Proverbs 29:18 (translation is mine): Where there is not vision [or prophecy], the people become unbridled [or lose restraint]. But he who keeps the law is blessed [or happy].
"Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength" - Hasidic Saying.
I recently heard a sermon by Kris Vallotton entitled "Casting Vision and Capturing Hearts", in which the Lord spoke to me about some deep matters of my own heart. What I'm about to share is my own personal journey over the last 24 hours. If you have a chance, download Kris' podcast and have a listen. I'm sure it will bless your life. Now, I just want to set up a base so that you can start where I started in terms of what I heard, and from there I'll springboard into what the Lord spoke to me about afterwards.
One of the main things that impacted me as I listened to Kris was the revelation God had given him into Proverbs 29:18. That when we don't have a vision for our lives, we wander aimlessly. We lose restraint, or perish, because our focus is nothing more than avoiding pain and finding pleasure. We become governed not by our purpose and dreams, but our selfish desires. But one who has a vision and a purpose for their life is happy and blessed. They are able to apply restraint to their aimless wanderings, and can stay focused on the dream they have for their life. And instead of avoiding pain, they realize that pain is something they can walk through if it takes them closer to their vision. When you have purpose, you are willing to sacrifice your options in order to not lose focus on where you're heading. You don't lose restraint, you embrace it.
This need to dream dreams and to have vision is so vital for us as sons and daughters of God. Men like Moses, Joseph, and David all had dreams and visions from God. And the fact that they were able to see and believe for things that were not as though they were, positioned them to give birth to those dreams. Moses caught God's vision for a new nation, Joseph caught the vision for a righteous ruler in a pagan nation, David caught the vision of a king who rules with the heart of God. If you have a vision you'll restrain your options in order to attain that vision. Vision is what gives life a purpose the ability to imagine life not as it, is but as it should be. Something happens inside of us when we have a vision, a purpose, a dream: we want to give birth to it.
It was from this point on that the Lord began to speak to me. I began to realize that for some people, finding a purpose for their lives is difficult because they've never allowed themselves to dream. And for others, myself included, the other end of the spectrum is that we dream too many dreams, and ambition drives us to pursue a host of ideas at the same time, with equal force. Creatives and artists will be the most likely candidates to relate to this, but this is open to all sorts of people. For some, because their capacity to envision a future and a purpose is great, once they have more than one dream or vision, they instinctively want to give birth to those dreams and see them come to pass. For others, because they believe that they can be great at anything they apply themselves to, they see a world of opportunity. And they move from one new thing to the next, with the ambition of being the best at anything. But in the long run, they are merely lackluster in alot of things.
Now, as I pondered these things, I asked the Lord what is it that happens within us that makes us like this. Again, none of this has to do with right/wrong, sin/no sin, good/evil. It's just insight. And what the Lord began to show me was that for dreamers and visionaries, we have within our soul and our spirit a burning desire to give life to these visions, dreams, and aspirations. And then I realized that something had just come full circle in this: Proverbs 29:18, as we read, says that without vision we lose restraint, or discipline. But the opposite is also true! That if you do have a vision you are willing to be disciplined and restrain your other options (other dreams and ambitions) so that you can stayed focued on one dream at a time.
You see, if you have an ability to dream dreams and have many aspirations, then you are not one that wanders aimlessly avoiding pain and pursuing pleasure. However, it may be that because you have many aspirations and dreams, you want to have multiple births - you want to see them all come to pass. And what I began to see is that restraint, or discipline, now needs to be applied to the visions and dreams that you have. You need to quiet the voice of one ambition in order to better hear and pursue another. And because of this, there are two things that we need to be sure of: One, which of these dreams and ambitions are worth pursuing and are from the Lord. Two, how do we apply discipline to our other ambitions and dreams.
So then I asked, how do I know what dreams are from God? And what He told me was that we need to discern between three types of aspirations - which ones are from God, and which ones are from man, and which ones are from the devil. Now, ones that are from the devil are easy to identify because they always feed a selfish ambition or desire. Lust, greed, fame, pride, whatever. But what becomes difficult is discerning and distinguishing between visions of man and visions of God. Why? When we have an aspiration or a dream, it will resonate with our soul (heart) and our spirit ( concious). When we have an aspiration or a dream that God has put in us or revealed to us, it will resonate with our soul and Holy Spirit, which is connected to our spirit. So, what we have is that in order for us to know what is God's and what is ours, we need to distinguish between our spirit and the Holy Spirit. Still with me? It'll get clearer, just hold tight. Because the Spirit of God testifies and communes with our spirit (Rom 8:16), it takes a lot of wisdom, discernment, and experience to distinguish between our spirit and it's voice and the voice of the Holy Spirit. For our spirit is all for us - it's desire is for us to be 'top dog'. This isn't a sin, it's just the nature of man's spirit. As for Holy Spirit, it wants God to be glorified, and wants us to be like Christ Jesus.
