I want to share something with you that I titled Keep Your Dreams Alive. All of us have things that God has put in our hearts or promises He has spoken to us. Dreams He has whispered in the night, a dream in our sleep, or dreams confirmed through someone. The scripture says, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13
At one time we were excited about it. We prayed and believed. We knew it was a part of our destiny. But when things don’t happen the way we thought, we go through delays, and doors are closed. People don’t support us. It’s easy to get discouraged and give up on what we are believing God for.
However, just because we gave up doesn’t mean God gave up. God doesn’t abort dreams. Nothing that has happened to you has cancelled what God has spoken over your life. No length of time, no disappointment, no challenges. It may seem like the dream is dead. There is no sign that the promise is going to come to life. You have already accepted that it’s not meant to be. But it’s not dead. It’s just asleep.
The good news is God knows your dream. He will send people across your path to speak a word in due season, to ignite your faith, like He is doing today, and to light a new fire on the inside. When it looks the least likely, you have already made peace with the fact that it can’t happen. “Pastor, that ship has already sailed. “You know what? God started it; He is going to finish it. It’s not too late. The odds may be against you, but God is for you. That’s when He will step in and do what only He can do.
God is for you. Suddenly, your health turns around. A door opens. You are free from that addiction. God is keeping that dream alive. What you thought was dead is just lying there dormant. Hasn’t happened yet because it wasn’t the right time. You prayed. You worked hard. You did all you could. God saw your effort. He saw the disappointment, the frustration. That is not how your story ends. That is one chapter. Another chapter is coming.
When we have gone through disappointments, human nature has a defense mechanism. It says, “Don’t get your hopes up. That way you won’t be hurt again. Don’t expect anything good, so you won’t have to deal with the pain if it doesn’t happen. Many people live this way. To protect themselves, they bury what they believe in. They push down the dream they once had. They don’t want to risk the chance of being hurt again, having to deal with disappointment.
Don’t fall into that trap. You haven’t lost your dream. You just laid it down. You let the setbacks, the failures, cause you to quit believing. That was okay for a season, but this is a new day. You need to keep that dream alive. Get your hopes back up. You can’t have faith if you don’t first have hope. And that’s why the enemy works so hard to suppress your hope. To get you to live discouraged. Constantly whispers, “It’s never going to happen now. It’s too late.
Tune all that out and declare what God says about you. You need to speak life over what you are dreaming about. If it’s your health, “God, I thank you that you are restoring health in me. I will get well.” Or “I will lend and not borrow. “I will be the happy mother of children,” like the psalm says. “I will write that book you put in my heart. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
YOU CAN BELIEVE AGAIN!
In 2 Kings chapter 4, there was a woman who was friends with the prophet Elisha. She saw him travelling through her city and recognised that he was a man of God. So she and her husband built an extra room in their house so Elisha could stay there when he was in town. She was a generous woman. Faithful. She loved God. Her family was wealthy and influential. Had plenty of resources. Looked like she was on top of the world.
Well, Elisha was in town staying at her house. And he was grateful for her hospitality and wanted to do something nice for her. He called her in and asked what she needed. Could he give her some funds? Or could he put in a good word about her to the king? She said, “No, Elisha, we are good. We are friends with the king. We don’t need anything.” She went away.
Elisha was still thinking about it. Later, he said to his assistant, Gehazi, “What do you think we can do for this woman? How can we be good to her?” Gehazi said, “She doesn’t have a child, and her husband is an old man.” When Elisha heard that, he knew that was it. He called her back in and said, “By this time next year, you are going to be holding a son in your arms.”
Verse 15 says she protested, “No, Elisha, please don’t lie to me like that.” One version says, “Don’t play games with me.” This struck a nerve. This woman had always dreamed of having a baby, but she wasn’t able to conceive. Now she was an older woman. It was too late. She had already buried that dream, already grieved that loss.
When Elisha made this promise, her response was so passionate, it came out of a place of pain. “No, Elisha, I’m not going there. I am not going to get my hopes up again. You don’t know how painful this has been. You don’t know the nights I have cried. You don’t know what it’s like to see my sisters giving birth and my cousins having babies. I try to be happy for them, but I am so discouraged. I’m feeling so hurt.”
This lady wasn’t a weak woman. She wasn’t taking the easy way out. She was faithful. She was honouring God. When Elisha said, “You are going to have a baby by this time next year,” that was a critical point. Her defence mechanism kicked in. She said, in effect, “No, Elisha, don’t stir up what I have already buried. I don’t want to take the risk and hope again. This wound, this disappointment, she had gotten past it.
She had a good reason to dismiss it. She was too old. If it had happened 30 years earlier, maybe she would believe. Everything said, don’t believe it now. You are going to be disappointed again. But down in her heart, something came alive, a faith, a confidence. She dared to take that risk, to open up an old wound. All that pain—she had already accepted that it couldn’t happen, but she took this chance.
GOD KEEPS HIS WORD!
Verse 17 says, and sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. At that time the following year, she had her son. There may be some things that you buried, dreams that didn’t work out, and promises that you once stood strong and believed in, but like this woman, you couldn’t conceive. The door closed. People walked away. You kept a good attitude. You celebrated others, but it didn’t happen for you. Now you have dismissed it. You put it away.
God remembers what you have given up on. He has not forgotten what you have quit praying about. He knows what you used to believe in, what you used to be passionate about. He is the one who put the dream in you in the first place. What you thought was dead, too late, too far gone, it’s only asleep. See, God is saying to you what he said to this woman, “By this time next year, you are going to see some things you thought were dead come back to life.”
Now, I love the fact that God didn’t ask the woman, “Do you want a baby? Do you want what you have given up on?” God didn’t ask for permission. He knew she would come up with all these excuses, so he just declared, “You are going to have what I intended for you to have.” Time didn’t cancel it. Challenges didn’t cancel it. People didn’t stop it. Mistakes didn’t override it.
Here is the key. Don’t let the pain of what hasn’t happened keep you from believing again. Like this lady, you may have already accepted that it’s not meant to be, or you can’t get well, or you can’t get out of debt. No, God is about to keep alive some dead dreams, dead relationships, and dead careers. Things staying alive that you couldn’t make happen. You can’t explain it. It’s the hand of God keeping your dreams alive and pushing you into your purpose.
Now I’m asking you to get in agreement with God. No more deferring your hope. Talking yourself out of it. Pushing dreams down. Try a different approach. Stir up your hope. Dare to believe. Take that risk. It may mean opening up an old wound. Something you have already accepted can’t happen. It was too painful and too disappointing. Relax, God is talking over that dream through you!
I decree and declare that God is empowering you to keep your dream alive. He is breathing on you right now. Fresh vision and fresh anointing on your career, on relationships, and on finances. Dreams are coming back to life. What God promised you is on the way, in Jesus’ name.
May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace.
