Beware Of Dream Slayers

It would be very difficult to teach the doctrine of poverty out of the Book of Genesis, because all the saints you read about were rich. . .they were millionaires and more probably billionaires by today’s standards. 

One thing is for sure, even if the saints of Genesis didn’t start out rich, they became prosperous with God’s touch on their lives.

 For example, in Genesis 37 we read about Joseph. He went from a favored son of promise to chief steward of a powerful man to prison overseer and finally to second in command in Pharaoh’s house. What a trip!

 As a young son among many older brothers, he was given dreams. Have you ever had a dream that was mind-blowing? Joseph went out to his brothers and said, “Let me tell you about this dream I had. You are all going to bow down to me, and I’m going to rule over you.”

 How have people responded to your dreams? Did your family look at you like you were crazy?

 To avoid killing him themselves, they sold him to a traveling band of slave traders heading for Egypt. They thought they were through with him and his dream of prospering over them.

 Now, it looked as if Joseph’s dream was over in the natural. He was nothing but a lowly slave with no means of any kind to take him from the predicament he was in. Although the scripture does not say how Joseph felt inside, he nonetheless kept on believing in God to help him.

 In Egypt, he was bought by Potipher, captain of the guard for Pharaoh. Potipher noticed there was something special about this Hebrew slave. Everything Joseph touched seemed to bring about the blessings of God. When Potipher saw this, he let Joseph become the head steward in his house.

 Joseph was living well. He may have felt God was finally giving him a break and he could soon find a way out of the mess he was in. Then Potipher’s wife came along and tried to get romantically involved with him. Through no fault of his own, he went from his high position of authority to a lowly prison cell.

 Joseph was faced with another dream slayer! But once again he persevered and didn’t give up on his dream. Before long, the blessings of God made a way for Joseph to become overseer of the prison.

 After he interpreted the dream of Pharaoh’s cupbearer, he fervently asked the man to remember him when he was restored to Pharaoh’s service. But when the cupbearer was restored to the palace, he forgot all about Joseph.

 “But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.

 “The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”

                                                                        Genesis 14,23 NIV

Sometimes the people that you’ve helped will forget all about what you’ve done to help them. They, too, can become a dream slayer in your life.

 Regardless, of the adversity that you’re facing. . .never give up your dreams.  If God said it, it will come to pass. It may be a matter of God’s timing. Remember Joseph when things look too tough to handle and take heart in God’s faithfulness.

 After two years, Pharaoh had a dream and the cupbearer suddenly remembered Joseph.

 Through God’s wisdom and Joseph’s faithfulness, he was made second in command over all of Egypt and was able to save the nation from a great famine. His brothers did ultimately bow down before him to ask for grain and Joseph became the savior for his family and the nation that became Israel.

 In Egypt, Joseph was a prosperous man. He had a home, a wife, and children. He had so many servants that anything he wanted was taken care of immediately.

 Don’t overlook this fact. Our Christian root system goes back to Genesis and our ancestors were not a bunch of poor folks wandering around without provision. They were people with abundant wealth.

 Do you have a dream? Don’t let the dream slayers gets a hold of your dream. . There are plenty of dream slayers out there but as long as you don’t give up on your dream, the dream won’t die.

BREAK….

I’m here to tell you the devil has done a number on the church.

 My heart breaks when I look at the children of God riding around in worn-out secondhand cars. When Jesus sent after a donkey to ride, He didn’t tell His disciples that any old donkey would do. He told them to get one that no man had ever ridden. He didn’t ask for a secondhand donkey. 

 If you think Jesus was against prosperity, you would have to do a lot of erasing of His promises out of your Bible.

 In the very beginning of Genesis, what kind of place did God make for man? Did He put him out in the middle of a desert with no water?

 Did He put him in the slums of a city?

 No, the Bible says He put him east of Eden, in a paradise. The word “Eden” actually means “voluptuous living.” It means living with all five senses totally satisfied.

 Some of you are saying right now, “Why, Brother Harold, I’ve never heard anything like that in my life.”  You won’t hear this message if you only listen to traditional church teachings.

 The Bible says the traditions of man make the Word of God of no effect.

 Look at Mark 7:13 in the Amplified Bible:

 “Thus you are nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the Word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on. And many things of this kind you are doing.”

 We have a church full of people who are not getting what God has intended for them because they have never been taught this truth in the Word of God. Instead the poverty mentality has been handed down generation after generation just as this scripture indicates.

 In Genesis 39:2, the scripture says:

 “And the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man….” 

 We not only see the prosperity of Joseph, the scripture comes right out and tells us he was prosperous because the Lord was with him. 

 Don’t forget. If you are born again, you have the Lord with you too.

 In verse 3, it adds, “…the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.”

 The distribution of the wealth of the wicked was controlled by Joseph. He gathered the wealth of the food, and it was distributed according to his plan.

 Joseph was such a trustworthy man that he soon controlled Potipher’s wealth. Later, he controlled all the wealth of Egypt.

 Joseph, who was once reduced to a slave, Bless God, ended up a very, very, very rich man. The same thing happened to the children of Israel. After the death of those who knew Joseph, they were again reduced to slavery and poverty.

 In the natural circumstances, it looked as though the dream that Israel could ever become a prosperous nation was dead. But God’s hand reached forth and brought Moses in to release them. When they were finally released, praise God, they were not only free, they came out of Egypt rich!

 Exodus 12:36 says:

 “And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.”

 Several months ago, I did a teaching entitled “Spoiled, Stripped, Picked and Plundered” which deals with the wealth transfer from the Egyptians to the children of Israel as they were leaving Egypt. I encourage you to search for this teaching at www.debtfreearmy.org . . . it will be a real blessing to you.

 The Bible continues to prove, book by book, that God is One who desires His children to be prosperous. The dream slayers are out there but it’s God's desire to bring your dreams to pass.