Now if your are finding it hard to believe or understand what I am saying, let me exemplify things for you.
2 Samuel chapter 7:1-7, 12-13.
1 After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."
3 Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you."
4 That night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying:
5 "Go and tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" '
8 "Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders [a] over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.'"
" 'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."
17 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said:
20 "What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD."
Do you realize what just took place here? David had a vision, he had an ambition. David had something in his heart that he wanted to give birth to. And what you need to understand is this wasn't something that just came to David in a moment, as he happened to be beside the prophet Nathan. This was something that had been burning within David's heart for some time. Maybe months, maybe years. It isn't written, so we don't know. But this was a vision that seemed good both to his soul and his spirit. In fact David was so convinced that it was right to pursue this dream of his that he didn't even consult the Lord about it. There was no question in David's heart or spirit that this was something he should pursue and give birth to. And remember, David was one of the few people on the entire planet that had the Holy Spirit upon him - it wasn't a free gift then like it is now.
To make matters more interesting, David also had what appeared to be the word of the Lord. Nathan, the official prophet assigned to the King, comes to David and gives him the go ahead (note that Nathan didn't seek the Lord either!). But what happens? The Lord comes to David through the prophet Nathan and helps David discern between the Holy Spirit and his own spirit. God acknowledges what's in David's heart, but then reveals what's in His heart. And of the great ambition of David's heart God says, I don't want you to give birth to it. I can't imagine how hard that would have been for David to hear initially. Now granted, I understand that there would have been some measure of comfort when David heard that it would be through Solomon that this vision would come to pass. But it doesn't diminish the fact that David had an ambition that he wanted to give birth to that wasn't in alignment with God's ambitions for David.
So by now, you may be asking, "how do I know if I even have a dream of God for my life, and if I do, how do I identify it?" Those are questions I had to ask myself. Here are some questions to help you find your answer:
1. Ask yourself, where does my heart lead me? Or better, what would I trade everything I'm doing now for one thing I would rather do more than anything?
2. Ask yourself, who do I want to be known for when I die?
3.And ask yourself, if I were 10 times bolder and money wasn't an issue what would I be doing?
It often comes down to this: you always have a bunch of steps or milestones setup in your head, which, if all goes well, will eventually lead you to be doing... fill in the blank. We all want to be somewhere or someone that seems so far down the road, or years away, that we over time (often sub-consiously) formulate a plan of events that, if they were ever to take place, would lead us to be doing what we want to do. And what I want to propose is that whatever is at the end of the rainbow, or across the valley for you, that is a dream and a destiny of God for your life. God revealed to Joseph in a dream a destiny that God was inviting him into. And Joseph, like us, had the option to allow that dream become his ambition, or reject it and file it under the 'That's Impossible' drawer. And what did Joseph do? He believed. In fact, Psalms 105:19, speaking of Joseph says, "Until the time that His word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him." The trials and tribulations Joseph went through were experienced while he maintaned the vision in his sight. For the word of the Lord to have tested Joseph, it means that Joseph kept the dream close to his heart and in his sight.
And for us now, who are born in Christ and full of the Spirit, we have flowing through us the thoughts and desires of God. This is more than men like Joseph or Abraham could ever have had. In fact, we are so used to having God's thoughts run through our mind that we hardly notice them. But that is our nature in Christ, that is who we are. This is why we must examine ourselves carefully and discern the thoughts and dreams that God has placed within us. As we ask ourselves questions about what our purpose and destiny is, we begin to extract from within us the things that God has placed there. It's like finding treasure in your backyard having never known it was there!
So what do I do now once I know what the dreams of God are for my life? What you do is you begin to position yourself to walk in to those dreams and visions. Once you identify the one thing, or the few things you want to do more than anything in your lifetime, allow yourself to dream about those things. Let them become real in your heart and spirit. See it, even though it doesn't exist. Abraham was promised a son, and didn't have one till he was over 100 years of age (look at someone you know who's over 75 and try to imagin them having a baby!). But he never waned from that dream. Hope against hope, he believed. It is our Father's nature to create and to imagine. We know that from nothing the Lord created all things. And that in his image he made us. And if Genesis 1:26 and Romans 8:29 are true then we are supposed to be, and allowed to be like our Father. And He's the biggest dreamer and creative in the cosmos!
