“Everybody’s got a dream, what’s your dream?” is a saying in a popular movie. It is a true saying, everyone was created with a destiny, but how many people accomplish it? God designed each person on purpose for a purpose. We are all destined to be someone and to do something because God has already planned it.

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations—that’s what I had in mind for you.” Our journey did not begin in a hospital room. “God knew us before we were born.” He knew us and set us apart. Have we reached our destiny? Part of our problem in not reaching our destiny is our character, we make excuses why we have not reached it. We are without excuse, the scriptures declare our destiny. Our destiny is more powerful than our negativity – What is our excuse? There should be none.
Psalms 139:13-16 “Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.”
The Lord of our destiny is our Creator, God. When God decided our destiny, He set the plans for us, He spoke our destiny over us while He waits for us to manifest our destiny here on earth. Our part is to search out the destiny He has placed inside of us. What are our gifts? What would we do without being asked because we are so passionate about it, something that needs no motivators? We are inclined to do this thing without outside influence. An example of this is Jon Courson, a minister of the Word. He studies the Word, he preaches and teaches the Word, he does it because he is passionate about the Word. He doesn’t need anyone to motivate him. It is his destiny to be a teacher of the Word.
God places our destiny in us, it is our job to SEE IT, SAY IT, DESIGN IT, PERFORM IT, and PROTECT IT! “It’s not good enough to have a dream. We have to be willing to co-labor with God. We have to look for the pattern, be proactive to accomplish your God dream. If God has placed something in your heart, then you have to go after it,” Pastor Keri encouraged us.
We must not limit ourselves or our potential. It is not about us, it is a God thing. Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
In order to reach our destiny we first need to know or be reminded who God is:
God is Lord God, Elohim, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” When God was creating the heavens and the earth, we were in His thoughts and plans for the His Kingdom! He was not only creating the earth but He was setting in each of us a destiny as part of the big plan of His Kingdom. If we don’t fulfill our destiny the problem is us. God has everything we need to fulfill our destiny in His Kingdom. “Your faith will release the resources, help and manifestation in His timing” (p. 6). So, again, we must not limit ourselves or our potential. Our destiny is bigger than us, God plans our destiny to affect generations and nations. Look at Abraham, God destined him to be a nation with as many children as the stars in the sky and and sands on the shore (Genesis 22:17). Ecclesiastes 3:15, “That which is has already been, and what is to be has already been; and God requires an account of what is past.” What is to be has already been (in God’s eyes our destiny has already been). We can stop our destiny by not moving forward with what God has already placed in our hearts. In order to fulfill your destiny, what matters is your VALUE… what do you have to offer…. Show your value – how you can bring more profit and organization. If your gift is not known, then you will not be promoted. If you have an idea, and the boss takes it as his own, let the boss take the glory. What you sow, you will also reap, God sees what you’re doing. If you don’t share your ideas, they will die with you.
God is the Most High. Genesis 14:22, “But Abram said to the King of Sodom, ‘I have raised my hand to The Lord, God MOST HIGH, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath.” God is higher than any mountain of trouble trying to come in between you and your destiny. God is higher than anything that comes in the way of our destiny. He is our God, Most High, and He will protect our destiny from any attacks, we can be sure of it. Trust is the key. We must trust God Most High to make a way for us.
God is the Source of our power. Genesis 26:12-13, “Isaac planted crops in that land and took in a huge harvest. God blessed him. The man got richer and richer by the day until he was very wealthy. He accumulated flocks and herds and many, many servants, so much so that the Philistines began to envy him.” During the time of famine, God was Isaac’s Source. God’s power was upon Isaac, it was the continuation of the destiny God has started with his father, Abraham. Destiny was moving into the next generation. God is the Source of our Power- our abilities, concepts, revelation, favor, positioned; Jesus is the Source. Your destiny is POWERFUL. It is what you will do. We must understand the package of our destiny, if not we will get frustrated. We will have ups and downs. Joseph was learning in his pits to know how to rule the kingdom.
