BIRTHING YOUR

DREAMS & VISIONS

Looking Beyond Where You Are Right Now.

Teaching Notes by Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer Ministries
Plot No. 512 / B, Road No. 30
Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad - 500 033
Telangana
INDIA
91-40-2300 6777
www.jmmindia.org
TN33
 January 21-22, 1994
Golden Valley, Minnesota

BIRTHING YOUR
DREAMS AND VISIONS
Conception
I. Everything Starts With A Seed.

A. Cannot have harvest without seed!

1. Dreams, visions, ideas, and hopes are all seeds with ability.

a. Wishbone but no backbone!

b. Idle and bored

2. Seeds are like sparks they have the ability/possibility

to produce great things.

B. God plants a seed, and Satan attempts to abort it.

1. All things are possible, but they are not positively

going to happen.

2. God plants impossible things in mens hearts;

and with man it is impossible, but WITH
GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

Man can mess it up!

C. Examples of dreams and visions:

1. Lose weight

BIRTHING YOUR DREAMS AND VISIONS 1

 2. Own your own home or business

3. Be promoted at work

4. Get out of bondage

5. See changes in yourself or family

6. Pastor a church

7. Go to the nations

8. Own a bookstore

9. Be a childrens pastor or a worship leader

10. Have an orphanage

11. Be on radio or TV preaching the Gospel

12. Etc.! Etc.! Etc.!

II. Conceive You Cannot Give Birth Until You Conceive.

A. Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sara conceived and was delivered of

a child.

B. Conceive (defined) To become pregnant with; to form in the mind;

to think or imagine.

1. God gives dreams and visions.

2. You can dream dreams or have visions.

Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 Old men shall dream

dreams; young men shall see visions.

3. Whatever He says, do it!

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 John 2:1-9 Turns water into wine

C. Dont be passive.

1. Be creative until God gives you a specific vision or dream.

Be goal oriented, have purpose, and dont be vague.

D. Ephesians 5:15-17 Do not be vague.

E. Isaiah 7:14 Spiritual application: Conceive = Believe it.

1. Luke 1:26-38 When God overshadows you

a. Mary was not expecting this change in her life. She

had her agenda, but she was willing to change.

b. Acts 13:22 David carried out Gods program fully!

2. It sounded impossible, but with God all things are possible.

a. Mark 9:23

b. Mark 10:27

c. Mark 14:36 Must be Gods will

d. Mark 14:35 Not all positivelys but possibilities

3. I Samuel 10:6 When the Holy Spirit comes upon you,

you are changed into another man with new capabilities.

4. Luke 1:38 Marys part was to agree with God.

F. Joshua 1:5 God promised to be with him.

1. Look at God, not yourself.

2. God needs our availability, not our ability.

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III. Burning Desire And Keeping Yourself Stirred Up

A. Must be as fire shut up in your bones be passionate for the things

of God.

1. Pray for desire if you have none.

2. Philippians 2:13 God puts desire in us.

B. Psalm 42:1 As the deer pants and longs for the water brooks

C. Keep the vision in front of you. Get it off the back burner, off of
simmer, and onto boil!

1. Habakkuk 2:2-3 Write it down and put it up.

a. Keeping something in front of people

helps them conceive.

b. Genesis 30:29-43 Jacob keeps the vision

in front of the cattle; they conceive, and
eventually give birth.

D. Pray about your dreams, visions, and desires.

1. Mark 11:24 Whatsoever things ye desire when you

pray, believe.

Caution: Do not get so excited over the baby

that you forget the Father.

E. Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you
the desires of your heart.

F. Galatians 5:17 Desire of the flesh and desire of the Spirit

1. Lust and desire are two different things.

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 2. Desire To set the heart on; earnestly yearning or
strong affection; causes one to reach out, to stretch, or
to go after.

3. Lust Desire so strong (out of balance) that it controls

or causes one to act irrationally; torments and steals joy.

4. James 1:13-17 Evil desire and deception.

G. Fan the flame and keep yourself stirred up.

1. II Timothy 1:6-7

2. I Timothy 1:18 Do warfare with prophecies.

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BIRTHING YOUR DREAMS AND VISIONS 6
 PERSONAL NOTES

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 What Is The Pregnancy Like?
I. A Time Of Expectancy And Waiting

A. While waiting, you must expect not despair.

B. Psalm 27:13 I would have despaired had I not believed.

1. Despair Without hope; desist or stop; to be utterly

without a way, at a loss, without resource.

