Joel Osteen - Remember Your Dream (03/18/2017)
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Life’s setbacks can bury our God-given dreams under disappointment and discouragement, but God hasn’t given up on them—they’re still alive. Drawing from Caleb’s persistence at 85, Joseph’s faithfulness through betrayal, and modern stories of revived dreams, the message calls us to remember and stir up what God promised, trusting that temporary valleys lead to eternal glory.
Dreams Buried But Alive
I want to talk to you today about «Remember Your Dream.» All of us have things that we are believing for, something that we want to accomplish—part of our destiny. We can feel it so strongly, but then we hit some setbacks. We did not get the promotion, the medical report was not good, or a relationship did not work out.
Life has a way of pushing our dreams down. They can become buried under discouragement, buried under past mistakes. There are dreams buried under divorce, buried under low self-esteem, and it is easy to settle for mediocrity even though we have all this potential buried on the inside.
God Hasn’t Given Up
But just because you gave up does not mean God gave up. Your dream may be buried. The good news is it is still alive. It is not too late to see it come to pass. We have all been through disappointments and setbacks, and life happens, but instead of remembering the hurt, the pain, what did not work out, the key to reaching your destiny is you have to remember your dream.
Remember what God promised you. Remember what He whispered to you in the middle of the night. The scripture calls it the secret petitions of our heart—things you have not told anybody about.
Stir Up Your Faith
It may seem impossible. Every voice tells you it is not going to happen. You have been pushing it down. But God is saying, «What I promised you, I am still going to do. I spoke it to you. It may not have happened yet, but I am true to my word. It is on the way.»
If you will do your part and start believing again, get your passion back, God is going to resurrect what you thought was dead—dreams that you have given up on. You tried; it did not work out. It has been so long. They are going to suddenly come back to life.
Problems that looked permanent are going to suddenly turn around. What should have taken years, God is going to do in a fraction of the time. He has not changed His mind.
Remember the Right Thing
Now do not let circumstances talk you out of it. You may not understand why a business did not make it, why a person walked away, why you came down with an illness. You were doing the right thing, but the wrong thing happened. It is all a part of the process.
Every disappointment, every delay, every closed door—it is not just a setback; it is a setup for God to get you to where you are supposed to be. It may be taking a long time; it may look impossible. All it takes is one touch of God’s favor.
What are you remembering? The hurt, the pain, what did not work out? Turn it around and remember your dream. What has God put in your heart? What did you used to be excited about?
Get Your Passion Back
Now you think it has been too long, it is too big, it is not possible. You do not think you could write the book, finish school, see a marriage restored, start the business. No—get your passion back. You have not missed your opportunity. You have not had too many bad breaks. You are not lacking. You did not get shortchanged.
When God breathed life into you, He put in you everything you need to fulfill your destiny. People cannot stop you. Bad breaks, disappointments, loss—the most high God is on your side. You have royal blood flowing through your veins.
Seeds of Greatness
There are seeds of greatness in you right now—dreams so big that you cannot accomplish them on your own. It is going to take you connecting with your Creator, believing that you are a person of destiny, that He is directing your steps.
When we go through opposition, these challenging times, we do not have to fall apart. God controls the whole universe. He will not allow anything to happen unless He knows how to bring good out of it. But you have to do your part and keep your faith stirred up.
Dig Out Your Dream
The enemy would love to deceive you into thinking that it is never going to work out. Do not believe those lies. It is not too late to become all that you were created to be. Every time you remember your dream, every time you say, «Lord, thank you for bringing it to pass,» you are removing some dirt. You are digging it back out.
Maybe you have struggled with an illness for a long time. Early on, you believed you could get well, but now it has been years and you are just learning to live with it. What has happened is your healing, your breakthrough, your freedom has gotten buried. It is still in you; it is still alive.
Speak Life to Your Dreams
If you will start believing again, God can bring it to pass. Instead of thinking, «Well, it is never going to work out. I have had so many bad medical reports"—that is putting more dirt on it, burying it deeper—why do you not get your shovel out and start removing some of that dirt?
How do you do that? «Lord, thank you that You are restoring health back into me. Thank you that the number of my days You will fulfill. Thank you that I am getting stronger, healthier.» If you will keep talking and thinking like that, that dream that has been buried is going to come back to life.
This is what allows God to do great things. God is moved by our faith. He is not moved by our discouragement, by our complaining.
Caleb’s Persistence
This is what Caleb did. He and his friend Joshua went and spied out the Promised Land. They came back and told Moses, «We are well able to take the land. Let us go in at once.» But the other ten spies came back and said just the opposite. They talked Moses out of it.
The Israelites became afraid. Even though they were camped right next door, they turned around, and that group never did make it into the Promised Land. I can imagine that Caleb was disappointed, discouraged. He knew they were supposed to go in. God put the dream in his heart.
It looked like somebody else caused his dream to get buried, caused him to miss his destiny. A lot of people would have settled there and thought, «Too bad; it did not work out.» But not Caleb.
