talent in governing the country and the world!

Do you have a dream? I can tell you: on the journey to realize your dreams, you will encounter unexpected and unprecedented challenges. Only by trusting wholeheartedly and studying diligently can we grow and realize our dreams.

prince in egyptian palace

Next, the dreamer Joseph enters the third stage: "The Prince in the Palace of Egypt." The life lessons we can learn are: understand God’s timing, welcome the moment when dreams come true, be grateful, and choose to forgive.

When the 39-year-old Joseph was sitting on the throne of the Prime Minister of Egypt and saw his ten brothers prostrating themselves in obeisance at the foot of the steps from a distance, what was the image that flashed through his mind at that moment? Could it be a "sheaf dream"? The time to realize your dream has finally arrived!

He fulfilled more than just the sheaf dream; God did much more than that. Joseph said to himself: "He has made me like a father to Pharaoh, lord of his house and governor of all the land of Egypt." His talent in governing the country and his integrity made Pharaoh admire him and treat him like Treat him like your own father!

He is spiritually mature, grateful, possesses heavenly mind and vision, and God accomplishes great work through his life. When Joseph met his brothers, he said:"Do not be troubled or resentful because you sold me here. God sent me before you... to save you mightily and to preserve your lives. So it is not you who sent me here; It's God."

After the death of their father Jacob, the brothers were afraid of Joseph's revenge and asked for forgiveness again. His classic reply was: "In the past, your intention was to harm me, but God's intention was good and he wanted to save the lives of many people. Today’s situation.”

As the dreamer Joseph enters the "Prince in the Palace of Egypt" stage of realizing his dream, he also receives the precious gift of life.

Could it be that the foundation that supported Joseph through the second stage and was qualified for the third stage was not laid in his father Jacob's tent during the 17 years of the first stage? From a simple Canaanite tent to a magnificent Egyptian palace, it has benefited thousands of people. This is the result of family faith inheritance!

Dreams turned into missions

How does another dreamer, my father, Elder Su Tongzhong, realize his dream?

I dreamed of being a missionary when I was 18 years old. When I was in my 40s or 50s, I gathered the neighborhood children upstairs in the pharmacy to listen to my mother telling Bible stories, which left a deep impression on them. In recent years, when I was serving in various parts of North America, I occasionally met men or women in their sixties or seventies who said to me in tears: I am here today because I was listening to Bible stories upstairs in your house when I was a child. seed. What these old neighbors and fellow villagers don’t know is that welcoming them to their homes to listen to stories and do gospel preparatory work together as a whole family has invisibly made us, the children of the Su family who have experienced the situation, become a family missionary team.

How can the dream of a team that my father had when he was 31 come true? It’s hard to find a team, but it’s easier to give birth to children on your own, and it’s easier to raise them on your own. I gave birth to five boys and three girls in fifteen and a half years. He and his mother carefully cultivated the Kingdom of God team at home, and implemented the inheritance of faith in the process.

▲ When the author’s father, Elder Su Tongzhong, was 31 years old, he had a strange dream of leading a team to charge against the enemy. This dream was passed on to his children through faith. The picture shows

A photo of the Su family team in 1992.

My father’s dream of health care started to come true when he was 54 years old. One day he took the children to do gymnastics and went for a walk on the street. Passing by the Tainan Stadium, I saw hundreds of people doing national health exercises in the square. He ran to the front and followed suit under the commander's podium. After two or three days, the teacher on the stage said: Ogissan, you are doing better than me. Can you come up and teach me? When he looked down from the stage, it actually matched the dream he had when he was 15 years old. For the next 20 years, I did aerobics no matter what, and then played badminton. After immigrating to the United States, I taught aerobics in seniors’ apartments and church elders’ fellowships for another 20 years.

Regarding health care, he has another dream, which is to ask God to give him a good death and not to linger on his sickbed. Sure enough, just two weeks before he passed away in his arms at the age of 93, he took a cruise to visit three islands in Hawaii.

During the Sunday service on September 30, 2007, I sat down and did not stand up again until I received the pastor’s blessing. His old friends said with great envy: We should also imitate Elder Su and send him to heaven directly from the church!

Joseph had a dream about sheaves when he was 17 years old, and it took him 22 years to realize his dream. My father had a dream of health care when he was 15 years old, and it took him 78 years to realize his dream. So, many years from now, when you look back on the long and arduous years that have flown by, can you witness your dreams sublimating into visions and being implemented into missions?

If Joseph or his father looked back, they would say this: "God takes a long time to do things suddenly." (God takes a long time to do things suddenly.) It may take a long, long time, but once it happens, you will Will recognize the work of God.

Back to Master Li Bai. He was exiled to the remote and desolate Yunnan, thinking that he was going to die in a foreign land. Unexpectedly, I received the news of amnesty on the way, and I was so happy that I rushed back and went down the Yangtze River.

"The white emperor's speech is among the colorful clouds, and a thousand miles of rivers and mountains are returned in a day." It describes the speed of the ship and also describes the return home as fast as an arrow. The last two sentences: "The apes on both sides of the bank can't stop crying, and the light boat has passed the Ten Thousand Mountains." It's like Joseph and my father looking back: the sad cries and the roar of the enemy are still in my ears; the taste of suffering and the pain of injury are still in my memory. new. Looking back, I have traveled through thousands of mountains and rivers in grace, enjoyed the changing scenery of the four seasons, and am filled with gratitude.

My father and mother realized their big dreams in life through the inheritance of family faith. Over the past 66 years, they have grown together with their dreams. May we cry out to the Lord together and let our dreams and His plans for our lives meet in eternity:

Dear Heavenly Father, “This generation will praise your deeds to the next generation, and it will also proclaim your power.” This is your intention and teaching. Just like Joseph passed down the family faith and let him praise Your deeds on the way to realize his dream; just like the parents passed down the family faith and let them lead their children to spread Your power on the way to realize their dream, we are also willing to be the ones who realize Your good plan. pipeline. When we uphold and pass on our faith and travel through thousands of mountains and rivers in your grace, we will also be able to witness our dreams being realized into missions.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is with us and is able to do more than we ask or think. Amen!