Allowing yourself to see the things you want to do causes you to position yourself in a way that causes that thing to come to pass in your life. It isn't waiting for some golden ticket opportunity! It's preparing yourself now for what you want to do in the future. Using David as an example once again, it wasn't simply because he had a heart after God that lead him to slay the giant Goliath. It was during the years he spent tending sheep for his father, working full-time in the field, that he was able to develop his skills as a warrior by slaying lions and bears and anything else that would threaten the herd of his father (1 Sam 17:33-37). That doesn't happen overnight. We are talking about years of practice, discipline, motivation, and effort on David's part. Using David again, it wasn't simply that he had a heart after God that lead him to become the official worship leader for the king of his country. David had, in his own time, for years, practiced his instrument. And it's one thing to learn how to play an instrument well, but it's another thing to learn how to play in a way that ushers in the presence of God. There was no synagogue in David's day, there was no temple in David's day, and there was certainly no church in David's day. It was on his own time, after work and on weekends that David practiced his skill in playing an instrument and ministering before the Lord.
What I'm getting at is David was far from an overnight success story. It wasn't simply that Samuel came and anointed David with a golden ticket and everything began to happen for him. David had years upon years of training and preparing and conditioning that lead him into what the Lord had dreamed for him. And even after David's anointing ceremony, after slaying Goliath, even after ministering before Saul, David had more years where he was in the wilderness running for his life. David was once again lead into a season (like Joseph) of preparing and growing into the person he needed to become internally in order to operate in his dream externally. All the while maintaining the vision that he had and the dream of God in his heart. Don't wait for some golden ticket opportunity to bring you into the aspirations the Lord has given you. That is an illegal lottery mentality. If you want to be a great worship leader, then practice your singing and practice your instrument. If you want to be a great writer, then start a blog and perfect your skill. If you want to be a great teacher, then go to the library and get all the books you need to become an expert in the things that you want to teach. All the while, hold onto those thing that seem distant and impossible. If you know they are from to God, don't lose hope.
Finally, the level of sacrifice that you are willing to go to in order to realize that dream is the measure in which you believe it will come to pass. When we zero in on a great purpose for our lives, we need to begin to apply restraint towards other dreams and options that don't measure up to, or compliment, where we ultimately want to be. Faithfulness (a fruit of Holy Spirit) means that despite having many options, we choose what's best and right for us. For a 'jack of all trades' thinker, it means picking one trade and ditching the others. It doesn't mean that we stop dreaming, or that we stop everything we are doing. It comes down to priority.
If I want to be a pastor, for example, and I only have 5 hours a week to study scripture and practice speaking, then I need to prioritize that vision in comparison to other visions I have. That could mean, even though I want to work on, say, restoring a classic car, I can't allocate more time during the week to the car than I can to preparing for ministry. Instead of 4 hours for the car, and 1 hour for practicing speaking, it should be 4 hours for speaking and 1 hour for the car. Now, substitue these examples with whatever it is that you want to do, and what you have going on right now.
Here's another example. If you know you want to minister to orphans in Germany, and say that as a hobby you play guitar, and you're also part of an inner city baseball team, then you need to apply restraint. If you have 5 hours a week to yourself, then instead of using up those 5 hours for practicing guitar and playing baseball, maybe only use up 2 for one of these and ditch the other. The other 3 hours you can use to study the German language, it's history, it's current affairs. You can begin to look into ministries that are currently working with orphans in Germany, and so on. Maybe you have 4 things on the go. All of them you enjoy, but only one or two of them are in line with where you want to be in the future. You need to begin to begin to shift your focus from 25% to each, to 75% to the one or two, and 25% to the others.
Last example. Say you want to be a philanthropist who is able to fund organizations and ministries by the wealth you've been able to produce through business. But suppose that right now, you're spending your free time practicing your skateboarding because you are really good, an feel you should continue to improve. And say you went to school for business, but once you finished you decided that you just wanted to get a job that didn't stress too much because you needed a break. And say it's been three years now. Listen, unless you have sponsors breaking your door down begging you to sign on with them as a pro skater, maybe you should start thinking of re-kindling the flame that took you to business school in the first place. Maybe you should start to apply restraint to the amount of time you're skateboarding and start thinking of getting your business going.
What I'm try to say is you need to hold that distant dream of yours in front of you, and you need to make it a priority now, instead of putting it on the back burner and waiting for the golden ticket. You need to prepare yourself in the field an in the wilderness so that when the time comes, you're qualified and prepared. You don't quit your day job; you might actually have a couple of career moves along the way that seem totally irrelevant to where you want to be. What's important is that you not lose sight of the dream, and treat like it was to happen tommorrow. You need to feel the need to prepare. And if you get opportunities to do things that line up with where you want to be, take them! You need to be disciplined enough to narrow the options in your heart and focus on where you truely, more than anything, want to be.
I'm speaking to myself more than anyone, trust me. And these last 24 hours have had a great impact on my life. I'm still unpacking a lot of things, but this is where I've come to thus far. I hope this has helped you in some way, or at least inspired or challenged you.
Leo De Siqueira,
revolutionera.com
