When Obstacles Meet the Dream
I believe God plants dreams and desires in every one of us. For some, that dream came when we were little kids and didn't have enough experience in the world to doubt it. We were young enough to believe big, or our hearts burned to do a certain thing. With others, the dream came later. Whether it is a calling on your life, a dream, or a single thing like marriage, healing, receiving the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues. Whatever that thing is, it is always bigger than who you are and what you have.
There is a joy that comes when you think about it in the light that it could be possible.
Often times, as we move toward that dream, giants and obstacles begin to surround it and the possibility of it ever happening in our lives. However, obstacles do not change the validity of what you heard from God - about the healing, the call, the steps forward, etc. What does happen when the giants confront you is this: you have a choice, to go up and possess that promise or take second best (an easier, downhill road), or just quit. There is no joy in compromise.
Numbers 13:33 And there we saw the giants... and we were in our own sight (our own perception) as grasshoppers...
The promise was good, but there were giants/ obstacles guarding the promise. The voices against the promise screamed, "Bad report. Bad outcome." Obstacles will scream that, so will circumstances, your past, others, your feelings. These voices paint a picture or a perception of the future. Perception is the arrangement of images in a certain sequence or the angle from which you look at a thing. If your angle does not come from God's angle(view) God's view, who spoke the end from the beginning, then your perception is wrong. The enemy will stack images in a certain arrangement so that they appear a certain way. If you are not viewing the situation through the lens of God's word, your perception is not accurate.
God is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End at the same time. He saw the giants when He spoke the end and gave you the promise. The giants, the obstacles, know they have to step back and give it up if you come for it. They don't want to leave, but they know they have to if you step out in obedience. Does it mean you will have an easy ride? No.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you (ahead of time), that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation (pressure come against you): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
So everything and everyone around you is talking - the voice of your past, your feelings, your fears, your circumstances, the voice of others, not to mention the enemy... even the giant will mock you. It's Noise painting a perception!
Numbers 13:27,28,33 And they told him...We came unto the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. (The dream is good)
Nevertheless... there we saw the giants... and we were in our own sight (our own perception) as grasshoppers...
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to (the image presented by) this world: but be transformed (into the picture painted by the word) by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
2Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
The point I am making here is perceptions... 1. What are you looking at? 2. And where did that image come from? If it did not come from God, the picture is not accurate. Fog can make one feel very far from their destination when they are but a handbreadth.
If you turn and give the fog in life your focus, it becomes difficult to navigate in the murkiness of those waters! But the word of God is a lamp to your feet and a light unto your path. (Psalms 119:105) The word is like a compass in the fog and the Holy Spirit like the lighthouse the pierces through the deep darkness. Only His word will guide you into the harbor of your dream,.
To the One who is lost... the one who has never made Jesus the Savior of His life. Your giants are deeper than the outside. Sin is a giant you will never defeat alone. It will taint your life and shadow your dreams - You cannot outrun it - or yoga it away - it's inside you like a hole. It is the giant that enslaves men and sends them to hell - God doesn't do that - sin does. Jesus was sent to buy your freedom.
John 8:34-36
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
(NIV)
Rom 6:16,23
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(NKJ)
Romans 10:9-13
9 "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (NKJ)
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