God is unchangeable. What God did for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and Joseph, He will do for us. His love and destiny for us is not different than it was for them. We must believe that God’s favor is on us as well. The Fathers of the Old Testament must have felt the same way as we do, will God deliver His promises? They are an example to us that He does. He will fulfill His promise in us, He will provide for us and see us through as He did for them. Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”
God is The Lord God Almighty. In 1 Samuel 17:45-47, David answers the call of Goliath to send someone out so he could destroy him. Goliath was cursing the Israelites’ God and people. David was not going to let this continue, he knew God and would not stand for Goliath to insult Him. Emotional intelligence is stopping the curses the devil throws our way. How quickly can someone paralyze our destiny by saying something. Goliath professed what he would do based on his own strength. David knew The Lord of His destiny. David conquered a giant. Giants say negative things about us… we still hold on to the old words spoken. It’s called “Frozen in Time”. My Mother was adopted as a baby and then readopted as a 9 year old. In her growing years she was treated more like a servant than as a loved child. Recently, before she passed away, she had loaded our dish washer with liquid detergent instead of dish washing soap. The dishwasher poured out bubbles like a waterfall. It was funny to the family, but Mom said, “Oh I am so stupid.” “Frozen in Time”, she must have been told that and she still believed it. I reassured her she was not stupid and it could happen to anyone and we all had a good laugh. David didn’t let Goliath’s words paralyze him. David professed what he would do based on what God had done. David understood God to be The Lord God Almighty through past experiences, now David was basing his next victory on what he had seen God do already. When we know our God we can do giant exploits. Lord God Almighty… he is bigger than negativity, bigger than prejudice, bigger than your problems.
God is our Source of Blessing. Psalms 3:8, ” From The Lord comes deliverance. May your blessings be on your people.” Our blessings and favor come from God. We are blessed because God is good, not because we deserve it. Psalms 84:12, “O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trust in you.” When we fulfill our destiny we have to say, “God you did it!” You are my source of encouragement, mercy, and blessings!
God is The Lord of our destiny. The Lord is really powerful. Even our mistakes He will use. His power will give us confidence. No one can stop our destiny because we belong to God. God is too powerful. Our destiny is not only important to us, but it’s important to God. There is always a reason not to succeed. We have to endure and overcome our past. We can choose to be a success right now. Prophesy over ourselves based on what He has done (David and Goliath). Our destiny is greater than our past mistakes. He knew us before we were even born and He still chose a destiny for us. When we really know God it eliminates our excuses. David possibly had a bad upbringing but he based what he did on God, not himself. We need to produce character in our times of enduring. “God is Supreme over all the plans for our destiny. As our Alpha, He controls its beginning; and as our Omega He controls its timing and fulfillment. God is able to do what He says He will do through us. As Lord of our destiny He is able to keep our destiny in its development stage and He brings fulfillment in the fullness of time” (p 8).
There are a number of factors that will help us understand and design the destiny God has for us. Jeremiah 1:4,5: The word of The Lord came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a…” For each of us, God has appointed us for a specific time, for a specific purpose. In Jeremiah’s case his destiny was to be ‘a prophet for the nations’. Jeremiah’s destiny was not only for him, but for the people’s sake and for God’s Kingdom’s sake. What have we been appointed for? “Our dreams, whether in sleep or in our heart, are shadows or glimpses of our potential destiny. Your dreams and destiny is important to you, to God and to others who will be affected by your destiny” (p. 9).
Since this is God’s destiny for us, God will give us the:
Power to See our Dream: What you SEE you can achieve… Envision it!
Power to Say our Dreams: What you SAY you will create… Create it!
Power to Design our Dreams: What you DESIGN becomes your blueprint… Blueprint it!
Power to Perform our Dreams: What you WORK becomes your reality… Work it!
Power to Protect our Dreams: What you value you must PROTECT… Rule it!
