From Dream to Destiny: The Ten Tests You Must Go Through to Fulfill God's Purpose for Your Life (4 page)

There is a fatal flaw in our logic, however. Our accomplishments, no matter how impressive, are not what make us valuable. Even our dreams from God, as wonderful and awe-inspiring as they might be, are not who we are.

As born-again believers, we are blood-washed sons and daughters of the King—that is our true identity. That is “who we are.” We must become comfortable and secure in that identity. And when we do, pride and insecurity will no longer have power over us.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but the President of the United States does not feel a need to tell people that he is the president. Think about it. Can you imagine the president walking into a room and announcing, “Hey, pay attention, I’m the President! Commander-in Chief! Leader of the Free World! Yes, sir, ‘Mr. President,’ they call me.”

No. He knows he is the president—so he doesn’t have to tell anybody who he is.

Do you realize that Jesus didn’t have to tell anybody who He was, either? Jesus knew exactly who He was. But when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, the first thing Satan did was try to create insecurity about His identity (see Matt. 4:1-3). The first thing that Satan said to Him was,
“If
You are the Son of God" (Matt. 4:3, emphasis added); and then Satan tried to tempt Jesus to prove something. But Jesus never even dignified that challenge with a direct answer. Jesus simply replied, “It is written…It is written…it is written …” (Matt. 4:4,7,10).

Jesus could have said, “Oh, yes, I am the Son of God! Just a minute here, Satan! Let me tell you a thing or two about my Son-of-God-ness!” Instead, Jesus set a beautiful example of security. He rested in the simple
truth of
His Father’s Words.
And that is all that He expects of us when we are tempted with insecurity—to go back to what God our Father has said about us and to rest in that Truth.

Let’s explore some of what He has declared about who we are.

Your Identity in Christ

It’s vital to understand that the ultimate key to your victory over pride and insecurity is in knowing who you are in Christ.

Jesus knew who He was in His relationship with the Father, so He didn’t have to prove anything about Himself. In the same way, we must come to a place where our identities are in Christ and in our relationship
with
Him—not in what we do
for
Him. If our identity is in what we do, or the name that we’ve built for ourselves, we are failing the Pride Test.

So how can we root out insecurity and prevent pride from thriving in our lives? With two powerful weapons—knowing who we are and remembering who we were.

First of all, we must know who we are.

In short, we are children of the King, beloved and cherished by the mighty, sovereign Creator of the universe.

It’s easy to be secure, because we know our heavenly Father loves us. And it really doesn’t matter whether others know that or not. We don’t need to brag or tell anyone about it, because we know in our hearts that we’re His children, and that is what is really important.

Knowing this—really
knowing
it—is the death of insecurity. But what about pride? Can the seeds from its flower still clutter our hearts? How can we be sure that we are never again tempted to be prideful?

The way we must deal with pride is to remind ourselves of who we used to be, to remember that we were adopted. You see, although we are fully children of the King, we know we weren’t born in the palace. Rather, we came into the world as beggars—mere peasants in the village. But the King looked out of the window of His castle and fell in love with us. Then He left the castle and lived as a pauper in the village in order to win our hearts. And when He had won our hearts, He adopted us and took us back to His castle to live as His beloved children forever.

Yes, we are secure in Him. We don’t have to tell anyone who we are, because we live in the palace now—and we are children of the King. We know that we are His beloved children, and we can be secure in that for all eternity.

But we also can have victory over pride, because we know what we used to be. Without Him, we were nothing. Jesus declared it to us in John 15:5 when He said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (
NIV
).

There is a wonderful sense of security in knowing these two truths. It is liberating to be in a room full of strangers and not feel the need to tell them what you’ve done or who you are.

When we pass the Pride Test, we can be a “nobody” or do “nothing” and still be confident, content and at peace—because the greatest joy in our lives comes from knowing Him.

If God continues to use us to speak to people, that’s great. And if He uses someone else to a greater degree, that is wonderful, too, because our greatest joy is not in proving what we can do for God
—it is in receiving all that He has already done for us.
It is in knowing Him and allowing Him to work in our lives, helping us to fulfill the roles He has given us.

Abiding in the Truth

I have found a very easy method for keeping these truths fresh every day: I spend time with God.

It is easy to be humble when you’ve stood a while in the presence of a holy God. If you walk into your prayer closet in the morning and meet with God, it is very difficult to come out of that meeting with pride! When you meet with God, you see how big He is, how wonderful He is and how awesome He is. You are reminded of the fact that it has only been because of His grace that you have come this far. You walk out of that meeting knowing exactly who you are—and Whose you are.

This is the way to pass, and keep on passing, the Pride Test. It’s also the best way to discover God’s dream for you. If you’re not sure about God’s highest and best for your life, I can tell you the best way to find out. Get to know God! Get to know the One who is the Creator of the dream. Spend time with Him.

Then he said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the L
ORD
, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the L
ORD
. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?” (Num. 12:6-8).

