Dreaming for God, Part 4

If I talked to you about biblical dreamers, who is the first one who comes to mind? Joseph, the dreamer dude, right? Yes, everyone thinks about Joseph. Well, I have news for you! Joseph’s father, Jacob, was a dreamer before Joseph was a twinkle in his eye! In fact, Jacob had some pretty wild dreams. At least one of them caused him to prosper tremendously, even when his own father-in-law was trying to rip him off. 

Joseph was at the house of Laban, and Laban kept him there for what . . . fourteen years and then another seven? You ought to read the story in Genesis 31 and 32; it extends through both chapters. 

Let’s look at least one portion of the account and keep in mind that this is Jacob, who arrived on the scene long before Joseph. I want to show you something.

¹⁰“And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted. ¹¹Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹²And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you’” (Genesis 31:10-12).

God showed Jacob the strategy in a dream some time before it happened. We don’t know how long it was between the time Jacob dreamt this and the time of implementation. We know that he had already received the dream because the flocks were separated by this time, and he was about three days away from Laban. God showed him (in a dream) how to increase his flocks by reproducing streaked, spotted, and multicolored sheep, as all of those would become his.

Now, did the dream come to pass? Yes, it did! Jacob followed the strategy of the Lord, and as a result, his flocks were much stronger and healthier than the ones he was tending for Laban. And then what happened? How did people around him respond? You don’t hear about too many of them being overjoyed. Most of them were envious, jealous, bitter, and resentful. They were angry at Jacob’s prosperity. Think it not strange. Small thinkers will always resent the fact that big thinkers prosper.

Let's talk about "thinking small" for a moment. Basically, if you’re resenting another person's success, you’ve just proven what a small thinker you are. It's a sad state of affairs if all you can do is resent another's blessings and/or prosperity. Do you know what most folks who are "down and out" think about successful people? They think they’re lucky. And most successful people will say: “Yeah, the harder I work, the luckier I get.” But it isn’t just hard work! If that were all it was, then the hardest working people in the world would be the richest! And they’re not! Some of them are the poorest.

Jacob received a strategy. There are some geneticists who believe that what the sheep had their focus on during the conception of their young became reality even in the physical. There are those who believe it; I’ve read it in my research. I don’t know if I do. But I do know that God gave Jacob a strategy, and I know that Jacob followed that strategy. I also know that ultimately Jacob prospered, and as a result of prosperity, that there were many around him, family members, brothers and sisters, and those in Laban’s household, who resented him . . . who were bitter. 

Check your heart, friend. Bitterness and resentment are a result of small thinking, and it will keep you from the blessing of God. It’s not going to keep the successful person away from the blessings, because the successful person has already made his mind up that he’s not going to let others hold him back. If he allowed people to hold him back, he wouldn’t be where he is today! Come on, somebody!

You wouldn’t be where you are if you had listened to all the people who said, “You can’t.” Jacob’s dreams were not forgotten. He understood the power of dreams. I challenge you to think back and consider the dreams that God has placed in your heart. What steps have you taken to make sure that you're on course to achieve them? God can (and does) give us dreams; the question we should ask ourselves is what we are doing with what He has imparted. 

~ pg