I observed something quite interesting in the life of Joseph: He had a dream, but it was his service to other people’s dreams that took him to his destination. His dream was to be a ruler over the whole world; but it was by applying his gifts to help others realize their dreams that he realized his own dreams.
As he used his abilities to help others, he moved from one level to the next. Here’s a list of those that were greatly helped by his services:
- His Father.
- Portiphar.
- The Jailer.
- Pharaoh’s Butler.
- Pharaoh.
By using his gifts faithfully and diligently to build other people’s dreams, he reached the throne and realized his own dreams.
Your fastest route to higher heights is to help others realize their dreams. According to Dr. Mike Murdock, what you make happen for others, God makes happen to you.
“And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” ~ Luke 16:12
You don’t need to set up your own company or organization before you can breakthrough to higher heights. Joseph never did for once – and I find that quite amazing. He was always diligently employed in the service of others, yet he reached the top.
By diligently helping another man realize his dreams, you can reach heights that those who ‘are on their own’ may never reach. This is not because they will always reward you directly, but because it’s a principle of success and greatness.
Regardless of how powerful your dream is, or how smart you are, you will never be able to achieve great heights if you fail to minister to other people’s dreams. When you ignore the dreams of others, you abort yours.
Other people’s dreams and projects are God-given fertile grounds for us to sow our gifts and talents in service. When we do so, those gifts become more developed and we are better positioned to take advantage of higher opportunities. More so, God rewards us by providing those opportunities.
As I’ve already said, your fastest route to higher heights is to help others realize their dreams. To do this, you have to begin right where you are:
#1 God’s house
Are you using your gifts in the house of God to build it up? Or are you playing pranks?
Look for ways to deploy your gifts in God’s house; and do it diligently.
#2 Your place of work
It doesn’t matter how they treat you there. What matters is that you are using your gifts diligently to help them realize their dreams. They may pay you back with evil, but that is payment nevertheless! It will surely take you to the next level. Joseph’s brothers and Portiphar’s wife all paid him with evil; but they could not rob him of the expertise he gained by being diligent in their service. When they eventually paid him with betrayal, it launched him to the next level.
Therefore, what matters is not how they pay you, but how you help them realize their dreams, and how you develop yours in the process.
#3 Your personal relationships
Use your gifts to help your brothers, sisters, friends to realize their dreams.
The ultimate reward
The ultimate reward for using your gifts for others is experience and expertise. These can never be taken from you; and all a man with these needs is opportunity. Therefore, whether they say ‘thank you’ or not does not matter, because someday – like David, offering to fight Goliath – you will name your own price and no one will have any choice than to pay it.