This Scripture states that God spoke to Moses “face to face” and “plainly,” (v. 8) because Moses “[was] faithful in all My house” (v. 7). In other words, because Moses was seeking God first, God spoke to him as a friend. Moses was not seeking the dream, and he was not seeking the destiny. He was seeking a relationship with God; he was seeking God’s presence first. And because of that, God said that He would reveal Himself to Moses “face to face” (v. 8).

Moses understood that there is something much more important than knowing God’s dream for your life. It is knowing God. So if you’re not certain of what God has dreamed for your life, I want to encourage you—don’t pursue the dream, but pursue the Giver of the dream. Pursue the One who not only will reveal the dream to you but will also bring it to pass. When you get to know God as a friend, God will speak to you. He will reveal His dream for you. And then He will give you the ability to carry it out.

Discerning Which Dreams Are from God

I have to say this before we go any further: You may be holding on to some dreams that are not from God. We all have had some dreams, perhaps from our childhood, that are really just worldly fantasies. For example, remember when you played the saxophone in high school? You had big dreams of becoming a famous jazz musician. Well, I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but that record company probably isn’t going to call!

At one time or another we will have to let go of those fantasies in order to fully embrace the dreams that God has given us.

So, how can we know which dreams are from God? The only way is to get to know Him. Spend time with Him—get to know Him as a friend. As we get to know the Lord, as we make a habit of speaking to Him heart to heart, He reveals His deepest thoughts to us. It is then that He lets us know the dreams that He has for us.

On a personal note, I truly believe that I am stepping into the destiny God has for my life. As I walk on the path that God has chosen for me, I realize that God’s destiny is far better than the destiny I thought I had. That’s why it’s not hard for me to let go of anything that isn’t really part of His plan. I’ve come to understand that God’s dreams for us are much better than any dream we could dream for ourselves. God’s destiny for us is much bigger than anything we can imagine. The more we seek to know Him, the more this realization will seep into our hearts and minds.

And as we press in to knowing God, He will show us who we really are in Him. He will help us understand the security that we have as His sons and daughters.

Then we can pass the Pride Test—and move on to discover the wondrous destiny that He has prepared for each one of us.

C
HAPTER
T
WO

I once heard a story about a man who had an unfortunate experience on his walk home from work one night. This man worked late into the night, and his shift didn’t end until the wee hours of the morning. In order to get home more quickly, he usually took a shortcut across a cemetery.

One moonless night he couldn’t see very well, and he happened to fall into a grave that had been dug the previous day. Try as he might, he couldn’t get himself out of that hole. So he began to shout and throw dirt and rocks, in the hopes that someone would come and rescue him. But it was the middle of the night, and no one was around to hear his cries for help. Finally he decided to just wait until morning, when someone was bound to come by and help him. So he just sat down quietly in the corner of the grave.

Later that evening a drunk was walking across the cemetery, and he happened to fall into the same freshly dug grave. Try as he might, he couldn’t get himself out of that hole. So, like the first man, he began to shout for help and throw rocks—but all was dark and quiet, and he received no response. Then, suddenly, a hand seemed to come from out of nowhere and touch him on the shoulder. A voice said, “Hey, buddy, there’s no getting out of here.”

But strangely enough—he did!

That’s just an old joke, but it demonstrates the truth that we can accomplish a lot if we are properly motivated. And when you find yourself in “the pits” of life, it’s good to know what you can do to get yourself out.

The Pit Test: Finding Your Way Out

Like it or not, all of us will go through some times when we feel as if things are just the pits. We may not be sure just how we got into that pit—and even less sure as to how to get ourselves out. But one thing is certain—we won’t move ahead into our destiny unless we get out of that pit! So when I say Joseph was going through the Pit Test, we can all relate to his experience.

That is literally the situation in which Joseph found himself, just after receiving those glorious dreams from God. Everything had seemed to be going so well for Joseph. Then suddenly he was in a pit (see Gen. 37:24), and it seemed that those dreams of honor and authority were just some kind of cruel joke.

What could have caused Joseph to end up in a pit? And what lessons would he have to learn before he could get out? Like Joseph, it is important for us to understand the lessons of the Pit Test, so we can pass that test and move on.

From Joseph’s point of view, that day probably had gotten off to a splendid start. He had recently let his father know that his brothers could use a little improvement in their behavior—and now his father was actually sending him on a mission to go check on them. It may have seemed to Joseph that his dream of leading his family was already being fulfilled. Genesis 37:12-24 tells the story.

Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” So he said to him, “Here I am.” Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back
word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?” So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.” And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’”

I find it a bit amusing that Joseph was sent out to find his brothers, but then he himself ended up “wandering in the field” (see Gen. 37:15). We know that his brothers called him “this dreamer” (see Gen. 37:19)—and now it appears that he may have been a daydreamer as well. After all, he didn’t find the man, the man found him. Now Joseph was only 17, so he may have been easily distracted with his dreaming. But whatever Joseph was dreaming about that day, I have a feeling that he wasn’t imagining what was about to happen!

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!” But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father. So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it (Gen. 37:17-24).