2. Isaiah 30:18

C. Psalm 37:7 Rest in the Lord; fret not yourself!

1. Dont worry about the delivery enjoy being pregnant.

D. Psalm 39:7 And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.

1. Boy? Girl? How much will it weigh? What will it look like?

2. When youre pregnant, you may not always know just

what God is doing and what exactly it is! TRUST!

E. Psalm 62:5 (KJV) My soul, wait thou only upon God . . .

1. Hebrews 13:20-21 and I Peter 5:10 Mind, emotions,

and will (the soul) must wait on God.

2. Worry, upset, and self-will (rebellion, independence)

must go.

F. Psalm 69:3 I am weary with my crying while I wait for God.

1. When pregnant you may feel strange, sick, be

emotional, etc.

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 G. Psalm 130:5 I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word
do I hope.

1. When a young woman does not look pregnant,

she hopes in the doctors word.

2. It may look as if nothing is happening.

H. The silent years

1. Hope Desire with expectation.

2. Jesus wasnt heard about from age twelve

in the temple until age thirty.

3. On the shelf?

4. Nothing happening?

5. Purification of vision

II. Pregnancy Is A Time Of Preparation.

A. I studied for years I learned and I grew before the doors opened.

B. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.

C. Charisma without character

1. Charisma (defined) Great personal charm and

magnetism; the ability to perform; divinely inspired
gifts and abilities; being able to win the devotion of
large numbers of people.

2. Character (defined) Moral strength and integrity.

a. A pregnant woman grows.

b. Habit is character usual way of behavior.

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 c. Habits are formed by discipline or lack of discipline.

D. Esther was prepared for many months before she was taken to the king
and placed into her position.

1. Esther 2:4 Position opened

2. Esther 2:8 Separated

a. A pregnant woman looks different; she

is separated from others by pregnancy.

b. Acts 13:2 Separate Saul and Barnabas.

c. II Corinthians 6:16-17 Come ye out

and be separate.

3. Esther 2:12 Purified and prepared in sweet spices

III. A Time Of Change And Letting Go Of What Lies Behind

A. Can no longer do anything you want to do.

1. Friends may change.

2. Habits may change.

B. Focus changes.

1. Not on self any longer

2. Hobbies may need to become secondary

or even let go of.

C. Some want to have babies, but they dont want to change.

D. Pregnancy and change can be uncomfortable.

1. Part of preparation

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 E. Letting go and reorganizing

1. Ecclesiastes 5:7 In a multitude of dreams there

is futility.

a. Learn to zero in.

b. Philippians 1:10 Prune and choose

the more excellent.

F. Tidy up your life and focus on the vision.

1. Make room for the baby by getting rid of some

other things.

IV. The Practical Aspects Of Dreams The Natural And The Spiritual Are
Both Involved.

A. Ecclesiastes 5:3 A dream comes to pass with much business

and painful effort.

B. At this point many abort.

1. Naturally speaking, a woman has an abortion:

a. Out of FEAR

b. Not wanting responsibility or change

c. Not wanting the pain of delivery

d. Not wanting the expense

e. Etc.!

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Abortions And Premature Births
I. Satan, The Abortionist

A. Abortion (defined) A fatally premature expulsion of an embryo;

termination of pregnancy.

1. Satan wants to abort your seed.

B. What we see in the natural is indicative of spiritual abortions

going on.

1. A dream thief

2. Mark 4:14-19 Steals your seed

II. Faint Not.

A. I fainted when I was pregnant!

1. Faint (defined/Strongs/Hebrew) Cease, fail, forsake,

idle, let go, be slack, be slothful, or give up.

2. You have not failed if you keep trying.

B. Satan tries to steal it, but you dont have to give it up.

C. Proverbs 24:10 If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength

is small.

1. More strength is needed to give birth than to be pregnant.

D. Spiritual smelling salts: Isaiah 40:29-31 When feeling faint, wait on

the Lord.

1. The presence of God

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 E. Luke 18:1-9 Men ought always to pray and not to faint.

1. Faint (defined/Vines/Greek) To lose heart, lack

courage; be fainthearted; the effect of tribulation; to be
weary; to fail.

2. Weary To wear out.

NOTE: You have not failed until you quit. It is not over till its over.

F. II Corinthians 4:16 (KJV) Paul had severe trials; and yet said, . . .
we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man
is renewed day by day.

1. Ephesians 3:16 Be strengthened in the inner man

by the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling you and
your personality.

G. Galatians 6:9 Be not weary in well doing: for in due season we shall
reap, if we faint not.

H. Hebrews 12:3 Look at Jesus consider what He went through, and it

will help you not to faint.

