God’s Antidote

Psalm 61:^2-4 “From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings” (NKJV)

The first two dream deflators that God is equipping us to deal with are, Family and Friends. Friends will bring facts to you like we see in Mark 5:35. Was Jairus’ daughter physically dead? The truth was, yes. But facts are meant to be changed by faith. So, the fact that the economy is xyz, it is a fact, but your faith can change that economy, at least your own experience of the economy. But if you stay with what your friends are telling you, your friends will bring you facts, nothing changes. While your family decimates the dream and deflates the dream out of familiarity. Friends deflate the dream out of reality. You need to check your friends, like the old saying goes ‘you cannot be running with turkeys and expects to soar with eagles’. It does not work.

Ps.1:¹ “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” (KJV). He chooses his friends and that is huge and unbelievably important. Friends tell you as it is, ‘Listen, look at your score, you graduated with a second class lower. This job is for people who graduated with a first-class. You do not qualify and that is a fact! Just say, ‘thank you’ and move on because you are going to get that job. Family, Friends, the third dream deflator is mostly ignored, and it has taken too many people down. The third dream deflator is Fatigue. You are tired. We get so busy in ‘the now’ that we do not even have the bandwidth to look ahead and plan for the future. Sometimes, the truth is we are actually too tired to be creative. We are sometimes just too tired to be creative. Our interest dwindles, the vision leaks, the balloon gets deflated. And we settle for less than the best because of fatigue. We are way too tired and guess what? It is normal to be tired

1 Kings 19, I encourage you to read the entire chapter. Elijah had just dealt with prophets of Baal and had done great things for God. He was tired. Jezebel issued a threat; Elijah’s interest dwindled, and his vision shrunk, so he ran for his life. So much so that he gave up on his dreams, he said to God, ‘kill me’. Imagine that. How many times have we felt so low that we say to God, ‘What am I useful for here? Just kill me.’ We are fatigued, burnt out, and battered. I love God’s remedy for Elijah. 1 Kings 19:^5-7 “Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” God’s remedy for fatigue is, eat and sleep, that is all. You are tired, it is okay. Just eat and sleep. Just go and get some rest otherwise you kill yourself. But that will not be your story in Jesus Name. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

Prayer: Father, when I am up against the dream deflators of family, friends, and fatigue, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for You are a shield for me, in Jesus Name. Amen!