CHAPTER 1

God's Dreamer Boy—Joseph

The story of the dreamer boy, also known as Joseph, started inthe book of Genesis 30: 22-25, with some difficult moments forhis mother, Rachel, for whatever reason best known to God.

And God remembered Rachel and God hearkenedto her, and opened her womb. And she conceived,and bares a son; and said God hath taken away myreproach: and she called his name Joseph; and said, TheLord shall add to me another son. (Genesis 30:22-24)

I know some scholar of the Bible will suggest that this was dueto the fact that Leah was hated, but when you check on Genesis29:31, the Bible recorded that when God saw Leah was hated,God opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. The Bible didnot say that God made Rachel barren.

Coming back to our point, Rachel went through a very difficultperiod of barrenness; even the Bible recognised that, for real,she was barren. It must have been very painful, indeed, to bemarried to a husband whom she truly and sincerely loved butwas unable to give him even a child. It became more depressingwhen her blood sister, married to her husband, produced babiesyear in, year out.

Given the rivalry between the two women, one can imaginethe silent pain of Rachel, particularly when she sent herstepchildren on errands or disciplined them whenever theywere wrong. The reaction of Leah towards her was hostile andunimaginable, but given that she had the spirit of a dreamerinside of her, she stayed put in her marriage with godly patienceand perseverance.

May I, at this point, encourage all would-be mothers, who havebeen in marriage for a while, praying for a fruit of the womb;I have got news for you: Continue to trust God and wait forhim patiently; he is a faithful God. The Bible recorded inGenesis 30:22 that God remembered Rachel, hearkened to her,and opened her womb. As a prophet of God unto nations andAbraham of this generation, I declare that, as you are readingthis treasure book, may your womb begin to open in JesusChrist's name, may the heavenly Father remember you rightnow in Jesus Christ's name, and may he hearken unto yourprayers and give you a Joseph.

I said earlier on that Rachel was a dreamer; yes, despite severalyears of barrenness, she continued to hope for the day when shetoo will celebrate with her baby. You will also note this spirit ofa dreamer in Rachel even after giving birth to Joseph. The Biblesays in Genesis 30:24 that she named Joseph by his name, andthe meaning of Joseph is "the Lord shall add to me another son."Indeed, she was a dreamer with a solid reliance on God, andnot too long, God gave her Benjamin; the dream of another sonwas, indeed, fulfilled.

It was no surprise, therefore, that Joseph began to dream of greatthings while he was still a little boy. Joseph had it in his DNA;it was an inheritance from his mother. It may also be concludedthat while Joseph was growing up, the mother taught him thefear of God, which was the beginning of wisdom, and she musthave taught him how to meditate in the Word of God and prayto the God of Abraham. I, therefore, submit to you that thereis no way that such a boy will have grown up into somethingelse than a God-dreamer, a man that will grow to carry thedream of God for his generation. Just as Joel 2:28 says, whenthe Holy Spirit is poured on us, then God's dreams and visionswill certainly follow, and that is notwithstanding of age.

Even in our days, God is looking for another Holy Ghost-raisedJoseph that has been trained by a Rachel in the ways and in theWord of God and also exposed to prayer from their childhood.God wants to pour his dreams into such godly children so thatthey can become achievers and rescuers of their generation.

Questions to all parents that read this book, in particular, thosewith little kids or those of you that are still in the waiting roomof God: Will you fail God in the lives of your children? How areyou raising them up—with the demonic culture in your society,through the ungodly images on your television screen? Or willyou raise them up in the fear of God, will you teach them howto pray and trust God in everything, and will you teach them tomake the word of God their friend?

I encourage you all to become another Rachel and another Loisand Eunice, who equally raised another God-dreamer, calledBishop Timothy.

In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul acknowledged that the genuine faithseen in Timothy first dwelt in Lois, his grandmother, and also inEunice, his mother. This aligned with the case of Joseph, whosemother was also a dreamer. An adage says that you cannot givewhat you do not have. In the case of Timothy, both his motherand his grandmother had genuine faith; it ran in the familybloodline. Notwithstanding the two mothers' busy schedules asmother, grandmother, wives, and possibly, businesswomen, theystill found time to pass on to Timothy the genuine faith.

They passed it on, not only in their spoken words, but alsoequally in their day-to-day lives, in their actions and reactionsto others, and in the way they took God seriously. It must besaid that genuine faith is the source of all God-given dreams,for the Bible says in the book of Hebrews 11:6 and in Hebrews11:1 that

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, theevidence of things not seen. (Hebrew 11:1)

Every God-dreamer must have the "now faith" that, once possessed,becomes a substance of things hoped for, a God-given dreamthat—once given by God and acted on by faith by the receiver, inGod's own appointed time and season—must come to pass.

