In Dream Enemies part 1 I asked if you were your own worst enemy when it came to following your Dream. Okay, you have gotten past the self-doubts, you know what your God given Dream (your calling) is and you have set your face like flint to immerse yourself in it. In your excitement at this discovery you begin to share your Dream with family and friends.
You are stunned when the news is received with less than enthusiastic stares and head shakes. Mumbling words slip out of their mouths, “You can’t do that. Who do you think you are?” They bombard you with reasons why this can’t possibly succeed. Each phrase sends you deeper into a hole of dejection. You begin to think they are probably right. You must have heard wrong.
Well meaning family and friends can be added to your list of Dream Enemies. They discourage you because they love you and they don’t want to see you get hurt by your failure.
The Bible has examples of these well-meaning people.
When David volunteered to kill Goliath, he felt totally able to accomplish the task because God had prepared him and he felt called to do the work.
He was met with ridicule from his brother Eliab.
“Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
“Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” I Samuel 17:28-29
When David was brought before the king, Saul was apprehensive about the ability of this young boy to complete the task of a warrior.
David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."
Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." I Sam 17:32-33 NIV
What if David had listened to Eliab and Saul. Would the Israelites have ever defeated the Philistines?
A young man had two dreams about his future and he shared them with his family.
Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."
His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Genesis 37:5-11 NIV
The dreams were not received with joy in fact they led to a life isolated from his family.
Genesis 37, 39-46 is the story of Joseph’s life.
The dream Joseph shared with his family was ultimately fulfilled but not without many detours.
Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. Genesis 42:6 NIV
Opposition comes from a quarter we didn’t expect. We erroneously believe our family and friends are going to back us and when the discouragement is slung at us we begin to doubt ourselves again and back away from the Dream.
If we press through and begin the process of bringing our Dream to pass, each setback or failure will be met with “I told you so’s.” It’s not easy to keep on keeping on in the face of disapproval from those closest to you.
What do you do? Remember, this is your Dream, not theirs. They won’t be standing with you on judgment day when God asks you what you did with the gifts He gave you.
You can’t use the excuse, “I buried them because my friends and family didn’t think it was a good idea.”
"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
"'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Matthew 25:24-30 NIV
If your Dream is cemented in your mind and heart you will be able to thrust through the resistance coming from yourself, your family and your friends.
If not, you will begin to see Dream deterioration on all sides.
Is the cement of your Dream dry?