“Your dream and destiny are important to God. God by His own choice has chosen that human agents will be key participants to fulfill His will and Kingdom purpose on earth” (p. 9). We need to protect our dreams. The enemy will try to get us to abort our dreams/destiny. We can destroy our dream. At the end of the day our destiny is ours and we can work towards it or kill it. We have to co-operate with God for our dreams/destiny.
Seven Factors Concerning Our Dream and Destiny
Faith – Satan will try to destroy our dreams and he will use human packages to discourage us and make us doubt our own destiny. It takes faith above human thought to believe enough to walk into our destiny. To fulfill our dream we have to be disciplined in our dream. An athlete with a six pack didn’t get it by hoping and wishing but by working out and eating right. He had a dream and fulfilled it by taking his own actions towards that dream. As we search out our destiny and discipline ourselves towards that destiny then we, by faith, believe God will help us attain the very destiny He placed in our hearts. It’s a partnership with our Creator to achieve the highest dreams He has for us. Mark 11:22-25 “Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, ‘Go jump in the lake’—no shuffling or shilly-shallying—and it’s as good as done. That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything. And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it’s not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins.”
Confidence – Putting our confidence in Christ and not in ourselves will bring about better results. Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” The process looks like this: God calls us, we way ‘yes’, God equips us for our dreams and destiny and we do the leg work, God then gives us power to dream, design and fulfill our destiny. Hebrews 13:21 God will “equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Words of Faith – We are condemned by what we say about ourselves- Jeremiah 1:6,7 But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me. I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!” God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’ I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there. I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it. Don’t be afraid of a soul. I’ll be right there, looking after you.” God’s Decree. Watch our confessions. If we negate ourself, then others don’t have to negate us. People are what they say. We must say words of faith. We can become, “Frozen in Time,” when we are caught with what someone said to us, “You are dumb”. We live out their words over us. People who always say, “I am sorry,” who told you you can never do anything right? We need to recreate our mind and thinking and become who God says we are (Romans 12:1-2). God sees greatness in us, but we have to see the greatness in ourselves. We don’t need an enemy, sometimes we are our worst enemy. We need to hit the “refresh” button and believe in who God says we are. God told Jeremiah not to use the excuses that he was to young or he didn’t know how to speak (Jeremiah 1:6,7). “God gave Jeremiah a clue: ‘Dream your destiny, create it by what you say, design and work it by what you DO” (p.12) In other words: watch what you say, be careful of negative confessions and begin to “work” your dream. Note, God told him what NOT to say and what to say. He was to “say” what God says. What God says is the “Word of Faith”. When we speak what God says we are declaring the Word of faith that activates God to perform what we say is in agreement with what He said in His Word” (p.12). Romans 10:8-11 “The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!” Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” Negative confessions will build a negative world around you. Positive words of faith will allow God to do what He says He will do.
Creative Power – God’s creative process is by what He said (Genesis 1:24, 26-27). Our creative process is by what we say. Never say a negative word about yourself. Don’t repeat what others say about you that is negative. Im fat, I’m fat… anorexia – leads to suicide, slowly killing ourselves with our words. People who sees themselves as fat, see what their mind is seeing, not with their eyes. We are what we think we are. We have poor self-image, people say things about us and what we think of ourself. Voices are fighting to paralyze us for life. We need to help others and ourselves to see what God’s eyes see. We need to hit the refresh button! We need to not be “Frozen in time”. “As we are made in the image and likeness of God, we too have the ability to declare the Word and Will of God so He can release His creative power to perform as we speak” (p.13).
Courage – Jeremiah 1:8 “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares The Lord.” God encourages Jeremiah to have courage. Don’t be afraid of “them”… who are the “thems” in our lives? Our mistakes, those who attack us, people discouraging us, the enemy of our soul? We need to have the courage to overcome the lies and believe who we are in God. God’s truth is our ultimate truth. We are to keep up our courage, if we fail, get back out there. Don’t quit! Our attitude will affect those around us. Courage will help us in the tough times to reach our destiny.
