Rise Above

John 16:³³ “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Beginning today, God is going to be defeating five potential dream deflators. Are you ready? The first potential dream deflator that tries to deflate our big, gigantic dreams and make them small until they are gone is Family. Shocking right or maybe not? The things that are closest to us affect us the most. Joseph had a dream, a big dream but the people that attempted to deflate his dream were his brothers. Gen.37:^19-20 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!” One of my friends said there was a time in his life that the enemy kept telling him that he is useless, worthless, will not amount to anything, and nothing will come out of his life.

After a while, he said to the enemy, ‘Then leave me alone. Why are you so interested in my life?’ Listen, if it appears that the enemies are attacking your mind, telling you are useless, telling you that nothing will come out of your life. It is an indicator that your future is great because the devil is a liar. It is a huge pointer that the future is great, a huge pointer to your prophetic destiny. Jesus also had to struggle with this in Mark 6:¹ “Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown.” This was Jesus’ hometown, his family. Mark 6:² “The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed…” Why were they amazed? Were they amazed at God’s power? Were they amazed at God’s glory? Mark 6:² “… many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?”

What did they do next? Did they rejoice that one their own was becoming great? Mark 6:³ “Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.” They tried to deflate Jesus’ dream, they tried to reduce Jesus’ vision. Why do you think the family will not try to reduce your vision? Why are you so concerned because they are family? The job of the family is to try to reduce our vision sometimes.

Mark 6:⁴ “Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family” (emphasis added). Stop trying to get your family to believe in your dreams. Stop it! You are not greater than Jesus. Your family does not have to believe in your dreams, at least not now. They will believe eventually. Jesus’ brothers that were mentioned here all became saved eventually. But none of them followed Jesus while He walked the earth. They became Christians after Jesus was resurrected. Your family only comes to acknowledge your greatness after you have been glorified. So, relax!

Prayer: Father, I ask for the grace to defeat the family dream deflator, in Jesus Name. Amen!