2020: A Year of Fulfilled Dreams
“The hands of Zerubbabel
Have laid the foundation of this temple;
His hands shall also finish it.
Then you will know
That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.”
Zechariah 4:9
If you’re like me, you probably have a handful of books partially read sitting on your night stand collecting dust. Or maybe you’ve had some house projects halfway done that are nagging you to get them done before another year passes. Whatever it is, we all know the feeling of things needing to be finished. I believe there are some God given dreams that got put on the shelf in times past that God is asking us to pick up again in 2020. This is a year of fulfilled dreams.
The other night I was packing up after a service when I looked over and saw one of the keys from my iPad keyboard lying on the floor. I picked it up and it happened to be the “caps lock” key. I knew God was saying something through this, and as I meditated, I saw it. We know that caps lock means the capital letters are locked on, but I felt God was saying the thing that locked the caps, or lids, on us, has come off in this season. The limitations have been removed!
Discouragement, accustations, and frustrations have been the lids that have caused many to put their God given dreams on the shelf. But the “caps lock” has fallen off! This is the year to take those God given dreams off the shelf and follow through with what He’s asked you to do.
This is where Zerubbabel was in regards to what God had called him and Israel to do as a people.
The book of Ezra gives us the story.
God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send back the Israelites back to their homeland to rebuild the temple. People came back and begin to build. They built the foundation of the temple and an altar, then celebrated in praise to God.
The beginning of a prophetic word and the fulfillment of it are always the best parts! We’re excited to start and we’re excited to finish - it’s just that middle part that we don’t always enjoy as much.
Right after they celebrate the building of the foundation, the enemies tried to come and join their work (which is safe to assume their motives were off) and they got shut down. Then this is what the bible says:
“Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia…
Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.”
Ezra 4:4-5, 24
They faced such opposition that they quit. They quit for 16 years.
The Bible gives us even more insight into why they quit.
Zechariah 3 tells us that satan was accusing their high priest, Joshua, to the Lord. The Lord rebukes the devil and clothes Joshua in righteousness.
They faced huge opposition when they went after what God commissioned them to do.
Here’s the summary:
The people tried to discourage them
They troubled them in their building efforts
The enemy hired counselors against them to frustrate them
The devil was accusing them
And check this out:
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’””
Haggai 1:2 NIV
The people came to the conclusion that it wasn’t time to rebuild the temple. The only problem was God already said it was the time! It was just getting really challenging...and they quit. This is why God sent the prophets Zechariah and Haggai to stir them up and give them hope.
Some of our dreams have been put on the shelf because as we started them, heavy opposition came, and we just got way too discouraged to keep moving forward.
Now is the time to pick them back up again.
That’s what Zerubbabel did.
One of the tactics of the enemy is to try to get us to be overly introspective and rely on our own strength. That’s probably why they quit, and why most of us quit. We can’t make God given dreams come true unless He does something! Zechariah prophesied there was this flow of anointing oil coming to Zerubbabel and Joshua. He told them the power was in the Spirit of God.
He said that the mountain of opposition would become a plain and that the work would be completed. Then he said, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” (Zech 4:10 NLT)
They finished the temple in 4 years. They finished what they started.
God is calling you to finish what you started years ago. Maybe just months ago. Whatever it is, the anointing is ready to give you supernatural power to accomplish all that God has placed in your heart.
2020 is a year of fulfilled dreams.
Question: What dream do you need to take off the shelf in 2020?
P.S. to hear/watch this message in its entirety, click here!