What a shock! Everything had seemed to be going so well for Joseph up to that point. He was out on a mission to report on his brothers. His
father had sent him, and he was even wearing the beautiful coat that marked him as the father’s favored son. But before he had known what was happening, he was thrown into a pit! His father was nowhere in sight. He no longer had the beautiful coat his father had given him. He didn’t even have food or water in that pit. What was worse, there seemed to be no way out. He might very well die there.

In a very short time, it began to look as though his dreams were never going to come to pass. Joseph was going through the Pit Test.

All of us must endure this particular test at one time or another. We experience the Pit Test when nothing in our lives seems to go right. It is when things that were going along smoothly suddenly seem to go very wrong all at once. And it is during the Pit Test that it is easy for us to get discouraged and depressed—because when we are in a pit, it appears there is no way out.

Every one of us is going to fall into a pit at some time in our lives. The question is, Are we going to stay in that pit forever? Or are we going to pass the Pit Test and move on into our destiny?

If we want to know how to get out of the pits of life, it is important to understand how it is that we fall into them. There are reasons that we end up in a pit—and there are tests we must pass to get out of it.

Reasons You Find Yourself in the “Pit”

First of all, we need to recognize that some pits are just a part of life. In John 16:33 Jesus said, “In the world you
will
have tribulation [or trouble]" (emphasis added).

Jesus knew we would have trouble because He knew we would be living in a world contaminated by the effects of sin. As a consequence of sin, this world is full of trouble—and pits are just one form it. Pits are simply a by-product of a fallen world.

Now, we can invite that trouble ourselves (and often do), or trouble can just decide to show up uninvited! Either way, in the course of life, we can expect to encounter some trouble. As long as we are on this earth, we will go through some difficult situations, some challenging times.

Oftentimes when we find ourselves in a pit, it seems that we have had very little to do with how we got there. But if we look inward, we usually find that we have played at least some part in getting ourselves into a pit—and all too often we don’t recognize our own responsibility. In difficult times it is much easier to blame others than it is to take a good, hard look at ourselves. And because the world is full of sin, there’s certainly never a shortage of other people to blame!

It has become very popular in our society today to adopt a victim mentality—in other words, to blame all of our problems on other people. If we are going through a difficult time, it’s easy to blame our trouble or failure on our parents, our spouse or even the government.

I don’t wish to sound harsh or insensitive, but if your parents dropped you on your head when you were a baby, I’m sorry, but it’s time to get over it! If you’re 48 years old now, it’s time to move past this incident and do something with your life. That is an extreme example, but I’m trying to make an important point: Even if the sins of others have put you into a pit, you are the only one who can take responsibility to get out of it. And you will never get out until you stop blaming other people for the difficulties you encounter in life.

Joseph had the perfect opportunity to develop a victim mentality. After all, he was just trying to obey his father when his brothers threw him into the pit. And we know his brothers did it out of jealousy,
because the Scriptures state clearly that his brothers not only envied him but hated him as well (see Gen. 37:4,11). So it would have been easy to put all the blame for the pit incident onto Joseph’s brothers. It would have been easy for Joseph to focus only on their sins and never take a good look at his own pride.

It’s true that Joseph’s brothers had an evil attitude—and that attitude prompted them to throw Joseph in the pit. But Joseph also had a sinful attitude, which contributed to the problem. Joseph had an attitude of pride.

In Genesis 37:18 it says: “Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him.” Think about that for a moment. How do you suppose they were able to see that it was Joseph from such a great distance? I believe they were able to see him because he was wearing that coat of many colors. It may have been orange, green, yellow or purple for all we know. But whatever it looked like, it was probably visible from far away.

I’m sure Joseph loved that coat and wore it everywhere he went. His father had given it to him as a sign of his favor, so it’s understandable that the coat would be special to him. But we know Joseph had a problem with pride. And it is possible, even likely, that Joseph wore that coat with an
attitude
of pride, causing his brothers to feel even more envious.

His brothers were out in the wilderness taking care of the sheep, working hard for their father—and from a mile away they could see that coat coming. That may have made them angry, especially if they felt that Joseph was always showing off. Perhaps Joseph was always projecting the attitude, “I’m my father’s favorite. I’m the best one. I’m better than all of you.”

If you think about it, why were Joseph’s brothers together, working in the field, while Joseph stayed at home? Many theologians believe that his father had to separate them, because Joseph’s brothers hated him so much—his bragging created too much conflict. Jacob may have sent Joseph out to find them in the hopes that some reconciliation could take place, since it’s not likely that Jacob really wanted Joseph to check on his brothers’ well-being. After all, they were 10 grown men, all professionals and all older than Joseph. Jacob probably knew the brothers
were all right—he was just trying to help a relationship develop between Joseph and them. But Joseph was such a braggart that the relationship between his brothers and him had become terribly strained.

Further, Joseph shared some responsibility for creating that strained relationship and making it worse. Joseph may have looked like an innocent victim in that pit, but he had contributed to the events that put him there.