Are you Living Your Dreams or Just Having Nightmares?

What is your Dream?

We are in the final hours: are you living your dreams or just having nightmares?

Genesis 37:1-11

Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

² This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad reportabout them.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

⁹ Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

God gives us the ability to dream. He plants our desires and our destiny is in His hands. Knowing that is such a relief. We don’t have to bother with plans of our own making (which easily turn into nightmares) we can just rely on the dreams He gives us.

Dreams start in your heart and grow into reality. Dreams are a part of our makeup from God. They are part of our spiritual DNA. He gives you the ability to walk in the dreams He provided. So many times we come up against something HARD and we think it isn’t God—stand back and behold His provision. In verse 5 Joseph shared his dream and his brothers hated him. Opposition is common. Hold to your dreams for the experiences we have are what prepares us to walk in our dreams. I could not intercede for the world if God had not given me dreams of the hearts of people individually, then in towns, in cities, in states, in countries, on continents, and throughout cultures. His preparations in our lives often sound like commands but it is the intensity of His love for us. It is us on his heart for our destiny—it is a stirring from inertia into a projection of the destiny we were created to fulfill.

2 Timothy 1:9

⁹ who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

You are called—the dreams are within you. 

Bonke: “Why do you play with marbles when you are called to move mountains.”

Warning. Warning.Warning. There is a demonic strategy, the attempt to sabotage the dream God gave you. He wants to:

        Steal the desires God gives you.

Kill the intent of your heart to walk in what God shows you.

Destroy the dream so destiny is thwarted.

Ephesians 6:12

 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

He is intent on the destruction of dreams. This is not a game and the enemy will stop at NOTHING to see you destroyed.

Genesis 39

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

² The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, ⁴ Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. ⁵ From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of theLord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. ⁶ So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, ⁷ and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

⁸ But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. ⁹ No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”¹⁰ And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

¹¹ One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. ¹² She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

¹³ When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,¹⁴ she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed.¹⁵ When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁶ She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁹ When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. ²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹ the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

What are some of the less obvious ways he attacks?

1.   Doubts regarding your calling.  

    Genesis 37:28 ²⁸ So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. 

   

    Joseph had to be wondering what his dream had to do with being in the cistern and being sold into slavery. Those thoughts, those doubts those supposed setbacks are just emotions. We are not moved by our emotions but by the word of God.

2.   Remember who the father of lies is.

John 8:44b

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

3.   Distractions and temptations in the form of materialism, daily activities and the cares of life.

4.   Assault you with problems, fears, curses, etc.  Paul had to remind Timothy to stir up, rekindle the calling—he was not called to fail but to move to fulfillment.

2 Timothy 1:6-7

            ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is

        in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For God did not give us a 

        spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power,of love and of self-discipline.

Walking in the dreams God had given us gives us vision, joy, excitement, the ability to worship in spirit and in truth. Fulfilling God given dreams helps:

1.   Keep your heart right no matter how often you are wronged, no complaining, no backsliding, no going back. Keep your heart.

Proverbs 4:23

Above all else, guard your heart,
          for it is the wellspring of life.

2.   He had a relationship with God. He cared more about God than his dream. Lay hold of God. The Lord was with Joseph

Genesis 39:2

The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his 

Egyptian master.

Genesis 39:21

the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 

3.   Keep an active prayer life. Gain comes in devotion

1 Peter 5:7

 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

4.   Keeps as air of expectation.

Jeremiah 33:3

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great  and unsearchable things you 

do not know.’

5.   Stay faithful keeping the main thing the main thing.

6.   Keeps you focused so you don’t go left or right.

7.   Make right decisions.

8.   Makes God first everywhere in your life.

9.   Keeps you in the center of His rewards Matt 25.

What does this have to do with intercession? If you are not following your dreams how can you pray for others’ dreams. We have to walk in the boldness of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of our calling, the compassion of our savior. He never stops making intercession for us.

Do you know someone struggling with a dream? Someone who is burdened because they have such a strong desire to walk in their “calling” but they are stuck? Do you see people stumbling in their walk, a stubbed toe, a foot slipped to the side, a broken heart because they are too “old”, or their children are too small or…or…or…. Is your heart moved or do you just spout platitudes?

Help someone fulfill their dream. It might be hard work. You will probably never get credit except in heaven. No one will know, but you will see the fulfillment of God in life after life after life and after all, isn’t that what it is about?