Can these dead dreams live?!

”And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”“ (Ezekiel 37:3)

For years, I’ve heard, “You are the prophet of your life.” And for a while, I’d begin to speak over my life the things I wanted and the way I wanted my life to be. But at some point, I’d give up when I didn’t see the reality of what I was speaking. I’d even allow the words others around me were saying to and about me to hold more power than my own words. No matter how contrary their words were to my own, I ran with them at face value.

Words matter. The words we speak matter. The words we receive and believe matter.

I have always been a big dreamer, I’d make vision boards, I’ve had vision books and high hopes for my future and what I wanted it to look like. At some point, life happened and I allowed that to cloud my dreams. I allowed the disappointments, the failures and the setbacks of life to paralyze my vision. And as Proverbs 29:18 says, “where there is no vision, the people perish…”

I began to see the dreams I once dreamed perish right before my eyes. Well, I won’t say they perished, but they did gather dust and became of less importance to me. One disappointment led to another, one failure led to another, and so on and so forth. It began to look like what I heard one pastor call “the pile on method” where the enemy will continue to pile on different circumstances in our lives to overwhelm us in order to ultimately cause us to give up.

Fast forward to the end of 2023 and the beginning of this year. I’d been hearing the echo of the above scripture ringing in my heart. In my time with the Lord, I’d hear Him admonish me to return to the dreams and visions He’d given me. He encouraged me to pick them up, dust them off and to speak life and the final outcome over them. “Can these dead dreams live?!” I heard, and I immediately thought of Ezekiel when God asked him, in a field of dry bones, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel replied, “God, You know…” (37:3) It’s like, well God, You’re the creator of life and You can do anything, You know the answer to that question.

I don’t think God asked him that to confuse him, but to show and remind him of the power God has given him. God’s response to Ezekiel confirms this, “Prophesy over these bones, say to them, dry bones hear the word of the Lord.” (37:4) I say that to bring up something the Lord showed me, basically by giving power to life’s disappointments, I’d allowed it the power to steal my voice. I allowed the failures to have the final say. I stopped reminding my heart, my life and my circumstances Who MY GOD IS, and instead caved in to the circumstances I was faced with.

Say what God has SAID.

God reminded me of the power that He’s given me to prophesy. I’m not talking about “name it and claim it,” and I’m not shaming that, but what I am saying is we have the power to speak over our lives what God has spoken over them. We have the power to prophesy the final outcome of the dreams and visions God has given us. We can say what God says about our businesses, our relationships, our health, and our future.

What has God spoken to you? What vision has God given you? What is He saying about the dreams in your heart? I encourage you to repeat after Him by SAYING WHAT HE’S SAID. God’s Word is the fuel to bring to past any dream He’s put in your heart. When we KNOW and realize Who’s with us, for us and within us, we’ll move differently. God also convicted me about wanting others to affirm my dreams. Truth is, many times they won’t and that’s okay. The only affirmation we need for what and where God is calling us to has already been given to us, by the One Who called us to begin with.

Here’s to 2024, the year we all pick up the visions and dreams God has given us, many of us long ago, and run with them. Can our dead dreams live? Yes, they can, PROPHESY THE WORD OF THE LORD and watch them live again. Happy New Year!