It could also be said that these two women, Timothy's motherand grandmother, had raised him not only in God's genuinefaith but also in the study of the Holy Scripture, and it wasthis early study of the Word of God, carried on in the home,that grounded the soul of young Timothy and prepared him tobecome, in due course, an apostle of the church and the bishopof Ephesus, a dream come true. The whole church, for the pasttwo thousand years, owes to these two women an immense andunpayable debt of gratitude.

When, as a child, Timothy was taught the grammar of HolyScripture, what did he learn from Lois and Eunice? Manythings, to be sure, but let us consider three benefits to beascribed to that early instruction in God's word.

First, Timothy learned to take possession of his heart, the richand varied narratives that enabled him to make sense of hisheart. Placing his young soul under the authoritative guidanceof the Word of God, Timothy also learned and discovered whohe was, his place in this world, what God expected of him, andwhat he himself could expect, both during his life and at the endof it; a God-dreamer was shaped in Timothy by a grandmotherand a godly mother.

The stories of the Bible—but more especially, the centralstory assimilated in the context of his family—gave shape toTimothy's moral imagination, conferring on his conscience anarrative, moral sense. These biblical stories gave imaginativeorganisation to his mind. He was enabled to inform andfashion his personal life based on the Word of God. From thescripture meditation, learned especially in the setting of hishome, Timothy was educated in the habits of the heart. Hewas in the full, rich sense of that word—indoctrinated, sacreddoctrine being placed in the heart and mind—giving formationto his character. Timothy learned, from the inside, the Bible'sperspective on the world. He slowly became versed in the spiritof the Word of God that would enable him to organize his ownheart, giving structure to his thoughts and feelings in line withthe scriptures.

In conclusion on this chapter, we must all realize that we are allmaking the future. Today, we have teenagers creating menace inour world, all because parents, when the children were in theiryounger ages, failed to train them in the way of the Lord. TheBible says in Proverbs 22:6 that we should "train up a child inthe way he should go: and when he is old, he will not departfrom it." It is just the way those children have been trained bytheir parents when they were children that has now become apermanent problem to our society. It is our prayer that God ofheaven will reach out to those lost children, but please, whileyou are still able to mold them, even right now at this tenderage, please be a Rachel, create another Joseph—a God-dreamerthat will bring solution to our world's problems. May the goodLord help us all.

CHAPTER 2

God's Dreamer and RighteousLiving

To everyone that has within them God's deposited dreams;you must live a righteous life. You must be separated from allpollutions that surround us. Why? Because you are a carrierof God's dream. In the book of 2 Corinthians 6:17, we arerequired to come out from among them and be separate, andwe are required not to touch the unclean thing, and there is apromise from God that he will receive us.

In the above passage, God is speaking to carriers of his dreams.He is mandating them to come out from among them. This wasthe same message that God gave to Abraham in Genesis chapter12:1, wherein he was required to get out of his known country,kindred, and his father's house. Why, because Abraham wasGod's dream carrier.

Just like he did with Father Abraham, God is calling every dreamcarrier of his to get out of their familiar country—meaning, acall unto salvation. Such are required to renounce patriotism tothe devil's nationality, which signifies the world (cosmos) and itssatanic agendas (John 15:18-19, John 17:14-19).

In the journey unto righteousness for Abraham, God strippedhim of his kindred (relatives)—this signifies the flesh, our oldlives, and ungodly way of doing things, fleshly thinking, andfearful and doubtful natures (Ephesians 4:17-29).

Lastly, God asked Abraham to vacate his father's house andmove by faith into the unknown future but with a known andcertain God. The request for Abraham to vacate his father'shouse signifies departure from household habits, sins, iniquities,and transgressions (Psalms 51:2-5). This same call of living a lifeof righteousness is required of anyone today who is a carrier ofGod's dream.

So in Genesis chapter 37:1, it was mentioned that Joseph, withhis family, resided in a strange land, but he refused to copy thebehaviour of the strange land. He made a conscious decision notto compromise his godly and Christian beliefs. He held on tothe God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He refused to allow peerpressure from his age-mate to coerce him into breaching the lawof God. As a result of his stand, he was in the minority, he lostfriends, and he was persecuted, ridiculed, and reproached; buthe stood with righteousness, the one key factor that kept thedream of God growing and alive inside of Joseph.

As if being attacked from outside was not enough, even his ownbrothers—who, by now, have corrupted themselves—were nowoperating under the spirit of the land, a spirit that Ephesianschapter 2:2 referred to as the spirit of the air that now operatedin the heart of the disobedient to God. It may amaze you toknow that Judah, a symbol of praise and worship, was amongJoseph's brothers that were corrupted by the spirit of the land ofCanaan. Know that your involvement in church activities, yourtitles, and your responsibilities to your church are not enoughto keep the dream of God alive in you; you must ensure,through the help of the Holy Spirit that you allow the fruit ofrighteousness to grow and further develop into full maturityinside of you.