I. Hebrews 12:5 Faint not when ye are chastised by the Lord.

1. Correction causes many to faint.

III. Run With Patience The Appointed Course Of The Race (Hebrews 12:1).

A. Romans 8:25 (KJV) But if we hope for that we see not, then do we
with patience wait for it.

1. Hope (defined) Desire with expectation.

B. Patience A Fruit of the Spirit that grows only under trial. Long
suffering, the ability to endure whatever comes with good temper.
NOT WAITING, but how you behave while youre waiting.

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 1. Who is who in the world today?

C. Hebrews 6:12 Inherit the promises through faith and patience.

D. Enjoy where you are while getting to where you are going to be.

E. Running without patience can cause abortions and premature births.

IV. The Effect People Have On Our Dreams And Visions

A. Genesis 37:8-9 Josephs brothers hated him because he had a dream.

B. Abundance of people telling you that you cannot

1. I Samuel 17:32-46

2. People will try to have you do it their way

if they cannot stop you.

C. Numbers 13:25-31 Ten (10) AGAINST two (2)

1. Twenty percent of people tithe and do most of the work

while eighty percent waste their lives being negative and
critical of those succeeding.

V. The Strongman Of Fear

A. Fear of failure, missing God, being wrong, hard work, rejection, success,
etc.

B. Fear of drowning keeps many in the boat.

C. Exodus 14:15 Why cry to Me? Tell the people to go forward!

VI. Premature Births

A. PRE MATURE (existing prior to the assigned time)

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 B. Teacup story

1. We feel ready; but God says, Not yet.

C. Ecclesiastes 3:11 Everything is beautiful in its time.

D. Bear fruit in season.

1. Leviticus 26:3-4 Walk in His statutes, keep His

commands, and do them. Then I will give rain in
due season, and the trees of the field shall bear fruit.

E. Mark 11:13-14, 20 The fig tree cursed

1. Appearing to bear fruit out of season caused it to

come under a curse and wither away.

F. Be mature, not premature.

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 Labor And Delivery
Foundation Scriptures: Matthew 20:20-22 Jesus said to those who desired
exalted positions: YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE ASKING!

I. From Conception To Delivery

A. Much occurs from conception to delivery!

B. ARE YOU ABLE?

C. Travail

1. Definitions:

a. (Strongs/Hebrew) Birth, bring forth, labor

b. (Websters) The labor of childbirth

c. (Vines/Greek) Labor involving painful efforts

2. Jeremiah 30:6 (KJV) . . . wherefore do I see every man

with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and
all faces are turned into paleness?

3. Every man and woman will travail (if not spiritual travail,
then worldly travail).

4. Ecclesiastes speaks of travail under the sun.

5. Ecclesiastes 4:8

6. I would rather travail in Gods kingdom plan

than in the world.

7. Ecclesiastes 5:3

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 D. Isaiah 53:11 Jesus had travail of soul, but it brought satisfaction
and it brought fruit.

1. Luke 22:39-44

2. As The Seed, He fell into the ground and died

the first born from the dead.

NOTE: Explain from The Seeds viewpoint what it must be like

to be taken from the package of seeds and planted in
the ground.

3. John 12:24 Unless the seed falls into the ground

and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies . . .

4. Things we must die to:

a. Reputation

b. Being noticed or included (Matthew 6:1)

c. Receiving credit for your efforts

d. How we look (perfection)

Fingernail situation at Azusa

e. Everything being OUR way

f. Things

g. The need to be right

h. Your own dreams and visions

1) Cannot be ambition or fleshly zeal

2) Cannot lean on natural talent.

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 i. Die to what you are now to become
what you were meant to be.

E. Isaiah 49:1-2 I was hidden.

1. Psalm 139:15-16 Formed in secret prior to birth

F. John 16:21 (KJV) A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow,

because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the
child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man
is born into the world.

1. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy

cometh in the morning.

G. Galatians 4:19 Paul said, Little children, I travail in birth until Christ
be formed in you.

1. Each labor pain hard things push the

baby through the birth canal.

II. Transition The State Of Being Changed From One Form To Another,
From One Place To Another

A. Labor Beginning slowly and increasing brings you into transition.

PUSH!

B. The caterpillar Butterfly metamorphosis

C. It is the hardest part of the labor, but also the signal that very
SOON you will have your baby.

1. This fact encourages one to bear down and PUSH.

2. PUSH!

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 D. John 6 Jesus brings the disciples to transition, and most of them
backslid because it was too hard.

III. Birth

A. II Kings 19:3 . . . This is a day of [extreme danger and] distress, of

rebuke . . . for children have come to the birth, and there is no strength
to bring them forth.

PUSH!

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