Don’t Bury Your Dream

This sermon summary, drawn from Bishop T.D. Jakes’ teaching on the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4, offers a powerful, practical guide for believers seeking to retrieve lost promises and experience breakthrough. The core message focuses on cultivating inner toughness, understanding the spiritual laws of reciprocity and giving, and employing relentless faith to demand the resurrection of a seemingly dead dream.

1. The Call to Resilience: Don’t Bury Your Dream

The most critical instruction for those awaiting a miracle is not to allow disappointment, failure, or negative circumstances to cause them to bury their dream. Inner toughness is essential to sustain faith.

The Power of Confession

When confronted with circumstances that contradict faith, believers must maintain a positive confession. Even when the reality is dire (the son is dead), the Shunammite woman declared, “It shall be well”.

• Speaking Positively in Hell’s Kitchen: She insisted on speaking positively, even in the midst of trouble. This positive confession is crucial because the spirit needs to hear the mouth declare faith, shifting the mood and attitude toward receiving the promise.
• Vexed Soul, Positive Mouth: Although her mouth declared, “It is well,” her soul was vexed within her. This shows that she consciously chose faith over feeling, a necessary step in spiritual endurance.

2. Unlocking Divine Favor: Reciprocity and Capacity

The Shunammite woman is referred to as a “great woman,” not just because she was rich, but because she embodied the principle of liberal giving and creating capacity for God’s blessing.

The Principle of Reciprocity

The woman was a giving woman with an abundance and a giving spirit. She did not come to the prophet Elijah asking for anything; she was constantly thinking of ways to be a blessing.

• Intentional Giving: She intentionally made a permanent room for the temporary guest (Elisha), dressing it out with a bed, dresser, and chair exclusively for him, making it comfortable for him to come more often. This is a metaphor for making space in one’s life for Christ through devotional relationship.
• The Liberal Soul: The Bible promises that the “liberal soul shall be made fat”. “Fat” means overflow—receiving more than enough supply. God ensures that He will always find a way to bless a giver.

Capacity Determines Flow

The story of the other woman, who was broke and in debt, demonstrates the law of capacity.

• Unlimited Supply, Limited Capacity: God’s oil flowed into her borrowed vessels until she ran out of vessels. God will never run out of supply (whether it’s oil, jobs, businesses, or book deals); the only limitation is the individual’s capacity to receive.
• Openness to Receive: Believers must be open to receive on the level God has to flow. If one comes to church with their lips “glued together,” they are not open to the capacity God has.

3. The Paradox of Favor: Poverty, Pain, and Perseverance

The Shunammite woman had wealth but was broke in a place you can’t see—an empty womb. This highlights that poverty is not limited to finances; empty is just empty.

Favor Does Not Preclude Pain

Even after receiving the miracle child promised by the prophet, the son died suddenly. This proves that favor does not mean the absence of pain.

• Life Happens: The child’s death was a painful reality, teaching that favored people are not exempt from life’s heartbreaks, sickness, or loss.
• The Hurt of Hoping: The woman initially resisted the promise, saying, “Don’t play with me,” because “wanting hurts”. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, and sometimes people shut up and settle because they are tired of hurting for something that doesn’t happen.

The Urgency of the Pursuit

When the child died, the woman refused to call the mortuary. Instead, she immediately laid the dead body on the prophet’s bed.

• Going to the Source: She went back to the source—the one who spoke the word. She refused to deal with the prophet’s servant, Gehazi, and his rod. She had to see Elisha.
• Relentless Drive: She drove a donkey fast, demonstrating that when a person is in enough trouble and so much is at stake, they will make a slow thing move. They will not slack in their riding.
• No Excuse for Delay: Her urgency affirmed that there is no need for a special day, a special time, or a special seat to come to God boldly when a need exists.