The Bible recorded in Genesis 37:2 that at the age of seventeen,Joseph was already set and solid in the ways of the God ofheaven because he was God's dream carrier. However, asGod's dream carrier with solid establishment in righteousness,he could not condole and tolerate the sinful behaviour of hisbrothers. Owning to the level of righteousness in Joseph,his spirit became agitated and unsettled as a result of the evilbehaviour of his brethren, and the Bible says in Genesis 37:2that he reported them to his father. Joseph was in obedience tothe word of God in the book of Ephesians 5:11, wherein it wasinstructed by God that we should not have fellowship with theunfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them.

It is rather unfortunate in our days today that many would-beGod's dream carriers have failed to be and act like Joseph in hisdays. While in their places of work, they enjoy all the foolishjesting and ungodly jokes that their colleagues and workmatesengage in, and they laugh and giggle whenever sinful words areuttered. No wonder they cannot be recognised and identified intheir offices as God's dream carriers.

It is appalling and disgraceful to the heavenly watcher that someChristians are even the ones that indulge in the worldly andsinful behaviours seen among unbelievers. They lie, they burstinto wrath, and they fornicate and indulge in sexual, filthy, andunholy behaviour. They keep boyfriends and girlfriends andcommit sexual acts with them. They cohabit with partners thatthey are not married to; some even attend nightclubs, lookingfor satisfaction where there is none.

They have babies out of wedlock, and some even commitabortions, therefore, murdering lives that could have beenalive today. Oh, some are wife beaters, smokers, and alcoholdrinkers, and do not be surprised that come the followingSunday, they shall be the first to arrive in church. They aremembers of choirs, ushers, even teachers, pastors, evangelists,church committee members, bishops, apostles, and prophets.They carry titles and are very eager to put up acts; they onlymanage to deceive man, but they cannot deceive God, thedream giver.

Just like Joseph, true God's dream carriers are not only expectedby God to distance themselves from the spirit of the land andthe disobedient children but also required to expose them.This means that they are required to expose the darknesscreated by the spirit of the land and the acts of the disobedientpeople by allowing their light to extremely shine before thesemen (Matthew 5:16), and as a result of the light of Godshining through them, their evil report has been exposed, andperadventure, God willing, some of them may be saved by Godand be translated into the marvelous light of Christ.

The consequences of God's dream carrier taking sides withrighteousness are mixed in nature. There are advantages anddisadvantages to making God-informed decision through the HolySpirit, enabling power to stand for righteousness. First, we readin Genesis 37:3 that Joseph's father loved him more than all hischildren. Verse 3 says that Jacob loved Joseph because he was theson of his old age. Although his father, Jacob, was about ninety-oneyears old when Joseph was born, he was not the last born.

Benjamin was born nine years after Joseph, and there was nosuch record of equal love and treatment. Hence, the phrase inverse 3 must have referred to a son that was especially devotedto the care of Jacob in his old age. Perhaps, after the death ofRachel, Joseph became his father's special helper in supplying hiswants and being an agent between him and his other brothers. Ialso submit that Jacob was so impressed with Joseph's godly andrighteous living and the fact that he chose not to compromisehis Christian beliefs even though his brethren had done so.

Consequently, this positioned Joseph in a privileged positionthat enhanced him to enjoy his father's blessings—one of whichwas a blessing of a coat of many colours, which truly signifiedhim as a beloved son of Jacob. The coat of many colours wornby Joseph confirmed the mark of honour and his rank amonghis brethren as this can only be worn by the chief and heir;hence, Joseph inherited the birthright of the firstborn eventhough by birth he was second to the last.

Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (forhe was the firstborn; but forasmuch as he defiled hisfather's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons ofJoseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to bereckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed abovehis brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but thebirthright was Joseph's. (1 Chronicles 5:1-2)

The garment was of many colours, not pieces, making it,therefore, a priestly and royal garment and possibly withfine and beautiful needlework of various coloured threads(cross-reference Exodus 28:2-14, Exodus 39:1-7, 2 Samuel13:18, and Psalms 45:14).

Just like Joseph that received a cloth of many colours, so alsodoes every one of God's dream carrier that resolved to work inGod's kind of righteousness; they are clothed with the cloth ofsalvation as a priest of God first (2 Chronicles 6:41), have beensaved by Christ's bloodshed on the cross, and are being saveddaily from the devil's temptation to sin and fall from God'sgrace.