Recently, the Lord has had me seriously examining the life of Joseph and being inspired by his daring ability to dream. There is nothing like an audacious dream that causes you to cling to the power of God for divine assistance because you know what is in your heart is far greater than your natural abilities.
With every dream, there will be dream-killers. Some of the biggest dream-killers in your life will be those who doubt, mock and criticize your dream. The enemy will cause their words and attacks to be amplified in your mind. They will ring over and over again, trying to talk you out of your dream. Every God-ordained dream will require absolute faith and trust in God to come to pass. With these dream-killing words and accusations, the enemy is doing his best to plant the seed of doubt.
He understands that doubt will defeat your dream. When you begin to believe the report of the enemy, you undo the prophetic potential in the dream God gave you: “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isa. 53:1).
Isaiah asks the question, who has believed the report of the Lord? With every dream. there is a choice. Will you believe the dream? Will you trust the voice of God in your life? Will you trust the power of God to bring the dream to pass? Will you step out in faith to receive the impossible?
“But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible'” (Matt. 19:26).
Dream-killers simply do not believe that it is possible. They have no confidence in God’s ability to perform the impossible in your life. Yet, history is filled with the names of men and women who daringly stepped out into the unknown and embraced a mantle to move into the impossible. God’s power meets people at the beginning of the road into the unknown! When He sews the seeds of greatness into the hearts of men and women He is not looking for uncommon knowledge, ability or talent, He is looking for daring faith and radical obedience.
Joseph immediately believed in the dream! His confidence offended his brothers (Gen. 37:5-10). Now Joseph dreamed a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
His dream created hostility. They couldn’t see what he saw and they filtered his confidence in God through their own pride. Many times, I have seen people laboring in a region and then the Lord sends in someone else, who begins to have growth and breakthrough, and the one who has been there longer gets angry. They are not excited about the advance of the kingdom. They are offended by whom God is using. I have also found out that is a very quick way to get demoted.
“But He gives more grace. For this reason it says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble'” (James 4:6).
Spiritual pride causes the focus to be in the wrong place. Spiritual pride puts a personal agenda above a kingdom agenda. Spiritual pride believes that if God is going to use anyone, it must be us and no one else. This is a dream-killing, anti-kingdom spirit that brings division and demotion.
Types of Dream-Killers
Small-minded with little vision: Many dream-killers simply cannot believe big. They have settled in their own lives, and an audacious dream stretches them outside of their comfort zone. They are threatened by the size of your dream and feel the need to shrink it in order to make their lack of faith seem normal.
Bitter ones: These are the ones who gave up on their dreams. Many dream-killers are those who had a dream and buried it. They are now bitter and offended by the zeal of other dreamers. They no longer believe in the impossible.
Negative thinkers and talkers: Negativity is an anti-anointing, anti-faith mentality that views everything through a “can’t-do” mindset. I realize faith is not an idea or thought but a spiritual substance. Once faith is established in someone’s heart, their thinking will begin to change and line up with the Word of God. In fact, a person with fleshly thinking cannot embrace the plans or dreams of God—their human mind dominates their spirit and creates a massive limitation.
Jealous ones: I hate to say this, but some are just unhappy with the favor on your life. When you begin to get breakthrough, they do not celebrate it; they do their best to shut it down. The world is a big place, and the kingdom of God Is much, much greater. There is room for everyone’s gift, dream, plan and purpose. As brothers and sisters, we really should celebrate the success of others.
Those bound with the elder-brother sense of spiritual entitlement: This is demonstrated vividly when David goes to the frontlines of battle and boldly declares that the Lord will help him defeat Goliath. His older brother Eliab immediately gets offended and begins ridiculing him and attacking his faith. He did that because he had a sense of superiority and entitlement. How dare this young man come forth and think he could take out the giant! People with this mindset do not factor in the anointing. The anointing can accomplish huge exploits through anyone. When God gets ready to promote a man or women, He does not ask anyone for permission.
The bottom line: We were born to dream! We were born to live in the realm of the supernatural and to experience the impossible. I see the Lord reigniting old dreams, visiting people with new dreams and taking us by the hand, joyfully leading us onto the pathway of the unknown and inviting us deep into His heart to discover His big, bold, audacious dreams. {eoa}
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