Shake Off the Dirt
The true mark of a champion is even though some dirt gets thrown on your dream, instead of letting it get buried, you keep shaking it off. You keep moving forward. You keep looking for new opportunities.
Forty-five years later, at the age of 85, Caleb could still feel that dream stirring on the inside. He was not sitting around feeling sorry for himself, saying, «God, if only those people would have done right back then.» No—he went back to that same mountain, that same place the others refused to go in, and at 85 he said, «God, give me this same mountain.»
What is significant is that mountain had five giants living on it. There were other mountains with less opposition. I can hear a friend say, «Come on, Caleb, you are 85. Let us go take this easy mountain.» He said, «No, thanks. I am not going to settle for mediocrity when I know God has placed greatness in me. I want that same mountain. That is the dream that has been stirring in my spirit all these years.»
At 85 he went out and conquered the mountain.
A Modern Dream Revived
Have you allowed any dreams to get buried in you? At one time you believed you could do something great. You believed you could lead the company in sales. You believed you could break that addiction. But it has been a long time; you had some bad breaks. It was not all your fault.
You could easily settle where you are. Nobody would fault you. God sent me to light a new fire on the inside. That dream is still alive. You may have tried a year ago, 5 years ago, or 40 years ago—it did not work out. Nobody was there to help you.
God is saying to you what He said to Caleb: «Go back and try again. This is your time. This is your moment. Your destiny is calling out to you.»
Joseph’s Dream Fulfilled
This is what happened to Joseph in the scripture. God gave him a dream that one day he would rule a nation. In this dream, his brothers bowed down before him. Joseph should have used more wisdom and not told his brothers that part of the dream. Certain things you should keep to yourself. Some people cannot handle what God has put in you.
One day Joseph went to see his ten brothers. When he walked up, one of them said sarcastically, «Here comes the dreamer.» They were not upset because he was their father’s favorite child. They were not upset because he was wearing a coat of many colors—a coat that represents favor. They were upset, offended, because he was determined to break out of the mold, to do something great, to leave his mark.
Detractors and Opposition
They would have been fine if he was content to be average. But when you stir up what God has put on the inside and believe that you have seeds of greatness—believe that you can overcome that illness, break the addiction, pay your house off, be blessed in spite of past mistakes—let me warn you: everybody will not celebrate you.
When you have a dream, you are going to have some detractors. People will get jealous, try to make you look bad, try to talk you out of it.
Joseph’s own brothers tried to push his dream down. Sometimes your relatives will not celebrate you. Sometimes the people closest to you will be the least supportive.
Temporary Valleys
The enemy targets people who have a dream. He will use opposition, discouragement, delays, jealousy—everything he can to try to convince you to bury that dream.
When negative things happen, that is not stopping your destiny—that is a sign that you are on your way to your destiny. Every delay, the setbacks, the disappointment did not stop your dream.
Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit. They ended up selling him as a slave. Year after year Joseph worked, kept a good attitude. But one bad thing after another happened. He was falsely accused and put in prison.
One night Pharaoh had a dream. Joseph interpreted it. Pharaoh was so impressed, he brought Joseph out of prison and put him in charge of the whole nation—just like in his dream.
Remember the Promise
Years later there was a great famine. Joseph’s brothers showed up at the palace looking for food, bowing down before him. When Joseph saw his brothers, he remembered his dream. He did not remember the betrayal, the lonely nights. He remembered the promise.
When God puts a dream in your heart, when He gives you a promise, it does not mean it is going to come to pass with no opposition, no delays, no adversity. There will be things you do not understand.
In those tough times, you have to do like Joseph and remember your dream. God has not brought you this far to leave you. He has you in the palm of His hand. He is directing your steps.
Passing Through the Valley
The psalmist put it this way: «Passing through the valley of weeping.» It does not say settling in the valley, getting stuck in the valley. The valley is temporary. You are passing through it.
My challenge: quit losing sleep over a temporary stop. Quit being discouraged over something that is only for a season.
I was in my backyard one time, and my grass looked so dead—it was brown and worn out. I called the man that helps with my landscaping. «What happened to my grass? Why did it die?» He laughed and said, «Joel, it is not dead. It is just not in season. It is dormant right now, but in a few months it will be green.»
Your Dream Is Coming
Are you worried about things that are only temporary? Your dream is not dead. It is just not in season. Your time is coming. The right people, the right breaks, favor, restoration, vindication—that is what is headed your way.
These light afflictions are for a moment. They work in us an eternal weight of glory. The adversity is temporary; the glory is eternal.
Friends, stir up what God has put on the inside. You may have a dream that you buried. You need to get your shovel out and start thanking God that it is still coming to pass.
Perhaps you are on a detour right now—something you do not understand. Do not get discouraged; it is temporary. You are just passing through.
It is easy to remember the hurt, the disappointment, the failure. I am asking you to remember your dream. Remember what God has promised you. If you will do this, I believe and declare dreams that you buried are about to come back to life. Promises you have given up on are being resurrected. Like Joseph, God is going to turn every stumbling block into a stepping stone. You are going to rise higher, accomplish your goals, and become everything you were created to be. In Jesus' name.