Release the Vision

Last night my sleep was ripe with dreams, and even dreams within those dreams. At some point, though I still felt deep in sleep, I became aware of God speaking to my Spirit.  I cannot capture all that I dreampt, but I remember the last thing God was speaking to me on was vision.  Though, as with many dreams, the details of my dream were all over the place, here was the general idea of it: 

There was a man who had a vision.  He pursued making his vision/dream happen and it happened quickly. It flourished in fact.  But while initially, it seemed to be going so well and seemed so well received, the hearts of people began to turn away to other things.  IN desperation, this man began to fight to keep his vision alive.  Specifically in my dream, he fought so hard that it came to a point where he was willing and about to murder in order to keep it alive.  

This is when my spirit began to wake up as I heard God speak to me, ''Sometimes you have to let a dream/vision go, or you may perish with it.''  In his efforts to keep his vision alive, this man took his eyes off of the SOURCE and HEART behind his vision, and became totally fixated on the outcome.  

The message is clear to me, and right in line with things I have been learning this week...I must hold loosely those things that God gives me. For he gives and takes away, but his ultimate purpose for me WILL be completed.  We miss the point so often and think the goal, or purpose of our life is found in what we do… but we forget that what we are called to is not so much in what we do, but rather, WHO we are. 

Our character. Our spirit man. He has called us to be holy.  When he gives us vision, we must move forward with confidence and obedience, hanging tightly to Jesus.  HE will be the one to make the vision happen, WE are the ones to be faithful in obedience and taking steps of faith.  We must free our hands up and release all of our fear and worry. We must release the vision. We must hang tightly to Jesus. We must fill our hands with him. In so doing, we will never need to worry about something HE is placing in our hearts.  We can trust in HIM to fulfill it.

This is NOT to say vision is bad. In fact, it is beautiful and a gift from God. But the vision itself is not, and CANNOT be our God.  When God gives us vision, we have to remember, that He is still God, and HE is the most important component in bringing the vision to fulfillment. We can trust him with the vision. After all, it was his to begin with...

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Along the same lines of thinking, here is a story that I heard this past week from the "Freedom in Christ'' discipleship book... 

There once was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Saviour appeared to him. The Lord told him He had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock explaining that he was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, and for many days he toiled from sunup to sundown; his shoulder set squarely against the cold massive surface of the rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling his whole day had been spent in vain. 

Seeing that the man showed signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture - placing thoughts in the man's mind, such as ``Why kill yourself over this?, you're never going to move it!'' or ``Boy, you've been at it a long time and you haven't even scratched the surface!'' etc. giving the man the impression the task was impossible and the man was an unworthy servant because he wasn't moving the massive stone. 

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man and he started to ease up in his efforts. ``Why kill myself?'' he thought. ``I'll just put in my time putting forth just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough.'' And this he did or at least planned on doing until, one day, he decided to take his troubles to the Lord. 

``Lord,'' he said, ``I have labored hard and long in Your service, putting forth all my strength to do that which You have asked of me. Yet after all this time, I have not even budged that rock even half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?'' 

To this the Lord responded compassionately, ``My friend, when long ago I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you to push against the rock with all your strength and that you have done. But never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. At least not by yourself. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed, ready to quit. But is this really so? Look at yourself. 

Your arms are strong and muscled; your back sinewed and brown. Your hands are calloused from constant pressure and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your ability now far surpasses that which you used to have. Yet still, you haven't succeeded in moving the rock; and you come to Me now with a heavy heart and your strength spent. I, my friend will move the rock. Your calling was to be obedient and push, and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom, and this you have done.''