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"If those dreams and your destiny are there at God’s placement, like I think they are in my life, then look at your identity and destiny the way God sees them, from heaven down not from earth up."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 197.
Dreams - they can be part of what drives us forward or holds us back. Dreams, and the lack thereof, are a powerful force when it comes to living this life as the victor God calls us to be.
What dreams do you have? Do you dream of having more stuff? Do you dream of a better life? Do you dream of peace and contentment? Do you dream of making a difference with your life? These are the things that make or break us when it comes to thriving in this life of ours. How we view our dreams often makes the difference when it comes to victor living and victim thinking.
When viewed through the lens of victim thinking, dreams can take on a power that drives us to places we were never meant to go. It is when we connect our dreams to who we are that victim thinking takes over in ways that make victims of those around us. It isn't that our dreams are wrong. It is when we find that our dreams aren't turning out quite the way we thought they would that we can do and say things that tend to hurt those closest to us.
I believe that dreams originate from God Himself. I think He is the one that puts the dreams we have in our hearts and in our heads. That's why it is so challenging to who we are when dreams don't happen quite the way we thought they would. It isn't that God has failed us when our dreams don't happen when or how we intended. It is the fact that we have held on to our own expectations as to how dreams are to happen that makes failure such a victim making proposition when it comes to dreams.
The actual meaning of any particular dream in our lives, heck even the timing of that dream is up for interpretation if it came from God. We are so quick to demand God meet our view of what that dream means and to respond to that dream in our timing. Anything short of our expectations makes us react in victim thinking ways. If dreams are from God like I believe them to be, then isn't it kind of silly for us to be disappointed and discouraged when dreams don't turn out quite how we expected them to?
That's the problem with living a life as a victor when expectations are involved. Expectations make it ever so difficult to see things from a perspective that makes sense in this crazy world. Viewing something heavenly from the perspective of our lives looking up to heaven turns dreams into nightmares when our dreams don't turn out like we thought they would. It is only when we view dreams from God's perspective, from heaven looking down, do we stand the best chance of weathering the storms that comes against our dreams from time to time in this life.
This doesn't mean that we aren't to have expectations. Expectations are a sweetness of life that God doesn't expect us to do without. Victors are learning that we have to hold our expectations loosely. What we might think a dream is to look like could be exactly the opposite of what God intended. Victors realize that God's intentions are meant to trump our expectations, even when that means dreams turn into something we never intended.
It is when we are driven by identity as far as dreams are concerned that we tend to do and say things to make trouble for those around us. The dreams God gives don't make us who we are. We are who God says we are. Dreams are to be empowered by our identity. Dreams were never meant to be what makes identity be what we want it to be. When we get this backwards we tend to flounder in victim thinking in ways that make victims of those all around us.
Such was the case with a couple from the Old Testament. Abraham and Sarah always dreamed of having a family. I believe that dream was put there by God. In fact, God came to Abraham and Sarah and told them they would be the parents of a great nation. Years turned into decades and still no child. The dream of being a Father of a great nation was an identity that was too much for poor Abraham to wait and see happen. Finally at the ripe old age of 100, Abraham and Sarah cook up a scheme to make their dreams come to reality. Abraham ends up sleeping with one of Sarah's servants and gets her pregnant. Ishmael is born as Abraham's first son. Then the dream turns into a nightmare.
Sarah becomes jealous of Ismael's mother. Abraham is caught between his wife and the mother of His beloved child. Taking things into his own hands to make his God-given dreams happen stirred up a hornet's nest that continues, even today. Then the miracle happens. Isaac is born of Sarah. Jealousy really takes over and fuels victim thinking. Sarah demands Ismael be sent away. Abraham actually sentences Ismael and his mother to death as he leaves them in the desert to die. What God intended to be a beautiful dream for Abraham and Sarah turns into a nightmare of life by this couple trying to make their dreams happen in their own way and in their own timing.
Ismael is the father of the Arab world. Isaac is the father of the Jewish world. The long seated animosity between two sons threatens the very peace of the entire world today. The dream for peace we all want in our lives is threatened by the fact that a couple took a God-given dream and tried to make it happen using their own expectations as their guide.
The same happens to us all when we take God's dreams and try to make them happen in our lives. We turn something beautiful into something ugly. Exercising our control makes our dreams into something God never intended. Though we might be delayed in receiving what we think God's dreams actually mean in our life, it is always better to receive what God intended rather than what we expect.
Our reading today makes it possible for us to view dreams and the timing of those dreams in a different light. It says...
Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change. 2 Peter 3:8-9 (MSG)
It is obvious to me that God gives us the dreams that make life worth living. It is just as obvious to me that when we box God in with our expectations as to what those dreams are to look like that disappointment will make victim thinking that much more likely in our lives. If your dreams aren't happening in the way or the timing you expected, take today's reading to heart. Maybe it is because God's plan required that your dreams be delayed. Maybe the way you want your dreams to happen are more a reflection of your naturally selfish ways. He isn't holding back on your dreams because He wants to teach you not to be selfish. He is holding back because it isn't the right time for that dream to come to fulfillment because of a plan that is so much bigger than our individual life.
Dream big dreams for your life today. Just don't let those dreams be tied to who you are in ways God never intended. May the dreams you have for your life line up exactly with what God says and the timing He wants. When they don't - don't give up on your dreams. They are there because God wants them to be there. Trust Him, not your ability to make your dreams come about. Then get moving and watch how God works to make your dreams happen in your life today.
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