Power – I have put my words in your mouth. Jeremiah 1:9 “Then The Lord reached out His hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put My words in your mouth.” We are made in the image of God to create our world and speak truth and rule our world. If we are weak we need to say what God says, “You are strong!” If you can’t break barriers you can’t accomplish your destiny. When you speak I am strong you are declaring the Words of God. In police academy and bootcamps they us psychological warfare… they try to get you to quit. The enemy of our soul does the same thing, he messes with our mind and tries to get us to quit. We need character to continue until the end. Those who quit have no endurance, have a chip on their shoulder, and offend easily. Talent will get you through the door, but your character will keep you there. “The Ultimate Secret is: We are made in the image of God to speak like God, words of faith and rule our world” (p.13).
Authority – The ability to rule your world. The ability to rule demonic powers. Jeremiah 1:10 “See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” The ability to rule the circumstances around you; uproot your stronghold and destroy evil schemes through prayer; addictions can be overthrown. We need to rule ourselves, if we can’t rule ourselves, how will we run a company, be a parent? If we can’t control ourselves how will we rule our children. We do it because we want to do it, not because we have to do it. Our destiny has an enemy who uses human elements to derail us, to speak things to get us off course. There is power of confession (“Life and death is in the tongue.” Proverbs 18:21). When was the last time we prophesied over ourselves? How does our mind work? Maybe it’s what I am thinking that is stopping my destiny? The conversations in the mind, “not sure if it will happen…” Are we creating a pattern of destruction? We need to profess what HE SAYS about us. “DO NOT SAY…”, God said to Jeremiah. Will you co-operate with me, asks God? We are co operating with Him when we are in agreement. When we don’t we are malfunctioning.
Abraham made four altars during his time of waiting for his promise to become a great nation. Abraham was not slack in his actions towards that promise, he did waver at times which can be an encouragement to us, but he walked towards his promise. He built an altar of promise. Altars are places where we reach out to God, stopping to place God first in our daily activities. Genesis 12:6-7 “To your offspring I will give this land. So Abraham built an altar there to The Lord, who had appeared to him.” When we are promised something from The Lord, we must build an altar of acknowledgment and trust what God says, He delivers. We need a close relationship with God in our journey to our destiny, He has to be more real to us than what we see and hear from this world. We must not take God’s promises lightly. We are mere man and He is God. If He has promised us something, we must see it as a great privilege to protect and fulfill.
Abraham also built an altar of intercession. Genesis 12:8 “…There he built an altar to The Lord and called on the name of The Lord.” Abraham’s established a relationship with God. He didn’t just look for the promise, He wanted to know the One who gave the promise. His family alter of intercession was an integral part of his life. He was an example to those around him. He called out to God often and left his son with a desire to do the same, Genesis 26:25 “Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of The Lord.” Abraham’s promise was passed down to his son and for generations to come.
Abraham built an altar of confirmation. Genesis 13:14-18 “The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.’ So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to The Lord.”
At times we go through a disappointment and think our promises or destiny is not going to happen. Here, God confirmed his promise to Abraham after a broken relationship with his nephew, Lot. Abraham built an altar of reminding himself that God’s promises do not stop during difficult times. His mind and heart were on The Lord. We have to follow Abraham’s ways and remember during hard times God will not withhold His destiny over us. This takes faith and courage to keep on going even when it’s dark.
The last altar built by Abraham was an altar of testing. Genesis 22:1-2 “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘ Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Genesis 22:9-14 “When they reached the place God has told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the alar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.” Abraham’s promise son had come and now God wanted Abraham to kill him? God wanted to show Abraham, that the Gift of his Son was not to come first, but Abraham was to love God first and foremost. God wants us to love him more than our destiny, our spouses or our children. He will put our promises and destiny to the test. “Will you give them up for Me?” He will ask. We must love God over our desire for what He has for us. We must love looking at His eyes and not what is in His hands. Abraham passed the test, his love and commitment to God was greater, and seeing this, God stopped Abraham from killing Isaac (Genesis 22:11-14).
