THE PROCESS OF A DREAM BECOMING A VISION
-by Dr. John Tetsola

And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Genesis 37:5

All leaders have a dream. The process of the dream produces a vision in the leader’s heart. In Joseph’s case, he experienced literal dreams. The dream and the person who has the dream are inseparable. The leader’s heart beats for the dream to become a vision, and he won’t be content until it is fulfilled. No other person can fulfill that leader’s dream for him. Joseph and his dream were divinely destined to be intertwined. No leader’s dream can be kept secret. When a dream is shared in the right way, it can enhance a person’s leadership. But when it is done in the wrong way, it creates problems. And that of course is what got Joseph in trouble.

Like most leaders, Joseph had a dream long before he had the leadership ability to make it happen. He had a divine leadership destiny, but he did not start out as an effective leader. He held no influence with his brothers or with anyone other than his father for that matter. Before God could use him, Joseph had to be prepared, purified, and forged into the leader he had the potential to become. All great leaders need three things to prepare them:

• First, they need time to mature. Like most great leaders, Joseph labored in obscurity for a season of his life before becoming qualified to lead others. Sold into slavery at only seventeen, he finally stood before Pharaoh for the first time at age thirty. He required thirteen years to be prepared. By the time he interpreted the king’s dream, he was a changed man. He was equipped. He was humble. He was a great leader.
   

• Second, they need trials to strengthen them. Gold is purified only after it passes repeatedly through the fire. Diamonds are created under extreme pressure. And great leaders are formed only through trials. Joseph would never have reached his potential if he had stayed at home. To become a great leader, he had to become a slave and a prisoner.
   
  From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph…But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
  Genesis 37:5, 20-21, 23 NIV
   

• Third, they need God to bless them. Without God, a leader can do nothing of real value. God blessed Joseph as he worked in Potiphar’s house as a slave. Then He blessed him as he worked in the prison. Four times in chapter 39 of Genesis, the Bible expresses the favor of God that resided upon the life of Joseph. If you are completely on God’s side, you can’t lose. Your long awaited dream will manifest in solid, strong vision.