Christmas Dreaming

Introduction

Have you ever noticed how things often go sour after God speaks? Its almost as if getting a word from God is guaranteed to make your life go sideways. We all love to hear the prophetic Word telling us how God is going to bless us, but most of us are not prepared for what comes next.

It’s the Devil!

Our first reaction when this trouble comes is to blame the devil. We often puff up and proclaim that well the enemy is just mad because of my word. We may even get a little prideful about it as we stomping about rebuking him and going to war. It reminds me of a story I once heard about a man walking by a church. He looked up and sitting on the steps leading to the church sat a sad little demon crying his eyes out. The man was bit taken aback by such a sight, and although he knew it was not wise to be dealing with demons, he walked up to him and asked. “Why are you crying?”

“Because,” whined the demon mid-sob as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “they’re blaming me for things I haven’t even thought of yet!”

In reality, he enemy doesn’t cry about this at all, in fact, I think he takes great joy in the fact that he has to expend no effort at all and yet we give him all the credit for it. All this does is glorify him in a very weird and perverse way. Don’t get me wrong. There are times when it most assuredly is the devil causing strife in your life, but that’s not always the case. During times of trial, rather than find someone to blame for the trouble, we need to become introspective, and use the circumstance to work out some of the hidden iniquity and moral and spiritual deficiencies in our own life.

This reality often comes to light when God makes a grand proclamation or promise to us. After the promise, He very consistently requires from us that we simply take Him at His word, and that’s where things get tricky.

Work Out the Word!

We need to be willing to work out the Word. What do I mean by that? Well, the first thing is that if God gives you a word, you need to find out if it’s conditional or not. Sometimes God will give us a word that says, if you do this, then I will do this. If that’s the case, then it is incumbent upon us to be faithful to do our part of it. Other times, God just straight up says, I am going to do this. Well if He’s making that proclamation, what then, would be our part. That’s easy, understand that you’re not worthy of His grace and that He’s doing it in spite of you or your circumstances.

How often do we hear a word from God and then our first reaction is, yeah I understand that God says He’s going to give me a promotion, but my boss has been riding me hard and I think they want to get rid of me. Or I know God told me He’s going to heal my sickness, but the doctor told me I only have six months to live. If God said it, then he means it, and He will do it.

Okay pastor, I see that, but how does this have anything to do with Christmas? Well I’m glad you asked.

The Christmas Connection - A Word from God

Luke 1:26–38 TLV

Then in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by Adonai into a town in the Galilee named Natzeret and to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Miriam. And coming to her, the angel said, “Shalom, favored one! Adonai is with you.” But at the message, she was perplexed and kept wondering what kind of greeting this might be. The angel spoke to her, “Do not be afraid, Miriam, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you shall call His name Yeshua. He will be great and will be called Ben-Elyon. Adonai Elohim will give Him the throne of David, His father. He shall reign over the house of Jacob for all eternity, and His kingdom will be without end.” Miriam said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am not intimate with a man?” And responding, the angel said to her, “The Ruach ha-Kodesh will come upon you, and the power of Elyon will overshadow you. Therefore, the Holy One being born will be called Ben-Elohim. Behold, even your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age; and the one who was called barren is six months pregnant. For nothing will be impossible with God.” So Miriam said, “Behold, the servant of Adonai. Let it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel left her.

A Word from God

The angel appears to Mary and proclaims, “You’re going to have a baby!” Everyone ran around and there was joy and merriment and they lived happily ever after right? Hardly. What was the first thing that Miriam did.

First the Doubt

How can this be? I’ve never been intimate with a man! Isn’t that just like us? But God, I’m not qualified to do what you’ve called me to do! God, that’s impossible, I don’t have the money or the talent to accomplish that. This what Mary must have been thinking. Gabriel, I know you’re an angel and all, but come on dude. Don’t you know about the birds and the bees? All of the excuses come pouring out of our mouth.

Then there’s the fear. Wait a second. I’m not married, I’m only 15! What will the people say? What will Joseph say? Will he think I’ve been unfaithful and not want to marry me? Will anyone want to marry me ever? For a young woman living in antiquity there was nothing more frightening than not having a husband to support her and give her a living. There were very few jobs a young woman could do and most of those were dishonorable to say the least.

That was the least of her worries though. The law of Moses was very strict. If she were accused of unfaithfulness, Joseph could have her put to death! No, this did not seem like great news to Mary. What was God’s solution? Mary, go stay with your aunt Elisheva who is experiencing her own miracle. When God gives us a big promise and big dreams, it is time to get around other people of faith who have experienced God’s faithfulness and can encourage you through your doubts. In order to take hold of your promise, get around other people of the promise.

Then the Response

What’s Mary’s response at the end - in spite of all these challenges? “Let it be to me according to your word.” She left doubt behind, and took the angel at his word.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to face trial and persecution. That was for sure coming. She just had to believe that God had a plan for her life. She didn’t ask the angel about every little detail, the angel told her only what she needed to know. Likewise God will often tell us only what we need to know. He won’t always. in fact, rarely will He give us a detailed guid for getting to our final destination. He often reveals it in pieces He tells us what we need to know when we need to know it.

