by Michael Kang
Dreams are powerful.
A dream can shift a moment, it can even shift history.
Sadly, many dreams don’t get the chance of being birthed because of fear, but what I believe is even more sad is when we don’t believe we are allowed to dream! There can be a host of reasons as to why a person doesn’t dream, but one thing I realize a person doesn’t dream is because they are told not to dream. People are told that they have to follow a plan and that is the right thing to do and let me clarify, you and I are to follow the plans of God and build His Kingdom, but what I am believing as I get older is that the Kingdom of God is built on the dreams of the saints who walk with God!
We are in a season of church history where I believe God is unleashing His people to dream and the dreams will reveal a unique expression of church which only reveals new facets of God’s glory. Every dream in God is a reflection of a unique display of God’s glory and this is the time we don’t rinse and repeat what was done, but appreciate what has happened as we forge a new era of the Kingdom!
To start you off in your dream journey with God, I wanted to go through a brief roadmap of the pitfalls and lessons from the story of Joseph in Genesis. May the unpacking of this story spur you on to contribute into the Kingdom what is already buried deep within you by God like a hidden treasure in the sands.
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Note: if you are unfamiliar with the Joseph story, feel free to read through Genesis 37-50, it’s a lot but actually reads quick.
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PT 1: DREAM FELLOWSHIP [GENESIS 37:5-11]
The story of Joseph begins with him getting a series of dreams which are the same in essence. In both instances there is a depiction where Joseph is highlighted as a person of authority and his older brothers and parents bow down to him. If your younger brother came to you and told you that you were going to be in a position where you bow down to him, this can only lead to you laying your hands upon him to teach a humbling lesson. Earlier in the story we are told that Joseph is visibly favored by their father Jacob over the rest of Joseph’s brothers and this dream only rubs them the wrong way further.
It is bad enough that Joseph is blatantly the favorite but now he is being cocky enough to casually tell dreams of their subservience to him. They naturally respond in an irritated manner,
“‘Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?’ So they hated him even more for his dreams and his words’”
Joseph’s dreams also bring the ire of his father who joins in to humble his son,
“‘What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?’ And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.’”
Two things are happening in this first leg of the story. If you know the story of Joseph, the hatred his brothers have for him is so bad, they end up selling him to slavery and one can surmise that the lesson would be to not dream at all for it will land you in hot water! But when you and I dream, we must know that everyone has not earned the right to hear about our dream. Regardless of the delivery of the dream by Joseph, the dream he had eventually does happen towards the end, but what we learn from this first blunder is that dreams built with God, need to be kept within a small group of trusted confidants.
Not everyone deserves to hear your dream and or can handle your dream so the wise thing to do is not share it with everyone but with those you know whom have earned your trust. This doesn’t mean that you don’t tell anyone for I am realizing that dreams have a higher success rate when there are people who are in support of it, but I have also seen dreams not even get the chance to lift off due to the doubters and haters who relish in squashing it to the ground. BE SELECTIVE with the inner circle of those who will partner with you in the journey of dreaming because if you dream with God, more often times than not, the dream is gonna be scary, overwhelming, and downright crazy but keep pressing on with God!
PT 2: THE STRUGGLE OF THE IN-BETWEEN [GENESIS 37:23; 39:3, 9-10; 41:51-52]
Discouragement and setbacks can kill dreams.
Discouragement and setbacks can’t kill dreams.
In the journey of making dreams come alive, you and I will be discouraged and experience setbacks and the goal is to not to avoid all of them for a perfect smooth ride but realize that they are gonna happen! Setbacks happen but it is how we deal with them which will either derail the dream or marinate the dream to bear more fruit in the end. I encourage people on the brink of running away from problems the realty that the greatest and sweetest victories come from the greatest battles! God’s grace will always keep us close to Him so don’t be scared of set backs!
Joseph experienced years of setbacks and not just minor setbacks but soul crushing, heart breaking, mind debilitating setbacks.
- Setback #1: Sold into slavery by his own brothers
- Setback #2: Falsely accused of sexual assault that lands him in jail
- Setback #3: The person he helped to get right with the king forgets about him as he stays in jail for another two years afterwards.
Circumstantially, the dream seems good as dead. Maybe it was just his own mind making things up. Sounds familiar, right? We hear from God a conviction to do something quite amazing with Him, but we begin to doubt whether we heard right when we meet our first obstacle.
What is interesting throughout these years of setbacks is the multiple statements of the presence of God being with Joseph. What is even more interesting is the lack of mentioning the dream through all these hardships to the point you almost forget about the dream as an after thought. What I believe happened is that the dream was revealed and planted in the beginning of the story and like a seed that is hidden beneath the ground, away from plain sight, the dream of God in Joseph is hidden by the circumstance but doesn’t mean it ceases to exist!
Ever get frustrated as to what the pastor means when they say to wait for the LORD? This is a clear example of what it means to wait! Joseph didn’t blame God, nor try to even remind God, he just faithfully lived for God by keeping his integrity and did what only he had control of despite his circumstance, himself. To wait for the LORD is not to be in idle but to be faithful in your Christ-like call to be like Him. Even though this post is about dreams, a dream with God is never separate from the will of God for you to be like Him because the ultimate dream of God is for you to be like Him!
You can become an innovative artist for the LORD, but if it cost you your identity in Christ, then it was never a dream with God though you did it for God. There are a lot of things that are done for God that He never asked for and ever had a hand in. A telltale sign of a dream apart from God is when the dream has you excuse your primary calling in being a son or daughter of the King.
Joseph never compromised his identity, neither should you, even for a dream.
PT 3: THE FRUIT OF DREAMS
Dream with God, but PSA, you have to dream with God with a partially open hand. Imagine a completely open hand where it will be hard to hold onto anything, this is the type of hand that doesn’t dream but is open to anything. Now imagine a closed fist. A closed fist is a dream or desire that you have but like a literal closed fist that has no room for anything, a dream with a closed fist before God has no room for God to shape it. A closed fist motto is, “it is my way or the highway.” Finally, imagine a partially open hand where you can hold onto something but there is space for things to fit in and that style of dreaming with God is that you present a dream to God but like a partially closed hand, you are intentionally making room for God to shape your dreams.
God gave Joseph a dream. Joseph interpreted that dream as him being in a position of power and authority but only led to a life of hardship. But after his faithfulness to the LORD, Joseph came to this conclusion when he reconciled with his brothers, “But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.’”
Joseph did become great but it was for the sake of serving others and being an instrument of salvation. Your dream may serve only you, but a dream with God will lead to serving others and what happens is that you will change in the process. The loud boy that proudly declared his dreams has become the humble servant of many and ultimately a servant of the LORD. The dream started with him arising to be glorified, but God was glorified through him and people experienced the goodness of God through this man’s journey, this man’s dream. More than the dream being changed, what happens often times is that the receiver of the dream changes to fit the dream that God has for them.
CONCLUSION: SO WHAT?
Take time to dream with God.
What does that mean? Pray and ask God to reveal his heart for people, this world, this generation, society, or whatever His heart may be on at the moment. With that in mind, ask yourself what do you like? Pray and ask God to reveal where His heart can intersect with your passion because that is where a God dream is birthed and dreams with God is what builds His Kingdom.
I cannot wait to see what dreams come alive in the years to come!
Blessings.