Your destiny is greater than your enemies. Joseph had two dreams which showed his destiny and yet it was many years until those dreams was fulfilled. In the time span between the dream and the fulfilled destiny there were many enemies out to get him. His brothers were against him (jealousy). They sold him to merchants going to Egypt (treachery). He was sold as a slave (temporary restriction). Joseph was tempted by lust but refused to give in and was falsely accused (victim of lies and slander). He was thrown into prison (bondage). He had continued disappointments and his dreams/destiny were attacked. Joseph’s destiny was greater than its enemies. God did fulfill Joseph’s dreams (Genesis 37-50)! As He did for Joseph, He will do for us. We must persevere each attack and see that our destiny is greater than our enemies. “Destiny carries with it intrinsic power. God is Lord of your destiny and is committed to the preservation and its fulfillment for your sake (the privilege), for God’s sake (to advance His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven) and for others’ sake (lives will be restored into the family of God and their destiny fulfilled) (p.24).” “You are not an accident. You are not an incident nor an experiment! Your destiny is greater than its enemies. Your destiny is powerful and shall effect generations” (p. 29).
“Talent will get you through a door but only character will make you stay there.” – Pat Francis
“Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
There will be those who will not fulfill their destiny, like King Saul, who chose to disobey God and follow his own ways (1 Samuel 15:10-11, 23). It is a choice we all have to make. We have to believe God has given each of us a destiny. It is up to each individual to search out his destiny and allow God’s direction to lead him to its fulfillment. There will be obstacles in our way. We have to overcome them by the Word of our mouth and the power of God’s Word. The enemy will try to stop us from reaching our destiny. Our destiny is more powerful than our enemies. We can not stay “Frozen in Time” as my Mother did. We need to allow God to rearrange the thoughts of ourselves and believe His thoughts of us (Psalms 139).
The BE-Attitudes we need to fulfill our destiny are:
BE an overcomer – 2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ.” Think like an overcomer when times get rough. God already won the war of defeat through Christ Jesus, His Son, it is up to each of us to take on what is already ours and be victorious. Have an overcomer mentality.
BE Focused – Isaiah 26:3 “He will keep in perfect peace, those whose eyes are stayed on Him.” Self development (education and training), hard work and determination are important factors in keeping us focused on our destiny (p. 41). God wants us to naturally stay focused on Him and everything else will fall into place supernaturally. Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
BE a Solution – Our value makes us a solution. Our developed gift and potential will open doors for us that no one can close. What gifts do we have that is needed by another person or company. Be a solution for someone else. (I Samuel 16:14-17 David’s gift of music calmed King Saul’s tortured soul.)
BE Wise – (Proverbs 4:7-9) Wisdom causes us to react in certain situations with dignity and poise. Wisdom teaches us how to answer correctly and when to be silent. Those who carry wisdom are more likely to be listened to.
BE Ready for favor – Expect God to open doors from other people who are attracted to our destiny (1 Samuel 16:19-22).
BE Faithful and Trustworthy – Being faithful to God will keep us in right-standing with man. Being trustworthy will cause doors to open continually (1 Samuel 24:9-10). “Good character is the sustainable power that keeps talent and continuous favor for the fulfillment of its destiny” – Pat Francis.
BE Consistent with God – Nurture the Presence of God (1 Samuel 16:13, 18). God will bless our endeavors as we stay connected to Him. He does not want us reaching for our destiny without Him, for it is in Him we move and breath and have our being (Acts 17:28). If God gets us there, only God can keep us there!
Our destiny awaits us. It is a reality waiting to happen. Like Jeremiah, God has set in each one of us a destiny to fulfill, with a seeking spirit to the things of God and a willingness to work towards our destiny we can partner with God to further His Kingdom agenda. The enemy is smaller than our destiny. There is power in our destiny. Our destiny is bigger than ourselves. Our destiny is important to God because He loves us and wants us to be complete and fulfilled here on earth. Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
God designed each person on purpose for a purpose. We are all destined to be someone and to do something because God has already planned it. Everybody’s got a dream. What’s your dream?