Joseph’s Dream

We know what happens next, her fiancé Joseph has a hard time believing what he’s heard. Did Mary cheat on him? How could she? He’ll be a laughing stock, should he acquiesce with the people who want to have her stoned, or should he have mercy? He’s a gentle and honorable man and doesn’t want to see the girl harmed so he decides in his heart he will just divorce her quietly and put it all behind him. Then he started dreaming. Each time the dreams took him into trials. First the long arduous trek to Bethlehem with a very pregnant Mary to register for the census, next the sudden departure to Egypt to escape the murderous wrath of Herod.

Just Like Joseph

Just like the other Joseph, Yeshua’s ascension went through Egypt.

Genesis 37:5–7 TLV

Then Joseph dreamed a dream and told his brothers—and they hated him even more. He said to them, “Please listen to this dream I dreamed. There we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field. All of a sudden, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

Just Like Mary

Just like Mary was going to be called blessed., God revealed to Joseph his coming glory. God promised him that He would put him in a position of great authority and that his authority would even surpass that of even his older brothers.

Trouble Too

Also like Mary, Joseph’s dream go him into trouble. The problem with being a dreamer is that dreams can get you into trouble. Sometimes, though we do a good job of letting our hubris get in the way and while the dream itself doesn’t get us into trouble, our response to the dream is what does us in. this is what happened when Joseph rubbed his brothers’ noses in his dream. Saints, your dream from God will probably cause you problems anyway. It’s probably wise not to stir the pot and cause trouble of your own.

Genesis 37:8–11 TLV

“Will you truly be a king over us?” his brothers said to him. “Will you really rule over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and because of his words. But then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers, saying, “I have just dreamed another dream. Suddenly, there was the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowing down to me!” He told it to his father as well as his brothers. Then his father rebuked him and said to him, “What’s this dream you dreamed? Will we really come—your mother and I with your brothers—to bow down to the ground to you?” So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the speech in mind.

The Story Continues…

Sold by His Brothers

As we know, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. And we all remember the passage of scripture where Joseph started jumping up and down with joy because he saw that God’s plan was finally going to be fulfilled. Wait! What? Your translation of the bible doesn’t have that in there? That’s weird. Well then maybe it was the devil that was causing God’s plan to be derailed in Joseph’s life? What is going on here?

Falsely Accused

We know how the story goes next, he goes to the house of Potiphar. Now Joseph can see the genius in God’s plan. He is going to have great authority as Potiphar’s right hand man. Wow this is great - except Potiphar’s wife makes googly eyes at him and tries to get him to rub some sunscreen on her back. He scrams, she rips off his bathrobe, he’s left standing in his Speedos, and he runs away after realizing she was not interested in just some sunscreen. Well dang it, now our guy’s in prison. This certainly is not working out like he had imagined it was supposed to.

Promise Forgotten

So now he’s in prison and of course, being the leader that he is, he quickly earns the warden’s respect so he gets to make the schedules for the prisoners, and he gets to be in charge of snack time, you know, all of the perks. It was while he was enjoying his baloney sandwich listening to some guys talk about their dream that his ears perk up. He knows all about dreams - despite his bad record so far with his own dreams, he gives it a shot and tells the cupbearer - hey when you get back to the palace give a shout out to your buddy the dream interpreter. All great right? Well the cup bearer forgot. Until he didn’t.

Times of Trial

So often we are faced with time of trial following a dream or word from God and it’s not always the enemy. And despite Joseph’s example, it’s not always something we are or not doing. Much of the time getting a dream or Word from God leaves us in a very lonely position because we are the ones who were given the word. In both our stories of faith, the protagonist had to face trials. But as I’ve said many times before. God draws straight with crooked lines.

It’s all about Perspective

We don’t know all the details - it’s not something that God owes us. The details are up to Him. Think of all of the things that had to come into play to get Joseph to Egypt at the right time and in front of the right people. Think of how God had to deal with Joseph’s pride so that he could grow his gift (even in prison) and so that Joseph would have to grow his relationship with God before he could ever stand before the king.

Think about all of the things that had to come in to play to get Joseph, Mary and Jesus to Egypt at the right time. To hear from the right people and to deal with the pride of Herod. So that she could raise a young man, to be the mother to this young man who would stand as the King of Kings.

Putting it All Together

If you’re going to dream, then dream big! Ge a hold of God’s vision for your life. But don’t boast about what God is going to do, rather be confident in that He’s going to do it. Because he loves you and you are favored by God. Expect opposition and rejection because of jealousy or misunderstanding. False accusations and trials are nothing new to those would dream big dreams. Just take them in stride and continue to hang on to the dreams that God has given you, even if those dreams seem to have died a humiliating death.

Remember that it is during the times of trial and apparent death of your dreams that God is equipping you with exactly what you need in order for the fulfillment of his purpose to come to pass. Jesus Himself said,

John 12:24 TLV

Amen, amen I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.

And your Father said this:

Isaiah 66:9 TLV

“Will I bring the moment of birth, and not give delivery?” says Adonai. “Will I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.

If you are at a place where it seems like all His promises are lost and you are unable to see your way straight, there is good news for you today. God will make a way where there is no way. Don’t assume that opposition is from the enemy or the result of jealousy or even of sin. In fact, what you see as opposition may, in fact, be the fulfillment of the dream itself. Don’t give up when you seem to have taken a serious detour. It’s not about what you see or know, it’s about what you don’t see or know.

That is God’s promise to you. Keep dreaming, keep believing, keep holding on. You are in great company. After all, Jesus was born to dreamers.